Hepatitis C is the most common blood-borne viral illness in the North America. Chronic hepatitis C infection may lead to cirrhosis of the liver, liver failure and liver cancer. In North America, injection drug use is the most important risk factor for infection and substance abusing populations are disproportionately affected by the disease. Antiviral therapy exists and approximately 50% of infected individuals can be cured. The aim of this thesis was to provide information to help clinicians and policy-makers minimize the impact of hepatitis C in substance abusers. The thesis is comprised of three studies. The first assessed the rate of progression to cirrhosis for those acquiring infection through injection drug use, using a meta-analysis of 44 studies from the published literature. We estimated that fibrosis progression occurs at a rate of 8.1 per 1000 person-years (95% Credible Region (CR), 3.9 to 14.7) corresponding to a 20-year cirrhosis prevalence of 14.8% (95% CR, 7.5 to 25.5). The second study measured the association between successful antiviral therapy and quality of life. We demonstrated that sustained responders to therapy had higher scores on the hepatitis-specific Medical Outcomes Survey Short-Form-36 (SF-36), Health Utilities Index Mark 2/3 (HUI2/3), and time-tradeoff (TTO) than treatment failures, an average of 3.7 years following antiviral therapy. The third study assessed rates of adherence to antiviral therapy and rates of sustained response in current or former iii substance abusers on methadone maintenance. We demonstrated that while use of illicit substances prior to therapy negatively affected adherence, rates of sustained response were comparable to non-substance abusing populations. Our work indicates the future burden of disease in current and former substance abusers, demonstrates that antiviral therapy can be successful in this population, and indicates that the benefits of successful therapy may extend beyond decreased disease burden to improved quality of life.

Alcohol and cannabis use are prevalent among young adults in Canada. Additionally, heavier substance use is associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing negative consequences resulting from use. Given the potential for harmful consequences resulting from alcohol and cannabis use, it is important to understand why people use these substances. Childhood maltreatment has been identified as an important predictor of alcohol and cannabis use. However, less is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship, though it seems emotion regulation may play an important role. This study explores the relationship between maltreatment and emotion dysregulation, in addition to the relationship between maltreatment and affective motives for using alcohol and marijuana. Results indicate that drinking to cope mediates the relationship between all measured forms of maltreatment and alcohol consequences. However, none of the motives individually significantly mediated the relationship between maltreatment and marijuana use consequences. Results, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Alcohol and cannabis use are prevalent among young adults in Canada. Additionally, heavier substance use is associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing negative consequences resulting from use. Given the potential for harmful consequences resulting from alcohol and cannabis use, it is important to understand why people use these substances. Childhood maltreatment has been identified as an important predictor of alcohol and cannabis use. However, less is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship, though it seems emotion regulation may play an important role. This study explores the relationship between maltreatment and emotion dysregulation, in addition to the relationship between maltreatment and affective motives for using alcohol and marijuana. Results indicate that drinking to cope mediates the relationship between all measured forms of maltreatment and alcohol consequences. However, none of the motives individually significantly mediated the relationship between maltreatment and marijuana use consequences. Results, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

This descriptive study was designed to determine whether substance abusers could be differentially characterized by past involvement in crimes and, further, whether there is a relationship between the type of substance abused and the degree of violence of the crimes committed. By comparing the socio-demographic characteristics, substance-use, and strain-inducing events reported by 598 residential and outpatient treatment seekers in the Kentucky Treatment Outcome and Performance Pilot Studies Enhancement Project, this study provides further understanding of the crime-substance relationship. This study utilized Robert Agnew's 1992 general strain theory. Results suggest that substance addicts and substance users can be characterized in terms of their previous involvement in crime and their perceptions of personal strain. However, further differentiation between nonviolent and violent criminal offenders and type of substance used is not substantiated by findings presented in this study.

This study examines the sociodemographics, drug use, criminal, and treatment histories of 598 residential and outpatient legally coerced drug treatment seekers in the Kentucky Treatment Outcome and Performance Pilot Studies Enhancement Project. Analyses examined whether users/addicts entering chemical dependency treatment under legal coercion differed from nonlegally coerced treatment seekers. Stanley Cohen's theoretical model of social control provided the theoretical framework for the study. Results showed demographic and behavioral differences were noted between respondents under no coercion and those under legal coercion on gender, age, educational status, pretreatment criminality and current treatment modality. In addition, differences between the legally coerced and not legally coerced clients varied across geographic regions.

The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of substance use (alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs) among members of the lesbian community. Additionally, the investigator attempted to determine if there was a relationship between negative social identity and low selfesteem that is reflected in higher rates of substance abuse. The data collection method employed in this study was a type of nonprobability sampling procedure referred to as a purposive sample. The questionnaire was derived from instruments used by other researchers and validated by an expert panel. In order to select respondents from the lesbian population to be included in the sample, the survey was placed on a web page and posted on the Internet. Data were collected on 76 lesbian and bisexual female respondents during a seven-month period. Results from a Pearsons Correlation, one-tailed test of significance determined that there was a significant, positive relationship (pc.0001) between social identity and selfesteem. Though no significant relationship existed between social identity and substance abuse, respondents with higher levels of self-esteem reported significant uses of sedatives (pc.05), tranquilizers (p<.05), speed (pc.Ol), and inhalants (p<.05).

