Anti-drug campaigns on campus are the foundation for preventing drug use among teenagers. The Ministry of Education (MOE), Republic of China, has enforced the drug abuse prevention policy in the Chun-Huei Project since 1991, spanning 20 years until the present. However, statistics from the Campus Security Report Center (CSRC), MOE, show that senior high and vocational school students make up the majority of those teenagers involved in drug abuse and their numbers increase year by year, indicating a deteriorating tendency in regard to this phenomenon. Therefore, it was necessary to evaluate the current anti-drug campaigns in senior high and vocational schools. This study aimed to explore the relevance of anti-drug promotion methods in relation to anti-drug resolutions among the senior high and vocational schools, based on the experiences regarding the enforcement of the drug abuse prevention policy in Chun-Huei Project by the MOE as practiced in Tainan city. Purposive sampling was adopted with 580 students in Tainan city as participants. Questionnaires were administrated to them to obtain data on ¡§promotion methods in the campaigns¡¨ and ¡§anti-drug resolutions.¡¨ The elicited data was then analyzed through descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, factor analysis, t-test, One-Way ANOVA, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The main results showed that: 1. school type was related to the ¡§perceived static promotions¡¨; 2. gender differences in overall anti-drug resolutions among the students were observed showing that female students exhibited greater anti-drun resolutions than did male students; 3. living environment was associated with ¡§tips to refuse drugs¡¨ in anti-drug resolutions; and 4.Students¡¦ perceived ¡§anti-drug promotion methods¡¨ correlated positively with their anti-drug resolutions. Findings of this research were discussed and implications for anti-drug practices were provided. Suggestions are also proposed to the authorities concerning policy implementation: 1. The enforcement of Chun- Huei Project shall be continued to improve the effect of drug abuse prevention; 2. Executions to prevent students from drug abuse shall be improved; 3. Consensus on drug abuse prevention can be fortified by integrating community resources; 4. Appropriate promotional activities should be held for males and females contingently; 5. Off-campus counseling goals can be better fulfilled via frequent visits to students¡¦ residences; and 6. Anti-drug teaching materials should be designed to strengthen the students¡¦ anti-drug resolutions.

The purpose of this investigation was to create and optimise a capture assay for the detectionof anti-drug antibodies (ADA) in human plasma, using Biacore. We also dealt with the nonspecificplasma binding to mouse-derived anti-biotin which may occur in the capture assay.By paying attention to these things we aimed at reaching as high sensitivity as possible for theADA detection. The capture assay also benefited and gained flexibility from using the same regenerationsolution irrespective of drug and from having a composition that minimises the risk ofdamaging drug epitopes.

Drug related messages in antidrug campaigns and music related media -A qualitative study about young people’s perceptions Youth are exposed to both promotional and critical drug and alcohol messages in their daily media consumption. The purpose of this study is to examine how youth perceive anti-drug campaigns and drug-promoting messages in music-related media. The empirical material consists of qualitative data, including a focus group and two individual interviews, consisting of youth between the ages of 18 and19. One main finding is that young people perceive anti-drug messages differently, yet they are virtually unanimous about what makes such messages effective. Another important finding is that drug messages in music-related media are common and the positive messages are easier to relate to even if they come across as unrealistic. An important conclusion is that anti-drug messages must be realistic and easy to relate to, clearly targeting young people. Another conclusion is that positive drug messages in music are easier to relate to and ubiquitous, requiring effective anti-drug campaigns. / Ungdomar tar del av både positiva och kritiska alkohol- och drogbudskap i sin dagliga mediekonsumtion. Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka hur ungdomar uppfattar drogbudskap i antidrogkampanjer och i musikrelaterade medier. Det empiriska materialet består av kvalitativa intervjuer varav en fokusgrupp och två individuella, utförda med ungdomar i 18-19 års ålder. Studiens främsta resultat är att ungdomar uppfattar antidrogbudskap olika, trots detta är de i stort sett eniga om vad som gör antidrogbudskap effektiva. Ett annat viktigt resultat är att drogbudskap i musikrelaterade medier är vanligt och de positiva budskapen är lättare att relatera till även om de inte upplevs verkliga. En viktig slutsats vi författare drar är att antidrogbudskap måste vara verklighetstrogna och lätta att relatera till genom att tydligt rikta sig till ungdomar. Ytterligare en slutsats är att då de positiva drogbudskapen i musiken är lättare att relatera till och ständigt närvarande, krävs effektivare antidrogkampanjer.

