Cannabis-related hospital visits rising, often tied to mental health conditions: Study

CANNABIS PSYCHOSIS IS JUST PSYCHOSIS

Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

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PISCATAWAY, NJ – More people are landing in the hospital with cannabis-related problems—and for many, a mental health condition is the primary issue, according to a new study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

The study, conducted in Arizona, found that between 2016 and 2021, cannabis-related hospital visits across the state rose by 20%. Among those visits, one quarter ended up with a primary diagnosis of a mental health condition, including bipolar disorder, depression, and psychotic disorder. That compared with only about 3% of visits unrelated to cannabis.

Overall, people with a cannabis-related hospital visit were nearly eight times as likely to have a primary diagnosis of a mental health disorder. And the link between the two grew stronger over the five-year study period.

The reasons for the rising rate of cannabis-related visits are unclear, according to lead researcher Madeline Meier, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University, in Tempe, Ariz.

But, she said, legalization of non-medical (recreational) cannabis use is not to blame: Arizona legalized non-medical use for adults in late 2020, with sales beginning in 2021—too late to explain the trends seen during the study period.

On the other hand, Meier said, medical use of cannabis was legal in Arizona throughout the study period. So it’s possible that easier access to the drug is partly responsible for the trends her team found. Meier noted that when states have less-restrictive policies on medical cannabis—such as making it available in dispensaries rather than pharmacies—that can make it easier for any adult to get the drug.

The findings also raise other key questions: Why do so many people with cannabis-related hospital visits have a mental health condition, and why is the connection between the two growing stronger over time?

“There are many possible explanations, and this study can’t address them,” Meier said. But based on other research, she said, one possibility is that cannabis use led to mental health conditions in some people. Another is that some people were using cannabis to treat mental health symptoms—and that tendency increased over time.

If that’s the case, Meier said, it points to a need for better public education. “I think it’s important for people to be aware that the science on using cannabis to treat mental health problems is really not there yet,” she said. “In fact, there is evidence suggesting that cannabis use can worsen mental health conditions, or even increase the risk of developing them.”

The study also found some interesting patterns related to age: Older adults (age 65 and up) showed a bigger jump in cannabis-related hospitalizations between 2016 and 2021, versus other adults. And the growing tendency for those hospitalizations to be linked to mental health conditions was most pronounced among older adults.

That’s not necessarily surprising, Meier said, given Baby Boomers’ permissive attitudes about cannabis use. But, she added, older adults may need particular education about the potential risks of using the drug—including the fact it is much more potent (and potentially intoxicating) these days, compared with the cannabis of decades ago.

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Meier, M. H., Hummel, H. M., & Miller, M. L. (2025). Trends in cannabis-related hospitalizations in Arizona from 2016–2021 and associations with mental health-related hospitalizations. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 83(3). https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.23-00379

 

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Journal

Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Trends in cannabis-related hospitalizations in Arizona from 2016–2021 and associations with mental health-related hospitalizations

Article Publication Date

7-May-2025

 

Humans prefer to put more effort into empathizing with groups than with individuals

Study participants asked to choose whether to empathize with or describe people preferred to empathize with groups, despite finding it difficult and distressing

Frontiers

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What makes us care about others? Scientists studying empathy have found that people are more likely to choose to empathize with groups rather than individuals, even though they find empathizing equally difficult and uncomfortable in both cases. The scientists suggest that the sight of groups of people could offer more context information which helps people decide whether to empathize, and therefore increases the chances that they choose to do so.  

“People’s willingness to empathize is different depending on who the target is: a single individual or a group of people,” said Dr Hajdi Moche of Linköping University, Sweden, lead author of the article in Frontiers in Psychology. “Specifically, people were more willing to empathize with a group than an individual, although empathizing was rated as more effortful and distressing compared to staying objective – for both the individual and the group.” 

What is empathy? 

The researchers defined empathy as understanding, feeling, and sharing in another’s world, while maintaining the understanding that it’s not the same as your world. Empathy can come at a price, whether it’s paid in time, money, or emotion: feeling others’ pain tends to be painful. They wanted to learn whether people were more likely to choose to pay this price when they were dealing with individuals or with groups. Although an experiment in the lab doesn’t equate directly to the choices someone might make in real life, understanding how people empathize differently with groups and individuals could help us understand the part that empathy plays in natural disasters or wars. 

To investigate this, the researchers recruited 296 participants to take part in an experiment called the Empathy Selection Task, which invites participants to choose between two decks of cards, one of which will ask them to empathize and one of which will ask them to remain objective. Their willingness to empathize is gauged by how often they choose the empathy deck.  

