http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Officials in Estonia raised the alarm Wednesday after a report into drug use in Europe found that the small Baltic nation had the highest incidence of deaths from drug overdoses in the EU. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-estonia-tops-eu-drug-overdose.html Medications Wed, 13 Feb 2013 10:16:12 EST news279972938 Training bystanders to recognize and respond to drug overdoses can significantly reduce the number of fatalities, finds a study published in BMJ today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-bystanders-drug-overdoses-deaths.html Health Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:30:01 EST news278872355 Drug overdose was the leading cause of death among homeless adults in Boston from 2003 to 2008 and accounted for one-third of deaths among those ages 25 to 44. A study by investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) compared rates and causes of death among those served by BHCHP with data from a similar 1997 study and found that, while drug overdose had replaced HIV as the leading cause of death, overall mortality rates had not changed. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-drug-overdose-death-homeless-adults.html Health Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:00:01 EST news277380759 Given that epilepsy impacts more than 2 million Americans, there is a pressing need for new therapies to prevent this disabling neurological disorder. New findings from the neuroscience laboratory of Mark S. Shapiro, Ph.D., at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, published Dec. 20 in the high-impact scientific journal, Neuron, may provide hope. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-nerve-cell-seizures-gene-electrical.html Neuroscience Wed, 19 Dec 2012 12:00:09 EST news275136604 (Medical Xpress)—A Viewpoint article published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that the clinical practice of prescribing amphetamines, opioids, and benzodiazepines to treat chronic pain may be contributing to the increase in fatal drug overdoses and the likelihood that those drugs will be diverted to the illegal market. "Rethinking Opioid Prescribing to Protect Patient Safety and Public Health" was authored by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers G. Caleb Alexander, MD, MS, and Daniel Webster, ScD, MPH, and Stefan P. Kruszewski, MD, of MD & Associates. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-overprescribing-opioids-impacts-patient-safety.html Medications Tue, 04 Dec 2012 06:37:42 EST news273825448 Individual use of prescription opioids has increased four-fold since the mid-1990s, in part due to increased awareness of pain control for chronic conditions such as low back pain and fibromyalgia and a Joint Commission mandate that hospitals assess patients' pain as a "vital sign" along with their blood pressure and temperature. During the same timeframe, however, the number of people using these drugs recreationally, becoming addicted to them, and dying of overdoses has also shot up. Today, nearly three quarters of all fatal drug overdoses in the United States are due to prescription drugs -- far outnumbering deaths from cocaine and heroin combined, and often outpacing car accidents as the top cause of preventable deaths. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-drug-monitoring-dangers-linked-pharmaceuticalization-21st.html Medications Wed, 30 May 2012 17:00:11 EST news257609352 The number of oxycodone pills sold by Florida doctors dropped dramatically in 2011, following a series of high-profile arrests and a legislative crackdown on the storefront "pill mills" that made South Florida the hub of a nationwide black market in prescription painkillers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-sales-oxycodone-doctors-fall-florida.html Medications Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:20:01 EST news247399795 The dire physical and mental health effects of injecting methamphetamine are well known, but there's been little research about suicidal behavior and injecting meth. In a recent study, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the University of British Columbia found that drug users who inject methamphetamine had an 80% greater risk of attempting suicide than drug users who inject other substances. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-drugs-meth-suicide.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:41:04 EST news243794456 Unintentional overdose deaths in teens and adults have reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. In some 20 states in 2007 the number of unintentional drug poisoning deaths exceeded either motor vehicle crashes or suicides, two of the leading causes of injury death. Prescription opioid pain medications are driving this overdose epidemic. Opioid pain medications were also involved in about 36 percent of all poisoning suicides in the U.S. in 2007. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-narcotic-pain-relief-drug-overdose.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:25:20 EST news222967505