Chloroquine treatment induces secretion of autophagy-related proteins and inclusion of Atg8-family proteins in distinct extracellular vesicle populations.

Chloroquine (CQ), a lysosomotropic agent, is commonly used to inhibit lysosomal degradation and macroautophagy/autophagy. Here we investigated the cell-extrinsic effects of CQ on secretion. We showed that lysosomal and autophagy inhibition by CQ altered the secretome, and induced the release of Atg8 orthologs and autophagy receptors.

The association between involuntary alcohol treatment and subsequent emergency department visits and hospitalizations: a Bayesian analysis of treated patients and matched controls.

Background And Aims: Many nations have provisions for involuntary treatment of alcohol dependence where the person is at serious risk of harm to themselves. To date, there has been little thorough evaluation of its effectiveness. This study aimed to determine if there were differences between involuntary and voluntary treatment for alcohol dependence on subsequent emergency and hospital care.

Outcomes of a single-arm implementation trial of extended-release subcutaneous buprenorphine depot injections in people with opioid dependence.

Background: Opioid agonist treatment (OAT) is an effective intervention for opioid dependence. Extended-release buprenorphine injections (BUP-XR) may have additional potential benefits over sublingual buprenorphine. This single-arm trial evaluated outcomes among people receiving 48 weeks of BUP-XR in diverse community healthcare settings in Australia, permitting examination of outcomes when BUP-XR is delivered in standard practice.

Autophagy in major human diseases.

Autophagy is a core molecular pathway for the preservation of cellular and organismal homeostasis. Pharmacological and genetic interventions impairing autophagy responses promote or aggravate disease in a plethora of experimental models. Consistently, mutations in autophagy-related processes cause severe human pathologies.

Non-fatal opioid overdose, naloxone access, and naloxone training among people who recently used opioids or received opioid agonist treatment in Australia: The ETHOS Engage study.

Background: Overdose is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among people who use opioids. Naloxone can reverse opioid overdoses and can be distributed and administered with minimal training. People with experience of overdose are a key population to target for overdose prevention strategies.

The use and effects of synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists by New South Wales cannabis treatment clients.

Introduction: Despite decreasing consumption by general populations, use of synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs) persists in some marginalised groups, including those who use other substances. This article explores SCRA consumption in an Australian cannabis treatment sample, comparing those who report ever using SCRAs with those who have never used SCRAs.

Methods: A questionnaire orally administered in person to a convenience sample of 154 cannabis treatment service clients from New South Wales, Australia (71% male, median age 35) collected information regarding cannabis and SCRA use including motivations, effects and health-related consequences of use, demographics, other substance use and overall health.

Tobacco dependence management in a smoke-free inpatient drug and alcohol unit.

Objective: Various smoke-free policies and practices (carbon monoxide monitoring, nicotine replacement therapy, pharmacotherapy, behavioural interventions) have been introduced to manage tobacco dependence in inpatient drug and alcohol facilities. Since the introduction of a smoke-free policy to our inpatient drug and alcohol facility, there has been no objective evaluation of its practices or patients' views.

Methods: We administered a questionnaire to 42 inpatients identified as smokers.

Future migration: Key environmental indicators of Pu accumulation in terrestrial sediments of Queensland, Australia.

Plutonium (Pu) interactions in the environment are highly complex. Site-specific variables play an integral role in determining the chemical and physical form of Pu, and its migration, bioavailability, and immobility. This paper aims to identify the key variables that can be used to highlight regions of radioecological sensitivity and guide remediation strategies in Australia.

Author Correction: Mammalian Atg8 proteins and the autophagy factor IRGM control mTOR and TFEB at a regulatory node critical for responses to pathogens.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Cannabis use in patients 3 months after ceasing nabiximols for the treatment of cannabis dependence: Results from a placebo-controlled randomised trial.

Introduction And Aims: Previous studies suggest cannabinoid agonist treatment is effective in reducing cannabis use in dependent treatment seekers, however few studies have reported on post-treatment outcomes. We examine cannabis use outcomes 12 weeks after cessation of treatment from a randomised placebo-controlled trial of nabiximols for the treatment of cannabis dependence.

Method: 128 participants received either nabiximols (n = 61) or placebo (n = 67) for 12 weeks, in combination with psychosocial interventions.

Mammalian Atg8 proteins and the autophagy factor IRGM control mTOR and TFEB at a regulatory node critical for responses to pathogens.

Autophagy is a homeostatic process with multiple functions in mammalian cells. Here, we show that mammalian Atg8 proteins (mAtg8s) and the autophagy regulator IRGM control TFEB, a transcriptional activator of the lysosomal system. IRGM directly interacted with TFEB and promoted the nuclear translocation of TFEB.

Radionuclides in sea turtles at the Montebello Islands former nuclear test sites: Current and historical dose rates for adults and embryos.

