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Study reveals way to actively reverse anesthetic-induced unconsciousness

The latest study from a Massachusetts General Hospital/Massachusetts Institute of Technology team investigating the mechanisms underlying general anesthesia finds that stimulating a specific group of neurons in mice produces signs of arousal -- including getting on their feet and walking -- even as the animals continue to receive the anesthetic drug isoflurane.

27 Oct 2016

BMC opens new opioid urgent care center to treat patients with substance use disorders

Boston Medical Center, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Boston Public Health Commission, has launched a new opioid urgent care center to give patients with substance use disorders rapid access to a full continuum of treatment services.

18 Oct 2016

Urgent Matters announces recipients of Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award

Urgent Matters, Philips Blue Jay Consulting, and Schumacher Clinical Partners are pleased to announce the winners of the Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award, a competition to foster innovation in emergency departments nationwide.

17 Oct 2016

Wayne State receives NIH grant to study use of opioid addiction drug to fight relapse in recovering addicts

A team led by Wayne State University School of Medicine researcher Mark Greenwald, Ph.D., will use a four-year, $2,279,723 competitively renewed grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health to explore whether the opioid addiction treatment medication buprenorphine can decrease the magnitude and/or duration of responses to stressors faced by recovering addicts.

15 Oct 2016

Research findings reveal hidden potential contributors to maternal mortality

Intimate partner violence, substance use disorder and mental illness may be as threatening to health and survival during pregnancy in U.S cities as medical issues.

14 Oct 2016

Hospitalizations for injection drug use-related infective endocarditis increasing among young Americans

Hospitalizations for infective endocarditis, a heart valve infection often attributed to injection drug use, have increased significantly among young adult Americans--particularly in whites and females--according to a new study by researchers from Tufts Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine.

1 Sep 2016

Riverview Medical Center receives $120,000 to support addition of Addictions Counselor in the hospital

Riverview Medical Center Foundation is honored to announce a gift of $120,000 from the Tigger House Foundation that will support the addition of an Addictions Counselor in the hospital's emergency department.

5 Aug 2016

Study finds high rate of misuse of seizure and pain drug

With increasing public attention to overdose deaths and misuse of prescription medications in the United States, researchers today presented the results of a new study looking at abuse and misuse of gabapentin, a medication used to treat seizures and relieve nerve pain often associated with shingles.

3 Aug 2016

NABP report points rogue internet drug outlets serve as dealers to people purchasing controlled substances

Today, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) released its Internet Drug Outlet Identification Program Progress Report for State and Federal Regulators: July 2016.

30 Jul 2016

CVS Health to make opioid overdose-reversing drug more affordable for patients without insurance

CVS Health and Adapt Pharma today announced a new partnership that will make the opioid overdose-reversing drug NARCAN (Naloxone HCl) Nasal Spray more affordable for patients without insurance at CVS Pharmacy locations.

30 Jul 2016

Simple, inexpensive psychotherapy treatment as effective as CBT for treating depression in adults

A simple and inexpensive psychotherapy or talking therapy known as behavioural activation (BA) is as effective at treating depression in adults as the gold-standard cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and can be delivered by non-specialist staff with minimal training at far less cost, according to new research published in The Lancet.

25 Jul 2016

Patients with cLBP more likely to use illicit drugs, study reports

People living with chronic low back pain (cLBP) are more likely to use illicit drugs -- including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine -- compared to those without back pain, reports a study in Spine, published by Wolters Kluwer.

21 Jul 2016

Buprenorphine implants could be effective option to treat adults with opioid dependence

While buprenorphine has long been used to treat adults with opioid dependence, its efficacy can be hindered by lack of adherence to daily, sublingual (beneath the tongue) doses of the medication.

19 Jul 2016

Research highlights global burden of HIV and other infectious diseases among prisoners and detainees

Prisoners and detainees worldwide have higher burdens of HIV, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis than the communities from which they come, and the regular cycling of infected people in and out of incarceration is worsening the epidemics both inside and outside of prison, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health-led research suggests.

15 Jul 2016

Policies restricting opioid prescriptions could harm pain patients, suggests review

A recent review and analysis suggests that some policies restricting opioid prescriptions to curb overdose deaths could be harming those who need them the most: pain patients.

13 Jul 2016

Programs to prevent prescription drug misuse may be underused, study reveals

Misuse of prescription pain medications remains a major public health problem -- but programs to prevent it may be underused, according to a study in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

29 Jun 2016

Natural molecule NAC could benefit patients with Parkinson's disease

The natural molecule, n-acetylcysteine (NAC), with strong antioxidant effects, shows potential benefit as part of the management for patients with Parkinson's disease, according to a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE.

17 Jun 2016

Opioid use common among Medicare beneficiaries after hospital discharge

Nearly 15 percent of opioid-naïve patients hospitalized under Medicare are discharged with a new prescription for opioids, according to a study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.

15 Jun 2016

New survey reveals more than half of patients prescribed opioids have leftover pills

In the midst of an epidemic of prescription painkiller addiction and overdose deaths, a new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health survey suggests that more than half of patients prescribed opioids have leftover pills -- and many save them to use later.

14 Jun 2016

Study identifies persistent opioid use in some patients after knee or hip replacement

Many patients undergoing hip or knee replacement are still taking prescription opioid pain medications up to six months after surgery, reports a study in PAIN, the official publication of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

1 Jun 2016