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New Canadian guideline lays out optimal strategies for treatment of opioid addiction

A new Canadian guideline for managing opioid use disorders lays out the optimal strategies for the treatment of opioid addiction, including recommending opioid agonist treatment with buprenorphine-naloxone as the preferred first-line treatment.

5 Mar 2018

Failed osteoarthritis drug may help lessen opioid dependence

A new study from Indiana University suggests that a drug proven safe for use in people may prevent opioid tolerance and physical dependence when used in combination with opioid-based pain medications.

27 Feb 2018

Antibiotic-producing bacterium releases more metabolites than assumed

The bacterium Streptomyces chartreusis is an antibiotic-producing bacterium that releases more metabolites into the surrounding medium than scientists assumed based on the analysis of the genome. Many of the substances are likely released to mediate interactions with its environment.

21 Feb 2018

Cannabis use triggers schizophrenia and other psychiatric issues

Schizophrenia and other psychiatric issues may be triggered by marijuana use, according to a research analysis in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.

12 Feb 2018

FDA warning against Kratom strengthened

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has amped up its warnings against popular herbal drug kratom. The new warning mentions the deadly risks associated with kratom including a case of a teenager who hanged himself under influence.

8 Feb 2018

Depression treatment helps non-cancer pain patients to stop taking opioids

Opioid cessation in non-cancer pain may be more successful when depression is treated to remission, a Saint Louis University study shows.

5 Feb 2018

Real-time information about stamp bags could serve as early warning of new illegal drugs

In just two years, the powerful opioid fentanyl went from nonexistent to detected in more than 1 in 7 stamp bags analyzed by the Allegheny County Office of the Medical Examiner, according to an analysis led by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Stamp bags are small wax packets that contain mixtures of illicit drugs, most commonly heroin, packaged for sale and sometimes stamped with a graphical logo by drug dealers to market their contents.

2 Feb 2018

Fentanyl may put users at risk of amnesia, WVU report reveals

A case report by a West Virginia University neuropsychologist suggests a new reason fentanyl- alone, or in combination with stimulants- may put substance users at risk, whether they take it knowingly or not. It may cause amnesia.

31 Jan 2018

1 in 7 patients at risk for persistent opioid use after lung surgery

While the use of opioids after surgery is intended as a short-term strategy to relieve pain, many patients who weren't prior opioid users continue to take the medication for several months after their lung operations, becoming dependent and "persistent opioid users," according to research presented today at the 54th Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

30 Jan 2018

Analysis reveals drop in long-term opioid use among military veterans

A new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, published by Springer, shows that opioid prescribing has dropped after a peak in 2012. Lead author Katherine Hadlandsmyth of the Iowa City VA Healthcare System and the University of Iowa in the US further noted that the decline was mostly due to decreases in long-term opioid prescribing, which carries much greater risk for harmful side effects, addiction and overdose, relative to short-term prescribing.

30 Jan 2018

Death in the family: An uncle’s overdose spurs Medicaid official to change course

Andrey Ostrovsky's family did not discuss what killed his uncle. He was young, not quite two weeks past his 45th birthday, when he died, and he had lost touch with loved ones in his final months. Ostrovsky speculated he had committed suicide.

29 Jan 2018

Researchers report impact of fluoride overdose on children’s teeth

Children are fluoride overdosed, from all sources, at levels once thought to protect against dental fluorosis (discolored teeth), researchers report in the Journal of Public Health Dentistry, (December 2017), reports the Fluoride Action Network.

24 Jan 2018

Efforts to reverse opioid epidemic remain beset by stigma

Efforts to reverse the nation's opioid epidemic remain beset by the stigma associated with drug use, a group of OHSU researchers write in a year-end review.

10 Jan 2018

An opioid remedy that works: Treat pain and addiction at the same time

Seven years ago, Robert Kerley, who makes his living as a truck driver, was loading drywall when a gust of wind knocked him off the trailer. Kerley fell 14 feet and hurt his back.

8 Jan 2018

Drug overdose deaths soar nationally but plateau in some Western states

The opioid crisis on the East Coast and in the Midwest has fueled a national surge in drug deaths, even as fatal overdoses have decreased or remained stable in parts of the West, new federal data show.

8 Jan 2018

Pharmacists slow to dispense lifesaving overdose drug

Gale Dunham, a pharmacist in Calistoga, Calif., knows the devastation the opioid epidemic has wrought, and she is glad the anti-overdose drug naloxone is becoming more accessible.

3 Jan 2018

Suicidal ideations, attempts linked to opioid use and pain sensitivity in elderly

A new study published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics suggests that suicidal ideations and suicide attempts are linked to opioid use and pain sensitivity in the elderly.

2 Jan 2018

Study opens up new avenues for stopping calcific aortic valve disease

The diminutive size of our aortic valve -- just shy of a quarter -- belies its essential role in pushing oxygen-rich blood from the heart into the aorta, our body's largest vessel, and from there to all other organs. Yet for decades, researchers have focused less on damaged valves than on atherosclerosis, the gradual hardening of the blood vessels themselves.

26 Dec 2017

Medicare fails to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in lab overcharges

Five years ago, Companion DX Reference Lab hoped to cash in on cutting-edge genetic tests paid for by Medicare.

15 Dec 2017

Study highlights need to focus on all opioid prescribers to curb epidemic

A cross-section of opioid prescribers that typically do not prescribe large volumes of opioids, including primary care physicians, surgeons and non-physician health care providers, frequently prescribe opioids to high-risk patients, according to a new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

29 Nov 2017