Evaluating the association between urine drug screening frequency and retention in opioid agonist treatment in Ontario, Canada: a retrospective cohort study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate how urine drug screening (UDS) frequency is associated with retention in opioid agonist treatment (OAT).

Methods: Data for this retrospective cohort study of 55 921 adults in OAT in Ontario, Canada, were derived from administrative sources between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2015. All patient information was linked anonymously across databases using encrypted health card numbers.

Evidence of Increased Age and Sex Standardized Death Rates Among Individuals Who Accessed Opioid Agonist Treatment Before the Era of Synthetic Opioids in Ontario, Canada.

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate age-sex standardized death rates (ASDR) from all causes from 2011 to 2015 among people who have accessed opioid agonist treatment (OAT) and compare rates living in the Northern and Southern areas of Ontario. Methods Routinely collected administrative health data was used to calculate crude death rates and age-sex standardized death rates (ASDRs) per 1,000,000 population of individuals who accessed OAT and compared the rates geographically from 2011 to 2015. The weighted ASDRs for each year were calculated by using the mid-year population of these regions.

Preparation and characterization of cobalt-substituted anthrax lethal factor.

Anthrax lethal factor (LF) is a zinc-dependent endopeptidase involved in the cleavage of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases near their N-termini. The current report concerns the preparation of cobalt-substituted LF (CoLF) and its characterization by electronic spectroscopy. Two strategies to produce CoLF were explored, including (i) a bio-assimilation approach involving the cultivation of LF-expressing Bacillus megaterium cells in the presence of CoCl(2), and (ii) direct exchange by treatment of zinc-LF with CoCl(2).