News by Subject Medicine & Health

A researcher at the OU College of Medicine, William R. Lovallo, Ph.D., recently published one of the field's few studies focused on how a person's genes contribute to addiction. Lovallo's research showed that a tiny genetic mutation can put people at higher risk for alcohol or drug addiction.

Eating disorder researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have discovered a neurocircuit in mice that, when activated, increased their stress levels while decreasing their desire to eat. Findings appear in Nature Communications.

In the largest mental health survey of gender minority college students, BU researchers Sarah Lipson and Julia Raifman find that transgender, gender-nonconforming, genderqueer, and nonbinary college students face enormous mental health disparities. Their national study across 71 US colleges and universities reinforces the urgent call for schools to improve mental health resources and implement gender-inclusive policy changes.

Patients who meet an addiction medicine consult team while they're in the hospital are twice as likely to participate in treatment for substance use disorder after they go home, according to new research. The study measures a key outcome for patients who participated in a first-of-its-kind addiction intervention program started by Oregon Health & Science University in 2015.

A new Pharmacology Research & Perspectives study found no harm to newborns from opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) during pregnancy compared with no treatment.

A new study shows how one state's surgeons reduced the number of opioids they prescribed to thousands of patients -- without causing patients to feel more pain or less satisfied with their surgical experience.

Compared to people who only drank alcohol, those who used alcohol and marijuana simultaneously were more likely to drink heavier and more often, according to researchers. They were also more likely to experience alcohol-related problems -- like impulsive actions they later regretted.

Infants born to mothers taking naltrexone to treat opioid use disorder during pregnancy developed no signs of neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) during their hospitalization, a new study shows. In comparison to infants of mothers taking buprenorphine during pregnancy, infants exposed to naltrexone had shorter hospital stays, and mothers reported no use of other opioids during their pregnancy.