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The team suggests a number of changes to help rebuild trust and reduce stigma for opioid use disorder in rural communities; they also suggest that wholesalers change algorithms to track buprenorphine separately from other opioids.

ARD is an annual event hosted by the University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health (CEHR) to share results of health research conducted with communities in Appalachia.

As a cancer prevention researcher trained in both basic laboratory science and epidemiology, Kuhs’ experience allows her to apply basic science findings to population-based studies, which will be essential to lowering cancer rates in the hardest-hit areas of the state.

Nearly all Martin County survey respondents reported problems with their drinking water including odor, appearance, taste and pressure. The UK researchers found 47% of the samples had at least one contaminant that exceeded U.S. EPA regulatory guidelines.

Kentucky has one of the nation's highest incidences of oral cancer, according to the National Institutes of Health, and the prevalence of oral cancer in the targeted counties is as much as 54% higher than the state average.

Known as Serologic Testing to Accelerate Recovery and Transition (START), the study focuses on antibody testing to begin understanding how many people in the region may have already contracted and recovered from COVID-19.

UK researchers across many disciplines are addressing COVID-19’s medical challenges and beyond — including developing new PPE materials, designing testing and diagnostic equipment, and examining the wider societal, economic and legal implications of the pandemic.

“The virus is about 120 nanometers in size — in the world of membranes, that's large. Even more so, it's not going to come as a virus by itself, flying in the air. It's going to come in the saliva, so it's going to be a much larger particle. A large particle is just not going through (this filter).”

The ambitious study is organized into six phases, beginning with the basic preparations and leading into actual implementation and monitoring of various evidence-based strategies to reduce opioid deaths.

For the RAPID project, the team will create a membrane mask and other flat sheet materials with a more porous and spongy structure that will include charged domain and enzymes, which would capture and effectively deactivate SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.