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Common human gene variant linked to THC reward in adolescent females

A common variation in a human gene that affects the brain's reward processing circuit increases vulnerability to the rewarding effects of the main psychoactive ingredient of cannabis in adolescent females, but not males, according to preclinical research by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

12 Feb 2020

Sexual orientation affects skin cancer risk in the USA

A new study published in the journal JAMA Dermatology in February 2020 shows a higher rate of indoor tanning and a corresponding increase in skin cancer, among men with homosexual or bisexual preferences compared to heterosexual men.

12 Feb 2020

Conservative Indiana adopted needle exchanges but still faces local resistance

Back when Cody Gabbard was shooting heroin, his only significant human contact was with others in the throes of addiction, who only cared to see him when he had drugs.

12 Feb 2020

Adolescents with a history of ADHD at increased risk for many adverse outcomes

Adolescents with a history of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are at an increased risk for a multitude of adverse outcomes, including sexually-transmitted infections, mental health conditions, and car accidents.

11 Feb 2020

Better than other plans or better than nothing? Trump’s claim about ‘affordable’ options

In his wide-ranging State of the Union address, President Donald Trump returned to a favorite theme: the cost of health insurance.

11 Feb 2020

Good rehab is hard to find

Pattie Vargas saw with frightening clarity that her son Joel, 25 at the time, had a life-threatening drug problem. He came home one day in 2007 "high as a kite," went to bed and slept four days straight, Vargas, now a 65-year-old resident of Vacaville, California, recalls.

5 Feb 2020

A guide to following the health debate in the 2020 elections

Health has been a top issue in the presidential campaign during the past year: Not only do the Democratic candidates disagree with President Donald Trump, but they also disagree among themselves.

30 Jan 2020

New clinical guidelines call for psychosocial support for complex ADHD in children, adolescents

New clinical guidelines call strongly for providing psychosocial supports for children and adolescents with complex attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Developed by the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics (SDBP), the guideline provides a framework for diagnosing and treating complex ADHD in these age groups.

30 Jan 2020

Exploring link between elevated blood pressure early in life and dementia

Whether elevated blood pressure early in life translates to increased risk of dementia is a question scientists are working to answer.

28 Jan 2020

Puberty blockers reduce suicidal ideations among transgender teens

Transgender teens have a higher risk of having suicidal ideations, reports the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A new study suggests that having access to puberty blockers can significantly reduce the risk of suicide and other mental health issues.

26 Jan 2020

Despite new doubts, ‘hotspotting’ help for heavy health care users marches on

A highly publicized approach to lowering health costs failed to pass rigorous study this month, but hospitals, insurers and government health programs don't intend to give up on the idea.

24 Jan 2020

Collaborative project to address the local opioid epidemic

The University of Arizona is partnering with the Tucson Police Department, CODAC Health, Recovery & Wellness, and Pima County as part of a three-year, $1.47 million Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant to route people with opioid use disorders toward treatment instead of jail.

21 Jan 2020

Daily chronic pain, opioid use disorder add to the challenges of relieving pain among patients

The combination of more Americans reporting daily chronic pain and the rapidly increasing prevalence of opioid misuse and opioid use disorder (OUD) adds to the challenges of relieving patients' pain effectively and safely.

14 Jan 2020

Long-term antipsychotic therapy for schizophrenia is safe

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and their colleagues in Germany, the USA and Finland have studied the safety of very long-term antipsychotic therapy for schizophrenia.

11 Jan 2020

Family doctors in rural America tackle crisis of addiction and pain

Dr. Angela Gatzke-Plamann didn’t fully grasp her community’s opioid crisis until one desperate patient called on a Friday afternoon in 2016.

10 Jan 2020

Sadness often increases people's craving to smoke, shows study

What drives a person to smoke cigarettes - and keeps one out of six U.S. adults addicted to tobacco use, at a cost of 480,000 premature deaths each year despite decades of anti-smoking campaigns?

9 Jan 2020

University of Kentucky receives $3 million for opioid-related research in criminal justice setting

The University of Kentucky recently received $3 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and National Institute on General Medical Sciences to fund new opioid-related research in the criminal justice system.

9 Jan 2020

New clinical study to test retinal screening processes for early detection of Alzheimer's disease

The University of Rhode Island, in collaboration with BayCare Health System in Florida and The Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital, an affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, is launching a clinical trial of retinal screening processes that could help clinicians detect Alzheimer's disease possibly two or more decades before patients develop life-altering clinical symptoms.

6 Jan 2020

Coping with loss of hospital, rural town realizes: We don’t need a hospital

Dr. Max Self grabbed a sanitary wipe and cleaned off the small flashlight in his hands. More than 20 years as a family doctor in rural Fort Scott, Kan., has taught him a few tricks: "I've got my flashlight. See? Look, you want to hold it?"

26 Dec 2019

Vaping among teens doubles in a year says MTF report

The 45th Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey 2019 has revealed that teenagers are preferring e cigarettes more and more and there is an increased propensity of using nicotine and marijuana in their e cigarettes. The latest report titled, “Trends in Reported Marijuana Vaping among U.S. Adolescents, 2017-2019”, was released in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

18 Dec 2019