Disparities

Yale: Opioid Addicts Benefit From ER Drug Treatment, Intervention

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People addicted to drugs such as heroin, morphine and prescription pain medicine who receive treatment with medication in hospital emergency departments fare better than those who are merely referred to treatment services, according to new research from the Yale School of Medicine. Researchers have conducted the first known random trial comparing three treatment strategies for people dependent on opioids who seek emergency care. The opioids include hydrocodone and oxycodone, in addition to heroin and morphine. Among the more than 300 people in the trial, patients in emergency departments who received buprenorphine, a medication that reduces opioid cravings, had greater success than those treated in other ways, researchers found. Opioid addicts often seek care in hospital emergency departments for overdoses or other issues, according to researchers.

Women's Health

Yale Study: Could Smoking Cessation Drugs Also Curb Drinking?

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Yale researchers are exploring whether certain medications, including one sold to help smokers kick the habit, can help heavy drinkers reduce the amount of alcohol they consume. Yale School of Medicine is conducting a clinical trial to see whether those who frequently drink heavily and also smoke cigarettes find it easier to cut back on their drinking while taking varenicline. The drug, sold under the brand name Chantix, is marketed to help smokers quit but could also potentially help heavy drinkers drink less, according to lead researcher Stephanie O’Malley, a psychiatry professor at Yale. For many, smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol “kind of go together, hand in hand,” she said. “Many people, when they drink they want to smoke.”

Previous studies, including one by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have found that Chantix does help reduce drinking for those who want to cut back, she said.

Women's Health

Yale Study: Brain Responds Differently In Male And Female Smokers

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By analyzing dynamic brain scans, Yale researchers have pinpointed a different brain response between male and female smokers, a finding that could lead to breakthroughs in developing gender-specific treatments to help smokers quit. The study, published today in The Journal of Neuroscience, measured in a new way how and where nicotine affects pleasure receptors in the brain, according to Evan Morris, senior author of the study and an associate professor of diagnostic radiology, biomedical engineering and psychiatry at Yale University. Previous research has shown smoking cigarettes affects men’s and women’s brains differently, but this study marks the first time that PET (positron emission tomography) scans were used to create “movies” of how smoking affects dopamine, the neurotransmitter that triggers feelings of pleasure in the brain, Morris, the Co-Director of Imaging Section, Yale PET Center, said. Movies were made of 16 addicted smokers’ brains, eight men and eight women. Each smoked their cigarette of choice while undergoing a PET scan that lasted about 90 minutes.

American Society of Clinical Oncology

Federal Funding For Cancer Research Plummets In State

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Connecticut’s share of funding from the National Cancer Institute has dropped 19 percent since 2010 – a steeper decline than many other states, an analysis of National Institutes of Health (NIH) data show. Federal cancer institute funding to Connecticut fell to $33.4 million in 2014 – down from $41.1 million in 2010. The biggest grantee, Yale University, is receiving $7 million less from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), one of the NIH’s most prominent centers. Overall, NIH research grants to Connecticut fell to $461.3 million – down from $484.4 million in 2010, NIH reports show. Most of that decline was in research awards to Yale, which dropped $25 million.

I-Team In-Depth

Exploring Black Cohosh, Hot Peppers, In Breast Cancer Treatment

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Dr. Erin Hofstatter, a young research scientist and breast cancer specialist at Yale’s Smilow Cancer Hospital, often prescribes tamoxifen, raloxifene and similar drugs to her patients. The drugs “reduce your risk (of cancer recurring) by half … but they come with baggage,” she tells her patients, “hot flashes, night sweats, leg cramps, small risk of uterine cancer, small risk of blood clots, small risk of stroke, you have to get your liver tested.”

Hofstatter’s unease with standard treatments for breast cancer has spurred her to seek alternative, safer ways to treat breast cancer. To this end, she has begun a study of black cohosh, in the pill form of an herb from the buttercup family, used for thousands of years by Native Americans to treat menopausal symptoms.

