A Rapid Review of the Impact of Systems-Level Policies and Interventions on Population-Level Outcomes Related to the Opioid Epidemic, United States and Canada, 2014-2018.

Objectives: In the United States, rising rates of overdose deaths and recent outbreaks of hepatitis C virus and HIV infection are associated with injection drug use. We updated a 2014 review of systems-level opioid policy interventions by focusing on evidence published during 2014-2018 and new and expanded opioid policies.

Methods: We searched the MEDLINE database, consistent with the 2014 review.

Factors associated with incomplete toxicology reporting in drug overdose deaths, 2010-2016.

Purpose: Classification of overdose deaths is often geographically and demographically inconsistent. Incomplete surveillance records may distort estimates of drug overdose rates across time and place. We examined incomplete toxicology reporting among drug overdose decedents by demographic and geographic characteristics, measuring changes in missingness rates and their associations with decedent characteristics over time.

Hormonal Contraception and Vaginal Infections Among Couples Who Are Human Immunodeficiency Virus Serodiscordant in Lusaka, Zambia.

Objective: To examine the relationship between hormonal contraception and vaginal infections with bacterial vaginosis, vaginal candidiasis, or trichomoniasis.

Methods: Couples who were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) serodiscordant in Zambia were enrolled in a longitudinal cohort study. From 1994 to 2002, both partners were seen quarterly and received physical exams including genital examinations.

Contraceptive method use among HIV-positive women in a US urban outpatient clinic: an exploratory cross-sectional study.

Objective(s): Effective contraceptive method use is important for HIV-positive women to meet fertility goals, prevent unintended pregnancy and reduce risk of vertical HIV transmission. Our objective was to evaluate factors associated with HIV-positive women's contraceptive method use at last coitus defined as more effective [Tier 1 and 2 methods (T1/2)] versus less effective [Tier 3 or no method (T3/none)] by the US Medical Eligibility Criteria for contraception use.

Study Design: HIV-positive women, recruited from an HIV clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, between 2013 and 2014, completed a survey of demographic, clinical and reproductive health characteristics surrounding contraception.

Standardisation of a European measurement method for the determination of total gaseous mercury: results of the field trial campaign and determination of a measurement uncertainty and working range.

Working Group 25 of the European Committee for Standardisation's (CEN) Technical Committee 264 'Air Quality' is currently finalising a standard method for the measurement of total gaseous mercury (TGM) in ambient air, in response to the requirements of the European Union's Fourth Air Quality Daughter Directive (4(th) DD). We report the results of a programme of field measurements and the statistical analysis performed to assess the uncertainty of the proposed standard method, define its working range and determine its compliance with the required data quality objectives of the Fourth Air Quality Daughter Directive. The statistical analysis has shown that the maximum relative expanded uncertainty of 50% allowed by the 4(th) DD is met down to a mercury mass concentration of approximately 0.

Biofilms: an extra hurdle for effective antimicrobial therapy.

Since the 1960's much research has focused on biofilms, i.e. microbial-derived populations irreversibly attached to a surface and embedded in a self-produced polymeric matrix.

Inhibitory effect of biocides on the viable masses and matrices of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms.

Bacteria and matrix are essential for the development of biofilms, and assays should therefore target both components. The current European guidelines for biocidal efficacy testing are not adequate for sessile microorganisms; hence, alternative discriminatory test protocols should be used. The activities of a broad range of biocides on Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms were evaluated using such in vitro assays.

In vitro susceptibilities of Leishmania donovani promastigote and amastigote stages to antileishmanial reference drugs: practical relevance of stage-specific differences.

The in vitro susceptibilities of the reference strain Leishmania donovani MHOM/ET/67/L82 to sodium stibogluconate, amphotericin B, miltefosine, and the experimental compound PX-6518 were determined for extracellular log-phase promastigotes, established axenic amastigotes, fresh spleen-derived amastigotes, and intracellular amastigotes in primary mouse peritoneal macrophages. Susceptibility to amphotericin B did not differ across the various axenic models (50% inhibitory concentrations [IC50], 0.6 to 0.

Evaluation of hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectants in a new resazurin microplate method for rapid efficacy testing of biocides.

Aims: Development of the resazurin microplate method (RMM) as a novel test system for the evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of antiseptics and disinfectants. The validated RMM was subsequently applied for the evaluation of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) and stabilized H(2)O(2) combination products.

Methods And Results: The European Committee for Standardization prescribes the plate count challenge test (PCCT) for antiseptic and disinfectant efficacy testing.

Inhibitory efficacy of various antibiotics on matrix and viable mass of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms.

Both bacteria and the matrix are essential for the development of biofilms. Antimicrobials should therefore be tested against both components. The aim of this study was to determine the structure-activity relationships of different antibiotics against biofilm-forming Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains using in vitro biofilm discriminatory assays.

A new colorimetric microtitre model for the detection of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms.

Aims: Research on biofilms requires validated quantitative models that focus both on matrix and viable bacterial mass. In this study, a new microplate model for the detection of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms was developed.

Methods And Results: Dimethyl methylene blue (DMMB) dye was used to quantify biofilm matrix colorimetrically.

Ethnobotanical survey and antibacterial activity of some plants used in Guinean traditional medicine.

A total of 418 healers have been interviewed in Guinea, a coastal country of West Africa, ranging between 7 degrees 30 and 12 degrees 30 of northern latitude and 8 degrees and 15 degrees of western longitude. Plant species used by the local inhabitants to treat infectious diseases were identified using ethnobotanical, ethnographic and taxonomic methods. During these investigations, 218 plants were registered, of which the following were the most frequently used: Erythrina senegalensis, Bridelia ferruginea, Crossopteryx febrifuga, Ximenia americana, Annona senegalensis, Cochlospermum tinctorium, Cochlospermum planchonii, Lantana camara, Costus afer, Psidium guajava, Terminalia glaucescens, Uapaca somon and Swartzia madagascariensis.