It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, February 02, 2023
UBC Okanagan engineers examine drinking water management strategies
Climate change, economic sustainability can impact water distribution systems
IMAGE: UBCO RESEARCHER HAROON MIAN HAS DEVELOPED A FRAMEWORK THAT CAN HELP WATER DISTRIBUTORS SUPPLY SAFE DRINKING WATER, WHILE DEALING WITH ISSUES OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND SUSTAINABILITY.view more
CREDIT: UBCO
While residents in California are still dealing with damage from last month's floods—after years of devastating droughts—UBC Okanagan engineers are looking at better ways to manage the delivery of safe drinking water to homes.
Things to consider include a changing climate, costs and sustainability.
Dr. Haroon Mian, a Postdoctoral Research Associate with UBCO's School of Engineering, says municipalities and water utilities all have drinking water management strategies to ensure the water they provide is safe and plentiful. However, a natural disaster, a breach in the supply or contamination at the treatment plant can put water supplies—and human health—at risk.
"Freshwater is essential to sustain ecosystem health and our survival," says Dr. Mian. "But Earth's once plentiful freshwater resources are now under increasing pressure due to population growth, urbanization and climate change."
As water supplies become more threatened, not only is providing safe water a priority, but suppliers must also ensure that doing so will have low environmental and economic implications.
"The quality of drinking water is contingent on several important attributes such as water extraction, treatment, delivery, cost and the disposal of used water," says Dr. Mian who conducts research in UBC's Life Cycle Management Lab. "Those factors can all be impacted by climate change. And they have a significant environmental influence in terms of natural resource depletion, waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions."
Dr. Mian and his fellow researchers have developed an integrated assessment framework that combines water quality with lifecycle assessment techniques. Working with data from small and medium-sized communities, they provided a way to assess the long-term applicability of water systems that can provide safe drinking water to people.
According to Dr. Mian, the framework provides a different lens into a more holistic view of drinking water management and its components.
"We measure factors such as water quality, changes to the environment and potential costs to determine performance data and benchmarking, thereby providing important tools to ensure these systems experience long-term effectiveness and sustainability," he adds.
By considering these key factors, water can flow to a community at a reasonable cost while conserving natural resources and ensuring environmental protection.
The study evaluated the overall performance of several water distribution systems by combining the above-mentioned criteria. Water distributors can apply the framework to determine the best distribution management system that will provide safe drinking water to their consumers with minimal environmental and economic costs.
The framework continues to be tested to ensure it is flexible based on any setting, community or system.
"There are no perfect decision-making techniques. The results often vary based on the available data and assumptions," Dr. Mian adds. "But this framework can be useful for all water distributors."
The research was conducted in the School of Engineering's Life Cycle Management Lab in collaboration with Universite Laval with funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. It was published in the January edition of the Journal of Environmental Management.
IMAGE: UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA PRESIDENT BILL FLANAGAN (LEFT) AND AMII CEO CAM LINKE WERE AT AMII'S DOWNTOWN EDMONTON HEADQUARTERS TO ANNOUNCE $30 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR 20 NEW CANADA CIFAR AI CHAIRS.view more
CREDIT: COOPER & O’HARA
The University of Alberta and Amii (Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute) are ushering in a next generation of Canadian AI research through the planned recruitment of 20 new Canada CIFAR AI Chairs at the U of A.
Amii is investing $30-million over the next five years in support of the initiative, with a special focus on next-generation science in health, energy, and Indigenous initiatives in health and humanities. The funding is made possible by the research investment of the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy through the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), a Canadian-based global research organization, for Canada’s three National Artificial Intelligence Institutes – Amii in Edmonton, Mila in Montreal, and the Vector Institute in Toronto.
“The exponential growth of artificial intelligence is transforming all areas of our society – from energy and food security to healthcare and Indigenous initiatives,” says U of A president and vice-chancellor Bill Flanagan, “This historic investment in AI keeps the U of A and Amii on the leading edge of this worldwide trend, and positions us - and all of Alberta - for continued success.”
Two of the CIFAR Chairs in AI focused on health are also being funded through generous philanthropic support from The Dianne and Irving Kipnes Foundation.
Artificial intelligence is one of the greatest technological advances of our age and already has a significant impact on the daily lives of Canadians. The hiring initiative builds upon the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, a federally supported program aimed at recruiting the world's leading AI researchers to Canada, while retaining existing top talent.
