Racial differences in real-world outcomes of first-line therapies for advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Background: Given the historical underrepresentation of racial minorities in clinical trials, little is known about racial differences in outcomes of first-line therapies for advanced renal cell carcinoma (aRCC). This study described patient characteristics and clinical outcomes of first-line therapies for aRCC, including nivolumab + ipilimumab, pembrolizumab + axitinib, and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, by race in the real-world setting.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective medical chart review of patients with intermediate/poor-risk clear-cell aRCC.

Pharmacy-based methadone treatment in the US: views of pharmacists and opioid treatment program staff.

Background: The US federal regulations allow pharmacy administration and dispensing of methadone for opioid use disorder (PADMOUD) to increase the capability of opioid treatment programs (OTPs) in providing methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) for opioid use disorder (OUD) as part of a medication unit. However, there is a lack of research data from both pharmacy and OTP staff to inform the implementation of PADMOUD.

Methods: Staff of a pharmacy (n = 8) and an OTP (n = 9) that participated in the first completed US trial on PADMOUD through electronic prescribing for methadone (parent study) were recruited to participate in this qualitative interview study to explore implementation-related factors for PADMOUD.

Patient perspectives on community pharmacy administered and dispensing of methadone treatment for opioid use disorder: a qualitative study in the U.S.

Background: Pharmacy administration and dispensing of methadone treatment for opioid use disorder (PADMOUD) may address inadequate capability of opioid treatment programs (OTPs) in the US by expanding access to methadone at community pharmacies nationally. PADMOUD is vastly underutilized in the US. There is no published US study on OUD patients' perspectives on PADMOUD.

Association of chronic non-cancer pain status and buprenorphine treatment retention among individuals with opioid use disorder: Results from electronic health record data.

Background: Although chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) is common among individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD), its impact on buprenorphine treatment retention is unclear. The goal of this study was to use electronic health record (EHR) data to examine the association of CNCP status and 6-month buprenorphine retention among patients with OUD.

Methods: We analyzed EHR data of patients with OUD who received buprenorphine treatment in an academic healthcare system between 2010 and 2020 ( = 676).

Opioid treatment program and community pharmacy collaboration for methadone maintenance treatment: results from a feasibility clinical trial.

Background And Aims: Pharmacy administration and dispensing of methadone for methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) can expand treatment access for opioid use disorder (OUD). This study investigated the feasibility and acceptability of a novel model permitting an opioid treatment program (OTP) physician to prescribe methadone for OUD treatment through collaboration with a partnered pharmacy.

Design: Non-randomized, single-arm, open-label feasibility trial.

Recent and active problematic substance use among primary care patients: Results from the alcohol, smoking, and substance involvement screening test in a multisite study.

Primary care settings provide salient opportunities for identifying patients with problematic substance use and addressing unmet treatment need. The aim of this study was to examine the extent and correlates of problematic substance use by substance-specific risk categories among primary care patients to inform screening/intervention efforts. Data were analyzed from 2000 adult primary care patients aged ≥18 years (56% female) across 5 clinics in the eastern U.

Buprenorphine physician-pharmacist collaboration in the management of patients with opioid use disorder: results from a multisite study of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network.

Background And Aims: Physician and pharmacist collaboration may help address the shortage of buprenorphine-waivered physicians and improve care for patients with opioid use disorder (OUD). This study investigated the feasibility and acceptability of a new collaborative care model involving buprenorphine-waivered physicians and community pharmacists.

Design: Nonrandomized, single-arm, open-label feasibility trial.

Chronic non-cancer pain among adults with substance use disorders: Prevalence, characteristics, and association with opioid overdose and healthcare utilization.

Background: Chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) among patients with substance use disorder (SUD) poses a risk for worse treatment outcomes. Understanding the association of CNCP with SUD is important for informing the need and potential benefits of pain assessment/management among those with SUDs.

Methods: We analyzed electronic health record data from 2013 to 2018 among adults aged ≥18 years (N = 951,533; mean age: 48.

