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New research finds that over a period of 17 years, people in the United States increased their use of natural psychoactive substances, believing them to be safe. This has led to many reports of adverse symptoms in adults and children alike. People have been using natural psychoactive substances for hundreds, or even thousands, of years in traditional medicine and as a part of spiritual practices. Because these substances come from sources such as plants and mushrooms, many people believe them to be safe to use. However, because they interfere with biological processes in the central nervous system, they can be a threat to human health. These interferences can also cause euphoria and altered states of consciousness. For these reasons, many people are now using natural psychoactive substances for recreational purposes. New research has studied trends in the number of people in the United States who reported adverse reactions as a result of exposure to psychoactive substances during 2000–2017. The Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH, collaborated with the Ohio State University College of Medicine, also in Columbus, to conduct this study. In the new study paper — which appears in the journal Clinical Toxicology — the researchers explain that at a global level, many such substances remain improperly regulated. This means that it can be very easy for people to obtain them via online channels. "Opium, cocaine, and marijuana are the most commonly used and are included in the 1961 United Nations Convention on Narcotics," the study authors write. However, they add, "While these three well-known plant-based substances are highly regulated, other natural psychoactive substances are not currently under international control through this convention or its amendments. Lack of regulation has led to an increase in their availability, especially on the internet." Based on accumulating evidence — including the results of this study — Spiller and colleagues suggest that federal institutions increase their efforts to regulate natural psychoactive substances, especially kratom, more strictly.

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A new study suggests that some readings from routine blood tests could help identify people at higher risk of disease and death related to disease. Doctors currently use the readings as markers of immune condition and inflammation. The study investigators analyzed 12 years of data from 31,178 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANESTrusted Source). They found that those with low levels of lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell, were more likely to die from heart disease, cancer, and respiratory illnesses, such as pneumonia and influenza. The analysis showed that the link between low lymphocytes — a condition called lymphopenia — and higher risk of disease and death did not vary with age or other common risk factors. However, the predictive power of the low lymphocyte count increased when the scientists added two other measures of blood abnormality: one relating to inflammation and the other to the ability to maintain a supply of red blood cells. The research is the work of teams from the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, in Ohio, and other institutions. They report their findings in a recent JAMA Network Open paper. In their study paper, he and colleagues remark on the increasing availability of drugs that target the immune system to treat established disease. These treatments seek to either reduce or boost immune activity, depending on the underlying relationship to disease. However, they urge that there is also a great and unmet need for tools and methods to help prevent immune-related diseases in the general population in the first place. The team suggests that with more research, it should soon be possible to understand the biological nature of the relationship between these markers and disease. Such knowledge could help identify suitable treatment targets. In the meantime, it should be possible to help doctors use the markers to identify those with the highest risk of premature death as part of routine preventive care and screening.

(Credits: www.medicalnewstoday.com)