Banishing cigarettes into history’s ashcan

IMAGE: Lorraine Reitzel, Distinguished Professor of Education at University of Houston and director, Taking Texas Tobacco Free, is leading expansion of the program into underserved communities and targeting substance abusers view more  Credit: University of Houston In Texas, only 14% of residents are cigarette smokers, thanks in part to groups like Taking Texas Tobacco Free (TTTF)…

Human-driven habitat change leads to physical, behavioral change in mosquitofish

Bahamian mosquitofish in habitats fragmented by human activity are more willing to explore their environment, more stressed by change and have smaller brain regions associated with fear response than mosquitofish from unaffected habitats. The new study from North Carolina State University shows that these fish have adapted quickly in specific ways to human-driven change, and…

‘Fortunate accident’ may yield immunity weapon against antibiotic-resistant bacteria

IMAGE: Scanning electron micrograph of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria being engulfed by an immune cell known as a neutrophil. Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have discovered that blocking a specific group… view more  Credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE In what turned out to be one of…

CAMH releases updated national clinical guidelines for treatment of opioid use disorder

As more evidence emerges that opioid overdose deaths have increased dramatically since the onset of COVID-19, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), in collaboration with subject matter experts and medical regulatory authorities across Canada, have now released updated national clinical guidelines for the treatment of opioid use disorder. Opioid Agonist Therapy: A Synthesis…

Commensal bacteria ‘vaccine’ may safely prep immune cells for meningitis-causing cousin

Researchers have produced vaccine-like immune responses to a dangerous bacterium by colonizing 26 healthy volunteers with a related, but harmless, commensal bacterial species. The first-in-human, controlled infection study showed the strategy was safe, as no side effects were reported and the volunteers didn’t transmit the commensal bacteria to bedroom-sharers over the 90-day study. Neisseria lactamica…