Development of pharmacy-based best practices to support safer use and management of prescription opioids based on an e-Delphi methodology.

Background: Opioid utilization and related harm have increased in recent decades, notably in Australia, the United States, Canada, and some European countries. For people who are prescribed opioids, pharmacies offer an accessible, regular point-of-contact, providing a unique opportunity to address opioid prescription drugs risks.

Objective: This project aimed to develop consensus-based, best practice statements for improving the safer use of prescription opioids through community pharmacy settings.

Pills and the damage done: the opioid epidemic as man-made crisis.

The prescription opioid epidemic has slowly evolved over the past quarter century with increasingly detrimental consequences for public health. Man-made crises are often unforeseen and characterized by a situation without natural causes where - because of human intent, error, negligence, or the failure of manmade systems - the level of needs in the population exceeds available resources to counter the problem. This paper presents the prescription opioid epidemic as a man-made crisis and explores the public health impact of opioid manufacturers and other industries producing commodities with addictive potential as a shared vulnerability among countries.

Nitric oxide-releasing prodrug for the treatment of complex infections.

Non-tuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM) can cause severe respiratory infection in patients with underlying pulmonary conditions, and these infections are extremely difficult to treat. In this report, we evaluate a nitric oxide (NO)-releasing prodrug [methyl tris diazeniumdiolate (MD3)] against a panel of NTM clinical isolates and as a treatment for acute and chronic NTM infections . Its efficacy in inhibiting growth or killing mycobacteria was explored alongside evaluation of the impact to primary human airway epithelial tissue.

Prescription high-risk polysubstance use among opioid maintenance treatment patients.

Background: Among individuals receiving buprenorphine or methadone as opioid maintenance treatment (OMT), concomitant use of other central nervous system depressants, including prescription drugs, can increase risk of overdose. We aimed to 1) determine the prevalence of use of high-risk prescription drugs (opioid analgesics, benzodiazepines, benzodiazepine-related drugs, and gabapentinoids) among OMT patients, 2) calculate its associations with different mental health and pain-related diagnoses, and 3) compare prevalence of concomitant use with the general population.

Methods: A national sample comprising all individuals filling at least one prescription of OMT drugs in Norway in 2019 was formed.

Flexible delivery of opioid agonist treatment during COVID-19 in Norway: qualitative and quantitative findings from an online survey of provider experiences.

Background: For patients receiving daily opioid agonist treatment (OAT) for opioid dependence, several countries relaxed treatment guidelines at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This involved longer take-home intervals for methadone and buprenorphine doses as well as a reduction in supervised dosing and drug screening. To date, little is known about the medium or long-term experience of OAT deregulation.

A study protocol for a European, mixed methods, prospective, cohort study of the effectiveness of naloxone administration by community members, in reversing opioid overdose: NalPORS.

Background: Worldwide, opioid use causes more than 100,000 overdose deaths annually. Naloxone has proven efficacy in reversing opioid overdoses and is approved as an emergency antidote to opioid overdose. Take home naloxone (THN) programmes have been introduced to provide 'community members', who are likely to observe opioid overdoses, with naloxone kits and train them to recognise an overdose and administer naloxone.

Substance use disorders and COVID-19: reflections on international research and practice changes during the "poly-crisis".

Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionately high toll on vulnerable populations, coinciding with increased prevalence of alcohol-and drug-related deaths and pre-existing societal issues such as rising income inequality and homelessness. This poly-crisis has posed unique challenges to service delivery for people with substance use disorders, and innovative approaches have emerged. In this Perspectives paper we reflect on the poly-crisis and the changes to research and practice for those experiencing substance use disorders, following work undertaken as part of the InterGLAM project (part of the 2022.

Improving the Implementation of Family-Centered Care Within the Neonatal Care Unit: Empowering Parents to Participate in Infant Care.

Background: Internationally, approximately 15 million babies are born prematurely every year. In New Zealand, 1 neonatal ward may care for 1000 infants annually. Family-centered care (FCC) is a philosophy used in neonates to enhance positive outcomes for infants, parents, and staff by recognizing the strengths and needs of infants and their families.

Unpacking privacy: Valuation of personal data protection.

Information about individual behaviour is collected regularly by organisations. This information has value to businesses, the government and third parties. It is not clear what value this personal data has to consumers themselves.

Are distributional preferences for safety stable? A longitudinal analysis before and after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Policy makers aim to respect public preferences when making trade-offs between policies, yet most estimates of the value of safety neglect individuals' preferences over how safety is distributed. Incorporating these preferences into policy first requires measuring them. Arroyos-Calvera et al.

Dermatologic features of chronic intramuscular use of ketamine: a case report.

