No abstract

Antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are widely available. This living review summarizes the evidence on the prevalence, levels, and durability of detectable antibodies after SARS-CoV-2 infection and whether antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 confer protective immunity. The review will be updated as more evidence becomes available.

Patients and clinicians want to know who is protected from SARS-CoV-2 infection. This update is part of a living systematic review to understand the potential value of antibody testing as a correlate of protection against infection. Because the previous review found that seroconversion was a near-universal consequence of recent infection in immunocompetent patients, this review examines the risk for reinfection in adults after SARS-CoV-2 infection, whether diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction test, antibody test, or a combination of both.

Objectives: Although medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) save lives, treatment retention remains challenging. Identification of interventions to improve MOUD retention is of interest to policymakers and researchers. On behalf of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, we conducted a rapid evidence review on interventions to improve MOUD retention. Methods: We searched MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library from February 2009 through August 2019 for systematic reviews and randomized trials of care settings, services, logistical support, contingency management, health information technology (IT), extended-release (XR) formulations, and psychosocial interventions that assessed retention at least 3 months. Results: Two systematic reviews and 39 primary studies were included; most did not focus on retention as the primary outcome. Initiating MOUD in soon-to-be-released incarcerated people improved retention following release. Contingency management may improve retention using antagonist but not agonist MOUD. Retention with interventions integrating medical, psychiatric, social services, or IT did not differ from in-person treatment-as-usual approaches. Retention was comparable with XR- compared to daily buprenorphine formulations and conflicting with XR-naltrexone monthly injection compared to daily buprenorphine. Most psychosocial interventions did not improve retention. Discussion: Consistent but sparse evidence supports criminal justice prerelease MOUD initiation, and contingency management interventions for antagonist MOUD. Integrating MOUD with medical, psychiatric, social services, delivering through IT, or administering via XR-MOUD formulations did not worsen retention. Fewer than half of the studies we identified focused on retention as a primary outcome. Studies used different measures of retention, making it difficult to compare effectiveness. Additional inquiry into the causes of low retention would inform future interventions. Registration: PROSPERO: CRD42019134739

We evaluated (2)-2-(6-[ 18 F]fluoro-2,39-bipyridin-59-yl)-7-methyl-7-aza-bicyclo[2.2.1]heptane ( 18 F-AZAN), a novel radiotracer that binds to a4b2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (a4b2-nAChRs) and shows high specific binding and rapid and reversible kinetics in the baboon and human brain. Methods: We tested safety tolerability and test-retest reliability (n 5 5) and proposed initial quantification of 18 F-AZAN receptors in 3 healthy human subjects who had nicotine exposure and 9 who did not. We also present a receptor blocking study in a nicotine subject dosed with the a4b2-nAChRselective partial agonist varenicline. Results: Radiation dosimetry PET/CT experiments indicated that most human organs received doses between 0.008 and 0.015 mSv/MBq, with an effective dose of approximately 0.014 mSv/MBq. The tracer rapidly entered the brain, and the peak was reached before 20 min, even for thalamus. Ninety-minute scans were sufficient for 18 F-AZAN to obtain the ratio at equilibrium of specifically bound radioligand to nondisplaceable radioligand in tissue (BP ND ) using plasma reference graphical analysis, which showed excellent reproducibility of BP ND (test-retest variability , 10%) in the nAChR-rich brain regions. Regional plasma reference graphical analysis BP ND values exceeded 2 in the midbrain tegmental nuclei, lateral geniculate body, and thalamus for nonsmokers (n 5 9) but were less than 1 in the nAChR-poor brain regions. There was a dramatic reduction of 18 F-AZAN brain uptake in smokers and varenicline-treated subjects. Conclusion: 18 F-AZAN is a highly specific, safe, and effective PET radioligand for human subjects that requires only 90 min of PET scanning to estimate high-affinity a4b2-nAChR in the living human brain.

In healthy volunteers, single doses of lurasidone 40-80 mg resulted in D₂ receptor occupancy levels of >60%, a level of receptor occupancy previously associated with clinical response for atypical antipsychotics.

Aims. American deaths from opioid overdose now approach 50,000 annually. While evidence shows that medications for addiction treatment (MAT) save lives, retaining patients in MAT programs is challenging. The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, commissioned a rapid evidence review on the effectiveness of interventions to promote a broader understanding of the published literature on MAT retention among adults with opioid use disorder (OUD). Methods. We searched MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library from February 12, 2009, through August 20, 2019, for systematic reviews (SRs) and randomized controlled trials (RCTs). We summarized evidence for six retention intervention types: care settings/services/logistical support, contingency management, health information technology (IT), extended-release (XR) medication-based treatment, psychosocial support, and financial support. Our primary outcome was retention, defined as continued medication engagement for at least 3 months after MAT initiation. Secondary outcomes included mortality and harms. Findings. Key findings from 2 SRs and 39 primary studies include: • Most studies of MAT for OUD do not focus on retention as the primary outcome, are small (e.g., one to two trials per intervention), and have design flaws. • Care setting interventions that initiated MAT in soon-to-be-released incarcerated patients improved retention following release. • Contingency management improved retention when combined with antagonist MAT, but not with agonist forms of MAT. Applicability, however, may be limited due to implementation challenges. • Preliminary trials suggest that retention in MAT supported with health IT approaches may be no worse than in-person approaches. • Early studies suggest no difference in retention with XR-buprenorphine in either injectable or implant formulations compared with daily buprenorphine. There were conflicting results with XR-naltrexone injection compared with daily buprenorphine. • The addition of psychosocial interventions did not improve retention; however, many studies included some form of counseling in the control groups, potentially obscuring evidence of effectiveness. Harms were infrequently reported across studies except in studies of XR formulations. Similarly, few studies reported whether participant characteristics influenced retention. Conclusions. While patients who receive longer-term treatment with MAT have improved outcomes, fewer than half of the identified studies measured treatment retention as a primary outcome. Limited evidence suggests criminal justice prerelease MAT initiation and the use of contingency management for patients on antagonist forms of MAT may aid retention. XR viii and daily buprenorphine formulations appear to be equivalent for treatment retention and comparisons of XR-naltrexone versus daily buprenorphine showed conflicting results. Integrating MAT treatment with medical and social services and the use of health IT did not change retention. Some s...

The physiological functioning of the brain is not well-known in current day medicine and the pathologies of many neuropsychiatric disorders are still not yet fully understood. With our aging population and better life expectancies, it has become imperative to find better biomarkers for disease progression as well as receptor target engagements. In the last decade, these major advances in the field of molecular CNS imaging have been made available with tools such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and neuroreceptor-targeted positron emission tomography (PET). These tools have given researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and clinical physicians a better method of understanding CNS dysfunctions, and the ability to employ improved therapeutic agents. This review is intended to provide an update on brain imaging agents that are currently used in clinical and translational research toward treatment of CNS disorders. The review begins with amyloid and tau imaging, the former of which has at least three [(18)F] agents that have been recently approved and will soon be available for clinical use for specific indications in the USA and elsewhere. Other prevalent PET and SPECT neurotransmitter system agents, including those newly US FDA-approved imaging agents related to the dopaminergic system, are included. A review of both mature and potentially growing PET imaging agents, including those targeting serotonin and opiate receptor systems, is also provided.