Psychoactive plant derivatives (ayahuasca, ibogaine, kratom) and their application in opioid withdrawal and use disorder - a narrative review.

The opioid epidemic and limited access to treatment for opioid withdrawal (OW) and opioid use disorder (OUD) has led individuals to seek alternative treatments. This narrative review aims to educate clinicians on the mechanisms of action, toxicity, and applications of psychoactive plant-based substances patients may be using to self-treat OUD and OW. We specifically discuss ayahuasca, ibogaine, and kratom as they have the most evidence for applications in OUD and OW from the last decade (2012-2022).

Using REDCap to Facilitate Web-Based Therapeutic Intervention Research.

Background: Limited guidelines to assist nurse researchers who use web-based interventions are available. Nurses must develop the supporting technology enabling participants to complete study activities and collected data while maintaining data security and participant confidentiality.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to describe how the authors used advanced Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) functionality to support the data management infrastructure of an interactive, web-based therapeutic intervention.

Collaborative initiative on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: methodology of clinical projects.

The Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (CIFASD) was created in 2003 to further understanding of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Clinical and basic science projects collect data across multiple sites using standardized methodology. This article describes the methodology being used by the clinical projects that pertain to assessment of children and adolescents.

Implementation of a shared data repository and common data dictionary for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders research.

Many previous attempts by fetal alcohol spectrum disorders researchers to compare data across multiple prospective and retrospective human studies have failed because of both structural differences in the collected data and difficulty in coming to agreement on the precise meaning of the terminology used to describe the collected data. Although some groups of researchers have an established track record of successfully integrating data, attempts to integrate data more broadly among different groups of researchers have generally faltered. Lack of tools to help researchers share and integrate data has also hampered data analysis.

Sonographic diagnosis of gestational trophoblastic disease and comparison with retained products of conception.

Objective: Gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) and retained products of conception (RPC) can be difficult to distinguish sonographically. The aim of this study was to determine whether there were any sonographic criteria that could prospectively distinguish one from the other.

Methods: Institutional ethics approval was obtained, and acquisition of consent was waived by the Institutional Review Board.

Federating data with Information Integrator.

Information Integrator is an extension to IBM's relational database DB2, which uses data federation to provide benefits to molecular biology researchers through two unique capabilities: increased flexibility in combining data from disparate sources, and SQL access to non-SQL data, easing the task of automating data analysis.

A BAC-based physical map of the major autosomes of Drosophila melanogaster.

We constructed a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC)-based physical map of chromosomes 2 and 3 of Drosophila melanogaster, which constitute 81% of the genome. Sequence tagged site (STS) content, restriction fingerprinting, and polytene chromosome in situ hybridization approaches were integrated to produce a map spanning the euchromatin. Three of five remaining gaps are in repeat-rich regions near the centromeres.

Peripancreatic retroperitoneal gas mimicking necrotizing pancreatitis after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

The computed tomographic image of gas in the pancreas and peripancreatic retroperitoneum is strongly suggestive of necrotizing pancreatitis. The authors describe an 81-year-old woman who, 7 days after laparoscopic cholecystectomy, presented with retroperitoneal gas but did not have the clinical or biochemical features of necrotizing pancreatitis. Resolution of her low-grade fever and of the radiologic findings with conservative treatment and the absence of other causes for pneumoretroperitoneum suggest that the gas observed was related to the laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Needle size and sample adequacy in ultrasound-guided biopsy of thyroid nodules.

Objectives: To determine the optimal needle size (23-gauge or 27-gauge) for ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy of thyroid nodules and to compare the interoperator yield for this procedure.

Patients And Method: Over an 11-month period, 123 patients underwent biopsy of a thyroid nodule. Three experienced radiologists were assigned at random to sample the nodules.

Periurethral injection of collagen in the treatment of urinary stress incontinence: ultrasonographic appearance.

Objective: To describe the ultrasonographic appearance of collagen injected periurethrally to treat urinary stress incontinence.

Patients And Methods: Transvesical and transvaginal ultrasonography (US) was performed 26 times in 23 patients 3 to 36 months after periurethral injection of collagen to treat symptomatic urinary stress incontinence. The patients ranged in age from 23 to 86 (median 54) years.

Value of standardized gestational age charts for fetuses of first-generation Oriental immigrants to Canada.

Objective: to ascertain if standard gestational age charts can be used to accurately predict the gestational age of fetuses of first-generation Oriental immigrants to Canada.

Patients And Methods: Over a 3-year period, all patients presenting for obstetric ultrasound examinations were invited to participate in the study. The authors recorded biparietal diameter, head circumference, femur length and abdominal circumference for 139 fetuses in the second and third trimesters.

Failed or difficult laparoscopic cholecystectomy: can preoperative ultrasonography identify potential problems?

A prospective study was performed to assess the role of preoperative ultrasonography in predicting failed or difficult laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Fifty patients underwent detailed preoperative ultrasound examinations. The number and size of calculi, evidence of acute or chronic cholecystitis, gallbladder morphology, and the presence or absence of aberrant anatomy were documented.

Role of intraoperative ultrasonography in hepatic surgery: a preliminary report.

Twenty-four patients who underwent ultrasonography during hepatic surgery in the 22 months from October 1989 to July 1991 were studied prospectively to determine the value, if any, of intraoperative ultrasonography. For 6 (25%) of the 24 patients the operative plan was altered because of the ultrasonographic findings. In one of them resection was extended from a left lateral segmentectomy or sectorectomy to a left hemihepatectomy.

Ultrasound guided percutaneous renal biopsy.

We performed percutaneous ultrasound guided renal biopsy on 27 patients ages 16 to 76 years. A 14 gauge cutting needle was used. Twenty-six patients had medical renal disease; one patient had a renal mass.

Iliac artery aneurysms presenting as large pelvic masses.

Iliac artery aneurysms are rare but potentially lethal. Radiographic diagnosis is imperative as they can be asymptomatic. Five cases of iliac artery aneurysms are presented.

Observer error in the characterization of hepatic lesions in patients with neoplastic liver disease.

Sixteen patients with known neoplastic liver disease underwent 20 ultrasound examinations by two separate teams to determine the level of agreement in the measurement of lesion size and sonographic characteristics. The intraclass correlation coefficient for the observations on lesion size was r = 0.97 (95% lower confidence limit r = 0.

Effect of steroid ingestion on pancreatic echogenicity.

Pancreatic and liver ultrasound examinations of twenty-five patients without evidence of liver or pancreatic disease and who had been on Prednisone (greater than 7.5 mg per day for longer than six months) were compared with corresponding age- and sex-matched normal controls. Statistical analysis enabled effects of known variables that determine pancreatic echogenicity to be taken into account and showed that steroid ingestion had a statistically significant effect on pancreatic echogenicity, a previous unreported observation.