The Food and Drug Administration approved the first implantable drug to deliver long-lasting medication to people addicted to opioids such as OxyContin. The upper arm implant administers the anti-addiction drug buprenorphine in a continuous dose for six months. That medication is only available now as a daily pill or a thin film that dissolves under the tongue. The implant, called Probuphine, is intended for people who are already stable on low doses of the drug.

Why air pollution increases heart risk

Scientists have known for years that long-term exposure to air pollution raises the risk of heart disease, but a study led by a University of Washington environmental health expert finally explains why. In a decadelong analysis involving more than 6,000 people in six states, Dr. Joel Kaufman reported in The Lancet that he found that people living in areas with more outdoor pollution built up calcium in the arteries of their hearts faster than those who lived elsewhere — increasing a known risk for heart attack and stroke. "On average we found a 20 percent acceleration in the rate of the calcium deposits," he said.

Shot in brain shows promise for diabetes

In research that may point the way to new treatments for Type 2 diabetes, obese and diabetic mice who got a single shot of a growth-promoting peptide directly into their brains experienced lasting remission from the disease without any sustained changes to their diet or their weight. A week after University of Washington researchers injected synthesized mouse Fibroblast Growth Factor 1 — FGF1 — into diabetic mouse brains, the mice's erratic blood glucose levels stabilized. Then they stayed normal for 17 weeks — effectively curing the mice. It was a level of remission until now seen only after bariatric surgery, the authors reported in the journal Nature Medicine. Such radical treatment for humans is unlikely any time soon, but it highlights a little-appreciated fact about Type 2 diabetes: that it is, to some extent at least, a brain disease.

Creating an efficient pill-making machine

In a lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all the work that happens in a vast pharmaceutical plant happens in a device the size of a kitchen refrigerator. And the prototype machine produces 1,000 pills in 24 hours, faster than it can take to produce some batches in a factory. MIT Prof. Allan Myerson said it could become eventually an option for making medications. The Defense Department is funding the project because the devices could go to field hospitals or other hard to reach areas.

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