An Update on Deaths in the United Kingdom from 'Poppers' (Alkyl Nitrites), with a Particular Focus on 'Swallowing' Fatalities.

Alkyl nitrites are a class of inhalant, commonly known as 'poppers'. Although having medical uses, some other effects include a 'rush', 'high', 'euphoria', or feeling of excitement. This has led to their recreational use, in different scenarios, since the mid-1960s.

Detecting early stages of Alzheimer's disease using a web-based cognitive battery.

Portable and efficient cognitive screening measures are needed to address the growing need for effective early detection of Alzheimer's disease. The Neurotrack Cognitive Battery (NCB) offers an appealing, web-based application that may be sensitive to early cognitive changes associated with Alzheimer's disease. The NCB contains measures that were conceptually derived from animal lesion studies.

Vaginal metatranscriptome meta-analysis reveals functional BV subgroups and novel colonisation strategies.

Background: The application of '-omics' technologies to study bacterial vaginosis (BV) has uncovered vast differences in composition and scale between the vaginal microbiomes of healthy and BV patients. Compared to amplicon sequencing and shotgun metagenomic approaches focusing on a single or few species, investigating the transcriptome of the vaginal microbiome at a system-wide level can provide insight into the functions which are actively expressed and differential between states of health and disease.

Results: We conducted a meta-analysis of vaginal metatranscriptomes from three studies, split into exploratory (n = 42) and validation (n = 297) datasets, accounting for the compositional nature of sequencing data and differences in scale between healthy and BV microbiomes.

Nitazene opioids and the heart: Identification of a cardiac ion channel target for illicit nitazene opioids.

The growing use of nitazene synthetic opioids heralds a new phase of the opioid crisis. However, limited information exists on the toxic effects of these drugs, aside from a propensity for respiratory depression. With restricted research availability of nitazenes, we used machine-learning-based tools to evaluate five nitazene compounds' interaction potential with the hERG potassium channel, a key drug antitarget in the heart.