Background: Overdose deaths continue to rise within the United States, despite effective treatments such as buprenorphine and methadone for opioid use disorder (OUD). Mobile medical units with the ability to dispense buprenorphine have been developed to engage patients and eliminate barriers to accessing OUD treatment. This study reports survey responses of patients of a mobile medical unit dispensing buprenorphine in areas of Chicago, IL with high overdose rates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Thirty percent of ischemic stroke patients develop vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID) within 1 year of stroke onset. The expression of C-C motif chemokine receptor 3 (CCR3) is associated with endothelial dysfunction and memory impairment. CCR3 has been reported to increase after experimental stroke and in human stroke patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe fatal overdose crisis claims nearly 200 lives daily in the United States (U.S). Evolutions in the illicit drug supply, such as the addition of sedative adulterants and a shift to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, have driven increasing rates of both fatal and non-fatal overdose.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExcessive alcohol use is a leading cause of preventable death in the United States, with alcohol-related deaths increasing during the pandemic. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recommends that physicians offer pharmacotherapy with behavioral interventions for patients diagnosed with alcohol use disorder. Several medications are available to help patients reduce drinking and maintain abstinence; however, in 2019, only 7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: To examine healthcare workers' attitudes towards pregnant woman using opioids across provider type, specialty, and years of service.
Methods: Cross-sectional, anonymous survey of healthcare workers at an urban, academic medical center regarding attitudes towards pregnant women using opioids.
Results: One hundred and nineteen surveys were completed.
Considering offering medical intervention for OUD to reduce mortality? It's essential to understand the clinical benefits, limitations, and regulation of available agents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Opioid overdoses in Chicago are unevenly distributed, affecting medically underserved neighborhoods most acutely. Innovations in reaching patients perceived to be hard-to-reach (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Persons who inject drugs (PWID) commonly experience venous degradation as a complication of prolonged injection, which makes routine phlebotomy difficult. Clients may decline care due to the perceived lack of skilled phlebotomy services, and this contributes to significant delays in infectious disease screening and treatment. In this study, we investigated ultrasound-guided phlebotomy in clients with difficult venous access receiving care at two low-threshold buprenorphine clinics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: An imbalanced gut microbial community, or dysbiosis, has been shown to occur following stroke. It is possible that this dysbiosis negatively impacts stroke recovery and rehabilitation. Species level resolution measurements of the gut microbiome following stroke are needed to develop and test precision interventions such as probiotic or fecal microbiota transplant therapies that target the gut microbiome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In recent years, emergency departments (EDs) across the nation have implemented peer recovery coach (PRC) services to support patients who use opioids. The majority of such interventions discussed in the literature follow an in-person modality where PRCs engage patients directly at the ED bedside. However, the use of telehealth services in EDs is becoming more popular.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStroke remains a leading global cause of death and disability. In the last decade, the therapeutic window for mechanical thrombectomy has increased from a maximum of 6 to 24 h and beyond. While endovascular advancements have improved rates of recanalization, no post-stroke pharmacotherapeutics have been effective in enhancing neurorepair and recovery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: A key strategy for mitigating the current opioid epidemic is expanded access to medications for treating opioid use disorder (MOUD). However, interventions developed to expand MOUD access have limited ability to engage opioid users at higher levels of overdose risk, such as those who inject opioids. This paper describes the study protocol for testing STAMINA (Syringe Service Telemedicine Access for Medication-assisted Intervention through NAvigation), an intervention that engages high-risk opioid users at community-based syringe service programs (SSP) and quickly links them to MOUD using a telemedicine platform.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The goal of this study was to determine whether leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) promotes anti-inflammatory activity after stroke in a sex-dependent manner.
Methods: Aged (18-month-old) Sprague-Dawley rats of both sexes underwent sham surgery or permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Animals received three doses of intravenous LIF (125 g/kg) or PBS at 6, 24, and 48 h before euthanization at 72 h.
People who inject drugs (PWID) are at increased risk for developing wounds in addition to skin and soft tissue infections. The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing, College of Medicine, and School of Public Health collaborated to establish a medical clinic serving PWID attending a Chicago syringe exchange program. A wound care program was implemented to improve clinicians' competence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFApplications for asylum in the United States have increased significantly in the past decade, including those by children fleeing persecution. Pediatricians may serve as a resource for children seeking asylum by participating in specialized training and performing forensic medical evaluations for use in the legal process. A forensic medical evaluation comprises an interview to elicit a narrative of reported abuse, a psychological assessment, and/or a medical assessment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose Cervical cancer is an important cause of mortality in low- and middle-income countries. Although screening technologies continue to improve, systems of care remain fragmented. It is important to better understand factors that affect use of screening services and loss to follow-up along the care continuum.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: Guatemala has one of the highest rates of child stunting in the world, which especially impacts rural indigenous agricultural communities. Despite decades of intensive nutrition research and interventions, only rarely have nutrition programs successfully lowered the rate of stunting in these settings. The bulk of nutritional interventions in Guatemala are targeted at the education of female caregivers.
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