Community-level Factors and their Associations with Changing Opioid Overdose Fatality Rates in Kentucky, 2019-2021.

Introduction: Kentucky has one of the highest opioid overdose fatality rates in the United States, which has increased significantly from 2019 to 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused lasting effects on mental health and health care, which have been linked with increased opioid overdose. These effects are exacerbated in Appalachian regions, where there is a lack of sufficient access to community pharmacies and adequate health care.

Communities That HEAL Intervention and Mortality Including Polysubstance Overdose Deaths: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: The HEALing Communities Study (HCS) evaluated the effectiveness of the Communities That HEAL (CTH) intervention in preventing fatal overdoses amidst the US opioid epidemic.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the CTH intervention on total drug overdose deaths and overdose deaths involving combinations of opioids with psychostimulants or benzodiazepines.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This randomized clinical trial was a parallel-arm, multisite, community-randomized, open, and waitlisted controlled comparison trial of communities in 4 US states between 2020 and 2023.

COVID-19 and Rates of Cancer Diagnosis in the US.

Importance: US cancer diagnoses were substantially lower than expected during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. A national study on the extent to which rates recovered in 2021 has not yet been conducted.

Objective: To examine observed vs expected cancer rate trends for January 2020 to December 2021.

Aggregation Game: Changing Solid-State Emission Using Different Counterions in Monoalkynylphosphonium Pt(II) Complexes.

Two series of heteroleptic monoalkynylphosphonium Pt(II) complexes decorated with 2,2':6',2''-terpyridine (, series) and 6-phenyl-2,2'-bipyridine (, series) ligands, were prepared and characterized by spectroscopic methods. The complexes obtained exhibit triplet emission in solution, and the characteristics inside the series depend on the nature of the alkynylphosphonium ligand. The description of electronic transitions responsible for energy absorption and emission in discrete Pt(II) complexes was made on the basis of a detailed analysis of the results of DFT calculations, and has shown to involve MLCT, ILCT, and LLCT transitions.

Abuse-deterrent formulations and opioid-related harms in North Carolina, 2010-2018.

Abuse-deterrent formulations of opioid analgesics (ADFs) were introduced to reduce opioid-related harms among pain patients, but post-marketing study results have been mixed. However, these studies may be subject to bias from selection criteria, comparator choice, and potential confounding by "indication," highlighting the need for thorough study design considerations. In a sample of privately insured patients prescribed ADF or non-ADF extended-release/long-acting (ER/LA) opioids in North Carolina, we implemented a version of the prevalent new-user design to evaluate the relationship between ADFs and opioid use disorder (OUD, n=235) and opioid overdose (n=18) through six months of follow-up using inverse probability-weighted cumulative incidence functions and Fine-Gray models.