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Rising Nicotine Levels
Quitting smoking may be harder than it used to be, according to a new report from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The report, based on data on nicotine yields between 1998 and 2004 from all tobacco companies that sell cigarettes in Massachusetts, found that nicotine levels in cigarettes have increased over the last 6 years. The overall nicotine yields increased about 10% between 1998 and 2004, according to the Department of Public Health. And in 2004, 93% of all cigarette brands tested were in the highest nicotine range, compared to 84% in 1998. Philip Morris USA disputed the findings of the Department of Public Health, saying that the analysis did not include information from 1997 and 2005 and that the machine smoking methods used to determine the level of nicotine are not an accurate way to determine the amount of nicotine delivered to a smoker's lungs.
Screening Returning Soldiers
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is calling on the Department of Defense to expand a pilot program to provide comprehensive mental health screening to more soldiers returning from combat. The pilot program, based at the Fort Lewis Army base in Washington state, assesses the mental health of returning soldiers through questionnaires and interviews. Any soldiers identified as being at risk for mental health issues are scheduled for follow-up appointments. Sen. Cantwell wants to see the program used as nationwide model for the Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard. Expanding this program could help to address the need for greater mental health referrals in the Army, Sen. Cantwell wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office reported that the Army has referred only about 23% of returning soldiers who were potentially at risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder for mental health evaluation.
Investigating Autism Causes
Officials at the National Institutes of Health are launching three new clinical studies aimed at defining the different subtypes of autism spectrum disorders and potential new treatments. In one study, researchers will compare two subtypes of autism–one with regression of normal development around age 3 and another considered nonregressive autism that begins possibly before birth–with other developmental disorders and with normal development. Researchers will also investigate possible treatments for autism, including the antibiotic minocycline in regressive autism and the use of chelation therapy. The studies will be conducted on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., as part of the intramural research program of the National Institute of Mental Health. More information on the trials is available online at
Prisoner Mental Health
More than half of all inmates in prisons and jails across the country have experienced symptoms of a mental disorder, according to a report by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. The report found that 56% of state prisoners, 45% of federal prisoners, and 64% of inmates in jails had a recent history or symptoms of mental illness. The findings, based on national survey data, show that many prisoners reported symptoms of mania, major depression, and psychotic disorder. For example, among inmates who had reported symptoms of a mental disorder, 54% of jail inmates and 43% of state prisoners reported symptoms of mania. Thirty percent of jail inmates and 23% of state prisoners reported symptoms associated with major depression. The full report is available online at
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/mhppji.pdf
DEA Reverses Pain Rx Restrictions
A new proposal from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration would allow physicians to issue up to a 90-day supply of schedule II controlled substances in a single visit. The notice of proposed rule making, which was issued in September, is open for public comment until Nov. 6. If finalized, the proposal would reverse the agency's previous position that physicians must write new prescriptions each month. Instead, physicians would be able to issue three monthly prescriptions at once, specifying the fill date for each prescription. The agency also issued a policy statement aimed at answering physician questions about dispensing pain medications. “Today's policy statement reaffirms that DEA wants doctors to treat pain as is appropriate under accepted medical community standards,” DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy said in a statement. “Physicians acting in accordance with accepted medical practice should be confident that they will not be criminally charged for prescribing all appropriate pain medications.”
Views on Medicare Part D
Most physicians agree that the Medicare Part D drug benefit is saving money for patients, but they see the law as too complicated, according to a poll commissioned by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Seventy-one percent of physicians surveyed somewhat or strongly agreed that the programs helps people on Medicare save money, while 92% somewhat or strongly agreed that it is too complicated. And 64% of physicians agreed that it benefits private health plans and pharmaceutical companies too much, according to the results of the Kaiser survey. Physicians also reported that the program increased their day-to-day hassles. The survey, conducted between April and July, is based on a nationally representative sample of 834 office-based physicians involved in direct adult patient care. A separate survey of pharmacists showed similar views on the program.
