Jan 14, 2025 03:19 AM
The best obesity drugs aren't even here yet
https://gizmodo.com/the-best-obesity-dru...2000547636
INTRO: Ozempic is just the beginning of a new era of obesity treatment. A review published this week previews the emergence of similar experimental drugs that will likely be even more effective at helping people lose weight.
Researchers at McGill University conducted the study, which was a review of the clinical trial data surrounding GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy). The researchers reaffirmed the safety and effectiveness of today’s drugs. But they also highlighted the potential superiority of newer compounds currently under development such as retatrutide, which has helped people lose more than 20% of their original body weight in trials so far... (MORE - details)
Study: US methamphetamine mortality 61 times higher in '21 than 1999
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1070335
INTRO: Methamphetamine deaths in the U.S. rose 61-fold from 1999 to 2021, according to a new study, highlighting a growing crisis in addiction and public health.
Looking at the gender breakdown of these deaths could improve harm-reduction efforts and outcomes for patients suffering from addiction, said Andrew Yockey, University of Mississippi assistant professor of public health and co-author of the study.
“We know that, across the board, men are more likely to use every substance except tranquilizers than women, and we found that to be true here,” Yockey said. “Especially if we're thinking about methamphetamine, we know that women have better treatment outcomes, and we know men are less likely to seek treatment.
“So, if we really start to design interventions with this in mind, we know we’ll improve these outcomes."
Yockey and Rachel Hoopsick, assistant professor of health and kinesiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, published the team’s findings on gender differences amongst methamphetamine deaths in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Their goal is to influence policy and highlight the ongoing crisis of methamphetamine-related fatalities in the United States.
“There were exponential increases in methamphetamine mortality among all people ages 15 to 74 in the U.S., both male and female,” Hoopsick said. “However, the data from our study are suggesting that the sex-based differences in methamphetamine mortality may be narrowing.
“Not narrowing because we’re seeing decreases in mortality in men, but because we’re seeing accelerating mortality among women.”
Although men have higher overall rates of mortality related to methamphetamine, the number of female deaths has been consistently increasing. Between 1999 and 2021, the rate of male deaths involving methamphetamine rose by a factor of 58.8. Female deaths rose by a factor of 65.3, narrowing the gap in total deaths-per year that involved the substance.
The sharpest rise came in between 2019-21, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also because of the rise of synthetic opioids and their prevalence among methamphetamine users, Yockey said.
Synthetic opioids – such as fentanyl, carfentanil and xylazine – are easier to make or acquire. When paired with methamphetamine, the substances are particularly deadly. The rate of deaths among men that co-involved methamphetamine and heroin or synthetic opioids rose from 13.1% to 61.5% in years the researchers studied.
“Opioid use appears to have abated in recent years, but what we’re actually seeing is the rise of synthetic opioids,” he said. “We’re starting to see basic substances like methamphetamine being adulterated with synthetic opioids.
“When we’re seeing overdoses and poisonings, the vast majority of them involve more than one of these substances.” (MORE - details, no ads)
https://gizmodo.com/the-best-obesity-dru...2000547636
INTRO: Ozempic is just the beginning of a new era of obesity treatment. A review published this week previews the emergence of similar experimental drugs that will likely be even more effective at helping people lose weight.
Researchers at McGill University conducted the study, which was a review of the clinical trial data surrounding GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy). The researchers reaffirmed the safety and effectiveness of today’s drugs. But they also highlighted the potential superiority of newer compounds currently under development such as retatrutide, which has helped people lose more than 20% of their original body weight in trials so far... (MORE - details)
Study: US methamphetamine mortality 61 times higher in '21 than 1999
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1070335
INTRO: Methamphetamine deaths in the U.S. rose 61-fold from 1999 to 2021, according to a new study, highlighting a growing crisis in addiction and public health.
Looking at the gender breakdown of these deaths could improve harm-reduction efforts and outcomes for patients suffering from addiction, said Andrew Yockey, University of Mississippi assistant professor of public health and co-author of the study.
“We know that, across the board, men are more likely to use every substance except tranquilizers than women, and we found that to be true here,” Yockey said. “Especially if we're thinking about methamphetamine, we know that women have better treatment outcomes, and we know men are less likely to seek treatment.
“So, if we really start to design interventions with this in mind, we know we’ll improve these outcomes."
Yockey and Rachel Hoopsick, assistant professor of health and kinesiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, published the team’s findings on gender differences amongst methamphetamine deaths in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Their goal is to influence policy and highlight the ongoing crisis of methamphetamine-related fatalities in the United States.
“There were exponential increases in methamphetamine mortality among all people ages 15 to 74 in the U.S., both male and female,” Hoopsick said. “However, the data from our study are suggesting that the sex-based differences in methamphetamine mortality may be narrowing.
“Not narrowing because we’re seeing decreases in mortality in men, but because we’re seeing accelerating mortality among women.”
Although men have higher overall rates of mortality related to methamphetamine, the number of female deaths has been consistently increasing. Between 1999 and 2021, the rate of male deaths involving methamphetamine rose by a factor of 58.8. Female deaths rose by a factor of 65.3, narrowing the gap in total deaths-per year that involved the substance.
The sharpest rise came in between 2019-21, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also because of the rise of synthetic opioids and their prevalence among methamphetamine users, Yockey said.
Synthetic opioids – such as fentanyl, carfentanil and xylazine – are easier to make or acquire. When paired with methamphetamine, the substances are particularly deadly. The rate of deaths among men that co-involved methamphetamine and heroin or synthetic opioids rose from 13.1% to 61.5% in years the researchers studied.
“Opioid use appears to have abated in recent years, but what we’re actually seeing is the rise of synthetic opioids,” he said. “We’re starting to see basic substances like methamphetamine being adulterated with synthetic opioids.
“When we’re seeing overdoses and poisonings, the vast majority of them involve more than one of these substances.” (MORE - details, no ads)