Anchored in the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy, the global hiring initiative will see Amii and U of A deepen its collaboration; where Amii is tasked with advancing Canada’s AI potential, and U of A is a primary driver of Amii’s AI research excellence. By focusing on globally impactful domains, this research will accelerate opportunities for responsible commercialization of AI to propel Canada to the global forefront of applied AI and drive future economic growth.
“Our position as leaders in fundamental AI research is known globally,” says Cam Linke, CEO, Amii. “With this investment, Amii looks forward to growing this model to include a focus on areas that can be transformed by breakthroughs in AI and solve the world’s biggest problems: pandemics, food insecurity, climate change, and healthcare. Our collaboration with U of A continues our ambition in research, and Amii is positioned to translate this research into industry for maximum impact.”
The U of A has a long history of excellence in the field. It launched Canada’s first computing science department in 1964, and over the past 25 years has ranked first in Canada and in the top three globally for AI.
Since Amii’s inception in 2017, it has worked with more than 300 companies to translate knowledge, talent and technology into industry. In that time, more than 200 technologies have been created, including algorithms, architectures, theories, methodologies, approaches and applications. In addition, Amii alumni have secured $600M+ in venture financing, including $450M raised by Canadian-based companies.
The continued focus and investment in AI is paying dividends in Edmonton, which has been cited as North America’s fastest-growing tech market over the past five years. U of A alumni and CIFAR AI Chairs are helping drive that growth, with multiple innovations and AI-related companies having spun out of the university.
Recruitment for the new Canada CIFAR AI Chairs will be ongoing.
Entrepreneurship and urban research the focus of new centre launched in Mumbai by University of Toronto with Tata Trusts
The new centre brings together leading scholars and innovators from Canada and India to develop ground-breaking research and innovation to benefit people in India and around the world
The University of Toronto launched The University of Toronto Centre in India today in Mumbai in partnership with Tata Trusts, one of India’s largest philanthropic organizations.
Tata Trusts has been a longstanding collaborator with U of T, supporting researchers across the university to address health care, water, energy and poverty challenges. The new centre will give focus to this collaboration with an emphasis on urban research and entrepreneurship, bringing together leading scholars and innovators from Canada and India to develop ground-breaking research and innovation to benefit people in India and around the world.
ABOUT THE U OF T CENTRE IN INDIA
As part of urban research at the centre, the University of Toronto School of Cities will establish an alliance to build a network of Canadian and Indian researchers who will collaborate on addressing critical urban issues in India and around the world.
The centre’s entrepreneurship hub will help connect innovators and entrepreneurs from U of T and India, offering opportunities to share knowledge and resources and providing access to new markets.
The centre will work closely with Tata Trusts and Social Alpha, an initiative supported by Tata Trusts, to co-ordinate reciprocal student exchanges and competitions, support emerging startups and develop networks in both innovation ecosystems.
While the centre will not be a satellite campus it will open doors and create opportunities for students, researchers and startups in both countries.
ABOUT THE LAUNCH
As the first expression of the U of T Centre in India, U of T President Meric Gertler announced its launch at a Feb. 1. roundtable in Mumbai on urban transitions, held in partnership with Social Alpha, a multistage innovation curation and venture development platform for science and technology startups supported by Tata Trusts. The roundtable discussion highlighted key challenges faced by Indian cities in their journey towards net-zero emissions, and outlined the role of research-backed deep science innovations in enabling cities to solve for the most pressing environmental challenges of our time.
QUOTES
R Pavithra Kumar, chief programme director, Tata Trusts, says: “Collaboration for development and to magnify the effects of innovation has been at the heart of the Trusts’ strategy to bring about sustainable change for communities who need it the most. This partnership with the University of Toronto and the establishment of the University of Toronto Centre in India will amalgamate new research and innovations with historical knowledge of community engagement to develop skills, address urban environmental and economic issues and develop a model for success that can be replicated across communities in India.”
Meric Gertler, president, University of Toronto, says: “Our faculty are deeply engaged in partnerships with academic and industry leaders here in India and across the globe. The University of Toronto Centre in India will play a vital role in expanding and building on these collaborations, creating new opportunities for scholars and innovators from both Canada and India to share knowledge, collaborate on research and develop solutions to pressing social development and economic challenges.”