Hepatitis C is the most common blood-borne viral illness in the North America. Chronic hepatitis C infection may lead to cirrhosis of the liver, liver failure and liver cancer. In North America, injection drug use is the most important risk factor for infection and substance abusing populations are disproportionately affected by the disease. Antiviral therapy exists and approximately 50% of infected individuals can be cured. The aim of this thesis was to provide information to help clinicians and policy-makers minimize the impact of hepatitis C in substance abusers. The thesis is comprised of three studies. The first assessed the rate of progression to cirrhosis for those acquiring infection through injection drug use, using a meta-analysis of 44 studies from the published literature. We estimated that fibrosis progression occurs at a rate of 8.1 per 1000 person-years (95% Credible Region (CR), 3.9 to 14.7) corresponding to a 20-year cirrhosis prevalence of 14.8% (95% CR, 7.5 to 25.5). The second study measured the association between successful antiviral therapy and quality of life. We demonstrated that sustained responders to therapy had higher scores on the hepatitis-specific Medical Outcomes Survey Short-Form-36 (SF-36), Health Utilities Index Mark 2/3 (HUI2/3), and time-tradeoff (TTO) than treatment failures, an average of 3.7 years following antiviral therapy. The third study assessed rates of adherence to antiviral therapy and rates of sustained response in current or former iii substance abusers on methadone maintenance. We demonstrated that while use of illicit substances prior to therapy negatively affected adherence, rates of sustained response were comparable to non-substance abusing populations. Our work indicates the future burden of disease in current and former substance abusers, demonstrates that antiviral therapy can be successful in this population, and indicates that the benefits of successful therapy may extend beyond decreased disease burden to improved quality of life.

This study examines the problem of form and substance in Canadian tax jurisprudence, which has been characterized by a troubling equivocation between formalistic and substantive approaches in cases involving tax avoidance transactions with the current period of jurisprudence dominated by formalism. The vacillation of Canadian jurisprudence contrasts with the consistently substantive tax jurisprudence of the United States. The latter situation discloses an unresolved doctrinal tension in Canadian tax jurisprudence between two viable doctrinal alternatives. This study seeks to resolve the problem of form and substance by finding the right answer to the problem by examining the tax policy, political, and legal philosophical implications of formalistic jurisprudence along with the manner in which the legal system as a whole (i.e. jurisprudence outside of tax law) rationally employs both form and substance for distinct purposes to solve distinct kinds of legal problems. Using the principles that are implied in the practices of the legal system as a whole, a right answer to the form and substance problem — one that is horizontally consistent or integral with the whole — suggest itself, namely that substantive, judge-made standards are the right solution to the problem of form and substance in Canadian tax jurisprudence and that formalism in tax jurisprudence is a legal aberration in the Canadian legal system.

¡iAbstract¡j Neurogenic inflammation can be initiated by activation of sensory nerves to release neuropeptides, including tachykinins and calcitonin gene-related peptide. Capsaicin stimulation induces the release of substance P, the most important tachykinin and other neurotransmitters from sensory nerves to cause an increase of plasma leakage via the binding of substance P to NK1 receptors on endothelial cells. It has been proven that hyperthermic pretreatment decreases microvascular protein leakage and attenuates hypotension in anaphylactic shock in rats. Heat shock proteins¡]HSPs¡^are families of phylogenetically conserved molecules that have a protective role in all living cells under stress . Heat shock proteins are induced by whole-body hyperthermia and persist for 6 days. To establish the relationship between heat shock and neurogenic inflammation, the present study investigated whether whole-body hyperthermia pretreatment, at 42 ¢J for 15 min in rats 1 day earlier, could suppress inflammatory response in the lower airways and esophagus evoked by capsaicin (90 &#x00B5;g/ml/kg) or substance P (3 &#x00B5;g/ml/kg ). The magnitude of neurogenic inflammation in the trachea and bronchi was expressed by the area density of India ink-labeled leaky blood vessels in the airway mucosa. One day after heat shock pretreatment, capsaicin-evoked inflammation was reduced by one half to two thirds, and reduced substance P-evoked inflammation by one third. Six days after exposure to heat shock, neurogenic inflammation was not inhibited. HSPs appeared overexpressed in trachea and esophagus tissue in the rats one day after hyperthermia, but was less expressed 6 days after hyperthermia. It is suggested that exposure of the rats to whole-body hyperthermia caused an increased production of HSPs that might influence the affinity of the binding of substance P to NK1 receptors on venule endothelial cells, and reduce the amount of neurogenic plasma leakage.

In recent years, LEV and hybrid has been gradually popularized due to the energy crisis and increasing environmental awareness. The prevalence of LEV is to use batteries to replace the power from the gasoline. Secondary lithium battery is a good option for LEV since it has the features of light weights, high power density, long life, low pollution, and works without memory effect. However, the safety is a concern for end-users with more and more recalls of lithium-ion batteries involving the explosions. The purpose of this research is to propose a systematic approach of battery safety device with an engineering design method. The analysis on the factors affecting the safety is prior to the objective of this study as to define the specification of the battery safety device. Then, substance-field analysis and standard is to improve the initial systematic model, and the solution is specified with the synthesis of morphological matrix. Under the safety test for batteries, the effectiveness and feasibility of protected device is eventually verified.