9/20
Addiction Disorders
The new U.S. plan to target xylazine-laced fentanyl
The new U.S. plan to target xylazine-laced fentanyl
Researchers from Penn LDI, in conjunction with the Center for Health Economics of Treatment Interventions for Substance Use Disorder, analyze the plan and raise the question of whether it goes far enough.
Auto-nudges increase emergency department treatment of opioid use disorder
Auto-nudges increase emergency department treatment of opioid use disorder
A Penn Medicine study finds assessment for opioid withdrawal doubles when a triage screening question is paired with electronic health record automated prompts.
Data shows disparities among alcohol use disorder diagnosis among veterans
Data shows disparities among alcohol use disorder diagnosis among veterans
New Penn Medicine research shows how AUD diagnoses differ among veterans, given evidence that exposure to trauma, including combat, is a risk factor.
The economics of addiction
The economics of addiction
Professor of Economics Jeremy Greenwood’s research is uncovering information about the opioid crisis, its effects on the labor shortage, and the law of unintended consequences.
Promising efforts to mitigate the opioid crisis
Promising efforts to mitigate the opioid crisis
Margaret Lowenstein, an LDI senior fellow and assistant professor of medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine discusses the increase in opioid and drug overdoses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parental nicotine use and addiction risk for children
Parental nicotine use and addiction risk for children
In research done using rats, Penn Nursing’s Heath Schmidt and colleagues found that males that engaged in voluntary nicotine use had offspring more likely to do so, too. Some offspring also developed impaired memory and anxiety-like behavior.
Program issuing mailed kits doubles rate of leftover opioids disposal
Program issuing mailed kits doubles rate of leftover opioids disposal
A Penn study finds that patients of orthopaedic and urologic procedures were more likely to dispose of their extra opioid tablets when they received kits in the mail to do so.
Elizabeth Heller’s lab uncovers how drug addiction can create lasting changes in genes
Elizabeth Heller’s lab uncovers how drug addiction can create lasting changes in genes
Leading a neuroepigenetics lab at her alma mater, Heller and the work of her 10-person lab is focused on molecular brain mechanisms, aiming to uncover chronic changes that can happen and keep happening in the brain long after exposure to addictive substances ends.
Overcoming barriers to treatment for opioid use disorder
Overcoming barriers to treatment for opioid use disorder
New research shows that emergency departments can be a gateway to medications for opioid use disorder.
The origins of the opioid epidemic
The origins of the opioid epidemic
The study, “Origins of the Opioid Crisis and its Enduring Impacts” examines the role of the 1996 introduction and marketing of OxyContin as a potential leading cause of the opioid crisis.
In the News
NBC News
Fentanyl plus stimulants drives ‘fourth wave’ of overdose epidemic in the U.S.
Anna Childress of the Perelman School of Medicine says that fentanyl was ripe for combination with other drugs when it first appeared, given the long trend of combining opioids and stimulants.
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
‘I didn’t have it in my bag before’: Incoming Penn students say carrying Narcan is shaping their outlook on medicine
Penn Medicine welcomed a new class of 157 first-year medical students with a hands-on orientation for administering naloxone, a life-saving medication used to help reverse opioid overdoses.
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Newsweek
Gruesome photos reveal horrors of ‘zombie’ drug fentanyl additive
A study by Jessica O’Neil and Steven Kovach of the Perelman School of Medicine reveals the dangerous impact of xylazine, a fentanyl additive, on the human body.
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Psychology Today
Prescribed stimulants for ADHD and the risk of addiction
Russell Ramsay of the Perelman School of Medicine writes about stimulants as a treatment for ADHD.
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Scientific American
Could new weight-loss drugs like Ozempic treat addiction?
Heath Schmidt of the School of Nursing explains how addictive drugs such as cocaine and opioids are generally thought to “hijack” the brain’s natural reward pathways and why semaglutide is complicated in relation to addiction.
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NBC News
White House announces plan to cut ‘tranq dope’ in illicit drug supply
Jeanmarie Perrone of the Perelman School of Medicine says that to know if xylazine causes dependence and withdrawal syndrome would be a very important thing to solve.
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