Diedrah Kelly, consul-general of Canada in Mumbai, says: “I am pleased to witness the launch of this collaboration between the University of Toronto and Tata Trusts. The focus on urban research will provide great value to both Canada and India, which will grow into engagement between Indian and Canadian innovators, entrepreneurs and researchers. I look forward to following this initiative and the contributions it makes to the shared goal of sustainable economic growth with environmental consciousness.”
U OF T’S ENGAGEMENT WITH INDIA
U of T welcomed more than 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students from India last year, including high-achieving, low-income students through our partnership with Karta Initiative, also one of Tata Trusts’ partners.
More than 300 U of T students travelled to India for academic, research and professional experience over the past five years.
U of T has an ongoing educational partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay that includes the Indo-Canadian Entrepreneurship Exchange, an exchange program that aims to develop a two-way innovation talent pipeline.
U of T partners in IC-IMPACTS, the only Research Centre of Excellence dedicated to the development of scientific collaboration between the academic and corporate sectors in Canada and India.
The India Innovation Institute at the Rotman School of Management is a hub for researchers focused on how India is using innovation to transform itself
The Canada India Initiative on Sustainable Rural Development (CIISRD) is a joint multidisciplinary research effort between U of T’s Centre for Global Engineering (CGEN) and the Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA) at IIT-Bombay, which tackles pressing issues of sustainable development in India such as sanitation, nutrition, and water supply.
A partnership between U of T, IIT-Bombay and the Pune Smart City Development Corporation Ltd. to find technology-based “smart solutions” for the city of approximately six million.
ABOUT TATA TRUSTS
Since inception in 1892, Tata Trusts, India’s oldest philanthropic organization, has played a pioneering role in bringing about an enduring difference in the lives of the communities it serves. Guided by the principles and the vision of proactive philanthropy of the founder, Jamsetji Tata, the Trusts’ purpose is to catalyse development in the areas of health, nutrition, education, water, sanitation and hygiene, livelihood, digital transformation, migration and urban habitat, social justice and inclusion, environment and energy, skill development, sports, and arts and culture. The Trusts’ program, achieved through direct implementation, partnerships and grant making, are marked by innovations relevant to the country.
ABOUT UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Founded in 1827, the University of Toronto is Canada’s best university and Top 20 globally, with a long history of challenging the impossible and transforming society through the ingenuity and resolve of its faculty, students, alumni and supporters.
University of Manitoba neurologist wins Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research
Dr. Ruth Ann Marrie honored for deepening our understanding of factors that influence multiple sclerosis
IMAGE: RUTH ANN MARRIE, MD, PHD, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA, IS THIS YEAR'S WINNER OF THE BARANCIK PRIZE FOR INNOVATION IN MS RESEARCH. HER RESEARCH TAKES A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO UNDERSTAND HOW MS AFFECTS INDIVIDUALS IN THE CONTEXT OF THEIR UNIQUE LIFETIME EXPERIENCES AND EXPOSURES. THESE MAY INCLUDE ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES, SOCIAL CIRCUMSTANCES, COMORBIDITIES (OTHER DISORDERS ALONG WITH MS), HEALTH BEHAVIORS, AND OTHER FACTORS. UNDERSTANDING HOW DIFFERENT FACTORS IMPACT THE ONSET AND EVOLUTION OF MS MAY OFFER NEW AVENUES FOR PERSONALIZED APPROACHES TO STOPPING MS AND FOR FINDING WAYS TO PREVENT IT.view more
CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA
[New York, February 1, 2023] - Ruth Ann Marrie, MD, PhD, a neurologist and researcher at the University of Manitoba, is winner of this year’s Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society (U.S.) awarded Marrie for watershed discoveries that deepen the understanding of how and when multiple sclerosis evolves, paving the way to more personalized medicine to stop and even prevent MS.
Marrie is a Professor of Internal Medicine at the Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, where she holds the Waugh Family Chair in Multiple Sclerosis. She is also a Professor in the department of Community Health Sciences, and an Adjunct Scientist at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy at the University of Manitoba.
