Publications by authors named "Axel Adams"

Exposing new nurses to theoretical teaching strategies that help them to navigate the ethical challenges in clinical practice is essential for retention and long-term job satisfaction. This article explores the rationale for teaching ethics content in nurse residency programs and ways to navigate ethical decision-making in the clinical setting. Examples of evidence-informed teaching strategies that enhance knowledge retention and reduce the gap between ethical theory and practice are included.

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Introduction: The opioid epidemic in the United States continues to result in an increasing number of deaths and is increasingly dominated by fentanyl and fentanyl analogs. As a result, first responders are likely to come into contact with fentanyl-containing substances daily. Concerns persist regarding occupational exposure resulting in intoxication.

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Background And Aims: The Psychoactive Surveillance Consortium and Analysis Network (PSCAN) is a national network of academic emergency departments (ED), analytical toxicologists and pharmacologists that collects clinical data paired with biological samples to identify and improve treatments of medical conditions arising from use of new psychoactive substances (NPS). The aim of this study was to gather clinical data with paired drug identification from NPS users who presented to EDs within PSCAN during its first year (2016-17).

Design: Observational study involving patient records and biological samples.

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5F-PY-PICA and 5F-PY-PINACA are pyrrolidinyl 1-(5-fluoropentyl)ind (az)ole-3-carboxamides identified in 2015 as putative synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist (SCRA) new psychoactive substances (NPS). 5F-PY-PICA, 5F-PY-PINACA, and analogs featuring variation of the 1-alkyl substituent or contraction, expansion, or scission of the pyrrolidine ring were synthesized and characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS). In competitive binding experiments against HEK293 cells expressing human cannabinoid receptor type 1 (hCB ) or type 2 (hCB ), all analogs showed minimal affinity for CB (pK  < 5), although several demonstrated moderate CB binding (pK 5.

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Synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs) are a dynamic class of new psychoactive substances (NPS), with novel chemotypes emerging each year. Following the putative detection of 5F-CUMYL-P7AICA in Australia in 2016, the scaffold-hopping SCRAs 5F-CUMYL-PICA, 5F-CUMYL-PINACA, and 5F-CUMYL-P7AICA were synthesized and characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight-MS (LC-QTOF-MS). Since little is known of the pharmacology of 7-azaindole SCRAs like 5F-CUMYL-P7AICA, the binding affinities and functional activities of all compounds at cannabinoid type 1 and type 2 receptors (CB and CB , respectively) were assessed using tritiated radioligand competition experiments and fluorescence-based plate reader membrane potential assays.

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Background: Use of new psychoactive substances (NPS) has increased over the last decade. During this period, variability of both clinical presentations and chemical compositions of these compounds has increased. Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) are the most commonly used NPS and there are more than 100 documented unique molecules in this class.

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Background: New psychoactive substances constitute a growing and dynamic class of abused drugs in the United States. On July 12, 2016, a synthetic cannabinoid caused mass intoxication of 33 persons in one New York City neighborhood, in an event described in the popular press as a "zombie" outbreak because of the appearance of the intoxicated persons.

Methods: We obtained and tested serum, whole blood, and urine samples from 8 patients among the 18 who were transported to local hospitals; we also tested a sample of the herbal "incense" product "AK-47 24 Karat Gold," which was implicated in the outbreak.

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Objective: The current national opioid epidemic is a public health emergency. We have identified an outbreak of exaggerated opioid toxicity caused by fentanyl adulterated tablets purchased on the street as hydrocodone/acetaminophen.

Methods: Over an 8-day period in late March 2016, a total of 18 patients presented to our institution with exaggerated opioid toxicity.

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