It is as easy to imagine that celebrities featured in anti-drug commercials uniformly encourage all viewers to abstain from drugs, as it is to imagine that the more closely viewers watch these commercials, the more effective the messages will be. The current research reconsiders both assumptions. Highly anti-marijuana (state of balance) and highly pro-marijuana (state of imbalance) viewers were selected, and their processing style (central vs. peripheral) was manipulated as they watched commercials (with anti-marijuana messages from celebrities for whom all viewers previously reported high appeal). The dependent measures were SOA (Strength of Association conveys the likelihood that attitudes will automatically activate to guide behavior related to marijuana), change in celebrity appeal (pre- to post-commercial), and level of counter argument after the messages. The findings confirm past research (Wagner and Sundar, 2003) suggesting that a peripheral processing style is more effective than central processing, in terms of SOA. They also suggest the usefulness of balance theory (Heider, 1946; Osgood and Tannenbaum, 1966) in studying media effects. In particular, they help understand how the presence of a celebrity, instead of leading to a decrease in the appeal of drugs for its viewers, may have unintended effects of a decrease in the appeal of the celebrity bearing the anti-drug message, and of greater counter-argument after the message. Ironically, these unintended effects were characteristic mostly of pro marijuana viewers who employed a central message processing style; this suggests that advertisers need to reconsider the effectiveness of this genre of messages, and underscores the relevance of social psychology to mass communication. / text

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L’utilisation d’agents anti-TNF a grandement amélioré la prise en charge de certaines maladies inflammatoires chroniques comme la polyarthrite rhumatoïde (PR) ou les maladies inflammatoires chroniques de l’intestin (MICI). Cependant, le quart des patients environ ne vont pas répondre au traitement ou présenteront une perte de réponse secondaire. Des marqueurs prédictifs de réponse sont nécessaires afin limiter les effets secondaires et les coûts inutiles en ciblant les patients qui pourraient être améliorés par les anti-TNF. Ces travaux de recherche se sont dans un premier temps concentrés sur l’importance de l’immunogénicité de ces traitements. Des anticorps anti-médicaments (ADAs) étaient bien associés à un taux bas d’anti-TNF avec des conséquences cliniques en termes de perte de réponse clinique et d’absence de cicatrisation muqueuse dans les MICI. Des seuils cliniques d’interprétation des tests biologiques pour la détection du médicament et de ses anticorps ont pu être définis et correspondent à 4.9 μg/ml pour l’infliximab et 200 ng/ml pour les ADAs. Ces résultats obtenus par ELISA sont bien corrélés avec les tests fonctionnels réalisés en parallèle et confirment l’intérêt de cette technique dans ce dépistage. Les ADAs étaient diminués par traitement immunosuppresseur concomitant. Ensuite, la persistance d’une infection chronique mise en évidence par des anticorps anti-bactériens a été évaluée en tant que marqueur prédictif de réponse aux anti-TNF. Aucun résultat statistiquement significatif n’a pu être relevé sur ces premières données, que ça soit pour les anticorps dirigés contre la flore intestinale pour les MICI ou contre le microbiote oral dans la PR. Seul un taux élevé de MMP-3 à l’initiation de l’infliximab chez les patients PR prédisait d’une bonne réponse clinique selon les critères de l’EULAR par la suite / The use of anti-TNF agents has greatly improved the management of chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), or chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, about a quarter of patients will not respond to treatment or will present a secondary loss of response. Predictive biomarkers of response are needed to reduce side effects and unnecessary costs by targeting patients that could be improved by anti-TNF. This research work was initially focused on the importance of immunogenicity of these treatments. Anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) were well associated with low levels of anti-TNF with clinical consequences in terms of loss of clinical response and absence of mucosal healing in IBD. Clinical thresholds for drug and ADAs have been defined and correspond to 4.9 μg/ml for infliximab and 200 ng/ml for ADAS. These results obtained by ELISA correlate well with functional tests done in parallel, and confirm the value of this technique for screening. The ADAs were decreased with concomitant immunosuppressive therapy. Then, the persistence of chronic infection as evidenced by anti-bacterial antibody was evaluated as a predictive marker for response to anti-TNF. No statistically significant results could be raised on these first data, for antibodies against the intestinal flora in IBD or against the oral microbiota in RA. Only high levels of MMP-3 at the initiation of infliximab in RA patients predicted a good clinical response according to the EULAR criteria

Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union, illicit drugs have begun flowing into the former Soviet states for local sale and consumption, as well as for further transit to Western European states. Though the former Soviet states claim to be dedicated to the global fight against drugs, their alleged connections to the criminal underworld and weak and underdeveloped state institutions raise doubts over the sincerity and capacity of their effort. In this diploma thesis the impact of illicit drugs and the depth of the state-crime nexus in the Former Soviet Union region is analyzed, also covering crime-terror nexus, crucial in understanding the crime-terror relationship for mutual profit. The study's results have shown that various FSU states have shown varying degrees of connection to the criminal world, posing an international security risk due to the criminal underworld's involvement with clandestine drug trade in connection with terrorist groups.