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The researchers are presenting their work today at the 254th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). "There is an urgent need to discover effective medications to treat substance use disorders. Increasingly, drug users are turning to opioids and powerful synthetic versions of these drugs that can sometimes be as much as 100 times more potent than heroin," says Kim D. Janda, Ph.D., who led the research into the vaccines. "Moreover, many patients receiving treatment relapse." The rise of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl is a critical element in the opioid crisis in the U.S. Heroin laced with fentanyl or fentanyl alone have contributed to the dramatic rise in overdose deaths among addicts. Janda's team at the Scripps Research Institute has prepared a vaccine that is effective against fentanyl and has made progress in the development of a combination vaccine that offers protection from both heroin and fentanyl. In addition ...

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can cause a wide range of adverse health effects. The effects of prenatal alcohol exposure can have lifelong implications so FASD is costly for society. Updated prevalence estimates are needed to prioritize, plan and deliver health care to high-needs populations, such as children and young people with FASD. Svetlana Popova, Ph.D., of the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada, and coauthors conducted a meta-analysis of 24 studies including 1,416 children and youth diagnosed with FASD. The authors report: The global prevalence of FASD among children and youth was estimated to be about 8 of 1,000 in the general population. An estimated 1 of every 13 pregnant women who consumed alcohol while pregnant was estimated to deliver a child with FASD. Based on select studies, the prevalence of FASD among special populations (e.g., Aboriginal populations, children in care, incarcerated an...

The report released today by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network said that despite these encouraging trends, opioid use patterns still varied widely across Ontario. And although opioids are being prescribed for pain similarly across all incomes, those seeking treatment for opioid addiction and those dying of an opioid-related overdose were still disproportionately from lower socio-economic groups. "The findings of this report suggest that recent prescribing patterns may be shifting toward safer practices such as dispensing smaller quantities of opioids," said Tara Gomes, a principal investigator for the research network and a scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. "However, we still see important differences in access to opioids to treat both pain and addiction across the province and in certain low-income populations." Gomes said the report was the first to link...

Now a new study by the University of Plymouth investigates why young adults might post content on social media that contains sexual or offensive material. Led by Dr Claire White from the University's School of Psychology, the study suggests that such risky social media posts are not just due to impulsivity, but might be a deliberate strategy to fit in with the wider social media culture that makes people believe 'it's the right thing to do'. Existing studies show that impulsiveness is predictive of online risk taking behaviours, but this additional research with British and Italian young adults highlighted that high self-monitoring -- or adapting behaviour in line with perceived social norms -- was equally predictive of posting risky content, which Dr White says could mean young people think it's the best way to behave. To measure risky online self-presentation the research team, which also included PhD student Clara Cutello, Dr Michaela Gummerum and Prof...

Goodwiller Oy's Promilless test was developed in cooperation with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The test is based on the use of printed biochemical ingredients. "On the basis of a saliva sample, the innovation incidates when the blood alcohol content exceeds 0.2 ‰ (promilles). The test result is indicated as the darkening of the test strip's 'intelligent paper areas," says Project manager Marika Kurkinen from VTT. If only the green control zone becomes darker, the blood alcohol content is less than 0.2 ‰, and the test functions properly. If the yellow area on the test strip gets darker, it means that the blood alcohol content has risen above 0.2 ‰. "With the alcohol test, we want to provide consumers with an easy and convenient way for ensuring that they are fit to drive, and a possibility to act responsibly in traffic," points out CEO Petri Särkelä from Goodwiller. According to estimates, the use of different self-diagnostic te...

For every fatal opioid overdose, there are approximately 30 nonfatal overdoses . Nonfatal overdoses that receive medical attention represent intervention opportunities for clinicians to mitigate risk by reducing opioid prescribing or advocating addiction treatment. Studies evaluating commercially insured patients suggest these potential interventions are underutilized. Julie M. Donohue, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, and colleagues used 2008-2013 claims data for all Pennsylvania Medicaid enrollees ages 12 to 64 years with a heroin or prescription opioid overdose to compare prescription opioid use, duration of opioid use, and rates of medication-assisted treatment (MAT; buprenorphine, methadone, or naltrexone) before and after an overdose event. The analysis included 6,013 patients with an overdose event (2,068 with a heroin overdose and 3,945 with a prescription opioid overdose). The researchers found that any filled opioid prescription de...

he researchers conducted a case study based on interviews with 61 individuals in Staten Island affected by the crisis, supplemented by a literature review and assessment of treatment capacity and distribution of services on the island. While the problem was sometimes described by interviewees as primarily impacting youth, in 2016, the median age of overdose was 37. "People addicted to opioids on Staten Island come from all neighborhoods, races, ages, and socioeconomic backgrounds, a finding that goes against reports by local media, portraying the epidemic as one that primarily affects white youth in the more affluent neighborhoods," said Silvia Martins, MD, PhD,, professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health. "It is critical to provide opioid addiction services where they are most needed." Martins and colleagues found that some areas with the most overdoses are also the most underserved in terms of opioid addiction treatment clinics. The...

This nationwide study followed five large smoking cessation clinical trials in the US that enrolled smokers at hospitalization. At 6-month follow-up, 822 participants (out of 4,206 who completed the follow-up survey) reported they had not smoked in the past 7 days and provided a usable saliva sample for verification by testing for a chemical called 'cotinine'. The liver converts nicotine in the body to cotinine and so this chemical is a very accurate measure of whether someone has smoked in the past few days. More than 40% of those 822 self-reported quitters failed the saliva test. The misreporting rate may be even higher because, despite the offer of $50 to $100 for providing a sample 18.6% of people who had said they had quit smoking did not reply, even after multiple attempts. These participants were excluded from the study. The study also excluded anyone who said they were using another nicotine product such as smokeless tobacco, nicotine patches or e-cigarettes. Eve...

The study appears in  JAMA Psychiatry . The Vermont Center on Behavior and Health (VCBH) at UVM focuses on the relationship between behavior and health, particularly in disadvantaged populations, a group that is "overrepresented" among smokers, according to the study's authors. In their latest study, the research team, led by Stephen Higgins, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and VCBH director, examined the addiction potential of cigarettes with reduced nicotine content in three vulnerable populations of smokers -- individuals with psychiatric disorders (i.e., affective disorders, opioid-use disorder), and socioeconomically disadvantaged women. "Evidence in relatively healthy and socially stable smokers indicates that reducing the nicotine content of cigarettes reduces their addictiveness," says Higgins. "Whether that same effect would be seen in populations highly vulnerable to tobacco addiction was unknown." The multi-site, double-blind study i...

A stroke caused by a bleed into the brain ( haemorrhagic ) rather than a clot (ischaemic) is the most common type associated with taking this drug, with men twice as likely to succumb as women, the findings show. Given the often disabling or fatal consequences of a stroke, and the increasing use of methamphetamine among young people, particularly in countries around the Pacific rim (North America, East and Southeast Asia, and Oceania), the findings are a cause for concern, warn the researchers. They base their findings on a comprehensive trawl of research looking at a potential link between methamphetamine use and associated stroke risk in young people (under the age of 45), and published up to February 2017. They found 77 relevant pieces of research out of 370, including epidemiological studies and case report series. Some 81 haemorrhagic and 17 ischaemic strokes were reported. Both types were around twice as common in men as they were in women. In the case reports/series,...