Drugs & Medications

Caudal Insular-to-Somatosensory Pathway Was Necessary and Sufficient for Neuropathic Pain in Rats

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Caudal Insular-to-Somatosensory Pathway Was Necessary and Sufficient for Neuropathic Pain in Rats

TL;DR: A 2025 rat study in The Journal of Neuroscience found that caudal granular insular cortex (CGIC) projections to primary somatosensory cortex (SI) were required for neuropathic pain behavior, while activating the same pathway produced allodynia, or pain from harmless touch, in healthy rats. Key Findings CGIC-to-SI projections are necessary for neuropathic pain: Multiweek chemogenetic …

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Lurasidone 40 mg Improved Five PANSS Symptom Domains in Acute Schizophrenia

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Lurasidone 40 mg Improved Five PANSS Symptom Domains in Acute Schizophrenia

TL;DR: A 2026 post-hoc analysis in International Clinical Psychopharmacology found that lurasidone 40 mg/day improved all 5 Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) symptom domains in acute schizophrenia over 6 weeks, with the largest effect on positive symptoms and later improvement in negative symptoms. Key Findings 483 randomized patients: The JEWEL phase 3 trial assigned …

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IGF1R Inhibitors Improved Mouse Healthspan but Raised Safety Concerns

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IGF1R Inhibitors Improved Mouse Healthspan but Raised Safety Concerns

TL;DR: A 2026 mouse preprint in bioRxiv reported that small-molecule IGF1R inhibitors, drugs that block insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor signaling, protected several healthspan measures in aging mice, but the tested compounds also carried major safety and drug-development problems. Key Findings 150 aging mice: Researchers assigned 55-week-old C57BL/6 mice to control diet, PPP, or NVP-ADW742, …

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Psilocybin Increased 6-Month Smoking Abstinence to 40% vs 10% on Nicotine Patch

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Psilocybin Increased 6-Month Smoking Abstinence to 40% vs 10% on Nicotine Patch

TL;DR: A 2026 randomized clinical trial in JAMA Network Open found that one supervised 30 mg/70 kg psilocybin dose plus cognitive behavioral therapy produced 40.5% six-month smoking abstinence versus 10.0% with a nicotine patch plus the same therapy. Key Findings 40.5% vs. 10% prolonged abstinence at 6 months: 17 of 42 psilocybin participants stayed biochemically …

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Solriamfetol Improved Sleepiness in Early Shift Work

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Solriamfetol Improved Sleepiness in Early Shift Work

TL;DR: A 2026 study in NEJM Evidence found that solriamfetol added 9.4 minutes of objective wakefulness in early-morning shift work disorder after 4 weeks, without a higher overall adverse-event rate than placebo. Key Findings 78 early-morning workers: Participants had excessive sleepiness linked to shifts starting between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. Randomized double-blind design: The …

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Cocaine-Alcohol Use Changed PL-to-NAc Relapse Circuit in Rats

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Cocaine-Alcohol Use Changed PL-to-NAc Relapse Circuit in Rats

TL;DR: A 2026 rat study in Neuropsychopharmacology found that chemogenetically inhibiting a prelimbic cortex to nucleus accumbens core pathway blocked cue-triggered cocaine seeking after cocaine alone, but did not block relapse-like behavior after sequential cocaine and alcohol use. Key Findings The model tested sequential polysubstance use: rats self-administered cocaine, then some received access to 20% …

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EHR Machine Learning Predicted Clozapine Initiation in Schizophrenia

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EHR Machine Learning Predicted Clozapine Initiation in Schizophrenia

TL;DR: A 2026 preprint in medRxiv trained machine-learning models on Danish electronic health records and found that an XGBoost model predicted clozapine initiation within 365 days with an AUROC of 0.81 in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Key Findings 229,761 prediction times: The main model used routine psychiatric hospital contacts from 5,806 patients after …

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Cannabis After First Pregnancy Was Not Linked to Hypertension in nuMoM2b Study

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Cannabis After First Pregnancy Was Not Linked to Hypertension in nuMoM2b Study

TL;DR: A 2026 study in O&G Open found that cannabis exposure 2–7 years after a first pregnancy was not associated with incident hypertension after adjustment in the nuMoM2b Heart Health Study. Key Findings No adjusted hypertension association: Cannabis exposure was not associated with incident hypertension after adjustment (AOR 1.05; 95% CI, 0.63-1.76). 4,079-person analysis: Researchers …

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Amitriptyline Reduced C6 Glioma Cell Growth but Weakened Radiation Effects With Temozolomide

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Amitriptyline Reduced C6 Glioma Cell Growth but Weakened Radiation Effects With Temozolomide

TL;DR: A 2026 in vitro study in Molecular and Clinical Oncology found that amitriptyline reduced C6 glioma cell viability and PD-L1 checkpoint expression, but the same drug weakened the cell-killing effect of radiation when combined with temozolomide. Key Findings Amitriptyline alone reduced glioma cell growth: In non-radiated C6 glioma cultures, 10 micromolar amitriptyline lowered viability …

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South African Adolescent Substance Use Was High in 30-Study Meta-Analysis

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South African Adolescent Substance Use Was High in 30-Study Meta-Analysis

TL;DR: A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis in Drug and Alcohol Review estimated high adolescent substance-use exposure in South Africa, with lifetime alcohol use at 35.09%, tobacco at 25.47%, and cannabis at 10.47% across community and school-based studies. Key Findings 30 publications were included: Researchers synthesized 202 prevalence estimates from South African adolescent samples. Total …

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