Clusters of substance use and mental health variables with emergency room visits in U.S. adults: The 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the prevalence of emergency room (ER) visits, given numerous substance use and mental health variables in the past year. METHODS: Data from 5206 emergency room visits out of 27,170 adults were extracted from the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Oblique principal component cluster analysis was used to classify 39 substance use and mental health variables into disjoint clusters. RESULTS: In 2020, the overall prevalence of ER visits was 21.9 %. Being female, age above 65 years, with insurance, low income and low education levels, and being African American increased the risk of ER visit. Nine clusters were made out of 39 substance use and mental health variables. Multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis showed 15 substance use and mental health variables were significantly associated with ER visits including heavy alcohol use past 30 days in cluster 3, nicotine dependence and cigarettes use in cluster 4, major depressive episode, serious psychological distress, and suicidal plans in past year in cluster 5, any psychotherapeutics use in cluster 7, tranquilizers use and lorazepam products use in cluster 8, and any pain reliever, pain reliever misuse, hydrocodone products use, oxycodone products use, tramadol products use, and codeine products use in cluster 9. CONCLUSIONS: Several substance use and mental health problems, including nicotine dependence, illicit drugs, and serious mental health problems were among the common reasons for ER visits. These findings suggest the effective use of ER as the venue to implement interventions for substance use and mental health.

BRAFV600E induces reversible mitotic arrest in human melanocytes via microrna-mediated suppression of AURKB.

Benign melanocytic nevi frequently emerge when an acquired BRAFV600E mutation triggers unchecked proliferation and subsequent arrest in melanocytes. Recent observations have challenged the role of oncogene-induced senescence in melanocytic nevus formation, necessitating investigations into alternative mechanisms for the establishment and maintenance of proliferation arrest in nevi. We compared the transcriptomes of melanocytes from healthy human skin, nevi, and melanomas arising from nevi and identified a set of microRNAs as highly expressed nevus-enriched transcripts. Two of these microRNAs-MIR211-5p and MIR328-3p-induced mitotic failure, genome duplication, and proliferation arrest in human melanocytes through convergent targeting of AURKB. We demonstrate that BRAFV600E induces a similar proliferation arrest in primary human melanocytes that is both reversible and conditional. Specifically, BRAFV600E expression stimulates either arrest or proliferation depending on the differentiation state of the melanocyte. We report genome duplication in human melanocytic nevi, reciprocal expression of AURKB and microRNAs in nevi and melanomas, and rescue of arrested human nevus cells with AURKB expression. Taken together, our data describe an alternative molecular mechanism for melanocytic nevus formation that is congruent with both experimental and clinical observations.

Lots of people have small dark patches on their skin known as moles. Most moles form when individual cells known as melanocytes in the skin acquire a specific genetic mutation in a gene called BRAF. This mutation causes the cells to divide rapidly to form the mole. After a while, most moles stop growing and remain harmless for the rest of a person's life. Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that develops from damaged melanocytes. The same mutation in BRAF that is found in moles is also present in half of all cases of melanoma. Unlike in moles, the melanoma-causing mutation makes the melanocytes divide rapidly to form a tumor that keeps on growing indefinitely. It remains unclear why the same genetic mutation in the BRAF gene has such different consequences in moles and melanomas. To address this question, McNeal et al. used genetic approaches to study melanocytes from moles and melanomas. The experiments identified some molecules known as microRNAs that are present at higher levels in moles than in melanomas. Increasing the levels of two of these microRNAs in melanocytes from human skin stopped the cells from growing and dividing by inhibiting a gene called AURKB. This suggested that these microRNAs are responsible for halting the growth of moles. Introducing the mutated form of BRAF into melanocytes also stopped cells from growing and dividing by inhibiting AURKB. However, changing the environment surrounding the cells reversed this effect and allowed the melanocytes to resume dividing. In this way the mutated form of BRAF acts like a switch that allows melanocytes in skin cancers to start growing again under certain conditions. Further experiments found that a drug called barasertib is able to inhibit the growth of melanoma cells with the mutant form of BRAF. Future work will investigate whether it is possible to use this drug and other tools to stop skin cancer tumors from growing, and possibly even prevent skin tumors from forming in the first place.

Using a Nurse-Led Telehealth Intervention to Improve Fasting Glucose Levels in Patients With Uncontrolled Type 2 Diabetes Undergoing a Surgical Intervention.

BACKGROUND: Uncontrolled diabetes during the perioperative period can result in a variety of adverse postoperative outcomes. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate a nurse-led telehealth preoperative intervention to improve glycemic control. METHODS: Provide telehealth diabetes education prior to surgery and evaluate time spent and pre-/post-glucose levels. Between-group differences were used to assess glycemic control. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in scores for those who received the telephone intervention (M = 167.71, SD = 59.9) and those who did not receive the intervention (M = 171.44, SD = 54.9; t (44) = 0.220, p = .82, two-tailed). The magnitude of the differences in the means was very small (Cohen's d = 0.03). There was a reduction in pre- and post-glucose levels for both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Although the findings were not statistically significant, there may be some clinical significance. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: The clinical significance has implications for nursing due to participants choosing to delay surgery and potentially preventing adverse outcomes.

Comparison of Instructional Methods for Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment for Substance Use in Nursing Education.

Most nursing programs lack curriculum on substance use. This project evaluated 3 didactic instructional methods for teaching baccalaureate nursing students about screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment for substance use. In-person, asynchronous narrated slides and interactive online instructional methods were all effective in developing students' competency; however, active learning methods (in-person and interactive online course) were more effective in changing students' attitudes about their role in screening and intervening for drug use.