From MedPage Today:

1. Opioid Abuse Drops, Then Levels Off. Making an abuse-deterrent formulation of OxyContin (oxycodone ) diminished abuse in the short term, but the reductions eventually hit a plateau.
2. After Ebola, Measles Death Toll Could Be High. The death toll from post-Ebola measles outbreaks in three West African countries could rival that of Ebola itself.
3. Time Is Right for E-Cig Regulation. Reducing the risks of e-cigarettes to smokers, encouraging the smoking-cessation potential, and restricting access by nonsmokers offer a regulatory trifecta that can be implemented immediately.
4. Risky Business: Working Where Violence Is the Norm. On Tuesday, Jan. 20, cardiac surgeon Michael J. Davidson was shot at his clinic at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. The shooter, who also took his own life, was the son of 78-year-old Marguerite Pasceri, who had died shortly after a procedure Dr. Davidson had performed in November.