Marrie’s research takes a holistic approach to understand how MS affects individuals in the context of their unique lifetime experiences and exposures. These may include adverse childhood experiences, social circumstances, comorbidities (other disorders along with MS), health behaviors, and other factors. Understanding how different factors impact the onset and evolution of MS may offer new avenues for personalized approaches to stopping MS and for finding ways to prevent it.
The impact of comorbidities had not been meaningfully explored in MS before Marrie began her work. In 2010, she published the first report suggesting that comorbidities such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and high cholesterol could increase disability and its progression in people with MS. Her team has since shown that various comorbidities affect all aspects of the MS experience including time to diagnosis, severity of disability at diagnosis, the use of health care, relapse rates and mortality. Her findings have informed treatment guidelines by the American Academy of Neurology, the Canadian Network of MS Clinics, and the international MS Brain Health group.
Marrie broke new ground in 2012 with the publication of a landmark paper showing that people with MS increased their use of health care (doctor visits) during the five years before their first symptoms of MS occurred. These key findings led to the recognition that MS has a “prodrome,” an early phase of unspecific symptoms indicating a high risk for future diagnosis of MS. Further work to map out the prodrome may enable opportunities to intervene and prevent the development of full-blown MS.
“Dr. Marrie brings her perspective as a neurologist to ask research questions that are very relevant to improving people’s quality of life and providing answers that will increase our ability to stop and even prevent MS in the future,” said Bruce Bebo, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Research Programs at the National MS Society, which administers the award. “She is also incredibly generous and very effective as a volunteer who provides critical leadership to MS research initiatives on a global scale.”
“It is an honor to receive this award recognizing the contributions of our team, and I am grateful to the Awards Committee and the Barancik Foundation” said Marrie.
Marrie is a coauthor of the Pathways to MS Cures Roadmap, a global collaboration led by the National MS Society that outlines the most promising research to stop MS, restore function, and end MS by prevention. She also played a key role in the National MS Society’s MS Prevalence Initiative, in which leading experts developed a feasible estimate of the number of people living with MS in the U.S. They showed that nearly 1 million people are living with MS in the U.S. – more than twice the previous estimate.
“Dr. Marrie is truly an exceptional clinician scientist whose work in MS research has demonstrated outstanding innovation and originality,” said Helen Tremlett, PhD, Professor, Division of Neurology, at the University of British Columbia, who nominated Marrie for the Barancik Prize.
Marrie received her undergraduate degree in chemistry and her medical degree from Dalhousie University, both with Distinction. She completed neurology training at McGill University. This was followed by a fellowship in MS at the Cleveland Clinic, supported by a Sylvia Lawry Physician Fellowship Award from the National MS Society. She later obtained a PhD in Epidemiology from Case Western Reserve University. Marrie serves in several leadership roles including Vice Chair of the Scientific Steering Committee for the International Progressive MS Alliance and Scientific Director of the NARCOMS Registry. She is past Chair of the International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials in MS and former Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee for the MS Society of Canada. Marrie has been named a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and is a recipient of the Women’s Executive Network’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada Award and the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation Distinguished Scientist Award.
Marrie will be honored and deliver the Prize lecture at the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Forum on February 24, 2023.
# # #
About the Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research The Barancik Prize seeks to recognize and encourage exceptional innovation and originality in scientific research relevant to multiple sclerosis, with emphasis on impact and potential of the research to lead to pathways for the treatment and cure for MS, and scientific accomplishments that merit recognition as a future leader in MS research. The international prize is administered through the National MS Society (U.S.) and made possible by the generosity of the Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation.
About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (U.S.) The National MS Society, founded in 1946, funds cutting-edge research, drives change through advocacy, and provides programs and services to help people affected by MS live their best lives. Connect to learn more and get involved: nationalMSsociety.org, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or 1-800-344-4867.
About Multiple Sclerosis Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. There is currently no cure for MS. Symptoms vary from person to person and range from numbness and tingling, to mobility challenges, blindness and paralysis. An estimated 1 million people live with MS in the United States. Most people are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, and it affects women three times more than men.
