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Built for counterterrorism, this high-tech machine is now used to detect fentanyl

Sarah Mackin runs a cotton swab around the inside of a tiny plastic baggie that appears empty. She spreads whatever residue the swab picked up onto a test strip that resembles a Band-Aid, then slides the strip into a buzzing machine about the size of a boxed, take-home pie.

4 Dec 2019

Researchers create new technology to help understand how the body battles diseases

Much remains unknown about diseases and the way our bodies respond to them, in part because the human genome is the complete DNA assembly that makes each person unique. A Virginia Tech professor and his team of researchers have created new technology to help in understanding how the human body battles diseases.

3 Dec 2019

New PA program in Massachusetts to provide knowledge, skills to prescribe opiates safely

Morbidity and mortality from prescription and synthetic opioid use and abuse continues to be a U.S. public health issue. In an effort to help curtail this crisis, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine describe an approach to ensure Physician Assistant (PA) students graduating from any PA program in Massachusetts will have the knowledge and skills to prescribe opiates safely.

3 Dec 2019

Study reveals clue to preventing addiction relapse

With any addiction in which a user has successfully resisted a chemical, activity or substance, relapse is vexing. And with opioids, it's often deadly. Fatal overdoses following relapse from an opioid addiction is reaching epidemic proportions.

2 Dec 2019

New $300,000 grant-funded program to address opioid prescribing for cancer patients

The University of Illinois at Chicago has received a grant from the Coleman Foundation to develop a screening process for prescribing opioids and managing opioid use disorders in cancer patients who receive care at UI Health, UIC's clinical health enterprise.

2 Dec 2019

Risk of opioid overdose rises after de-addiction treatment completion

A study from Columbia University reveals that patients, who have been successfully treated with buprenorphine for opioid addiction, are at a greater risk of overdose after completion of the treatment. The study was titled, “Acute care, prescription opioid use, and overdose following discontinuation of long-term buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder”, and was published in the latest issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry. This study was funded and supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

2 Dec 2019

Consortium launches ambitious project to transform the treatment of pain

In an effort to address the critical public health need for new, safer and more effective medicines to treat pain, a consortium based at the Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School has launched an ambitious project titled STOP PAIN (Safe Therapeutic Options for Pain and Inflammation).

2 Dec 2019

Number of children requiring treatment for cannabis misuse failed to improve in the last 3 years

Public Health England has today revealed that a staggering 12,702 young people entered treatment last year because of problems with cannabis.

29 Nov 2019

Discrimination hampers successful addiction recovery

Even after resolving a problem with alcohol and other drugs, adults in recovery report experiencing both minor or "micro" forms of discrimination such as personal slights, and major or "macro" discrimination such as violation of their personal rights.

26 Nov 2019

Giving a shot of ketamine could help heavy drinkers reduce alcohol intake

A one-off dose of ketamine could help heavy drinkers reduce their alcohol intake, finds a new UCL experimental study.

26 Nov 2019

Study demonstrates potential therapeutic use of ketamine for alcohol addiction

A study shows one-off dose of ketamine could help heavy drinkers reduce alcohol intake by ‘erasing’ drink-related memories.

26 Nov 2019

Obese teenagers at risk for brain damage, suggests new study

A new study being presented at the yearly conference of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) reports that MRI scanning of the brain shows signs of brain damage in obese adolescents – and that these signs could be the result of brain inflammation.

25 Nov 2019

Opioid use during pregnancy alters the baby's brain

During pregnancy, everything taken in by the mother crosses the placenta. Opioid use during pregnancy is tied to changes in the baby’s brain, a new study found.

25 Nov 2019

Not yesterday’s cocaine: Death toll rising from tainted drug

A pain pill prescription for nerve damage revived Gwendolyn Barton's long-dormant addiction last year, awakening fears she would slip back into smoking crack cocaine.

25 Nov 2019

Parents using marijuana could raise risk of addictions among offspring

Researchers from Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital at Belmont, MA have found that parents using marijuana could be raising the risk of their children picking up addictions such as marijuana, tobacco, alcohol and even opiods misuse. Their study titled, “Associations of Parental Marijuana Use With Offspring Marijuana, Tobacco, and Alcohol Use and Opioid Misuse,” was published in the latest issue of the journal JAMA Network last week.

24 Nov 2019