Tag Archives: cannabis

Marijuana use and inpatient outcomes among hospitalized patients: analysis of the nationwide inpatient sample database

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Cancer Medicine

“The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between marijuana use and health outcomes among hospitalized patients, including those hospitalized with a diagnosis of cancer.

A total of 387,608 current marijuana users were identified based on ICD-9 codes for marijuana use among hospitalized patients in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database between 2007 and 2011. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association between marijuana use and heart failure, cardiac disease, stroke, and in-hospital mortality. All models were adjusted for age, gender, race, residential income, insurance, residential region, pain, and number of comorbidities.

Among hospitalized patients, marijuana use was associated with a 60% increased odds of stroke (OR: 1.60, 95% CI: 1.44–1.77) compared with non-users, but significantly reduced odds of heart failure (OR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.75–0.82), cardiac disease (OR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.82–0.91), or in-hospital mortality (OR: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.38–0.44).

Among cancer patients, odds of in-hospital mortality was significantly reduced among marijuana users compared with non-users (OR: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.35–0.55).

Hospitalized marijuana users were more likely to experience a stroke compared with non-users, but less likely to experience in-hospital mortality.”

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cam4.968/full

Cannabis and epilepsy: An ancient treatment returns to the fore.

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“Cannabis has been associated with the treatment of epilepsy throughout history, and if ancient Assyrian sources referring to “hand of ghost” are considered credible, this relationship may span four millennia.

A tradition of usage continued in Arabic medicine and Ayurvedic practice in India, which led, in turn, to early experiments in Europe and North America with “Indian hemp.”

Lack of standardization, bioavailability issues, and ultimately prohibition were all factors in cannabis-based medicines failing to maintain mainstream usage in seizure treatment, but investigation was resumed in the 1970s with interesting signals noted in both laboratory and clinical settings.

Early case studies showed promise, but lacked sufficient rigor. Resumption of research coupled with mass experimentation by families of epilepsy patients has led to intense interest in cannabis-based medicines for its treatment once more, with greatest focus on cannabidiol, but additional investigation of tetrahydrocannabinol, tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, and other phytocannabinoids.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27989385

Bidirectional Effects of Cannabidiol on Contextual Fear Memory Extinction

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“Cannabidiol (CBD) is the major non-psychotropic constituent of the Cannabis plant and has anxiolytic therapeutic potential.

Cannabidiol (CBD) has been established to have both acute and long-lasting effects to reduce fear memory expression.

We showed that under conditions of strong fear conditioning, CBD reduced contextual fear memory expression both acutely during the extinction session as well as later at a fear retention test.

This pattern of results is consistent with CBD enhancing contextual fear memory extinction when the initial conditioning is strong, but impairing extinction when conditioning is weak. This bidirectional effect of CBD may be related to stress levels induced by conditioning and evoked at retrieval during extinction, rather than the strength of the memory per se.

 In summary, CBD had bidirectional effects on the extinction of contextual fear conditioning, depending on the nature of the initial fear conditioning. Nevertheless, in the more translationally-relevant stronger conditioning setting, CBD both acutely inhibited fear expression and enhanced extinction to produce longer lasting reductions in fear.
These observations provide further support for the potential translational use of CBD in conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder and specific phobias.”

http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2016.00493/full?utm_source=S-TWT&utm_medium=SNET&utm_campaign=ECO_FPHAR_XXXXXXXX_auto-dlvrit%0A

In vitro Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activity of Extracts from Six Chemotypes of Medicinal Cannabis

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“Nowadays, medicinal cannabis (Cannabis sativa L) is in the focus of the researches not only for its high content of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), but for other cannabinoids as well.

It has been reported that some of the identified substances (e.g. cannabidiol, cannabinochromene) possess anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, which corresponds to its traditional use as wound healing agent at Pakistan.

The aim of this study was to evaluate antimicrobial and antioxidant ability of extracts from high potent Cannabis sativa chemotypes.

The six ethanolic extracts prepared from dried inflorescence of five medicinal cannabis chemotypes (Nurse Jackie, Jilly Bean, Nordle, Jack Cleaner, Conspiracy Kush) were tested by standard microdilution method against Staphylococcus aureus (three strains), Streptococcus pyogenes and the yeast Candida albicans.

Those microbial strains are present on skin and can cause complication during wound healing process.

The antioxidative activity, which plays an important role in wound healing process, was tested by oxygen radical absorbance capacity test (ORAC).

All tested extracts demonstrated high antimicrobial activity against two strains of S. aureus and S. pyogenes (MIC ranged from 4 – 16 µg·mL-1), moreover high antioxidant capacity was observed (ORAC ranged from 800 – 1300 µg TE/mg of extract).

The results indicate that cannabis has high potential to be used in ointments and other material for wound healing.

