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Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health report almost no change in nonmedical prescription opioid use or opioid use disorder after states enacted medical marijuana laws. Overall, opioid use disorder among prescription opioid users decreased slightly after passage of the laws. Until this study, there had been little research on medical marijuana laws' effects on the use of other substances (i.e., alcohol, opioids)--particularly, prescription opioid use misuse, and opioid use disorder. The findings are published online in JAMA Network Open.
What The Study Did: National registry data from five countries (Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Israel and Western Australia) were used to estimate the contribution of various genetic and nongenetic factors on the risk of autism spectrum disorder in this population-based study.
Authors: Sven Sandin, Ph.D., of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, is the corresponding author.
(doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.1411)
Isotretinoin (also known by its former brand name as Accutane or Roaccutane) is an extremely effective acne medication that can help patients whose severe acne has not responded to other drugs. But the drug is also a potent teratogen -- if a woman takes isotretinoin while pregnant, even for a short period of time, the risk of severe birth defects is high. In 2006, the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) imposed a special restricted distribution program, known as iPLEDGE, which has stringent, recurring requirements for patients, prescribing physicians and dispensing pharmacists.
In 2016, there were 87 million people diagnosed with gonorrhoea, the most antibiotic resistant of all the STIs. There is a global rise in gonorrhoea rates and, until now, no one has understood why.
Findings released today by a commission into health inequities experienced by people with mental illness lays bare their drastic physical health challenges, and recommends changes to health policy and treatment innovations to tackle what is regarded as a "human rights scandal".
What The Study Did: Researchers in this observational study looked at whether physical activity moderates the association of β-amyloid levels, a biomarker of Alzheimer disease, with cognitive decline and neurodegeneration over time in clinically normal older adults.
Author: Jasmeer P. Chhatwal, M.D., Ph.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston, is the corresponding author.
(doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2019.1879)
Review indicates that menstrual cups are a safe option for menstruation management
Around 70% of women wanted to continue using menstrual cups once they were familiar with how use them, but practice, peer support and training are key to initiation
Although there are 199 brands of menstrual cup, and cups are available in 99 countries, awareness is low - cups were only mentioned in 21 of 69 websites containing educational materials on puberty from 27 countries
An experimental treatment given to mice after a traumatic brain injury (TBI) reduced damage almost to the levels of mice that never had a TBI, researchers at UT Health San Antonio reported. The study was published July 4 in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism.
The scientists hope to convert the discovery into a simple and effective treatment for use in emergency rooms or by first responders shortly after a TBI has occurred in military and civilian settings. Currently, no treatment options exist for TBI patients.
In patients presenting to an emergency department with severe traumatic pain, intranasal sufentanil was as good as standard-of-care intravenous morphine for pain relief, according to a new study published this week in PLOS Medicine by Marc Blancher of Grenoble Alpes University Hospital, France, and colleagues.
First-ever study to ask people who use heroin what they want to be called finds "people first" language often best, and language suggesting misuse or dependence generally worst.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid overdoses were responsible for more than 42,000 deaths in 2016. Access to family members' drugs may be a strong risk factor for overdose in individuals without their own prescriptions, according to a new study by investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital. Their findings were published recently in JAMA Internal Medicine.
A molecular "trick" that kept our ancient ancestors from starving may now be contributing to the obesity epidemic, a new study finds.
In starvation times, researchers say, animals were more likely to survive if they could hoard and stretch out their stored energy. Even if an animal secured a rare feast, evolution smiled on the storage of excess fuel as fat, given the likelihood of a quick return to starvation.
University of Calgary researchers are the first to discover a previously unidentified cell population in the pericardial fluid found inside the sac around the heart. The discovery could lead to new treatments for patients with injured hearts. The study led by Drs. Paul Kubes, PhD, Justin Deniset, PhD and Paul Fedak, MD, PhD is published in the internationally recognized journal Immunity.
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have investigated the link between osteoarthritis and mortality in an epidemiological study. It was shown that the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease was higher for people with osteoarthritis than for the rest of the population.
CLEVELAND, Ohio (July 15, 2019)--Sleep disturbances are a frequent complaint of women in the menopause transition and postmenopause. A new study demonstrates that women with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) who are receiving hormone therapy have poorer sleep quality and greater fatigue than women of the same age with preserved ovarian function. Study results are published online in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).