From MedPage Today:

Night shift workers experiencing excessive sleepiness felt more awake throughout their shift when treated with armodafinil (Nuvigil), according to research.

In contrast, workers given the older, shorter-acting drug modafinil (Provigil) felt more awake only during the first half of the night shift, Kenneth P. Wright, PhD, of the University of Colorado in Boulder, and colleagues reported at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies meeting.

Armodafinil is the R isomer of modafinil, and both drugs are approved to treat excessive sleepiness in shift workers.

The most common adverse event associated with both treatments was headache, which was seen in 26% of patients receiving modafinil and in 12% of armodafinil patients.

"What we have shown in this research is that armodafinil is able to improve both objective and subjective measures of alertness in these patients. They are not as alert as daytime workers, but they had an improvement in their wakefulness," Wright said.

From WLFI (Lafayette, IN) :

It appears that a growing number of people between the ages of 15 and 30 are using Spice, but few are admitting to it.

Spice, and the related cannabinoid substance known as K2, can be found at gas stations or tobacco stores legally as incense. Warning labels state that K2 is not intended for human consumption but emergency room doctors said some people are ignoring that warning.

Jill Grant is an emergency room physician at St. Elizabeth Central. She said she has seen an increase in the number of Spice-related cases.

Dr. Grant said people ignore the warning because they are looking for a legal high.

She said the patients that come all complain of similar symptoms.

"Typically people will come in tachycardia, which is an elevated heart rate. They will come in and they are sweaty. Their blood pressure will be higher. I've actually had patients that are hallucinating. I've had individuals who have had seizures are a result as well," said Grant.

Long-term use can cause permanent harm to the body.