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SAMHSA accepts applications for Prevention Fellowship Program

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is accepting applications for its Prevention Fellowship Program. The Fellowship Program, launched in 2006, is designed to build a workforce of highly competent substance abuse prevention professionals.

7 Aug 2010

SVH launches Guiding Stars nutrition guidance program

The highly regarded Guiding Stars nutrition guidance program - now available in more than 1,500 grocery stores and schools - today announces its partnership with Sebasticook Valley Hospital (SVH) in Pittsfield, Maine to launch the nutrition guidance program in a hospital for the first time. Guiding Stars will rate prepared meals, snacks, and grab-and-go items according to their nutritional value in the hospital cafeteria. Each item rated will receive zero to three stars for an at-a-glance summary of the food's nutritional quality.

4 Aug 2010

Study on substance abuse patterns, treatment needs among minority groups

A new national study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reveals that Hispanic-American adults have lower levels of current alcohol use than the national average (46.1 percent versus 55.2 percent). Hispanic-American adults also have lower levels of current illicit drug use than the national average (6.6 percent versus 7.9 percent), but a slightly higher level of current binge drinking (26.3 percent versus 24.5 percent).

3 Aug 2010

Oil spill inflicts widespread psychological distress among coastal residents: Survey

The oil spill ravaging the Gulf of Mexico has inflicted widespread psychological distress among coastal residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, etching scars even deeper than those whipped by Hurricane Katrina, according to a survey by Ochsner Health System, a nonprofit, academic healthcare delivery system.

31 Jul 2010

Wash. regulations would restrict pain killer prescriptions; Texas Lt. Gov. bemoans costs associated with health law; Fla. insurance pilot project shows early success

The New York Times: "In an unusual move, a state government is developing regulations meant to stop doctors from prescribing higher doses of powerful — and often dangerous — pain killers for patients who are not benefiting from them. The effort, in Washington State, represents the most sweeping attempt yet to stem what some experts see as the excessive use of prescribed narcotics, and it is being closely watched by medical professionals elsewhere.

30 Jul 2010

Transforaminal injection of steroids is a viable alternative for lumbar radicular pain surgery

A recent study from Australian researchers determined that transforaminal injection of steroids was a viable alternative to surgery for lumbar radicular pain due to disc herniation. Full details of the study appear in the August issue of Pain Medicine, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, and the International Spine Intervention Society.

30 Jul 2010

Therapists introduce new parenting skills to end child maltreatment

Mothers who live in poverty and who have abused their children can stop if they are taught parenting skills and given emotional support. A new study has found that mothers in families in which there is a history of child abuse and neglect were able to reduce how much they cursed at, yelled at, slapped, spanked, hit or rejected their children after a series of home visits from therapists who taught them parenting skills.

28 Jul 2010

Today's OpEds: Health reform and long-term care; Health care incentives; Reasons for optimism or repeal and replace?

Our system of long-term care does not provide adequate or coordinated human services and medical treatment for our growing aging population. … Thanks to a provision of the new health care law known as the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports program, tomorrow's continuum of care does not have to be so unforgiving. For the first time, a voluntary public insurance program will be available to help adults and families pay for long-term care services (Bruce Chernof, 7/23).

26 Jul 2010

ACLU says some nursing homes use 'scare tactics' to keep psychiatric patients

The American Civil Liberties Union says in court papers that some for-profit nursing home operators are using "scare tactics" to persuade psychiatric patients to stay in their facilities. "The action follows a historic court settlement in which Illinois authorities pledged to offer supportive community-based housing and treatment to roughly 4,500 psychiatric patients who now live in two dozen large nursing homes designated as Institutions for Mental Diseases.

23 Jul 2010

New model for scaling up treatment, prevention of HIV amongst IDUs

Against the backdrop of some of the globe's fastest growing HIV epidemics in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, a report launched today at the XVIII International AIDS conference in Vienna makes the case for a new model for scaling up treatment and prevention of HIV amongst Injecting Drug Users.

23 Jul 2010

Health bodies to discuss steps to further reduce mother to child HIV transmission

Transmission of HIV to children before or at birth has dropped dramatically around the country in the last decade since the advent of powerful new therapies. That certainly is true for Florida, where each year, fewer than 10 babies are born with the disease despite the fact that more than 600 HIV-positive women each year, on average, give birth.

