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These deaths were more likely to involve females in their mid-40s , with a mental health condition, professional and/or personal stress and the intent to self-harm. With the aim of identifying best approaches to health care professionals' drug use and their mental health care needs, the major study investigated drug-caused deaths of health care professionals including physicians, nurses, dentists, psychologists and psychiatrists, physiotherapists, pharmacists, paramedics and veterinarians. A total of 404 drug-caused HCP deaths were reported to Australian coroners during this investigated timeframe, averaging 37 deaths per year. Head of the Drug Harm Prevention Unit at Monash's Department of Forensic Medicine, Dr Jennifer Pilgrim said the study found a significant association between specific professions and drugs of choice. "The mortality rate was highest in veterinarians, of which most involved death by suicide using potent barbiturates usually used in animal eu...

In total, 21% of persons with Alzheimer's disease initiated benzodiazepine and related drug use during the study. During benzodiazepine and related drug use, 2.5 hip fractures occurred per 100 person-years whereas without drug use, the incidence was 1.4 hip fractures per 100 person-years. The use of benzodiazepines and related drugs increased the hip fracture risk especially during the first six months of drug use. There was no difference within the drug group, as benzodiazepines increased the hip fracture risk as much as benzodiazepine-related drugs. Additionally, long-term hospital stays exceeding four months after hip fracture were more common in persons with Alzheimer's disease who used benzodiazepines and related drugs at the time of hip fracture than in persons who did not use such drugs. Treatment guidelines in different countries recommend that behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia should be treated with nonpharmacological options. Benzodiazepines an...

"We saw both blunting of the drug's effects and , remarkably , prevention of drug lethality," said Kim D. Janda, the Ely R. Callaway Jr. Professor of Chemistry and member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at TSRI. "The protection against overdose death was unforeseen but clearly of enormous potential clinical benefit." The study was published this week online ahead of print in the journal  ACS Chemical Biology . How It Works The new oxy/hydro vaccine takes advantage of the immune system's ability to recognize, seek out and neutralize invaders. Opioids were designed to reach receptors in the brain, causing pain reduction and feelings of euphoria. For their vaccine, the researchers combined a signature opioid structure with a molecule to trigger an immune response. When injected, the vaccine teaches the immune system to bind to the drug molecule and remove it from circulation. The vaccine-derived antibodies were tailored by TSRI scienti...

"I was looking at whether alcohol intake affects overall caloric intake and body weight change," said University of Illinois psychology professor Nu-Chu Liang, who led the research. "And the result, in terms of voluntary drinking, is that it does not -- at least in rats." When the researchers dosed the rats with higher levels of alcohol through injections in an effort to mimic the effects of binge drinking, however, the results were very different. At blood alcohol levels that correspond to intoxication in humans (0.08 percent and higher), the rats ate significantly fewer calories and began to lose weight. This is the first study to show a direct link between blood alcohol levels and feeding behavior in rats. Liang thinks rats make better models o f human feeding behaviors t han mice because rats are bigger mammals and eat significantly more than mice, making it easier to measure their food intake. Their feeding patterns and related brain circuits also are m...

For the first time this study highlights a liver-brain axis which plays an important role in regulating the consumption of alcohol, raising the possibility of a new therapeutic pathway that could one day be targeted to reduce the desire for alcohol in problem drinkers. Alcohol drinking is a complex trait that is known to be partly inherited, yet so far there have been few genes associated with it. Genetic influences on brain functions that affect drinking behaviour have been difficult to detect because the effect of individual genes is so small, so large studies are required to detect the genetic signal. In this new study, published in  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) , researchers carried out the largest-ever genetic analysis of usual (i.e. non-addictive) alcohol consumption in more than 105,000 individuals of European descent. In addition to providing samples for genetic analysis, the participants answered questionnaires on their weekly drinking hab...

"The findings are based on the largest genome-wide association meta-analysis and replication study to date mapping and comparing the genetics -- the DNA -- of more than 105,000 light and heavy social drinkers," said Dr. David Mangelsdorf, Chair of Pharmacology at UT Southwestern and a corresponding author of the study. "The study identified a variation in the  β-Klotho  gene linked to the regulation of social alcohol consumption. The less frequent variant -- seen in approximately 40 percent of the people in this study -- is associated with a decreased desire to drink alcohol, " he said. Dr. Mangelsdorf runs a laboratory with Dr. Steven Kliewer, another corresponding author of the study published online today in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  ( PNAS ). "Excessive alcohol consumption is a major public health problem worldwide, causing more than 3 million deaths per year," said Dr. Kliewer, a Professor of Molecular Biology and ...

"Refraining from [e-cigarette] use four weeks before surgery is a prudent course of action, despite the fact that it has yet to be determined if the effects are similar to traditional cigarettes," write ASPS Member Surgeons Dr. Peter Taub of Mount Sinai Medical Center and Dr. Alan Matarasso of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, both in New York City. Potential Harms Lead to Advice to Stop E-Cig Use before Plastic Surgery The researchers reviewed previous research o n the potential health effects of e-cigarettes, with the goal of making recommendations for patients undergoing plastic and reconstructive surgery. Use of e-cigarettes -- sometimes called "vaping" -- has rapidly gained in popularity in recent years. It has been suggested that e-cigarettes may be safer than traditional cigarettes, and might even be a useful "bridge" to smoking cessation. But there's also continued concern about the potential harmful health effects of e-cigarettes. ...

Results of the study conducted at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health are published online in the journal  Drug and Alcohol Dependence . Epidemiologists Hannah Carliner and Deborah S. Hasin used national survey data to reveal that recent trends run counter to past trends in both marijuana and alcohol use, and a narrowing gender gap over time. After years of relatively stable rates of use at around 13 percent of the adult male population and 7 percent of the adult female population, a new trend emerged in 2007, after which prevalence increased by about 4 percent among men and 3 percent among women. "These changes parallel national trends in decreased perceived harmfulness of marijuana use , and legalization of both recreational and medical use in over half of U.S. states," said Dr. Carliner. "However, changes in attitudes and legality do not sufficiently explain why we observe a sharp increase in use in 2007, or why this increase was greater ...

Researchers wanted to see if brain stimulation could be used to alter a person's response to a primary reward. Primary rewards are those key to survival, such as food, sex and the nurturing of children. Problems with the brain's reward circuitry are core deficits in many disorders, such as depression and addiction. Researchers recruited a sample of 20 very sexually active men and women from the community. Volunteers were administered both intermittent and continuous forms of brain stimulation in which a magnetic field generator, or "coil," is used to stimulate small regions of the brain. After each stimulation, participants completed a series of tasks while their brain response was measured. In one task, they attempted to "win" seconds of sexual stimulation, a stand-in for the primary reward of sex. The EEG showed volunteers' desire for this reward was increased, or decreased, depending on the type of brain stimulation they received beforehand....

In the U.S., the number of individuals aged 70 years and older is expected to increase from 29.2 million (9.3% of the population) in 2012, to 63.6 million individuals ( 15.9%) in 2050. "U.S. adults aged 70 and older have a very high lifetime prevalence of cigarette smoking, so it's important to examine the risks associated with smoking and the benefits of quitting at older ages among these individuals," explained lead investigator Sarah H. Nash, PhD, who conducted the research as part of her postdoctoral training at the National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD. Investigators reviewed data for more than 160,000 individuals aged 70 and over who participated in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. They completed a questionnaire in 2004-2005 detailing their smoking use, and reported deaths were tracked until the end of 2011. Analyses conducted between 2014 and 2016 correlated age at death with self-reported age at smoking initiation and cessation and amount smoked aft...