Rising Nicotine Levels
Quitting smoking may be harder than it used to be, according to a new report from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The report, based on data on nicotine yields between 1998 and 2004 from all tobacco companies that sell cigarettes in Massachusetts, found that nicotine levels in cigarettes have increased over the last 6 years. The overall nicotine yields increased about 10% between 1998 and 2004, according to the Department of Public Health. And in 2004, 93% of all cigarette brands tested were in the highest nicotine range, compared to 84% in 1998. Philip Morris USA disputed the findings of the Department of Public Health, saying that the analysis did not include information from 1997 and 2005 and that the machine smoking methods used to determine the level of nicotine are not an accurate way to determine the amount of nicotine delivered to a smoker's lungs.
Screening Returning Soldiers
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is calling on the Department of Defense to expand a pilot program to provide comprehensive mental health screening to more soldiers returning from combat. The pilot program, based at the Fort Lewis Army base in Washington state, assesses the mental health of returning soldiers through questionnaires and interviews. Any soldiers identified as being at risk for mental health issues are scheduled for follow-up appointments. Sen. Cantwell wants to see the program used as nationwide model for the Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard. Expanding this program could help to address the need for greater mental health referrals in the Army, Sen. Cantwell wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office reported that the Army has referred only about 23% of returning soldiers who were potentially at risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder for mental health evaluation.
Investigating Autism Causes
Officials at the National Institutes of Health are launching three new clinical studies aimed at defining the different subtypes of autism spectrum disorders and potential new treatments. In one study, researchers will compare two subtypes of autism–one with regression of normal development around age 3 and another considered nonregressive autism that begins possibly before birth–with other developmental disorders and with normal development. Researchers will also investigate possible treatments for autism, including the antibiotic minocycline in regressive autism and the use of chelation therapy. The studies will be conducted on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., as part of the intramural research program of the National Institute of Mental Health. More information on the trials is available online at
Prisoner Mental Health
More than half of all inmates in prisons and jails across the country have experienced symptoms of a mental disorder, according to a report by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. The report found that 56% of state prisoners, 45% of federal prisoners, and 64% of inmates in jails had a recent history or symptoms of mental illness. The findings, based on national survey data, show that many prisoners reported symptoms of mania, major depression, and psychotic disorder. For example, among inmates who had reported symptoms of a mental disorder, 54% of jail inmates and 43% of state prisoners reported symptoms of mania. Thirty percent of jail inmates and 23% of state prisoners reported symptoms associated with major depression. The full report is available online at
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/mhppji.pdf
DEA Reverses Pain Rx Restrictions
A new proposal from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration would allow physicians to issue up to a 90-day supply of schedule II controlled substances in a single visit. The notice of proposed rule making, which was issued in September, is open for public comment until Nov. 6. If finalized, the proposal would reverse the agency's previous position that physicians must write new prescriptions each month. Instead, physicians would be able to issue three monthly prescriptions at once, specifying the fill date for each prescription. The agency also issued a policy statement aimed at answering physician questions about dispensing pain medications. “Today's policy statement reaffirms that DEA wants doctors to treat pain as is appropriate under accepted medical community standards,” DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy said in a statement. “Physicians acting in accordance with accepted medical practice should be confident that they will not be criminally charged for prescribing all appropriate pain medications.”
Views on Medicare Part D
Most physicians agree that the Medicare Part D drug benefit is saving money for patients, but they see the law as too complicated, according to a poll commissioned by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Seventy-one percent of physicians surveyed somewhat or strongly agreed that the programs helps people on Medicare save money, while 92% somewhat or strongly agreed that it is too complicated. And 64% of physicians agreed that it benefits private health plans and pharmaceutical companies too much, according to the results of the Kaiser survey. Physicians also reported that the program increased their day-to-day hassles. The survey, conducted between April and July, is based on a nationally representative sample of 834 office-based physicians involved in direct adult patient care. A separate survey of pharmacists showed similar views on the program.
