About 44% of high school seniors who misuse prescription drugs have multiple drug sources

ANN ARBOR–Roughly 11% of high school seniors reported prescription drug misuse during the past year, and of those, 44% used multiple supply sources, according to a pair of University of Michigan studies. More than 70% of adolescents who obtained prescription drugs from multiple sources had a substance use disorder–involving prescription medications, other drugs and alcohol–within…

One in 270 births have ‘dual burden’ of prematurity and severe maternal complications

A quarter of women who have serious maternal complications during childbirth also have premature births, posing a “dual burden” on families, finds research from NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) California Preterm Birth Initiative, and Stanford University. The study, published online in The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal…

Ants that defend plants receive sugar and protein

IMAGE: The aggressiveness of ants in arid environments with scarce food supply helps protect plants against herbivorous arthropods. view more  Credit: Laura Leal Biologists Laura Carolina Leal and Felipe Passos performed a series of experiments in Brazil’s Northeast region – specifically in the interior of Bahia State, where the semiarid Caatinga biome predominates – to determine…

Timing of spay, neuter tied to higher risk of obesity and orthopedic injuries in dogs

IMAGE: Dogs like Dusty Bottoms helped inform Morris Animal Foundation researchers that spaying or neutering large-breed dogs can put them at a higher risk for obesity and nontraumatic orthopedic injuries. view more  Credit: Sean Andersen-Vie, Morris Animal Foundation Spaying or neutering large-breed dogs can put them at a higher risk for obesity and, if done when…

Study: PFAS move from mom to fetus at higher rate in women with gestational diabetes

A University of Massachusetts Amherst environmental epidemiologist studying the presence of PFAS compounds in new mothers and their babies found that women with gestational diabetes had a “significantly higher” rate of transferring the synthetic chemicals to their fetus. The newly published study in Environment International is among the largest to date in terms of the…

To Help Smokers Quit, Pay Them

Paying people to stop smoking is a very effective method of getting them to quit, a large review of studies has found. The meta-analysis, in the Cochrane Reviews, covered 33 trials and included more than 21,000 people. The studies were carried out in various settings — primary care clinics, universities, cancer treatment centers and others.…