Kessler Foundation team to study impact of strategy-based cognitive training on new learning and memory in individuals with multiple sclerosis
Double-blind randomized clinical trial will assess efficacy of a protocol based on Kessler Foundation Strategy-based Training to Enhance Memory (KF-STEM™)
IMAGE: DR. CHIARAVALLOTI IS DIRECTOR OF THE CENTERS FOR NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, NEUROSCIENCE, AND TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY RESEARCH AT KESSLER FOUNDATION.view more
CREDIT: KESSLER FOUNDATION
East Hanover, NJ. February 1, 2023. Despite the prevalence of disabling cognitive deficits in the population with multiple sclerosis (MS), few treatment protocols are supported by Class I research evidence. To address this need, MS researchers at Kessler Foundation plan a double-blind, randomized trial of an 8-session protocol for cognitive rehabilitation based on the Kessler Foundation Strategy-based Training to Enhance Memory (KF-STEM™).
Their open access article, "Kessler Foundation strategy-based training to enhance memory (KF-STEM™): Study protocol for a single-site double-blind randomized clinical trial in multiple sclerosis” (doi: 10.1016/j.conctc.2022.101026) was published online November 3, 2022, in Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451865422001430. The authors are Nancy D. Chiaravalloti, PhD, Erica Weber, PhD, Ekaterina Dobryakova, PhD, Amanda Botticello, Ph, MPH, Yael Goverover, PhD, Nancy B. Moore, MA, and John DeLuca, PhD, of Kessler Foundation.
The team plans to enroll 120 individuals with MS-related impairments in new learning and memory. All will undergo neuropsychological evaluation (for objective cognitive performance), assessment of global functioning (to assess everyday functioning and quality of life), functional magnetic resonance imaging (to examine impact of treatment on patterns of cerebral activation). Longer term efficacy will be assessed by 6-month follow up, and whether booster sessions can maintain efficacy over time.
Cognitive deficits often have a negative impact on the lives of persons with MS, according to Dr. Chiaravalloti, director of the Centers for Neuropsychology, Neuroscience, and Traumatic Brain Injury Research. “Treating these deficits can improve how they function in their everyday lives, at home, at work, and in their communities. Through this rigorously designed trial, we plan to complete the bench-to-bedside translation of our scientific research and maximize its real-world benefits for individuals living with MS.”
This research was supported by National Institutes of Health (1R01HD095915).
About Kessler Foundation
Kessler Foundation, a major nonprofit organization in the field of disability, is a global leader in rehabilitation research that seeks to improve cognition, mobility, and long-term outcomes, including employment, for people with neurological disabilities caused by diseases and injuries of the brain and spinal cord. Kessler Foundation leads the nation in funding innovative programs that expand opportunities for employment for people with disabilities. For more information, visit KesslerFoundation.org.
Kessler Foundation strategy-based training to enhance memory (KF-STEM):Study protocol for a single-site double-blind randomized clinical trial in multiple sclerosis
Academic medical centers are linked to better health outcomes at neighboring hospitals, researchers find
Patients treated at non-teaching hospitals had lower mortality in markets with academic medical centers
BOSTON – An academic medical center (AMC), sometimes called a teaching hospital, is a hospital that is integrated with a medical school and that serves as the principal site for the education of medical students and trainees. Many studies provide evidence that AMCs in general have better patient outcomes than non-teaching or community hospitals. However, how the presence of AMCs may affect their neighboring community hospitals has been unknown.
A new study led by researcher-clinicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) suggests that the presence of academic medical centers within a healthcare market is linked to better outcomes for patients treated at nearby community hospitals. Findings published in JAMA Network Open show that receiving care at a non-AMC hospital in a market with AMC presence was associated with lower mortality and a greater number of healthy days at home. These associations were greatest in markets with the highest AMC presence, indicating that AMCs may have a positive impact on outcomes for patients treated at neighboring non-teaching hospitals.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study to systematically examine the potential indirect clinical benefits of receiving healthcare at a non-teaching hospital with greater proximity to one or more AMCs across a wide range of conditions,” said lead author Laura G. Burke, MD, MPH, an emergency medicine physician at BIDMC. “Identifying strategies by which AMCs may enhance care for patients in the entire region has the potential to improve health outcomes for underserved populations.”
In their retrospective cohort study of older Medicare beneficiaries who received care from U.S. acute care hospitals from 2015 to 2017, Burke and colleagues looked at more than 22 million total hospitalizations. Nearly 19 million of these, or nearly 84 percent, were at non-teaching hospitals. They calculated mortality within 30 and 90 days of an inpatient stay. They also calculated patients’ healthy days at home during the follow-up period, defined as the number of days during which the patient was not at an inpatient or long-term facility, outpatient emergency department or deceased.