Rising Nicotine Levels
Quitting smoking may be harder than it used to be, according to a new report from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The report, based on data on nicotine yields between 1998 and 2004 from all tobacco companies that sell cigarettes in Massachusetts, found that nicotine levels in cigarettes have increased over the last 6 years. The overall nicotine yields increased about 10% between 1998 and 2004, according to the Department of Public Health. And in 2004, 93% of all cigarette brands tested were in the highest nicotine range, compared to 84% in 1998. Philip Morris USA disputed the findings of the Department of Public Health, saying that the analysis did not include information from 1997 and 2005 and that the machine smoking methods used to determine the level of nicotine are not an accurate way to determine the amount of nicotine delivered to a smoker's lungs.
Screening Returning Soldiers
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is calling on the Department of Defense to expand a pilot program to provide comprehensive mental health screening to more soldiers returning from combat. The pilot program, based at the Fort Lewis Army base in Washington state, assesses the mental health of returning soldiers through questionnaires and interviews. Any soldiers identified as being at risk for mental health issues are scheduled for follow-up appointments. Sen. Cantwell wants to see the program used as nationwide model for the Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard. Expanding this program could help to address the need for greater mental health referrals in the Army, Sen. Cantwell wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office reported that the Army has referred only about 23% of returning soldiers who were potentially at risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder for mental health evaluation.
Investigating Autism Causes
Officials at the National Institutes of Health are launching three new clinical studies aimed at defining the different subtypes of autism spectrum disorders and potential new treatments. In one study, researchers will compare two subtypes of autism–one with regression of normal development around age 3 and another considered nonregressive autism that begins possibly before birth–with other developmental disorders and with normal development. Researchers will also investigate possible treatments for autism, including the antibiotic minocycline in regressive autism and the use of chelation therapy. The studies will be conducted on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., as part of the intramural research program of the National Institute of Mental Health. More information on the trials is available online at
Prisoner Mental Health
More than half of all inmates in prisons and jails across the country have experienced symptoms of a mental disorder, according to a report by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. The report found that 56% of state prisoners, 45% of federal prisoners, and 64% of inmates in jails had a recent history or symptoms of mental illness. The findings, based on national survey data, show that many prisoners reported symptoms of mania, major depression, and psychotic disorder. For example, among inmates who had reported symptoms of a mental disorder, 54% of jail inmates and 43% of state prisoners reported symptoms of mania. Thirty percent of jail inmates and 23% of state prisoners reported symptoms associated with major depression. The full report is available online at
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/mhppji.pdf
DEA Reverses Pain Rx Restrictions
A new proposal from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration would allow physicians to issue up to a 90-day supply of schedule II controlled substances in a single visit. The notice of proposed rule making, which was issued in September, is open for public comment until Nov. 6. If finalized, the proposal would reverse the agency's previous position that physicians must write new prescriptions each month. Instead, physicians would be able to issue three monthly prescriptions at once, specifying the fill date for each prescription. The agency also issued a policy statement aimed at answering physician questions about dispensing pain medications. “Today's policy statement reaffirms that DEA wants doctors to treat pain as is appropriate under accepted medical community standards,” DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy said in a statement. “Physicians acting in accordance with accepted medical practice should be confident that they will not be criminally charged for prescribing all appropriate pain medications.”
Views on Medicare Part D
Most physicians agree that the Medicare Part D drug benefit is saving money for patients, but they see the law as too complicated, according to a poll commissioned by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Seventy-one percent of physicians surveyed somewhat or strongly agreed that the programs helps people on Medicare save money, while 92% somewhat or strongly agreed that it is too complicated. And 64% of physicians agreed that it benefits private health plans and pharmaceutical companies too much, according to the results of the Kaiser survey. Physicians also reported that the program increased their day-to-day hassles. The survey, conducted between April and July, is based on a nationally representative sample of 834 office-based physicians involved in direct adult patient care. A separate survey of pharmacists showed similar views on the program.