Creating a standard inpatient opioid withdrawal protocol.

Despite safety and efficacy of medications for opioid use disorder, United States (US) hospitals face high health care costs when hospitalized patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) leave due to untreated opioid withdrawal.  Recent studies have concluded that evidence-based interventions for OUD like buprenorphine are underutilized by hospital services. We developed a practical opioid withdrawal protocol utilizing buprenorphine and the Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale to address opioid withdrawal during inpatient treatment of a primary medical condition.

Voting with their feet: Social factors linked with treatment for opioid use disorder using same-day buprenorphine delivered in California hospitals.

Background: Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) using buprenorphine in primary or specialty care settings is accessed primarily by persons with private health insurance, stable housing, and no polysubstance use. This paper applies Social Cognitive Theory to frame links between social factors and treatment outcomes among patients with social and economic disadvantages who are seeking MOUD at California Bridge Program (CA Bridge) hospitals.

Methods: Electronic medical records for patients identified with OUD between January-April, 2020 receiving care at CA Bridge hospitals defined outcomes: hospital-administered buprenorphine; provision of buprenorphine prescription at discharge.

Defective response of CD4(+) T cells to retinoic acid and TGFβ in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Introduction: CD25(+) FOXP3(+) CD4(+) regulatory T cells (Tregs) are induced by transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) and further expanded by retinoic acid (RA). We have previously shown that this process was defective in T cells from lupus-prone mice expressing the novel isoform of the Pbx1 gene, Pbx1-d. This study tested the hypothesis that CD4(+) T cells from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients exhibited similar defects in Treg induction in response to TGFβ and RA, and that PBX1-d expression is associated with this defect.