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Lessons from successes and failures of AIDS epidemic could inform our response to opioid crisis

There are important lessons to be learned from the successes and failures of the AIDS response that could inform our response to the opioid epidemic, according to a new paper by researchers at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

4 Jan 2019

Higher levels of nicotine may help quit smoking, research suggests

Allowing smokers to determine their nicotine intake while they are trying to quit is likely to help them kick the habit, according to an early study in 50 people led by Queen Mary University of London.

2 Jan 2019

Study assesses when opioid overdose patients can be safely discharged after naloxone treatment

Naloxone has saved thousands of lives. But can patients be safely discharged from the Emergency Department (ED) just an hour after they receive the medication that curtails drug overdoses?

28 Dec 2018

Research findings expand understanding of how memory works

Two Veterans Affairs researchers have explored how memory is tied to the hippocampus, with findings that will expand scientists' understanding of how memory works.

27 Dec 2018

Researchers uncover genes that play a key role in the inactivation of X chromosomes

In cell biology, men and women are unequal: men have an X chromosome, while women have two. How can we get around this difference?

19 Dec 2018

New study confirms geographic bias in lung allocation for transplant

Results of a medical records study of more than 7,000 patients awaiting a lung transplant in the United States affirm the basis of a court filing in 2017 that called the organ allocation system geographically "rigged" in some regions of the nation.

17 Dec 2018

Early physical therapy associated with reduction in opioid use

Patients who underwent physical therapy soon after being diagnosed with pain in the shoulder, neck, low back or knee were approximately 7 to 16 percent less likely to use opioids in the subsequent months, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Duke University School of Medicine.

14 Dec 2018

Nurse denied life insurance because she carries naloxone

Bloodwork was supposed to be the last step in Isela’s application for life insurance. But when she arrived at the lab, her appointment had been canceled.

14 Dec 2018

Fentanyl surpasses heroin in cause of U.S. drug overdose deaths

According to a new report from health officials, Fentanyl – a synthetic opioid drug, is surpassing heroin as cause of drug overdose deaths in the United States. The report was released 12th of December 2018 in the CDC’s National Vital Statistics Report.

13 Dec 2018

Findings reinforce guidelines for cautious use of antipsychotics in younger populations

Children and young adults without psychosis who are prescribed high-dose antipsychotic medications are at increased risk of unexpected death, despite the availability of other medications to treat their conditions, according to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center study published today in JAMA Psychiatry.

13 Dec 2018

FDA clears mobile medical app to help increase retention in recovery program for opioid use disorder

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared a mobile medical application (app) to help increase retention (the amount of time a patient participates) in an outpatient treatment program for individuals with opioid use disorder.

10 Dec 2018

VCU researchers test vaccine against opioid abuse

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers are testing a vaccine against opioid abuse developed by the Scripps Research Institute in California. The vaccine is meant to block the effects of heroin and fentanyl in patients with opioid use disorder.

7 Dec 2018

Protecting powerhouse of cells could provide better way to treat acute kidney injury

For the first time, scientists have described the body's natural mechanism for temporarily protecting the powerhouses of kidney cells when injury or disease means they aren't getting enough blood or oxygen.

6 Dec 2018

Heroin-assisted treatment can offer benefits, reduce harms

Providing supervised access to medical-grade heroin to people whose use continues after trying multiple traditional treatments has been successful in other countries, and should be piloted and studied in the United States, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

6 Dec 2018

Telemedicine for treating substance use disorders remains underused, study shows

Despite the enormous unmet need for treatment of substance use disorders and the promise of telemedicine to fill some of the gaps in care, the tool remains woefully underused, according to research led by investigators from the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School.

5 Dec 2018

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What the Health?’ Reading the tea leaves in blue wave’s wake

This week, "What the Health?" panelists discuss, among other things, how the House Democrats' leadership battle could affect the congressional health policy agenda.

29 Nov 2018

First-of-its-kind undertaking to study genetic, biological factors that contribute to development of opioid use disorder

The Coriell Institute for Medical Research, Cooper University Health Care and Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) are launching the Camden Opioid Research Initiative (CORI), a first-of-its-kind undertaking to investigate the genetic and biological factors that contribute to the development of opioid use disorder (also referred to as opioid dependence or addiction).

29 Nov 2018

Johns Hopkins researchers report challenges in treating severe crisis pain of sickle cell disease

In a study tracking the severe crisis pain of sickle cell disease and its management in 73 adults over a period of a year, Johns Hopkins researchers found that even among those on high doses of daily at-home opioids, a persistent subset was more likely to seek emergency hospital care for crisis pain and was less likely to have the pain controlled by intensive treatment.

27 Nov 2018

Brigham investigators examine opioid use among Massachusetts adolescents, prescription trends

Opioid-related overdoses and deaths remain a major public health concern in Massachusetts, yet adolescents who experience opioid-related nonfatal overdose have been rarely studied.

13 Nov 2018

Suicidal patients with prescribed access to psychotropic drugs should be closely monitored

As prescriptions for psychotropic drugs increase, researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have found that prescribed access to anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic medications may make it easier for some patients to use the drugs in attempted suicides.