Next, the team created four healthcare market categories. In a market with no AMC presence, zero patients who were admitted to a hospital were admitted to an AMC. In a market with low AMC presence, up to 20 percent of patients admitted the hospital went to an AMC. In moderate AMC regions, AMCs managed 20-35 percent of cases; and in high AMC markets, more than 35 percent of hospitalized patients were admitted to AMCs.
Burke and colleagues saw stark disparities in the demographic characteristics of the overall populations residing in the four markets, with those with no AMC presence having the lowest median income, lowest mean population, highest mean poverty rate, and highest proportion of white residents. Before accounting for the negative impact poverty and other regional characteristics can have on health, the scientists saw significant association with lower mortality for treatment in markets with high and low AMC presence compared to markets with no AMC presence.
However, when Burke and colleagues adjusted their model for patient characteristics and demographic factors, the association strengthened. Patients hospitalized at non-AMCs had lower 30- and 90-day mortality and more healthy days at home at 30 and 90 days when they received care in markets with greater AMC presence.
By contrast the team found no relationship between market-level AMC presence and outcomes for patients treated at the AMC themselves; that is, the presence of more AMCs in a given market did not impact outcomes for patients of AMCs.
“Taken together these results suggest a spillover effect of AMC's on outcomes for neighboring community hospitals and that the benefits of AMC for the broader community may be greater than is traditionally recognized,” said Burke, who is also an instructor in the department of Health Policy and Management at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
Burke and colleagues speculate that AMCs may have a positive impact on neighboring community hospitals in a few different ways. Given that physicians tend to practice in close geographic proximity to where they trained, it is possible that the presence of an AMC may lead to a more robust physician supply. Indeed, Burke and colleagues’ analysis revealed that markets with the greatest AMC presence have more nurses and physicians per capita.
Similarly, formal and informal affiliations between AMCs and non-AMCs within the same market may encourage diffusion of knowledge, innovation as well as sharing of best practices and even clinicians who work at multiple sites. Perhaps most obviously, patients admitted to community hospitals in regions with greater AMC availability may be more likely to be transferred to a teaching hospital should their conditions warrant tertiary care.
“This study extends prior work examining the role of AMCs in driving acute care outcomes,” said Burke, who is also an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School. “The findings are consistent with other studies demonstrating geographic disparities in healthcare access, and highlights the degree to which rural regions have less access to AMC services. The presence of AMCs may enhance care for patients in rural and remote locations and further research may identify strategies that have the potential to improve health outcomes for underserved populations and widen the reach of the nation's academic healthcare institutions.”
Co-authors included Ryan C. Burke, PhD, MPH of BIDMC; E. John Orav, PhD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Jose Figueroa, MD, MPH and Ciara E. Duggan of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH of Brown University School of Public Health.
This work was supported by a grant from the Association of American Medical Colleges and the National Institutes of Health (R56AG075017). Burke reported serving as a consultant for the Emergency Medicine Policy Institute outside the submitted work. Figueroa reported receiving grants from Commonwealth Fund, National Institute on Aging, Episcopal Health Foundation and Arnold Ventures foundation outside the submitted work. This manuscript was written prior to Jha’s government service. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and are not made on behalf of the federal government.
About Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School and consistently ranks as a national leader among independent hospitals in National Institutes of Health funding. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a health care system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals, more than 4,800 physicians and 36,000 employees in a shared mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through groundbreaking research and education.
PULLMAN, Wash. – Despite laws against advertising cannabis to teens, young people reported in surveys that they still see a lot of positive cannabis messages through social media posts.
Washington State University researchers found these messages were also connected to the teens’ intentions to use cannabis, and for college students, with their actual use. Anti-cannabis messages also had an effect in lessening use-intentions, but young people saw less of those types of messages.
“Youth, in particular, have really grown up bombarded with cannabis information compared to previous generations,” said Jessica Willoughby, first author on the study published in the journal Health Communication and an associate professor in WSU’s Murrow College of Communication. “We found that they were seeing more positive messages about using cannabis and a lot less about the risks.”
For this study, the researchers surveyed 350 teens and 966 college students from across Washington state, where recreational marijuana has been legal since 2012.