Pick a card 

Each participant underwent a two-block test – one block of pictures of individuals and one of groups. Each block had 20 different stock photos depicting a diverse range of people, with (as far as possible) neutral expressions and plain backgrounds. Participants were given the two decks and asked to choose a card from one of them. Then they were given a picture to react to, writing down three keywords that described either the feelings of the people in the images or their external appearance. After each block, participants were asked questions which aimed to understand their experience of performing the tasks. 

The scientists found that participants chose to avoid empathizing more often during the block of individual pictures, choosing to empathize 34% of the time on average. However, during the block of group pictures, they chose to empathize 53% of the time. Even though they found empathizing harder and more distressing than staying objective, participants chose to pay that price more often during the test of group images.  

“The task of trying to share the internal experiences of the other requires more effort, imagination, and understanding of what the person might feel compared to describing external features like hair color,” said Moche. “To share in the internal experiences might be especially hard when the information at hand is only a neutral facial expression without any body language or background context.” 

Choosing to care 

It’s possible that the group pictures, containing multiple people, both provide more context for participants to help them empathize and make describing feel more effortful, so that empathizing becomes easier by comparison – participants reported that describing groups was harder than describing individuals. Participants also rated their own effectiveness in empathizing with groups higher: this could have boosted their confidence and encouraged them to empathize.  

It’s also possible that the neutral facial expressions and lack of body language in the individual pictures made it harder to understand people’s feelings and discouraged people from choosing to try. Different facial expressions or different amounts of context information might affect the choices people make.      

“It would be interesting to test this further by directly pitting the individual and group against each other and letting participants choose which of these they would prefer to empathize with, and then in another round, which one they would prefer to stay objective in relation to,” concluded Moche. “In this way, we would have a direct comparison in willingness to empathize when the target is an individual versus a group of people.” 

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Journal

Frontiers in Psychology

DOI

10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1519113 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

To empathize with a group or an individual? Investigating the role of cognitive cost and distress in empathy choice

Article Publication Date

7-May-2025

 

Feat of ‘dung-gineering’ turns cow manure into one of world’s most used materials

University College London

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The study, published in The Journal of Cleaner Production, describes the new ‘pressurised spinning’ innovation and its potential to create cellulose materials more cheaply and cleanly than some current manufacturing methods, using a waste product from the dairy farming industry, cow dung, as the raw material.

The advance is the first time that manufacturing-grade cellulose has been derived from animal waste and is a prime example of circular economy, which aims to minimise waste and pollution by reusing and repurposing resources wherever possible.

The researchers say that implementing the technology would be a win-win situation for manufacturers, dairy farmers and the environment.

Cellulose is one of the world’s most commonly used manufacturing materials. Found naturally in the cell walls of plants, it was first used to create synthetic materials in the mid-19th century, including the original material used in photographic film, celluloid.

Today it can be found in everything from cling film to surgical masks, paper products, textiles, foods and pharmaceuticals. Though it can be extracted organically, it is also often produced synthetically using toxic chemicals.

Pressurised spinning (or pressurised gyration) is a manufacturing technology that uses the forces of pressure and rotation simultaneously to spin fibres, beads, ribbons, meshes and films from a liquid jet of soft matter. The multiple award-winning technology was invented in 2013 by a team from UCL Mechanical Engineering led by Professor Mohan Edirisinghe.

Professor Edirisinghe, the senior author of the study, said: “Our initial question was whether it could be possible to extract the tiny fragments of cellulose present in cow manure, which is left over from the plants the animals have eaten, and fashion it into manufacturing-grade cellulose materials.

“Extracting the fragments from dung was relatively straightforward using mild chemical reactions and homogenisation, which we then turned into a liquid solution. But when we tried to turn the fragments into fibres using pressurised spinning technology, it didn’t work.

“By a process of trial and error, we figured out that using a horizontal rather than a vertical vessel containing surface nozzles and injecting the jet of liquid into still or flowing water caused cellulose fibres to form. We were then able to change the consistency of the liquid to create other forms, such as meshes, films and ribbons, each of which have different manufacturing applications.

“We’re still not quite sure why the process works, but the important thing is that it does. It will also be fairly easy to scale up using existing pressurised spinning technology, the vessels for which were designed and built in the UCL Mechanical Engineering workshop.”

The new technique, called horizontal nozzle-pressurised spinning, is an energy efficient process that doesn’t require the high voltages of other fibre production techniques such as electrospinning.

The team say that adapting existing pressurised spinning machines to the new process should be relatively straightforward. The greater challenge is likely to be the logistics of sourcing and transporting the raw material, cow dung, but that the environmental and commercial benefits of doing so would be significant.

Ms Yanqi Dai, first author of the study from UCL Mechanical Engineering, said: “Dairy farm waste such as cow manure is a threat to the environment and humans, especially through waterway pollution, the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when it decomposes, and the spread of pathogens. It is also often a burden on farmers to dispose of properly.

