NIDA Notes Cites Hayes’ Gene Variation, Infant Opioid Withdrawal Research
Research by Marie Hayes, a University of Maine psychology professor, was cited in an NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Notes article, titled “Gene variations reduce opioid risks.” The article sites findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2013 about a study conducted by Hayes and recent UMaine doctoral student Jonathan Paul, in collaboration with Dr. Mark Brown at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and colleagues at Tufts Medical Center. The study found that in substance-exposed newborns, identification of the gene variations associated with risk of opioid addiction could aid the treatment of their withdrawal symptoms in the critical hours after birth.