PubMed Update November 2014 - February 2015

Catching up on 51 papers in 4 months. Did you miss me?

1) New Drugs of Abuse.

Rech MA, Donahey E, Cappiello Dziedzic JM, Oh L, Greenhalgh E.

Pharmacotherapy. 2014 Dec 4. doi: 10.1002/phar.1522. [Epub ahead of print]

Comment: Review of management of drug toxicities among novel, synthetic compounds.

2) Police officer attitudes towards intranasal naloxone training.

Ray B, O'Donnell D, Kahre K.

Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015 Jan 1;146:107-10. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.10.026. Epub 2014 Nov 8.

Comment: Police officers like being trained to carry naloxone.

3) Intranasal naloxone administration for treatment of opioid overdose.

Robinson A, Wermeling DP.

Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2014 Dec 15;71(24):2129-35. doi: 10.2146/ajhp130798.

Comment: Review of intranasal naloxone for overdose reversal.

4) Observed transition from opioid analgesic deaths toward heroin.

Dasgupta N, Creppage K, Austin A, Ringwalt C, Sanford C, Proescholdbell SK.

Drug Alcohol Depend. 2014 Dec 1;145:238-41. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.10.005. Epub 2014 Oct 18.

Comment: Heroin overdoses are increasing.

5) Brief overdose education can significantly increase accurate recognition of opioid overdose amongheroin users.

Jones JD, Roux P, Stancliff S, Matthews W, Comer SD.

Int J Drug Policy. 2014 Jan;25(1):166-70. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2013.05.006. Epub 2013 Jun 15.

Comment: Brief overdose training works for naloxone distribution. This is important because many places are requiring prolonged trainings that end up limiting access to those who are unable or unwilling to invest that degree of time.

6) Brief overdose education is sufficient for naloxone distribution to opioid users.

Behar E, Santos GM, Wheeler E, Rowe C, Coffin PO.

Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015 Mar 1;148:209-12. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.12.009. Epub 2014 Dec 19.

Comment: Again, brief overdose training works for naloxone distribution.

PubMed Update July 2013

8 papers this month. Police, pharmacology, prisons, methadone, money, and plants. Enjoy!

1) Police Officers' and Paramedics' Experiences with Overdose and Their Knowledge and Opinions of Washington State's Drug Overdose-Naloxone-Good Samaritan Law.

Banta-Green CJ, Beletsky L, Schoeppe JA, Coffin PO, Kuszler PC.

J Urban Health. 2013 Jul 31. [Epub ahead of print]

Comment: Expands on the limited data we have regarding police and paramedics knowledge and opinions regarding opioid overdose prevention initiatives.

2) [Heroin].

Demaret I, Lemaître A, Ansseau M.

Rev Med Liege. 2013 May-Jun;68(5-6):287-93. French.

Comment: Only saw the abstract, but appears to be a nice summary of heroin, particularly overdose risk factors.

3) Potential P-glycoprotein Pharmacokinetic Interaction of Telaprevir With Morphine or Methadone.

Fudin J, Fontenelle DV, Fudin HR, Carlyn C, Hinden DA, Ashley CC.

J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother. 2013 Jul 24. [Epub ahead of print]

Comment: Some potential interactions of the HCV protease inhibitor with selected opioids. Hopefully we won’t be using telaprevir too much longer as more advanced, effective, and easily tolerated regimens are expected as early as the end of 2013.

4) Non-fatal overdose among adult prisoners with a history of injecting drug use in two Australian states.

Moore E, Winter R, Indig D, Greenberg D, Kinner SA.

Drug Alcohol Depend. 2013 Jul 15. doi:pii: S0376-8716(13)00220-2.

Comments: Survey of prisoners lifetime history of overdose.

5) Factors associated with high-frequency illicit methadone use among rural Appalachian drug users.

Hall MT, Leukefeld CG, Havens JR.

Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2013 Jul;39(4):241-6. doi:

Comment: I can’t access this article, but have some concerns about the utility of the analysis of covariates presented in the abstract.

6) Methadone-Related Overdose Deaths in Rural Virginia: 1997 to 2003.

Wunsch MJ, Nuzzo PA, Behonick G, Massello W, Walsh SL.

J Addict Med. 2013 Jul 8. [Epub ahead of print]

Comments: Analysis of methadone-related deaths.

7) The Economic Burden of Opioid-Related Poisoning in the United States.

Inocencio TJ, Carroll NV, Read EJ, Holdford DA.

Pain Med. 2013 Jul 10. doi: 10.1111/pme.12183. [Epub ahead of print]

Comments: Intriguing analysis of costs of opioid overdose, focusing on the costs to the healthcare system.

8) A drug fatality involving Kratom.

Neerman MF, Frost RE, Deking J.

J Forensic Sci. 2013 Jan;58 Suppl 1:S278-9. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.12009. Epub 2012 Oct 19.

Comments: Kratom is a plant that grows in North America (this case is from Texas) and many other parts of the world. Its use is prohibited in Thailand. It acts as a mu-opioid receptor agonist.