FIRST OPINION
Child protective services shouldn't take kids away from mothers in treatment for opioid use
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
Mothers undergoing opioid use disorder treatment can face two battles: One against the addiction, and the other to keep custody of their children. Child services often misguidedly remove kids and babies from parents in this situation, write Arthur Robin Williams and Judith Cole, who work for Ophelia, a company that provides opioid addiction treatment.
For many years, the law specified child protective services should get informed if a newborn was affected by "illegal" drugs, though in 2016 the "illegal" specification was removed — thus including methadone and buprenorphine, treatments for opioid use disorder. These measures can dissuade mothers from seeking care, Williams and Cole argue in a First Opinion. Individual states and hospitals are addressing this by significantly limiting the cases that warrant reporting. More here about what it would mean to adopt that approach at the federal level.
maternal health
Preeclampsia is associated with increased risk of young-onset dementia
A large study published on Thursday in JAMA Network Open analyzed all the nearly 2 million patients who delivered children in France between 2010 and 2018, finding that pregnant people who developed preeclampsia, a disorder that manifests as high blood pressure during pregnancy, were more likely to develop young-onset dementia.
Earlier studies have linked cognitive function impairments with preeclampsia, but this is the first time researchers found an association specifically with early-onset dementia. Patients who developed early dementia tended to be older (delivering at 36.4 years on average, compared to 34.6 for the larger group). Social deprivation, smoking, and diabetes were also associated with increased risk. And risk was higher in pregnant people who developed preeclampsia before 34 weeks of gestation, or already had other forms of hypertension.
antibiotics
Scientists test an antibiotic to treat multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria in mice
Gram-negative bacteria are the supervillains of pathogens: They are common, aggressive, and need treatment with broad spectrum antibiotics, which can disrupt the gut microbiome and lead to further infection. The bacteria can also easily evolve to develop antimicrobial resistance. But a study published in Nature details research into a new weapon that could fight back against these superbugs: an experimental antibiotic called lolamicin.
The antibiotic targets the lipoprotein transport system, or "Lol system," which is unique to Gram-negative bacteria. Lolamicin was effective against 130 different types of multi-drug resistant bacteria in the lab, and successfully treated infected mice that developed acute pneumonia and septicemia, without affecting their gut microbiome. In the study's control group, 87% of untreated mice with the same infections died.
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