The state does have regulations aimed at preventing advertising cannabis to minors, such as prohibiting the use of cartoons or youth-oriented celebrities. This does not prevent individuals from posting about cannabis on social media, however.
Of the study participants, the vast majority, over 80%, reported seeing pro-cannabis messages on social media, such as posts about being high or claims that marijuana is harmless. The pro-cannabis messages most often encountered were those from celebrities or lyrics in songs.
“Parents might not understand that if their kid is using a social media site—whether it’s Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat —they are going to see cannabis messages. That's just the reality,” said co-author Stacey Hust, a professor at WSU’s Murrow College of Communication. “This means we need to be getting training into schools at much younger ages. At the very least middle school and high school health classes need to talk about cannabis and how it can be harmful to the developing brain.”
The study participants also reported seeing some anti-cannabis messages, such as that cannabis can cause harm or that smoking it is gross or for losers, but they saw these types of messages less often than pro-cannabis ones.
The youth, both teens and college students, who reported seeing higher levels of positive messages were more likely to indicate an intention to use cannabis. The college students were also asked about actual use and there was a positive connection between exposure to pro-cannabis posts and use for that group.
The good news is that seeing the anti-cannabis messages had some effect, although indirectly. Among the youth who already held beliefs that cannabis use could cause negative outcomes, such as damaging their brain or doing worse in school, seeing anti-cannabis messages appeared to lower their intentions to use.
The researchers said this finding indicates a good area for parents and counselors to target.
“Prevention efforts can have an impact,” said Willoughby. “Since youth are seeing more of that positive cannabis content, it's worthwhile to put out more content highlighting the risks, especially to the young people like them.”
This study received partial funding through Washington state’s initiative measure 502 which taxes production processing and wholesale retail sales of marijuana.
CUNY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND HEALTH POLICY
New York, NY | January 30, 2023 —A new study from New York State and CUNY researchers suggests that receiving medical cannabis for thirty days or more may help patients on long-term opioid treatment to lower their dose over time.
The study, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open, found an association between receiving medical cannabis for chronic pain for a longer duration and a reduction in prescription opioid dosages among patients on long-term opioid therapy. Patients who were on higher baseline dosages of prescription opioids when they started receiving medical cannabis experienced larger reductions in opioid dosages.
These findings leverage existing population-level data to contribute robust evidence for clinicians regarding the potential clinical benefits of medical cannabis in reducing the opioid burden for long-term opioid therapy patients, and possibly reducing their risk for use of illicit substances and overdose. The findings could further inform policies in other jurisdictions, where medical cannabis is not yet legalized.
Researchers from the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH), the New York State Department of Health, and the New York State Office of Cannabis Management used a combination of two large state databases to analyze data from eight thousand adult New Yorkers during 2017-2019. They evaluated prescription opioid dosages of participants during the 12 months prior to receipt of medical cannabis and up to eight months later. For each month of the study, the researchers compared the average daily morphine milligram equivalent (MME) for those who received medical cannabis for more than 30 days vs. those who received 30 days or less. The following results were observed eight months after patients started receiving medical cannabis:
Among patients with the lowest MME (less than 50 MME), the average daily MME at the end of the follow-up period for patients with longer medical cannabis duration was reduced 48% from baseline. In contrast, there was a 4% reduction from baseline for patients with shorter medical cannabis duration. This resulted in a total MME net reduction of -14.53 (range, -17.45 to -11.61) over eight months for patients receiving medical cannabis for a longer duration.
Among patients with a baseline MME of 50 to 89, the average daily MME at the end of the follow-up period for patients with longer medical cannabis duration showed a 47% reduction from baseline versus 9% reduction for patients with a shorter medical cannabis duration. This resulted in a total MME net reduction of -29.49 (range, -35.94 to -23.04) over eight months for patients receiving medical cannabis for a longer duration.
For adults with a baseline MME at 90 or greater, by the end of the follow-up period, the daily MME for patients with longer medical cannabis duration, there was a 51% reduction from baseline versus 14% reduction for patients with shorter medical cannabis duration. This resulted in the largest MME net reduction of -69.81 (range, -87.09 to -52.53) over eight months for patients receiving longer medical cannabis duration.
