Evaluation of an electrochemical sensor and comparison with spectroscopic approaches as used today in practice for harm reduction in a festival setting-A case study: Analysis of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine samples.

More and more countries and organisations emphasise the value of harm reduction measures in the context of illicit drug use and abuse. One of these measures is drug checking, a preventive action that can represent a quick win by tailored consultation on the risks of substance use upon analytical screening of a submitted sample. Unlike drop-in centres that operate within a fixed setting, enabling drug checking in a harm reduction context at events requires portable, easy to use analytical approaches, operated by personnel with limited knowledge of analytical chemistry.

Patient Reported Outcome and Experience Measures (PROMs and PREMs) in substance use disorder treatment services: A scoping review.

Background: Substance use disorders (SUD) pose significant challenges for healthcare systems, and there is a need to monitor the provision of effective, individualized care to persons accessing treatment. Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) are increasingly used in healthcare services to measure treatment outcomes and quality of care as perceived by patients, and to guide service improvement.

Objectives: This review aims to identify and characterize international developments regarding the use and systematic implementation of PROMs and PREMs in SUD treatment services.

Women's views on barriers and facilitators for seeking alcohol and drug treatment in Belgium.

Aims: Although treatment barriers are different for men and women, research is dominated by males' and practitioners' perspectives rather than women's voices. The purpose of this study in Belgium was to identify and obtain a better understanding of the barriers and facilitators for seeking treatment as experienced by substance (ab)using women themselves.

Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 60 female substance users who utilise(d) outpatient and/or residential treatment services.

COVID-19 and people who use drugs: Impact of the pandemic on general anxiety and depressive disorders among adults in Belgium.

Background: During previous pandemics people who use drugs (PWUD) were categorized among the most vulnerable. In the current study, firstly, we wanted to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders among PWUD. Furthermore, we wanted to compare the prevalence of these disorders with that of members from the general population who did not use drugs.

Use of health care services by people with substance use disorders in Belgium: a register-based cohort study.

Background: The objective of the study was to describe the frequencies of health-care utilization by people with substance use disorder (SUD), including contacts with general practitioners (GP), psychiatrists, emergency departments (ED) and hospital admissions and to compare this frequency to the general population.

Methods: Data from the national register of people who were in treatment for SUD between 2011 and 2014 was linked to health care data from the Belgian health insurance (N = 30,905). Four comparators were matched on age, sex and place of residence to each subject in treatment for SUD (N = 123,620).

Estimates of people who injected drugs within the last 12 months in Belgium based on a capture-recapture and multiplier method.

Background: For Belgium, available estimates of the number of people who inject drugs (PWID) are based on data from more than fifteen years ago and apply only to those who report ever injecting drugs. As a result, no reliable baseline data exist to determine the scale of services for PWID.

Methods: We obtained pseudo-anonymized identifier information from treatment and harm reduction service providers and a fieldwork study between February and April 2019 in Brussels.

Awareness of users and motivational factors for using new psychoactive substances in Belgium.

Background: Few data on motivations for using new psychoactive substances (NPS) are available. However, the cost, the legal status, and their accessibility through channels like internet contributed to the popularity of NPS. The objective of this article are first to gain a deeper understanding of the culture surrounding NPS in Belgium and second to define the awareness of the users concerning the content of the NPS they are consuming.

Prevalence of HCV among people who inject drugs in Brussels-a respondent-driven sampling survey.

Background: In Belgium, people who inject drugs (PWID) are at a high risk of being infected by hepatitis C (HCV) as injecting drug use is the main mode for transmission of HCV in Europe. Estimates about the number of people living with HCV in Belgium are rare and even less is known about the prevalence of HCV among PWID.

Method: Between 1 February 2019 and 26 April 2019, PWID and high-risk opiate users (HROU) were recruited in Brussels through respondent-driven sampling (RDS).

Alternatives to prison for drug offenders in Belgium during the past decade.

Objective: Imprisonment has a more pronounced criminogenic effect on drug offenders than on other types of offenders. Additionally, little research has been conducted on the practical application of drug-related alternatives to prison. Therefore, this study describes drug-related alternatives to prison in Belgium over a ten years' period since 2005.

Utilization of gabapentin by people in treatment for substance use disorders in Belgium (2011-2014): a cross-sectional study.

Background: Although gabapentin has been licensed in the European Union only for neuropathic pain and epilepsy for patients who have partial seizures, it has also been prescribed in treatment for substance use disorders. Many studies report the potential risk of abuse of gabapentin by people with substance use disorders. The objective of this paper is to determine if people who have been in treatment for substance use disorders bought gabapentin in a time span that could indicate consumption at a dose that exceeded the maximum approved dose of 3600 mg/day.

Longitudinal pharmacoepidemiological and health services research for substance users in treatment: protocol of the Belgian TDI-IMA linkage.

Background: Not much is known about the health seeking behavior of people with substance use disorders before they enter specialized treatment and afterwards. This paper explains in detail the protocol that has been followed to establish the Belgian TDI-IMA-database, which is linking two separate databases: the Treatment Demand Indicator (TDI) and the database of the Intermutualistic Agency (IMA). The Treatment Demand Indicator is measuring incidence of people with substance use disorders entering drug treatment.

Qualitative screening of new psychoactive substances in pooled urine samples from Belgium and United Kingdom.