23 Jul 2010

Positive family relationships, religious affiliation mediate impact on illicit drug use

American-Indian adolescents continue to have the highest rates of illicit drug use among all ethnic groups. Although previous research has found that increasing adolescent exposure to protective factors can reduce their risk for substance abuse, this has not been thoroughly examined in American-Indian adolescents. Recent findings from a University of Missouri study reveal that positive family relationships and religious affiliation can counteract risk factors - including addicted family members, exposure to violence and deviant peers - associated with drug use.

21 Jul 2010

AHRQ: 12M people with mental health, substance abuse problems visited emergency department in 2007

Nearly 12 million visits made to U.S. hospital emergency departments in 2007 involved people with a mental disorder, substance abuse problem, or both, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This accounts for one in eight of the 95 million visits to emergency departments by adults that year.

17 Jul 2010

Pain medication abuse soars

The Associated Press: "A new government study finds a 400 percent increase in the number of people admitted to treatment for abusing prescription pain medication. The increase in substance abuse among people ages 12 and older was recorded during the 10-year-period from 1998 to 2008. It spans every gender, race, ethnicity, education and employment level, and all regions of the country" (7/15).

17 Jul 2010

First Edition: July 16, 2010

Indiana's Medicaid chief told lawmakers Thursday that the federal government has largely left states in the dark on implementing the federal health care overhaul because it hasn't yet provided needed guidelines (The Associated Press).

16 Jul 2010

Treatment admissions for abuse of prescription pain relievers increases by over 400%: Study

The proportion of all substance abuse treatment admissions of those aged 12 and older involving abuse of prescription pain relievers rose by over 400 percent from 2.2 percent in 1998 to 9.8 percent in 2008 according to a new study be the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). This dramatic rise in the proportion of admissions associated with the abuse of these drugs occurred among nearly all segments of the population regardless of age, gender, educational level and employment status.

16 Jul 2010

Active family engagement is important for recovery from substance abuse, chemical dependency

Active family engagement and commitment is one of the most underappreciated aspects of recovery from substance abuse and chemical dependency, according to clinical staff at Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center, a leading eating disorder and addiction treatment center.

16 Jul 2010

Columbia scientists discover new way to alleviate chronic pain

Columbia scientists working to combat injury-related depression, substance abuse and suicide due to unremitting, persistent pain may have discovered a new way of treating that pain: a powerful analgesic dubbed N60 that leads to neither tolerance nor addiction.

16 Jul 2010

8.8% of drug-related hospital emergency department visits by adolescents is a suicide attempt

A new series of studies analyzing drug-related hospital emergency department visits throughout the country during 2008 reveals a substantial percentage of these visits involve suicide attempts. According to these studies conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) more than one in every twelve (8.8 percent) drug-related hospital emergency department visit by an adolescent is a suicide attempt - double the rate found among cases involving those age 25 and older (4.4 percent).

15 Jul 2010

VCU receives $20M NIH grant to join national consortium of research centers

Virginia Commonwealth University announced Wednesday it has received a $20 million grant - the largest federal award in its history - from the National Institutes of Health to become part of a nationwide consortium of research institutions working to turn laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients.

15 Jul 2010

Substance Abuse News and Research

SAMHSA accepts applications for Prevention Fellowship Program

SVH launches Guiding Stars nutrition guidance program

Study on substance abuse patterns, treatment needs among minority groups

Oil spill inflicts widespread psychological distress among coastal residents: Survey

Wash. regulations would restrict pain killer prescriptions; Texas Lt. Gov. bemoans costs associated with health law; Fla. insurance pilot project shows early success

Transforaminal injection of steroids is a viable alternative for lumbar radicular pain surgery

Therapists introduce new parenting skills to end child maltreatment

Today's OpEds: Health reform and long-term care; Health care incentives; Reasons for optimism or repeal and replace?

ACLU says some nursing homes use 'scare tactics' to keep psychiatric patients

New model for scaling up treatment, prevention of HIV amongst IDUs

Health bodies to discuss steps to further reduce mother to child HIV transmission

Positive family relationships, religious affiliation mediate impact on illicit drug use

AHRQ: 12M people with mental health, substance abuse problems visited emergency department in 2007

Pain medication abuse soars

First Edition: July 16, 2010

Treatment admissions for abuse of prescription pain relievers increases by over 400%: Study

Active family engagement is important for recovery from substance abuse, chemical dependency

Columbia scientists discover new way to alleviate chronic pain

8.8% of drug-related hospital emergency department visits by adolescents is a suicide attempt

VCU receives $20M NIH grant to join national consortium of research centers

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

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