"This study found meaningful reductions among patients receiving medical cannabis for longer duration,” said lead author Dr. Trang Nguyen of the Department of Health. “Patients’ daily opioid dosages were reduced by 47%-51% of the baseline dosages after eight months. In contrast, patients receiving medical cannabis for a shorter duration reduced their initial dosages by just 4%-14%."
“These findings have important implications for clinicians and policy makers,” said co-author Dr. Danielle Greene of CUNY SPH. “They provide evidence for another tool to be used in response to the opioid epidemic. Changes in attitudes and policies toward opioid prescribing over the past decade have left some patients dependent on long-term high dosage prescriptions but fewer providers willing to write these prescriptions. Previous research has shown that abrupt disruption in opioid prescriptions among patients on high dosages and long-term opioid therapy can lead to patients’ use of illicit drugs, overdose, and self-harm. Our study suggests a more humane option for achieving lower prescription dosages and potentially reducing those risks. Equitable implementation of these findings will require addressing disparities in both access to medical cannabis due to high cost and the high rate of patients receiving long-term opioid therapy in Medicaid and other programs.”
“Since the inception of the Medical Cannabis Program in New York State, we’ve heard anecdotal evidence from patients, caregivers and health care providers suggesting that medical cannabis can reduce the amount of opioids patients take to manage pain – and now we have the study demonstrating a statistically significant reduction for those patients who were on medical cannabis for a longer duration,” said co-author Nicole Quackenbush of the NYS Office of Cannabis Management. “Research is critical to further our knowledge of the potential risks and benefits of cannabis and the OCM will be continuing efforts to promote cannabis knowledge and research in New York State.”
Nguyen T, Li Y, Greene D, Stancliff S, Quackenbush N. Changes in Prescribed Opioid Dosages Among Patients Receiving Medical Cannabis for Chronic Pain, New York State, 2017-2019. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(1):e2254573. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.54573
The CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) is committed to promoting and sustaining healthier populations in New York City and around the world through excellence in education, research and service in public health and by advocating for sound policy and practice to advance social justice and improve health outcomes for all. sph.cuny.edu
POHANG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (POSTECH)
IMAGE: SCHEMATIC ILLUSTRATION OF A THERANOSTIC SMART CONTACT LENS FOR GLAUCOMA TREATMENT.view more
CREDIT: POSTECH
Glaucoma is a common ocular disease in which the optic nerve malfunctions due to the increased intraocular pressure (IOP) caused by drainage canal blocking in the eye. This condition narrows the peripheral vision and can lead to vision loss in severe cases. Glaucoma patients have to manage IOP levels for their life-time. Automatic monitoring and control of the IOP in these patients would significantly improve their quality of life.
Recently, a research team at POSTECH has developed a smart contact lens by combining an IOP sensor and a flexible drug delivery system to manage IOP measurement and medication administration.
A POSTECH research team led by Professor Sei Kwang Hahn and Dr. Tae Yeon Kim (Department of Materials Science and Engineering) has developed a wireless theranostic smart contact lens for monitoring and control of intraocular pressure in glaucoma. Their findings were recently published in Nature Communications.
The IOP sensors currently available for glaucoma patients do not have the function to administer the appropriate amount of drug in response to the IOP levels.
The smart contact lens developed by the research team has an IOP sensor that uses hollow nanowires made of gold. It is integrated with a flexible drug delivery system, wireless power and communication system, and an application-specific integrated circuit chip for both monitoring and control of IOP in glaucoma. Notably, the IOP sensor has exhibited high sensitivity to ocular strain, excellent chemical stability, and biocompatibility. Furthermore, the flexible drug delivery system can provide the on-demand delivery of timolol for IOP control.
The researchers successfully demonstrated that the theranostic smart contact lens enabled the IOP measurement in real-time and the appropriate amount of drug release to match the degree of IOP in rabbits with glaucoma.
The new smart contact lens is expected to make possible a personalized glaucoma treatment with maximum efficacy and minimal side effects. In addition, the feedback system would be applicable to various wearable devices other than smart contact lenses as well.
Professor Hahn who led this study commented, "We hope the early commercialization of the newly developed theranostic smart contact lens for diagnosing and treating glaucoma intraocular pressure to provide glaucoma patients’ compliance.”
This study was supported by the Basic Science Research Program, the Korea Medical Device Development Fund grant, BRIDGE Research Program, and Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Korea.
