Medication-assisted treatment in criminal justice agencies affiliated with the criminal justice-drug abuse treatment studies (CJ-DATS): availability, barriers, and intentions.

Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is underutilized in the treatment of drug-dependent, criminal justice populations. This study surveyed criminal justice agencies affiliated with the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJ-DATS) to assess use of MAT and factors influencing use of MAT. A convenience sample (N = 50) of criminal justice agency respondents (e.

Collaborative behavioral management among parolees: drug use, crime and re-arrest in the Step'n Out randomized trial.

Aims: To determine whether collaborative behavioral management (CBM) reduces substance use, crime and re-arrest among drug-involved parolees.

Design: Step'n Out was a randomized behavioral trial of CBM versus standard parole (SP) during 2004-08. CBM adapted evidence-based role induction, behavioral contracting and contingent reinforcement to provide parole officer/treatment counselor dyads with positive tools in addition to sanctions to manage parolees' behavior over 12 weeks.

Psychostimulant-related deaths among former inmates.

Objectives: Psychostimulants are highly addictive and their use is increasing. Little is known about psychostimulant-related deaths. This study identified characteristics, risk factors, and contributing substances reported upon death among former prison inmates who died from a psychostimulant-related death.

Allergic contact dermatitis: a commentary on the relationship between T lymphocytes and skin sensitising potency.

T lymphocytes mediate skin sensitisation and allergic contact dermatitis. Not unexpectedly, therefore, there is considerable interest in the use of T lymphocyte-based assays as alternative strategies for the identification of skin sensitising chemicals. However, in addition to accurate identification of hazards the development of effective risk assessments requires that information is available about the relative skin sensitising potency of contact allergens.

Comparative acute toxicity from whole breast irradiation using 3-week accelerated schedule with concomitant boost and the 6.5-week conventional schedule with sequential boost for early-stage breast cancer.

Background: We aimed to evaluate the incidence of acute toxicity in a 3-week accelerated radiation therapy (RT) schedule with a concomitant boost compared with the 6.5-week conventional schedule with a sequential boost for early-stage, node-negative breast cancer.

Materials And Methods: This study included the first 50 patients treated on protocol using the accelerated schedule as well as 74 patients with comparable stages of disease treated over the same period using the conventional schedule.

Parole officer-parolee relationships and HIV risk behaviors during community supervision.

We tested if good parole officer (PO)-parolee relationships reduce HIV risk behaviors during parole, as they do for risk of rearrest. Analyses used data from 374 parolees enrolled in a randomized clinical trial. Past month HIV risk behaviors were assessed by interview at baseline, 3- and 9-months after parole initiation.

Working Inside for Smoking Elimination (Project W.I.S.E.) study design and rationale to prevent return to smoking after release from a smoke free prison.

Background: Incarcerated individuals suffer disproportionately from the health effects of tobacco smoking due to the high smoking prevalence in this population. In addition there is an over-representation of ethnic and racial minorities, impoverished individuals, and those with mental health and drug addictions in prisons. Increasingly, prisons across the U.

Adding positive reinforcement in justice settings: acceptability and feasibility.

Although contingency management (CM) approaches are among the most promising methods for initiating drug abstinence (S. T. Higgins, S.

Postoperative radiation therapy for small, low-/intermediate-grade parotid tumors with close and/or positive surgical margins.

Background: Patients with small, low-/intermediate-risk parotid cancers, treated with surgery, and who have the single prognostic factor of close and/or positive margins, constitute an unusual subset. This study evaluates local control and morbidity associated with postoperative radiation therapy for low/intermediate grade parotid cancer in these patients.

Methods: Between 1999 and 2006, 17 patients underwent postoperative radiation therapy at Beth Israel Medical Center for acinic cell carcinoma or low-intermediate-grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid with close/positive margins.

How is tobacco treatment provided during drug treatment?

The purpose of this study was to obtain descriptions of tobacco treatment services across different substance abuse treatment settings. We conducted mixed-method assessments in eight facilities among eight directors, 25 staff, 29 clients, and 82 client charts. Measures included systems assessment, chart reviews, and semistructured interviews.

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia: analysis of risk factors in medical inpatients.

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is an unpredictable reaction to heparin characterized by thrombocytopenia and increased risk of life-threatening venous and/or arterial thrombosis. Data are lacking regarding additional risk factors that may be associated with the development of HIT. This study aimed to identify the risk factors that may be associated with HIT in medical inpatients receiving heparin.

Phenotype standardization for immune-mediated drug-induced skin injury.

