Sep 6, 2023 04:32 PM
Commercialization of cannabis linked to increased traffic injuries
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1000333
INTRO: Annual rates of emergency department visits for cannabis-involved traffic injury increased by 475 percent over 13 years, according to a new study from The Ottawa Hospital, Bruyère Research Institute, and ICES.
The study examined cannabis-involvement in emergency department (ED) visits for traffic injuries between 2010 and 2021 and looked for changes after the legalization of cannabis in October 2018 and following the commercialization of the legal market (expanded cannabis products and retail stores), which overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our findings highlight a concerning increase in cannabis-involvement in traffic-injury emergency visits over time, with even sharper spikes following the phases of legalization and commercialization,” says lead author and ICES post-doctoral trainee Dr. Daniel Myran, who is also a family physician and fellow at the Bruyère Research Institute and The Ottawa Hospital. “Conversely, alcohol-involvement in traffic injury ED visits did not increase over the study period, which suggests that legalization of cannabis has played an important role in rising rates.”
While documented cannabis-involvement in traffic injuries ED visits were very rare, the data raise concern about potential broader increases in cannabis-impaired driving which may have accelerated after legal market expansion.
Published in JAMA Network Open, the researchers examined medical record data of 947,604 ED visits for traffic in in Ontario, Canada. They included records from January 2010 and December 2021, but excluded ED visits from individuals who were younger than 16 (minimum legal age of driving) at the time of the ED visit.
Key findings include... (MORE - details, no ads)
Around one in three guys have HPV
https://gizmodo.com/around-one-in-three-...1850804777
INTRO: Plenty of men worldwide are carrying the human papillomavirus, or HPV, new research has found. The study estimates that about one in three men currently have at least one strain of genital HPV, while one in five have a strain known to increase the risk of certain cancers in both men and women. Many of the worst types of HPV are vaccine-preventable.
HPV is considered the most common sexually transmitted viral infection in the U.S. and the world, and just about every person will be infected by it at some point in their lives. Thankfully, most HPV infections are symptomless, and the body typically clears an infection on its own within a few years. But there are over 200 types of HPV out there and some types can cause unpleasant symptoms like genital warts. These warts aren’t dangerous and usually go away after a while, but are unseemly and sometimes painful. Other types of HPV cause no acute illness but raise the risk of several different cancers (one reason why is that these infections tend to linger much longer in the body).
HPV is best known for causing cervical cancer in women and is thought to account for the vast majority of these cancers. But high-risk HPV strains are also strongly linked to penile cancer in men as well as anal, throat, and mouth cancers in both men and women. While most people with high-risk HPV will not develop these cancers, most of these cancers are caused by HPV. About 60% of penile cancers are tied to high-risk HPV, for instance, along with 70% of throat cancers... (MORE - details)
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1000333
INTRO: Annual rates of emergency department visits for cannabis-involved traffic injury increased by 475 percent over 13 years, according to a new study from The Ottawa Hospital, Bruyère Research Institute, and ICES.
The study examined cannabis-involvement in emergency department (ED) visits for traffic injuries between 2010 and 2021 and looked for changes after the legalization of cannabis in October 2018 and following the commercialization of the legal market (expanded cannabis products and retail stores), which overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our findings highlight a concerning increase in cannabis-involvement in traffic-injury emergency visits over time, with even sharper spikes following the phases of legalization and commercialization,” says lead author and ICES post-doctoral trainee Dr. Daniel Myran, who is also a family physician and fellow at the Bruyère Research Institute and The Ottawa Hospital. “Conversely, alcohol-involvement in traffic injury ED visits did not increase over the study period, which suggests that legalization of cannabis has played an important role in rising rates.”
While documented cannabis-involvement in traffic injuries ED visits were very rare, the data raise concern about potential broader increases in cannabis-impaired driving which may have accelerated after legal market expansion.
Published in JAMA Network Open, the researchers examined medical record data of 947,604 ED visits for traffic in in Ontario, Canada. They included records from January 2010 and December 2021, but excluded ED visits from individuals who were younger than 16 (minimum legal age of driving) at the time of the ED visit.
Key findings include... (MORE - details, no ads)
Around one in three guys have HPV
https://gizmodo.com/around-one-in-three-...1850804777
INTRO: Plenty of men worldwide are carrying the human papillomavirus, or HPV, new research has found. The study estimates that about one in three men currently have at least one strain of genital HPV, while one in five have a strain known to increase the risk of certain cancers in both men and women. Many of the worst types of HPV are vaccine-preventable.
HPV is considered the most common sexually transmitted viral infection in the U.S. and the world, and just about every person will be infected by it at some point in their lives. Thankfully, most HPV infections are symptomless, and the body typically clears an infection on its own within a few years. But there are over 200 types of HPV out there and some types can cause unpleasant symptoms like genital warts. These warts aren’t dangerous and usually go away after a while, but are unseemly and sometimes painful. Other types of HPV cause no acute illness but raise the risk of several different cancers (one reason why is that these infections tend to linger much longer in the body).
HPV is best known for causing cervical cancer in women and is thought to account for the vast majority of these cancers. But high-risk HPV strains are also strongly linked to penile cancer in men as well as anal, throat, and mouth cancers in both men and women. While most people with high-risk HPV will not develop these cancers, most of these cancers are caused by HPV. About 60% of penile cancers are tied to high-risk HPV, for instance, along with 70% of throat cancers... (MORE - details)