“There’s data to suggest that [black cohosh] is protective,” she said, “both in breast cancer survivors and potentially preventive in women who’ve never had breast cancer, based on a few large observational trials.”

Just as practices like acupuncture and meditation – once considered, at best, nontraditional are now widely used to help patients cope with the side-effects of cancer treatments and other illnesses, natural products – foods (blueberries, walnuts, soy), herbs like black cohosh and plant-based anti-oxidants like capsaicin (which makes hot peppers hot) have become accepted subjects for research. But far from simply embracing these practices or foods, scientists now apply rigorous scientific methods to what are considered non-traditional medications to determine just how effective – or ineffective — they are. A similar scientific focus is being directed at exercise, diet, and meditation.

I-Team In-Depth

Infant’s Death Leads To Discovery Of Mystery Family Illness By Yale Researchers

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For more than 40 years, Erik Drewniak has been plagued by high fevers and chills and never knew why. Whenever he got a 104 or 105-degree fever that would linger for a day or two, he and his family always figured that was just “how he got sick.” He still was able to excel at school, play sports and live a normal life, but the fevers would strike intermittently. It wasn’t until late 2012 into early 2013, following the death of his newborn son, that Drewniak learned what has been causing his fevers. He has an extremely rare gene mutation that Yale School of Medicine researchers uncovered through DNA sequencing. “I’m definitely grateful,” said Drewniak, 45 of Fairfield.

I-Team In-Depth

Meds To Alleviate Stress May Help Women Smokers Quit

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For the last 50 years, men have consistently had an easier time quitting smoking than women. More men go cold turkey. More men stop on nicotine blockers like gum and patches. More men succeed on medications. Sherry McKee, an associate professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, thinks she may know why.

Women's Health

A Rallying Cry For Endometriosis Awareness

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From the moment of her first menstrual period, Julie Bragg suffered pain. But what does that mean, “pain,” when all girls everywhere are told a little cramping is normal. What’s “cramping?” And what’s “normal?”

But this was pain of a particular nature. Bragg was eventually diagnosed with endometriosis – a condition where the tissue that normally lines the uterus or womb grows elsewhere in the body. Symptoms include significant pain, pain during sex, infertility, fatigue and intestinal disturbances.

Disparities

Restrictions On Prisoner Research Hurt Studies Of Racial Disparities, Yale Docs Say

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Federal rules against including prisoners in medical research have negatively impacted studies involving black men, who are disproportionately imprisoned, according to a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers. Individuals who are already in ongoing studies must be dropped if they are incarcerated – compromising the ability of researchers to examine racial disparities in health outcomes studies, the Yale team says in the May issue of the journal Health Affairs. “A black man who begins a research study is less likely to follow up because he is statistically more likely to be jailed or imprisoned during the study than his white counterpart,” said the study’s first author, Dr. Emily Wang, assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine. The impact of incarceration on health outcome studies was far less among white men, white women, and black women. The study found that during the past three decades, high rates of incarceration of black men may have accounted for up to 65 percent of the loss of follow-up among this group.

Disparities

Yalies Target Young Adults For Health Coverage, As Deadline Nears

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A unique campaign spearheaded by Yale School of Medicine students to encourage uninsured young adults to sign up for health coverage by the federal March 31 deadline has galvanized student groups across Connecticut and the country. The Students for a Better Healthcare System (SBHS) campaign has reached more than 600 residents of all ages and health care providers through dozens of presentations at schools, churches, physician practices, medical clinics and other greater New Haven sites. The University of Connecticut School of Medicine has joined the effort to reach Hartford area residents and 33 schools nationwide have expressed interest in bringing the campaign to their local communities. “The most important thing we can do right now is help people sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act,” said Matthew Meizlish, a SBHS co-founder who just completed his term as co-president of Yale’s chapter of the American Medical Student Association.  “Our goal is to expand access to health care and to engage our communities in building a better health care system.”

Consumers have until March 31 to sign up for coverage to avoid a tax penalty.