Feature Channels: Addiction

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Two landmark developments in medicine pave the way for quality medical care to address America’s largest and most costly preventable health problem – unhealthy substance use and addiction involving all addictive substances. These changes are designed to increase the number of addiction medicine physician specialists who can provide direct patient care and consultation, teach other providers and thereby drive knowledge across health care, and help policymakers and the public understand and effectively respond to our current health crisis.

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Unique partnership between health system and county in Delaware will help individuals receive addiction treatment and support after they are released from the emergency department following treatment from an opioid overdose.

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GeneReach provides world’s leading point-of-need nucleic acid detection products based on insulated isother mal PCR (iiPCR).

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Dr. Michelle Lofwall was among the experts tapped to assist in the development of guidelines regarding the use of medication in the treatment of opioid use disorder.

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The number of pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admissions for opioid overdoses doubled between 2004 and 2015, despite continuing efforts to curb misuse of the addictive painkillers among adults, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine published in the journal Pediatrics.

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Each year in the U.S., more than 40,000 patients need a liver transplant because of complications associated with cirrhosis and liver failure. Alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) alone accounts for nearly 30 percent of all liver transplants, yet up to 50 percent of patients with alcoholism return to drinking within five years of undergoing a liver transplant. Many transplant centers now require a minimum of six months of alcohol abstinence prior to placing candidates on the United Organ Network Sharing waiting list. This pilot study examined the use of text messaging as an alcohol relapse-prevention intervention for patients with ALD scheduled to undergo a liver transplant.

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About 3 out of 4 Americans agree that smoking cigarettes causes health problems, but public perception of the risks posed by smoking may be declining, according to a Duke Health study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

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Emerging adulthood (between ages 18-25) is a period of critical vulnerability for problematic alcohol use. A substantial amount of research has examined alcohol risks in college-student populations, while much less research has focused on emerging adults who are not attending college. This study investigated the effectiveness of a brief personalized feedback intervention (PFI) tailored for nonstudent at-risk drinkers, the influence of gender on intervention outcomes, and the acceptability of the intervention to participants.

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States with robust tobacco control policies and regulations, such as smoke free air laws and taxes on cigarettes, not only have fewer cigarette users but also fewer e-cigarette users, according to research from NYU School of Medicine and the NYU College of Global Public Health.

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Finger Lakes Instrumentation (FLI) launches INCITE Cube Switcher.

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Most of Pennsylvania’s high school and middle school students are tobacco-free, but the use of cigarettes and their digital counterpart, e-cigarettes, is still a cause for concern, according to Penn State researchers.

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New research from an American University professor finds that teen attitudes towards drinking can be changed with the help of a short public service announcement.

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A new study led by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital used data from a national survey to examine the effectiveness of state-level cellphone laws in decreasing teens’ use of cellphones while driving. The study, done in conjunction with researchers from West Virginia University and the University of Minnesota, and published today in Journal of Adolescent Health, looked at state-level cellphone laws and differences in both texting and hand-held cellphone conversations among teen drivers across four years.

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Officials from five states including Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas gathered at UT Southwestern Medical Center today for a regional summit with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to address the nation’s $78 billion opioid crisis.

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Parents who allow their young children to occasionally sip and taste alcohol may be contributing to an increased risk for alcohol use and related problems when those kids reach late adolescence, according to a new study by a University at Buffalo psychologist. The findings contradict the common belief that letting kids sip and taste alcoholic drinks is harmless, and might even help to promote responsible drinking later in life.

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Akatsuki Technology Co Ltd is a Japanese company, http://www.akatsuki-tech.com, which is specified in designation & making "Ultra-High-Precision Optical glass components".

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Analyzing the genetics and smoking habits of more than half a million people has shed new light on the complexities of controlling blood pressure, according to a study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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A drug used to slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease could offer clues on how drugs might one day be able to reverse brain changes that affect learning and memory in teens and young adults who binge drink.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have achieved a major milestone toward designing a safe and effective vaccine to both treat heroin addiction and block lethal overdose of the drug.

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Cholesterol in muscular dystrophy; synergy between alcohol and hepatitis in cholesterol levels; bacterial lipids in healthy arteries.

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Women have become increasingly involved in drunk driving and fatal crashes. However, much of the research on drunk driving has been conducted using predominantly male samples. Little is known about the life context, psychiatric histories, and family backgrounds of women arrested for drunk driving. This study was based on interviews with women arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI); the study also compared women with single DUIs with those who had multiple DUI convictions.

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Although it has been known that alterations in the connections between neurons in the brain likely play a role in alcohol dependence and other addictions, the cause-and-effect between these brain alterations and behavior has been less clear.

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Opioid users have a significantly increased risk of infections severe enough to require treatment at the hospital, such as pneumonia and meningitis, as compared to people who don’t use opioids.