Concerns about new psychoactive substances (NPS) are increasing due to the rising frequency of serious intoxications. Analysis of biological fluids (urine) is necessary to get reliable information about the use of these substances. However, it is a challenging task due to the lack of analytical standards and the dynamic character of the NPS market.

Treatment for substance use disorders: the Belgian Treatment Demand Indicator registration protocol.

Background: Registration of patients with substance use disorders is of key importance to get insights and to study trends in patients characteristics and substance use patterns. The Treatment Demand Indicator (TDI) is gathering this information at European level since 2000. In Belgium, this registration started at national level in 2011 and an increasing number of facilities of different types are participating in this data collection since then.

Laminin-332 sustains chemoresistance and quiescence as part of the human hepatic cancer stem cell niche.

Background & Aims: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are thought to be persistent in tumours due to their chemoresistance and to cause relapse and metastasis. Hepatic carcinomas displaying hepatic progenitor cell (HPC) features have been associated with a poor prognosis, though it remains unclear how CSCs relate to these different histological subtypes.

Methods: Candidate CSCs were isolated using the side population (SP) technique from primary tissue samples diagnosed as keratin(K)19-negative or -positive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or as combined hepatocellular/cholangiocarcinoma and analysed for gene and protein expression.

Pituitary tumors contain a side population with tumor stem cell-associated characteristics.

Pituitary adenomas cause significant endocrine and mass-related morbidity. Little is known about the mechanisms that underlie pituitary tumor pathogenesis. In the present study, we searched for a side population (SP) in pituitary tumors representing cells with high efflux capacity and potentially enriched for tumor stem cells (TSCs).

The human melanoma side population displays molecular and functional characteristics of enriched chemoresistance and tumorigenesis.

Melanoma remains the most lethal skin cancer, mainly because of high resistance to therapy. Side population (SP) cells are found in many types of cancer and are usually enriched in therapy-resistant as well as tumorigenic cells. Here, we identified a Hoechst dye-effluxing SP in a large series of human melanoma samples representing different progression phases.

Human pancreatic cancer contains a side population expressing cancer stem cell-associated and prognostic genes.

In many types of cancers, a side population (SP) has been identified based on high efflux capacity, thereby enriching for chemoresistant cells as well as for candidate cancer stem cells (CSC). Here, we explored whether human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) contains a SP, and whether its gene expression profile is associated with chemoresistance, CSC and prognosis. After dispersion into single cells and incubation with Hoechst dye, we analyzed human PDAC resections specimens using flow cytometry (FACS).

Human pancreatic adenocarcinoma contains a side population resistant to gemcitabine.

Background: Therapy resistance remains one of the major challenges to improve the prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer. Chemoresistant cells, which potentially also display cancer stem cell (CSC) characteristics, can be isolated using the side population (SP) technique. Our aim was to search for a SP in human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and to examine its chemoresistance and CSC(-like) phenotype.

The adult pituitary shows stem/progenitor cell activation in response to injury and is capable of regeneration.

The pituitary gland constitutes, together with the hypothalamus, the regulatory core of the endocrine system. Whether the gland is capable of cell regeneration after injury, in particular when suffered at adult age, is unknown. To investigate the adult pituitary's regenerative capacity and the response of its stem/progenitor cell compartment to damage, we constructed a transgenic mouse model to conditionally destroy pituitary cells.

Activated phenotype of the pituitary stem/progenitor cell compartment during the early-postnatal maturation phase of the gland.

The rodent pituitary gland undergoes prominent maturation during the first weeks after birth, including a well-known increase in hormone-producing cells. In the past, it has frequently been postulated that stem cells are involved in this early-postnatal growth phase. This hypothesis can now be explored, as pituitary stem/progenitor cells were recently identified.

Identification and characterisation of side population cells in the canine pituitary gland.

To date, stem/progenitor cells have not been identified in the canine pituitary gland. Cells that efficiently exclude the vital dye Hoechst 33342 can be visualised and identified using fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) as a 'side population' (SP), distinct from the main population (MP). Such SPs have been identified in several tissues and display stem/progenitor cell characteristics.

Increased glucocorticoid receptor expression and activity mediate the LPS resistance of SPRET/EI mice.

SPRET/Ei mice are extremely resistant to acute LPS-induced lethal inflammation when compared with C57BL/6. We found that in vivo SPRET/Ei mice exhibit strongly reduced expression levels of cytokines and chemokines. To investigate the role of the potent anti-inflammatory glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in the SPRET/Ei phenotype, mice were treated with the GR antagonist RU486 or bilateral adrenalectomy.

Stem cells in the pituitary gland: A burgeoning field.

The pituitary gland represents the endocrine core of the organism, and is well-known for its cellular plasticity in order to meet the body's fluctuating hormonal demands. In the past, it has repeatedly been postulated that the pituitary harbors tissue-specific stem cells that participate in the generation of new endocrine cells during this dynamic cell remodeling, as well as during the slow but robust homeostatic turnover of the gland. However, their presence and identity remained elusive until this conundrum recently attracted renewed interest.

Role of cancer stem cells in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

As our understanding of pancreatic cancer evolves, evidence is growing to support a role for cancer stem cells in this devastating disease. Cancer stem cells constitute a distinct subpopulation in the tumor and are considered to drive both tumorigenesis and metastasis; these cells are thought to be highly resistant to standard treatment modalities. Here we review the current knowledge on pancreatic cancer stem cells and the implementation of cancer stem cell markers as prognostic or predictive biomarkers.