“Horizontal nozzle-pressurised spinning could be a huge boost to the global dairy farming industry, by putting this problematic waste product to good use and perhaps creating a new source of income.”

The research team is currently seeking opportunities to work with dairy farmers to take advantage of the technology and scale it up.

Animal waste is a growing problem globally. Research in 2019 estimated that the amount of animal waste is due to increase by 40% between 2003 and 2030 to at least five billion tons, with many farms producing more manure than they can legitimately use as fertiliser. This waste often finds its way into water, where it can have a devastating effect on ecosystems and even lead to disease in humans.

Core pressurised spinning research at UCL was made possible by grants awarded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Notes to Editors:

For more information, please contact:

 Dr Matt Midgley

+44 (0)20 7679 9064

m.midgley@ucl.ac.uk

Publication:

Yanqi Dai et al. ‘Harnessing cow manure waste for nanocellulose extraction and sustainable small-structure manufacturing’ is published in The Journal of Cleaner Production and is strictly embargoed until Wednesday 7 May 2025 at 05:01 BST / 00:01 ET.

About UCL – London’s Global University

UCL is a diverse global community of world-class academics, students, industry links, external partners, and alumni. Our powerful collective of individuals and institutions work together to explore new possibilities.

Since 1826, we have championed independent thought by attracting and nurturing the world's best minds. Our community of more than 50,000 students from 150 countries and over 16,000 staff pursues academic excellence, breaks boundaries and makes a positive impact on real world problems.

The Times and Sunday Times University of the Year 2024, we are consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the world and are one of only a handful of institutions rated as having the strongest academic reputation and the broadest research impact.

We have a progressive and integrated approach to our teaching and research – championing innovation, creativity and cross-disciplinary working. We teach our students how to think, not what to think, and see them as partners, collaborators and contributors.  

For almost 200 years, we are proud to have opened higher education to students from a wide range of backgrounds and to change the way we create and share knowledge.

We were the first in England to welcome women to university education and that courageous attitude and disruptive spirit is still alive today. We are UCL.

www.ucl.ac.uk | Follow @uclnews on Bluesky | Read news at www.ucl.ac.uk/news/ | Listen to UCL podcasts on SoundCloud | View images on Flickr | Find out what’s on at UCL Minds

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Journal

Journal of Cleaner Production

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Harnessing cow manure waste for nanocellulose extraction and sustainable small-structure manufacturing

Article Publication Date

7-May-2025

 

Importance of reinstating CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC)

Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

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Arlington, VA – May 7, 2025 – CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) is a critical asset to the nation’s public health infrastructure. It provides evidence-based guidance that directly informs federal healthcare standards and protects both patients and healthcare workers across hospitals, outpatient clinics, and extended care facilities. HICPAC’s recommendations are the basis for healthcare practices that facilities use daily to keep people safe from complications from healthcare-associated infections (including disinfection and sterilization practices for patient care instruments and equipment, isolation precautions for infectious diseases both confirmed and suspected, and disease-specific care and guidance recommendations).  These guidelines inform facility-level policies, procedures, and standard work to keep patients and health care workers safe.

The decision to terminate HICPAC creates a preventable gap in national preparedness and response capacity, leaving healthcare facilities without timely, evidence-based and expert-driven recommendations at a time when threats from emerging pathogens and antimicrobial resistance are on the rise. The committee’s interdisciplinary composition—drawing on expertise in epidemiology, infectious disease, infection prevention, hospital administration, occupational health, and patient advocacy —ensures that its guidance is scientifically rigorous and operationally practical. Disbanding HICPAC jeopardizes decades of progress in preventing healthcare-associated infections. The depth of HICPAC's review of scientific evidence and its members' hundreds of years of collective experience result in guidelines widely accepted as the standard of care by healthcare accrediting organizations and CMS. The absence of this committee’s guidance creates a significant void in the field, fosters uncertainty among healthcare facilities, and put patients at risk.  

HICPAC is an essential component of patient safety, and its contributions cannot be replicated by the private sector. As professional societies representing the infection prevention and infectious diseases community, we strongly urge CDC through HHS to reinstate HICPAC to preserve a resilient, coordinated, and science-driven public health infrastructure.   

 

About APIC
Founded in 1972, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) is the leading association for infection preventionists and epidemiologists. With more than 15,000 members, APIC advances the science and practice of infection prevention and control. APIC carries out its mission through research, advocacy, and patient safety; education, credentialing, and certification; and fostering the development of the infection prevention and control workforce of the future. Together with our members and partners, we are working toward a safer world through the prevention of infection. Join us and learn more at apic.org.

Media contacts: Aaron Cohen, aaroncohenpr@gmail.com; Malina Jacobowitz, mjacobowitz@apic.org

About SHEA 

The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) works to advance the science and practice of healthcare epidemiology and infection prevention. Founded in 1980, SHEA promotes education, research, and advocacy to improve patient care and safety. For more information, visit www.shea-online.org.   