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Study results may provide mechanism to make opioids safer and more efficient

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Indiana University researchers scanned the brains of individuals with alcohol abuse disorder to find the neurotransmitter glutamate may play a role in some addition cravings.

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A new study, led by researchers at RTI International, surveyed more than 1,900 adults in Oregon prior to the legalization of marijuana in the state and found that more than half (52.5%) consider alcohol to be more harmful than marijuana while few (7.5%) believe marijuana is more harmful to a person’s health.

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Binge or heavy episodic drinking (HED) – defined as four or more drinks in a two-hour period – among U.S. university women has increased by 40 percent during the past 30 years. This dramatic development suggests that women are “closing the gender gap” by drinking at rates similar to those of men. Feminine norms – beliefs and expectations about what it means to be a woman – may play a role in altering drinking patterns among this group. This study examined trajectories of HED among young adult women and the gender-relevant factors that may predict these trajectories.

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Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found a significant number of children across four regions in the United States were determined to have fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). The new findings may represent more accurate prevalence estimates of FASD among the general population than prior research.

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The five-year grant will support five individual research projects and three core resources at the TSRI Alcohol Research Center.

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A new website will provide a vital link for Kentucky health care providers, court officials, families and individuals seeking options for substance abuse treatment and recovery. “Find Help Now KY” (www.findhelpnowky.org) will deliver real-time information about available space in substance use disorder treatment program, and guide users to the right type of treatment for their needs.

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Genetic epidemiology is the study of how genetic factors may influence health. Twin and adoption studies have shown that about half of the risk of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) is due to differences in the genotypes that people carry, yet few specific genes that play a causal role have been identified. Scientists believe AUDs are highly polygenic – involving many genes – likely thousands. However, genetic risk for AUD may differ among populations. This study evaluated whether the genetic risk for AUDs differed among four population samples.

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Researchers found that adolescents not susceptible to smoking cigarettes and who thought e-cigarettes were less harmful were more likely to use e-cigarettes. This UNC study found that 26 percent of those surveyed were at high risk for future e-cigarette use.

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More than 1,900 officers from 30 police departments will soon be equipped to administer Narcan® when they encounter someone overdosing from opioids, thanks to a collaboration between Loyola Medicine and the Cook County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

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American Indians who drink alcohol are often collectively characterized as having greater risks for alcohol problems, alcohol misuse, and alcohol-use disorders. Indeed, despite high abstinence rates, American Indians experience elevated rates of many alcohol and other drug problems. However, American Indians also predominantly reside in poor and rural areas. This study investigated whether geographic areas that included reservations or large American Indian populations had greater incidences of alcohol- and drug-related hospitalizations.

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West Virginia University doctoral candidate Joshua Gross is investigating how a particular protein influences the brain's response to cocaine and psychostimulants with abuse potential, including methamphetamine, Adderall and Ritalin.

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In a six-month study recently concluded, a research unit affiliated with two hospital institutions and a university in Ottawa found that a reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked daily also reduced a smoker’s dependence on opioids.

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Several health organizations, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, have recommended dose reduction and risk mitigation strategies to reduce adverse events for patients on chronic opioid therapy. A new study published in The Journal of Pain reports that patients with chronic pain treated in centers with opioid-dose reduction policies show no clinically meaningful differences in pain intensity, interference with daily activities, enjoyment of life, or depressive symptoms. The Journal of Pain is published by the American Pain Society, www.americanpainsociety.org.

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Jenoptik, an industry leader in high performance optical systems and healthcare & industry solutions, is pleased to announce the opening of a West Coast office to enhance customer proximity and leverage growth in the US.

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New York USA. Finger Lakes Instrumentation is pleased to introduce the Kepler KL400 cooled sCMOS camera; ideal for hyper-spectral imaging, orbital debris detection, super resolution microscopy, astronomy, and quantum imaging.

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New York USA. Finger Lakes Instrumentation is pleased to introduce the Signa line of industrial filter wheels; Ideal for machine inspection, LCD inspection and OEM applications.

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For patients who have never been prescribed opioids, larger numbers of tablets given with the initial prescription is associated with long-term use and more tablets leftover that could be diverted for misuse or abuse. Implementing a default option for a lower quantity of tablets in the electronic medical records (EMR) discharge orders may help combat the issue by “nudging” physicians to prescribe smaller quantities consistent with prescribing guidelines Penn Medicine researchers show in a new study published this week in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

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NovoPath, Inc. announces the integration of the NovoPathTM Anatomic Pathology Software Platform with Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution and Wholeslide Imaging System.

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WASHINGTON – AACC has issued a new guideline detailing how healthcare providers can use laboratory tests to manage treatment of pain and prevent prescription drug overdoses. Especially relevant in light of the worsening opioid epidemic, the guideline emphasizes increased collaboration between clinicians and laboratory experts as well as the use of more precise drug tests as key to identifying pain patients who are abusing their opioid prescriptions.