However, further research on the identification of the active components is needed.”

https://www.thieme-connect.com/DOI/DOI?10.1055/s-0036-1596302

Inhibition of cervical cancer cell proliferation by cannabidiol

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“Seventy phytocannabinoids are now known to be synthesized by Cannabis sativa (marijuana)]. The major non-psychoactive cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) exhibits antiproliferative effects against breast, cervix, colon, glioma, leukemia, ovary, prostate, and thyroid cancer cells. In this study, we investigated the antiproliferative effect of CBD on the ME-180 cervical cancer cell line. The results of our study suggest that CBD exerts its antiproliferative effect via multiple mechanisms, and it could be a potential treatment for cervical cancer.”

https://www.thieme-connect.com/DOI/DOI?10.1055/s-0036-1596862

IN VITRO ANTIMICROBIAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF TWO MEDICINAL PLANTS AGAINST SOME CLINICALLY IMPORTANT BACTERIA

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“The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antimicrobial potential of Amaranthus viridis (Chowlai) and Cannabis sativa (Bhang) against clinically important bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli.

The study revealed that leaves of A. viridis and C. sativa possess broad spectrum antimicrobial activity and natural antioxidants that can be of considerable pharmaceutical importance.

Leaf and stem extracts of A. viridis and C. sativa demonstrated a broad spectrum efficacy against Grampositive and Gram-negative bacteria. These plants also exhibited good antioxidant activity.”

https://fuuast.edu.pk/biology%20journal/images/pdfs/2016/june/paper17.pdf

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Marijuana Can Cure Epilepsy: Recent Studies Done By Scientists Of Birmingham Epilepsy Center Revealed

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“A series of trials on marijuana to treat epilepsy is conducted by the Birmingham Epilepsy Center revealed that Cannabidiol (CBD), purified from Cannabis plant or commonly known marijuana, has high beneficial effects in the treatment of epileptic patients. The study revealed that oral administration of CBD oil caused a significant reduction in the frequency of epileptic seizures in adult and pediatric patients.”

http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/53849/20161207/marijuana-cure-epilepsy-recent-studies-done-scientists-birmingham-center-revealed.htm

Cannabidiol Reduces Seizures in Various Epilepsy Disorders

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“A purified oral formulation of cannabidiol (CBD; Epidiolex, GW Pharmaceuticals) significantly reduces seizures in treatment-resistant epilepsy, according to new research that included double-blind randomized controlled trials of patients with Dravet syndrome (DS) and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), two of the most difficult-to-manage seizure conditions.

The new research, released here at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) 2016 Annual Meeting, also highlights the relative safety of this new drug, a prescription medicine derived from the cannabis plant.”

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/872763

Marijuana Compounds: A Nonconventional Approach to Parkinson’s Disease Therapy

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“Parkinson’s disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disorder, is the second most common neurological illness in United States. Neurologically, it is characterized by the selective degeneration of a unique population of cells, the nigrostriatal dopamine neurons.

The current treatment is symptomatic and mainly involves replacement of dopamine deficiency. This therapy improves only motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and is associated with a number of adverse effects including dyskinesia. Therefore, there is unmet need for more comprehensive approach in the management of PD.

Cannabis and related compounds have created significant research interest as a promising therapy in neurodegenerative and movement disorders. In this review we examine the potential benefits of medical marijuana and related compounds in the treatment of both motor and nonmotor symptoms as well as in slowing the progression of the disease. The potential for cannabis to enhance the quality of life of Parkinson’s patients is explored.

Marijuana has been shown to improve nonmotor symptoms of PD such as depression, pain, sleep, and anxiety. Moreover, components of cannabis have been demonstrated to have neuroprotective effect due to their anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and antiexcitotoxic properties.

Due to combination of the above mentioned beneficial effects, cannabis may provide a viable alternative or addition to the current treatment of Parkinson’s disease.”  https://www.hindawi.com/journals/pd/2016/1279042/

“Marijuana: Could it slow Parkinson’s disease progression? Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurological illness in the United States, causing tremors, slowness of movement, postural instability, and impaired balance and coordination. But findings from a new review suggest symptoms of the condition could be improved with marijuana.”  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/314648.php

“Marijuana Compounds: A Nonconventional Approach to Parkinson’s Disease Therapy.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28050308

Cannabidiol Modulates the Immunophenotype and Inhibits the Activation of the Inflammasome in Human Gingival Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

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“Human Gingival Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hGMSCs) are multipotential cells that can expand and differentiate in culture under specific and standardized conditions.

In the present study, we have investigated whether in vitro pre-treatment of hGMSCs with Cannabidiol(CBD) can influence their expression profile, improving the therapeutic potential of this cell culture.

In conclusion, the present study will provide a new simple and reproducible method for preconditioning hGMSCs with CBD, before transplantation, as an interesting strategy for improving the hGMSCs molecular phenotype, reducing the risk of immune or inflammatory reactions in the host, and in parallel, for increasing their survival and thus, their long-term therapeutic efficacy.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27932991