Heroin Addiction News and Research

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Treating the new hep C generation on their turf

Once a week, Dr. Diana Sylvestre puts her medical expertise to use in a rickety old house frequented by drug users in this small Northern California city.

7 Dec 2017

A long and winding road: Kicking heroin in an opioid ‘treatment desert’

Heather Menzel squirmed in her seat, unable to sleep on the Greyhound bus as it rolled through the early morning darkness toward Bakersfield, in California's Central Valley.

11 Aug 2017

How physicians can prevent opioid abuse while providing adequate pain relief

Rather than being considered a miracle pill that magically takes away pain, prescription opioids are increasingly being seen as a precursor to heroin addiction and the cause of potentially deadly overdoses themselves.

19 Apr 2017

Oxytocin system may be key target for developing medications to treat opioid addiction

A new review of published research indicates that the oxytocin system—a key player in social reward and stress regulation—is profoundly affected by opioid use.

5 Apr 2017

Heroin use linked to epigenetic alterations in the brain

Heroin use is associated with excessive histone acetylation, an epigenetic process that regulates gene expression, and more years of drug use correlate with higher levels of hyperacetylation, according to research conducted at The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

22 Mar 2017

Heroin use linked to epigenetic alterations in the brain

The past few years have seen an explosion of heroin abuse and deaths from opiate overdose. But little is known about the molecular underpinnings of heroin addiction.

14 Mar 2017

Deep brain stimulation can reduce heroin relapse in rat models of addiction, TSRI study shows

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found that deep brain stimulation (DBS) can greatly reduce the compulsion to use heroin in standard rat models of addiction.

2 Feb 2017

MedUni Vienna scientists show that addictive cravings can be detected after death

A protein known as FosB in the reward centre of the brain alters in chronically ill people suffering from an addictive disorder (e.g. heroin addiction): it is genetically modified, split off and shortened.

21 Dec 2016

WSU pharmacologists find hyperbaric oxygen therapy can alleviate opiate withdrawal symptoms

Washington State University researchers have found that treatments of pure oxygen in a high-pressure chamber can relieve the symptoms of opiate withdrawal.

31 Aug 2016

Crackdown on Florida's 'pill mills' reduces painkiller overdose deaths

A crackdown on Florida's "pill mills" - clinics dispensing large quantities of prescription painkillers often for cash-only and without proper medical examinations - appears to have dramatically reduced the number of overdose deaths in the state from these drugs and may have also led to a drop in heroin overdose deaths, new research suggests.

22 Dec 2015

TSRI researchers awarded $1.6 million grant to advance preclinical studies of potential heroin vaccine

Now researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have been awarded a prestigious Translational Avant-Garde Award, which supports the development of medications for substance abuse disorders, from the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Drug Abuse.

20 Nov 2015

Study demonstrates that stress hormone cortisol can reduce heroin cravings

Every addiction is characterized by a strong desire for a certain addictive substance, be it nicotine, alcohol or other drug. Researchers at the University of Basel in Switzerland recently conducted a study on heroin addiction and demonstrated that the stress hormone cortisol can reduce addictive cravings.

29 Jul 2015

Heroin-assisted treatments benefit some drug users

Drug users who do not benefit from conventional treatments for heroin addiction should be able to access the drug through the health system, urges a Canadian expert in The BMJ today.

16 Apr 2015

Opioid withdrawal in Ontario newborns increases 15-fold

The number of newborns suffering from opioid withdrawal increased 15-fold in Ontario over 20 years, according to research published today in CMAJ Open.

12 Feb 2015

State highlights: Aging inmate care outside prison; Colo.'s teen birth rate drop; Minn. rural doc shortage

Providing health care to an aging prison population is a large and growing cost for states. Not only do inmates develop debilitating conditions at a younger age than people who are not incarcerated, but caring for them in the harsh environment of prisons is far more expensive than it is on the outside.

13 Aug 2014

First Edition: August 12, 2014

Today's headlines include stories about how the federal government's experience with healthcare.gov has led to the creation of the U.S. Digital Service.

12 Aug 2014

State highlights: Ohio managed care plans launch; Bluecross Blueshield plan faces Ore. lawsuit; N.Y. policy on unvaccinated children upheld

A selection of health policy stories from Ohio, Oregon, New York, Colorado, Iowa, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, California and Minnesota.

24 Jun 2014

Many heroin users transitioned from prescription opioids, finds study

A research paper published in the May 28, 2014 issue of JAMA Psychiatry a paper entitled "The Changing Face of Heroin Use in the United States A Retrospective Analysis of the Past 50 Years" concluded that heroin abuse has left low-income urban areas and has become prevalent in more affluent suburbs and rural areas with mostly white populations.

5 Jun 2014

State highlights: NYC plan for treating mentally ill; Kan. town gets abortion services again; Iowa medical marijuana

Mayor Bill de Blasio has asked several of his commissioners and aides to provide him with a plan by September to reduce the rate of incarceration among New Yorkers with mental illness. The effort, which City Hall will announce on Monday, is the administration's first major criminal justice initiative. Named the Task Force on Behavioral Health and the Criminal Justice System, it will include recommendations from the police and correction commissioners, the Manhattan district attorney, hospital administrators and judges (Goldstein, 6/1).

3 Jun 2014

Small financial incentives can improve people’s completion of HBV vaccination, study finds

Small financial incentives, totalling as little as £30, can dramatically increase the likelihood of people who inject drugs completing a course of hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination, according to new research published in The Lancet.

10 Apr 2014

Heroin Addiction News and Research

Treating the new hep C generation on their turf

A long and winding road: Kicking heroin in an opioid ‘treatment desert’

How physicians can prevent opioid abuse while providing adequate pain relief

Oxytocin system may be key target for developing medications to treat opioid addiction

Heroin use linked to epigenetic alterations in the brain

Heroin use linked to epigenetic alterations in the brain

Deep brain stimulation can reduce heroin relapse in rat models of addiction, TSRI study shows

MedUni Vienna scientists show that addictive cravings can be detected after death

WSU pharmacologists find hyperbaric oxygen therapy can alleviate opiate withdrawal symptoms

Crackdown on Florida's 'pill mills' reduces painkiller overdose deaths

TSRI researchers awarded $1.6 million grant to advance preclinical studies of potential heroin vaccine

Study demonstrates that stress hormone cortisol can reduce heroin cravings

Heroin-assisted treatments benefit some drug users

Opioid withdrawal in Ontario newborns increases 15-fold

State highlights: Aging inmate care outside prison; Colo.'s teen birth rate drop; Minn. rural doc shortage

First Edition: August 12, 2014

State highlights: Ohio managed care plans launch; Bluecross Blueshield plan faces Ore. lawsuit; N.Y. policy on unvaccinated children upheld

Many heroin users transitioned from prescription opioids, finds study

State highlights: NYC plan for treating mentally ill; Kan. town gets abortion services again; Iowa medical marijuana

Small financial incentives can improve people’s completion of HBV vaccination, study finds

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

From Puberty to Menopause: Clue’s CEO, Audrey Tsang on the Power of Femtech

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