Cannabinoid Modulation of Food-Cocaine Choice in Male Rhesus Monkeys.

Marijuana and other cannabinoid compounds are widely used by cocaine users. Preclinical animal studies suggest that these compounds can increase the reinforcing effects of cocaine under some schedules of cocaine self-administration and reinstatement, but not in all cases. To date, no studies have used a food-cocaine concurrent choice procedure, which allows for assessment of drug effects on response allocation, not just changes in cocaine self-administration.

E-Cigarette Use Among Adult Primary Care Patients: Results from a Multisite Study.

Background: Primary care settings provide opportunities to identify electronic-cigarette (e-cigarette) use and to implement strategies for changing tobacco use behavior. However, a better understanding of the extent and associated characteristics of e-cigarette use among primary care patients are needed to inform such efforts.

Objective: To describe patient demographic and substance use characteristics by e-cigarette use status among a large sample of primary care patients.

Sex differences in the prevalence and correlates of emergency department utilization among adults with prescription opioid use disorder.

Background: The emergency department (ED) is well-suited as an opportunity to increase treatment access for prescription opioid use disorder (POUD). We examined sex differences in ED utilization among individuals with POUD to understand potential sex-specific treatment barriers and needs.

Methods: Data from the 2005-2014 National Surveys on Drug use and Health were analyzed to examine the prevalence and correlates of past-year ED utilization among male and female adults aged 18 or older with POUD (n = 4412).

Prevalence and patterns of opioid misuse and opioid use disorder among primary care patients who use tobacco.

Background: Current data suggest that opioid misuse or opioid use disorder (OUD) may be over represented among tobacco users. However, this association remains understudied in primary care settings. A better understanding of the extent of heterogeneity in opioid misuse among primary care patients who use tobacco may have implications for improved primary care-based screening, prevention, and intervention approaches.

Prevalence, patterns, and correlates of multiple substance use disorders among adult primary care patients.

Background: Addressing multiple substance use disorders (SUDs) in primary care-based screening and intervention may improve SUD treatment access, engagement, and outcomes. To inform such efforts, research is needed on the prevalence and patterns of multiple SUDs among primary care patients.

Methods: Data were analyzed from a sample of 2000 adult (aged ≥ 18) primary care patients recruited for a multisite National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) study (CTN-0059).

Yawning elicited by intravenous ethanol in rhesus monkeys with experience self-administering cocaine and ethanol: Involvement of dopamine D receptors.

Characterization of the effects of long-term alcohol consumption on the brain would be aided by the development of behavioral assays that are relatively easy to implement in animal models of alcohol use disorders. Assessing unconditioned behaviors, such as drug-elicited yawning in models that permit long-term alcohol ingestion, may be a valuable complement to more invasive and costly procedures. The present studies investigated previous unexpected findings of ethanol-induced yawning in nonhuman primates.

Chronic Δ-THC in Rhesus Monkeys: Effects on Cognitive Performance and Dopamine D2/D3 Receptor Availability.

Cannabis-related impairments to cognitive function may represent novel therapeutic targets for cannabis-use disorder, although the nature, persistence, and reversibility of such deficits remain unclear. Adult male rhesus monkeys ( = 6) responded in the morning on tasks designed to assess different cognitive domains using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) touchscreens followed by responding maintained under a fixed-ratio (FR) 10 schedule of food presentation in different operant chambers. First, the acute effects of Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC; 0.

Trends and correlates of cocaine use and cocaine use disorder in the United States from 2011 to 2015.

Background: Recent epidemiological data suggest a resurgence in cocaine use (CU) and cocaine-related problems in the United States. Demographic trends and correlates of problem CU are needed to determine potential factors that may be influencing the increased trend and to inform targeted prevention and intervention strategies.

Methods: Trends in any past-year CU, weekly CU, and cocaine use disorder (CUD) were examined among persons aged ≥12 years using the National Survey on Drug Use and Health from 2011 to 2015.