Advances in genetic research and molecular biology techniques have made it possible to begin to characterize the underlying genetic factors that predispose patients to serious forms of drug-induced skin injury (DISI). To facilitate research in this area, we have set out standardized phenotypic definitions for (i) Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN), (ii) acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP), and (iii) hypersensitivity syndrome (HSS; also known as drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) and drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DIHS)). A DISI Expert Working Group comprising participants with varied expertise reviewed and debated current terminology and diagnostic criteria for DISI and agreed on the minimum phenotypic criteria for selected forms of DISI (SJS/TEN, AGEP, and HSS).

Colocated general medical care and preventable hospital admissions for veterans with serious mental illness.

Objective: This study examined whether veterans with serious mental illness in mental health settings with colocated general medical care had fewer hospitalizations for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions than veterans in other settings.

Methods: Using 2007 data, the study examined hospitalizations for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions with zero-inflated negative binomial regression controlling for demographic, clinical, and facility characteristics.

Results: Of 92,268 veterans with serious mental illness, 9,662 (10.

Skin manifestations of drug allergy.

Cutaneous adverse drug reactions range from mild to severe and from those localized only to skin to those associated with systemic disease. It is important to distinguish features of cutaneous drug reactions which help classify the underlying mechanism and likely prognosis as both of these influence management decisions, some of which necessarily have to be taken rapidly. Severe cutaneous reactions are generally T cell-mediated, yet this immunological process is frequently poorly understood and principles for identification of the culprit drug are different to those of IgE mediated allergic reactions.

Cataract surgery complications in nonagenarians.

Purpose: To investigate whether nonagenarians relative to octogenarians are at increased risk of ocular complications from cataract surgery in the US Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

Design: A retrospective cohort study.

Participants: A total of 554 nonagenarians and 11 407 octogenarians who received cataract surgery in the VHA.

Detection of esophageal varices using CT and MRI.

Background And Aims: The development of esophageal varices in cirrhotic patients carries a significant risk of hemorrhage and associated morbidity/mortality. Universal endoscopic screening, however, is invasive and expensive. Conversely, cirrhotic patients often have imaging findings which suggest portal hypertension.

Exercise-induced stress inhibits both the induction and elicitation phases of in vivo T-cell-mediated immune responses in humans.

Little is known about the influence of exercise on induction and elicitation phases of in vivo immunity in humans. We used experimental contact-hypersensitivity, a clinically relevant in vivo measure of T cell-mediated immunity, to investigate the effects of exercise on induction and elicitation phases of immune responses to a novel antigen. The effects of 2 h-moderate-intensity-exercise upon the induction (Study One) and elicitation of in vivo immune memory (Study Two) to diphenylcyclopropenone (DPCP) were examined.

Gender and treatment response in substance use treatment-mandated parolees.

Well-controlled, randomized studies of correctional interventions examining gender effects are rare. This study examined gender main effects and gender × treatment interactions in a multisite randomized trial (N = 431) comparing a new form of correctional supervision for drug-involved offenders (collaborative behavioral management [CBM]) to standard parole. Outcomes included repeated measures of yes/no use of primary drug, alcohol use, and recidivism during 9 months postrelease.

Prevalence and predictors of ocular complications associated with cataract surgery in United States veterans.

Purpose: To investigate the prevalence and predictors of intraoperative and 90-day postoperative ocular complications associated with cataract surgery performed in the United States Veterans Health Administration (VHA) system.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Participants: Forty-five thousand eighty-two veterans who underwent cataract surgery in the VHA.

Applying the chronic care model to homeless veterans: effect of a population approach to primary care on utilization and clinical outcomes.

Objectives: We compared a population-tailored approach to primary care for homeless veterans with a usual care approach.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective prolective cohort study of homeless veterans enrolled in a population-tailored primary care clinic matched to a historical sample in general internal medicine clinics. Overall, 177 patients were enrolled: 79 in the Homeless-Oriented Primary Care Clinic and 98 in general internal medicine primary care.

Quantifying human susceptibility to contact sensitization; risk assessments now and in the future.

Assessment and quantification of the risk that a chemical will induce allergic contact sensitization presently depend heavily on background data from animal tests. Following the banning of animal testing of chemicals used in cosmetics and personal products in Europe after 2013, alternative approaches will be required. The chemical properties likely to make a given compound a sensitizer can be determined in vitro with reasonable certainty, but confirmation that it is a sensitizer comes only from in vivo exposure to it.

Erectile dysfunction in opioid users: lack of association with serum testosterone.

This study describes the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) among 57 men using illicit opioids who presented to a primary care program for buprenorphine therapy. Participants' mean age was 40 years and 34% reported ED. Low total testosterone was detected in 17% of those reporting ED, but total testosterone was not significantly associated with ED.