Publications by authors named "M H Mason"

Background: This study updates the COVID-19 pandemic surveillance in East Asia and the Pacific we first conducted in 2020 with two additional years of data for the region.

Objective: First, we measure whether there was an expansion or contraction of the pandemic in East Asia and the Pacific region when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency of international concern on May 5, 2023. Second, we use dynamic and genomic surveillance methods to describe the dynamic history of the pandemic in the region and situate the window of the WHO declaration within the broader history.

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Objectives: Opioid use disorder (OUD) remains a common cause of overdose and mortality in the United States. Emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians often interact with patients with OUD, including during or shortly after an overdose. The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics and outcomes of patients receiving prehospital buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid withdrawal in an urban EMS system.

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Depression among young adults represents a growing health problem in the U.S., but access to effective treatment remains a challenge.

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Background: Two scientific and clinical challenges for treating cannabis use disorder (CUD) are developing efficacious treatments with high likelihood of uptake and scalability, and testing the clinical mechanisms by which treatments work. Because young adults experience more CUD than other age groups, a need exists to test the efficacy and hypothesized causal pathways of novel treatments for CUD. Text-delivered treatments have the potential to reach young adults by increasing access and perceived privacy.

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Article Synopsis
  • Harm reduction for people who use drugs (PWUD) is a key strategy in US drug policy, focusing on meeting communities’ needs and providing various support services.
  • The Block-by-Block (BXB) intervention, launched in 2022 across five pilot areas in Illinois, aims to distribute naloxone and drug test strips in private or neutral settings to reduce opioid-related fatalities.
  • Early results show that the BXB initiative is feasible, with a 55% response rate at homes approached, and high acceptability, as 75% of those who answered were supportive of the intervention.
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