Problem alcohol use and healthcare utilization among persons with cannabis use disorder in the United States.

Background: The emergency department (ED) and hospital settings represent crucial opportunities for engaging treatment for cannabis use disorder (CUD). Thus, there is a need to identify factors associated with healthcare utilization among persons with CUD to improve screening and intervention approaches. Problematic alcohol use may be a salient risk factor.

Behavioral Determinants of Cannabinoid Self-Administration in Old World Monkeys.

Reinforcing effects of Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary active ingredient in marijuana, as assessed with self-administration (SA), has only been established in New World primates (squirrel monkeys). The objective of this study was to investigate some experimental factors that may enhance intravenous SA of THC and the cannabinoid receptor (CBR) agonist CP 55 940 in Old World monkeys (rhesus and cynomolgus), a species that has been used extensively in biomedical research. In one experiment, male rhesus monkeys (N=9) were trained to respond under a fixed-ratio 10 schedule of food presentation.

Effects of ethanol on cocaine self-administration in monkeys responding under a second-order schedule of reinforcement.

Background: Concurrent alcohol use among cocaine abusers is common but the behavioral variables that promote co-abuse are not well understood. The present study examined the effects of intragastric (i.g.

Identifying Medication Targets for Psychostimulant Addiction: Unraveling the Dopamine D3 Receptor Hypothesis.

The dopamine D3 receptor (D3R) is a target for developing medications to treat substance use disorders. D3R-selective compounds with high affinity and varying efficacies have been discovered, providing critical research tools for cell-based studies that have been translated to in vivo models of drug abuse. D3R antagonists and partial agonists have shown especially promising results in rodent models of relapse-like behavior, including stress-, drug-, and cue-induced reinstatement of drug seeking.

Differential effects of the dopamine D3 receptor antagonist PG01037 on cocaine and methamphetamine self-administration in rhesus monkeys.

The dopamine D3 receptor (D3R) has been shown to mediate many of the behavioral effects of psychostimulants associated with high abuse potential. This study extended the assessment of the highly selective D3R antagonist PG01037 on cocaine and methamphetamine (MA) self-administration to include a food-drug choice procedure. Eight male rhesus monkeys (n=4/group) served as subjects in which complete cocaine and MA dose-response curves were determined daily in each session.

Effects of buspirone and the dopamine D3 receptor compound PG619 on cocaine and methamphetamine self-administration in rhesus monkeys using a food-drug choice paradigm.

Rationale: The dopamine (DA) D2 and D3 receptors have been associated with cocaine abuse. A recent study with the D3 receptor (D3R) partial agonist PG619 found that it attenuated cocaine-induced reinstatement and the D2-like receptor antagonist buspirone has shown positive outcomes in two studies of cocaine abuse in monkeys. However, a recent clinical trial indicated that buspirone did not improve abstinence in treatment-seeking cocaine abusers.

Further characterization of quinpirole-elicited yawning as a model of dopamine D3 receptor activation in male and female monkeys.

The dopamine (DA) D3 receptor (D3R) has been associated with impulsivity, pathologic gambling, and drug addiction, making it a potential target for pharmacotherapy development. Positron emission tomography studies using the D3R-preferring radioligand [(11)C]PHNO ([(11)C](+)-propyl-hexahydro-naphtho-oxazin) have shown higher binding potentials in drug abusers compared with control subjects. Preclinical studies have examined D3R receptor activation using the DA agonist quinpirole and the unconditioned behavior of yawning.

Effect of Ageratum houstonianum Mill. (Asteraceae) leaf extracts on the oviposition activity of Anopheles stephensi, Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae).

Plant extracts have been studied extensively for their insecticidal activity against immature stages and adult mosquitoes. They have also been reported to influence the habitat preference of ovipositing mosquitoes. Ageratum houstonianum, a medicinal plant belonging to the family Asteraceae, has been reported to possess insecticidal activity, and in the present study, the ovipositional attractant/deterrent activity was studied.