The five most-read posts on Scope this week were:
Prescription drug addiction: How the epidemic is shaking up the policy world: A guest blog post by Keith Humphreys, PhD, discusses recent actions by Congress and the White House to combat the national epidemic of prescription drug addiction and how the surge in prescription drug addiction is overturning three prevalent beliefs in the drug policy field.
Study reports more pregnant women taking medications: A study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology shows use of prescription medication by women in their first-trimester has increased by more than 60 percent over the last three decades.
Searching for better PTSD treatments: Stanford psychiatrist Amit Etkin, MD, PhD, and colleagues launch an imaging study that they hope will lead to future treatment options for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. The study aims to shed light on what happens in the brain during psychotherapy and identify which regions of the brain a future study might target with transcranial magnetic stimulation as a possible remedy for PTSD.
Center for Reproductive and Stem Cell Biology receives NIH boost: The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development awards a $10 million grant to Stanford's Center for Reproductive and Stem Cell Biology. The grant is one of a select few intended to help institutions form "networks that foster communication, innovation and high-quality research in a particular area of science."
A conversation about behavioral informatics for health: This week, the nation's top behavioral medicine, preventive medicine and medical informatics societies gathered at the National Press Club in Washington, DC to discuss behavioral informatics for health and the ever-changing consumer and professional health IT landscape. In this Q&A, Randall S. Stafford, MD, PhD, who was involved in organizing the event, shares details about the event and his previous research on electronic health records.
