Improving thiamine prescribing in alcohol use disorder using electronic decision support in a large urban academic medical center: A pre-post intervention study.

Introduction: Thiamine is the only therapy for prevention and treatment of Wernicke Encephalopathy among patients with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Despite this fact, up to 75 % of inpatients with AUD are not prescribed thiamine during hospitalization. Even fewer patients are prescribed high-dose thiamine which many experts recommend should be standard of care.

Impact of the Communities That HEAL Intervention on Buprenorphine-Waivered Practitioners and Buprenorphine Prescribing: A Prespecified Secondary Analysis of the HCS Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Buprenorphine significantly reduces opioid-related overdose mortality. From 2002 to 2022, the Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA 2000) required qualified practitioners to receive a waiver from the Drug Enforcement Agency to prescribe buprenorphine for treatment of opioid use disorder. During this period, waiver uptake among practitioners was modest; subsequent changes need to be examined.

An Approach to Enhancing Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in the HEALing Communities Study.

The HEALing (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Communities Study (HCS) aims to test the effectiveness of the Communities That HEAL intervention in decreasing opioid overdose deaths in 67 communities across four U.S. states.

Binge alcohol use is not associated with alterations in striatal dopamine receptor binding or dopamine release.

Background: Previous imaging studies using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) have shown that alcohol use disorder (AUD) is associated with a decrease in dopamine type 2/3 receptor (D) binding and dopamine transmission. Although binge drinking is a risk factor for future AUD, little is known about the neurobiology of binge drinking in young adults. This study measured D receptor binding and stimulant-induced dopamine release using PET and [C]raclopride in binge drinkers without an AUD.

Changes in cardiac vagal tone as measured by heart rate variability during naloxone-induced opioid withdrawal.

Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) is of interest to researchers due to its potential utility as a marker for both physiological and psychological stress. Sympatholytics are used to treat opioid withdrawal, but little information about the parasympathetic system's role in mediating withdrawal symptoms exists. The goal of the current study was to evaluate changes in HRV during opioid withdrawal to provide a better understanding of the autonomic effects of opioid withdrawal.

Buprenorphine Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: An Overview.

Opioid use disorder affects over 26 million individuals worldwide. There are currently three World Health Organization-recommended and US Food and Drug Administration-approved medication treatments for opioid use disorder: the full opioid agonist methadone, the opioid partial agonist buprenorphine, and the opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone. We provide a review of the use of buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder and discuss the barriers, challenges, risks, and efficacy of buprenorphine treatment vs.

Using clinical decision support through the electronic medical record to increase prescribing of high-dose parenteral thiamine in hospitalized patients with alcohol use disorder.

Background: Patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) are at an increased risk of developing Wernicke's encephalopathy (WE), a devastating and difficult diagnosis caused by thiamine deficiency. Even as AUD is present in up to 25% of hospitalized patients on medical floors, appropriate thiamine supplementation in the hospital setting remains inadequate. These patients are particularly susceptible to thiamine deficiency and subsequent WE due to both their alcohol use and active medical illnesses.

Use of the Clinical Laboratory in Psychiatric Practice.

In this review, the authors address the general principles of prescribing psychiatric medications and discuss how the clinical laboratory can be used to guide prescribing practices. Treatment considerations in different settings and for different medications are discussed. Because the clinical laboratory is advancing in its technology, so should the clinician's knowledge of how to use the clinical laboratory.