A 33-year-old female presented with lethargy due to multidrug toxicity. At physical examination, both gluteal regions showed brown patchy scars. The atrophic scars surrounding necrotic lesions were round and brown in appearance, and gluteal mass had gradually been lost.

Low input capture Hi-C (liCHi-C) identifies promoter-enhancer interactions at high-resolution.

Long-range interactions between regulatory elements and promoters are key in gene transcriptional control; however, their study requires large amounts of starting material, which is not compatible with clinical scenarios nor the study of rare cell populations. Here we introduce low input capture Hi-C (liCHi-C) as a cost-effective, flexible method to map and robustly compare promoter interactomes at high resolution. As proof of its broad applicability, we implement liCHi-C to study normal and malignant human hematopoietic hierarchy in clinical samples.

The kindness COVID-19 toolkit: a mixed-methods evaluation of a programme designed by doctors in training for doctors in training.

Objectives: The impact of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-specific professional development programme on the well-being of obstetrics and gynaecology (O&G) doctors in training (DiT) working during the pandemic.

Design: A mixed-method evaluation of a single group pre-post test design study.

Setting: Melbourne, Australia between September 2020 and April 2021.

Evaluating new simplified assays for harm reduction from methanol poisoning using chromotropic acid kits: An analytical study on Indian and Iranian alcoholic beverages.

Background: Ingestion of methanol can result in severe irreversible morbidity, and death. Simple and easy methods to detect methanol and other hazardous additives prior to consumption can prevent fatalities. This form of harm reduction is analogous to the widely practiced "pill testing" of recreational drugs in various countries.

Indications and surgical route for hysterectomy for benign disorders: a retrospective analysis in a large Australian tertiary hospital network.

Purpose: Hysterectomy is a common but expensive and morbid procedure. Alternative treatments for heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) are effective in up to 80% of cases, but there is substantial variation in surgical approach and pre-operative management of HMB. This study aims to assess the approach to hysterectomies for benign indications including alternative treatments and route of operation.

A rapid assessment of take-home naloxone provision during COVID-19 in Europe.

Background: In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. In the following weeks, most European countries implemented national lockdowns to mitigate viral spread. Services for people who use drugs had to quickly revise their operating procedures to rearrange service provision while adhering to lockdown requirements.

An interrupted time series analysis of hospital admissions due to alcohol intoxication during the COVID-19 pandemic in Tehran, Iran.

The COVID-19 outbreak affected mental health globally. One of the major concerns following the COVID-19 pandemic was increased incidence of risky behaviors including alcohol consumption. This study evaluates the trend of alcohol poisoning in Loghman-Hakim Hospital (LHH), the main referral center of poisoning in Tehran, during the 2-year period from 1 year prior to 1 year after the onset (February 23rd, 2020) of the COVID-19 epidemic in Iran.

Efficacy and hazards of 425 nm oral cavity light dosing to inactivate SARS-CoV-2.

Objective: Using a battery of preclinical tests to support development of a light-based treatment for COVID-19, establish a range of 425 nm light doses that are non-hazardous to the tissues of the oral cavity and assess whether a 425 nm light dose in this non-hazardous range can inactivate SARS-CoV-2 in artificial saliva.

Methods: The potential hazards to oral tissues associated with a range of acute 425 nm light doses were assessed using a battery of four preclinical tests: (1) cytotoxicity, using well-differentiated human large airway and buccal epithelial models; (2) toxicity to commensal oral bacteria, using a panel of model organisms; (3) light-induced histopathological changes, using ex vivo porcine esophageal tissue, and (4) thermal damage, by dosing the oropharynx of intact porcine head specimens. Then, 425 nm light doses established as non-hazardous using these tests were evaluated for their potential to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 in artificial saliva.

A cross-sectional multicenter linkage study of hospital admissions and mortality due to methanol poisoning in Iranian adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A methanol poisoning outbreak occurred in Iran during the initial months of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We aimed to evaluate the epidemiology of the outbreak in terms of hospitalizations and deaths. A cross-sectional linkage study was conducted based on the hospitalization data collected from thirteen referral toxicology centers throughout Iran as well as mortality data obtained from the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization (LMO).

Evaluating a peer-led wellbeing programme for doctors-in-training during the COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria, Australia, using the Most Significant Change technique.

This article discusses the use of the Most Significant Change (MSC) technique in a mixed-methods evaluation of a pilot wellbeing programme for obstetrics and gynaecology doctors-in-training introduced at a large public hospital during Melbourne, Australia's second coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown, which occurred from 7 July to 26 October 2020. The evaluation was conducted remotely using videoconferencing technology, to conform with pandemic restrictions. MSC complemented the program's participatory principles and was chosen because it seeks to learn about participants' perceptions of programme impacts by evaluating their stories of significant change.