Media Contact: Lindsay MacMurray, lmacmurray@shea-online.org

About PIDS

PIDS membership encompasses leaders across the global scientific and public health spectrum, including clinical care, advocacy, academics, government, and the pharmaceutical industry. From fellowship training to continuing medical education, research, regulatory issues and guideline development, PIDS members are the core professionals advocating for the improved health of children with infectious diseases both nationally and around the world, participating in critical public health and medical professional advisory committees that determine the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases, immunization practices in children, and the education of pediatricians. For more information, visit http://www.pids.org.

Media Contact: Alan Fleming,  AFleming@idsociety.org

About IDSA
The Infectious Diseases Society of America is a community of more than 13,000 physicians, scientists and public health experts who specialize in infectious diseases. Its purpose is to improve the health of individuals, communities and society by promoting excellence in patient care, education, research, public health and prevention relating to infectious diseases. Learn more at idsociety.org.

Media Contact: Jennifer Morales, jmorales@idsociety.org

ROOMBA FOR HOSPITALS

Transforming hospital sanitation: autonomous robots for wiping and UV-C disinfection

Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH)

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image: 

performs cleaning tasks and UV disinfection within established protocols by identifying object positions

view more 

Credit: POSTECH

Professor Keehoon Kim and Ph.D. candidate Jaewon Byun from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) have developed an "Intelligent Autonomous Wiping and UV-C Disinfection Robot" capable of automating hospital disinfection processes. This research was conducted in collaboration with Korea Institute of Science and Technology (Sangrok Oh, Director of Research Division, and Dr. Jinwoo Jung), the Korea Institute of Robot and Convergence (Goobong Chung, Vice President, and Dr. Youngho Choi), Elphoton Co., Ltd. (Eunhyun Park, CEO, and Dr. Kyungmin Kim), and the Infection Control Team at Pohang St. Mary’s Hospital (Jaemyung Kang and Eunjung Kim).

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the critical importance of thorough disinfection, particularly within hospital environments. Given the increased awareness of the importance of disinfection, concerns surrounding labor shortages due to physical fatigue and risk of exposure to pathogens have been raised. Moreover, individuals’ compliance with manually conducted disinfection tasks tends to vary, and human performance is inconsistent. Furthermore, existing technologies, such as UV-C robots and hydrogen peroxide vapor systems, have inherent limitations in completely removing contaminants hidden in obscured or hard-to-reach areas.

 

To address these challenges, the research team developed an autonomous robot capable of both navigating hospital environments and performing disinfection tasks. A key feature of the robot is its dual disinfection system: first, it utilizes a robotic manipulator to physically wipe surfaces and remove contaminants; second, it employs UV-C irradiation to disinfect hard-to-reach corners and narrow spaces.

 

The robot’s performance was validated through real-world testing at Pohang St. Mary’s Hospital. The team conducted bacterial culture experiments to confirm the effectiveness of disinfection and carried out repeated autonomous operations to verify its long-term usability in clinical settings.

 

One of the robot’s most significant advantages is its ability to automate time-consuming and repetitive disinfection tasks, enabling healthcare professionals to devote more attention to patient care. Additionally, unlike variability in human performance, the system can perform disinfection with consistent precision, significantly reducing the risk of infection within the hospital. Precision control algorithms minimize operational failures, while the integration of a self-sanitizing station and wireless charging system ensures sustained disinfection operations.

 

Professor Keehoon Kim emphasized, “Although COVID-19 has transitioned into an endemic phase, it remains essential to prepare for future pandemics. We will continue advancing this disinfection robot technology beyond hospitals to public facilities, various social infrastructures, and everyday environments to further reduce infection risks.”

 

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government(MSIT) (Project Director: Dr. Sang-Rok Oh, Korea Institute of Science and Technology).

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Journal

IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine

DOI

10.1109/MRA.2025.3543958 

Article Title

Autonomous Ultraviolet-C Disinfection and Wiping Robot: Assessment in a Hospital Environment

• Autonomous disinfection protocol at Pohang St. Mary's Hospital
• Example of disinfection tasks performed by an autonomous disinfection robot

• Results of disinfection performance verification through pathogen cultivation experiments using UV sterilization
• Results of contamination removal performance during wiping tasks and disinfection performance verification through pathogen cultivation experiments

• Autonomous disinfection protocol at Pohang St. Mary's Hospital
• Example of disinfection tasks performed by an autonomous disinfection robot

Autonomous Robotic Disinfection Performance in a Real Hospital Environment [VIDEO] 

Video of wiping disinfection performance [VIDEO] | 

Video of UV-C Disinfection Performance [VIDEO] |