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Center Receives Grant Renewal For Hypertension And Vascular Disease Studies
The Hypertension and Vascular Research Center at Wake Forest University School of Medicine has received renewal of a multi-million dollar grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to continue the development of new approaches to treat hypertension and vascular disease. The program is in its 16th year of existence at the School of Medicine.

Gene Therapy Could Expand Stem Cells' Promise
Once placed into a patient"s body, stem cells intended to treat or cure a disease could end up wreaking havoc simply because they are no longer under the control of the clinician.
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Study Offers New Insights Into Morphine-Induced Tolerance And Increased Pain Sensitivity
A study published in the June issue of Anesthesiology has shown that a drug metabolite of the opioid morphine may be a key factor in the paradoxical increased sensitivity to pain caused by chronic morphine use. For the first time, this metabolite (called morphine-6 glucuronide, or M6G) was shown to act independently of the pain receptors typically targeted during morphine administration.
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Program To Prevent Behavioral Health Crises Earns National Honor

A Minnesota program that provides psychiatric medications to low-income patients received a 2009 Community Leadership Award honorable mention from America"s Health Insurance Plans. The awards, which were announced at AHIP"s annual Institute in San Diego, recognize programs that address a community need. The Mental Health Drug Assistance Program provides 24/7 access to stop-gap psychiatric drugs to low-income patients with severe mental health conditions such as major depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Administered by HealthPartners, MHDAP includes more than 25 local public- and private-sector organizations. The program prevents psychiatric crises that lead to emergency hospitalization and incarcerations which cost an average of $12,000-15,000 compared to the average cost of $165 for a psychiatric prescription. A 2007 study of Twin Cities found that 40 to 50 emergency room patients with serious mental health conditions are admitted every month to hospitals in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area because they do not have access to community res. "This safety net program is more critical since the state is eliminating General Assistance Medical Care, which provides health insurance for adults living below the poverty line," said Donna Zimmerman, HealthPartners vice president of government and community relations. "Seventy to eighty percent of the services we provide for GAMC are for patients who suffer from a mental illness and as they and other people lose their insurance they will also lose access to medications," she added. In the first year, MHDAP provided prescriptions to 300 patients. In a survey, patients reported that the program reduced the need for hospitalization by 26 percent. These results and the potential savings to the community, have prompted the MHDAP collaborative to explore expanding the program locally and to explore potential national applications, MHDAP is funded by HealthPartners/Regions Hospital, HealthEast and United Hospitals as well as by grants from the Saint Paul Foundation and F.R. Bigelow Foundation. Regions Hospital


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