Radionuclides from 1950s weapons testing at the Montebello Islands, Western Australia, may impact sea turtle embryos incubating within eggs laid in contaminated sands or be taken up into adult body tissues where they can contribute to radiation dose over a turtles' 60+ year lifespan. We measured plutonium in all local samples including turtle skin, bones, hatchlings, eggshells, sea sediments, diet items and beach sands. The amount of Pu in developing embryos/hatchling samples was orders of magnitude lower than that in the surrounding sands.

Open-label, multicentre, single-arm trial of monthly injections of depot buprenorphine in people with opioid dependence: protocol for the CoLAB study.

Introduction: Opioid agonist treatment is effective for opioid dependence and newer extended-release buprenorphine (BUP-XR) injections represent a significant development. The Community Long-Acting Buprenorphine (CoLAB) study aims to evaluate client outcomes among people with opioid dependence receiving 48 weeks of BUP-XR treatment, and examines the implementation of BUP-XR in diverse community healthcare settings in Australia.

Methods And Analysis: The CoLAB study is a prospective single-arm, multicentre, open-label trial of monthly BUP-XR injections in people with opioid dependence.

Elbasvir and grazoprevir for hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection in people with recent injecting drug use (DARLO-C): An open-label, single-arm, phase 4, multicentre trial.

Background And Aims: Direct-acting antiviral therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) is effective, but few prospective studies among people with ongoing injecting drug use exist. This study evaluated the efficacy of elbasvir/grazoprevir in people with HCV genotype 1/4 (G1/4) infection and recent injecting drug use. An exploratory aim evaluated the feasibility of fingerstick point-of-care HCV RNA testing prior to and following treatment.

Validation of the Australian Treatment Outcomes Profile for use in clients with cannabis dependence.

Introduction And Aims: The Australian Treatment Outcomes Profile (ATOP) was developed as a clinical tool for monitoring the substance use, health and wellbeing of clients in alcohol and other drug treatment. This is the first psychometric validation of the ATOP in a cannabis-dependent treatment population.

Design And Methods: A total of 128 individuals with cannabis dependence enrolled in an outpatient randomised controlled trial were administered the ATOP and gold-standard health and wellbeing questionnaires once by clinicians and once by researchers at baseline.

Fish-habitat associations on a subsea pipeline within an Australian Marine Park.

Subsea pipelines have been installed in all major hydrocarbon basins across the globe to support the offshore Oil & Gas (O&G) industry. These artificial structures provide hard substratum that can be colonised and utilised by sessile and mobile organisms. The present study utilises industry-collected remotely operated vehicle (ROV) video to assess fish species richness and abundance, and marine growth type, extent and complexity along sections of a subsea gas pipeline, in 56-82 m depth, that traverses the Australian Commonwealth Montebello Marine Park (MMP).

Reductions in emergency department presentations associated with opioid agonist treatment vary by geographic location: A retrospective study in New South Wales, Australia.

Introduction And Aims: It is not known if the reduction in ED use during periods of OAT occurs across urgent and low acuity presentations. We aimed to compare the incidence and costs of urgent and low acuity ED presentations of people with opioid use disorder (OUD) in and out of opioid agonist treatment (OAT).

Design And Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study (N=24,875), using linked administrative health data from New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

Plutonium and other radionuclides persist across marine-to-terrestrial ecotopes in the Montebello Islands sixty years after nuclear tests.

Since the 1956 completion of nuclear testing at the Montebello Islands, Western Australia, this remote uninhabited island group has been relatively undisturbed (no major remediations) and currently functions as high-value marine and terrestrial habitat within the Montebello/Barrow Islands Marine Conservation Reserves. The former weapons testing sites, therefore, provide a unique opportunity for assessing the fate and behaviour of Anthropocene radionuclides subjected to natural processes across a range of shallow-marine to island-terrestrial ecological units (ecotopes). We collected soil, sediment and biota samples and analysed their radionuclide content using gamma and alpha spectrometry, photostimulated luminescence autoradiography and accelerator mass spectrometry.

Nabiximols for the Treatment of Cannabis Dependence: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: There are no effective medications for treating dependence on cannabis.

Objective: To examine the safety and efficacy of nabiximols in the treatment of patients with cannabis dependence.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This parallel double-blind randomized clinical trial comparing nabiximols with placebo in a 12-week, multisite outpatient study recruited participants from February 3, 2016, to June 14, 2017, at 4 outpatient specialist alcohol and drug treatment services in New South Wales, Australia.

Survey of Australian psychiatrists' and psychiatry trainees' knowledge about and attitudes towards medicinal cannabinoids.

Objective:: To assess Australian psychiatrists' and psychiatry trainees' knowledge about and attitudes towards medicinal cannabinoids, given the recent relaxation of cannabinoid-prescribing laws in Australia.

Method:: All Australian members of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists were invited to participate in an anonymous, 64-item online questionnaire, through Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists' newsletters. The questionnaire ran for a 10-week period from March to May 2017.

Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) of cannabinoid replacement therapy (Nabiximols) for the management of treatment-resistant cannabis dependent patients: a study protocol.

Background: The cannabis extract nabiximols (Sativex®) effectively supresses withdrawal symptoms and cravings in treatment resistant cannabis dependent individuals, who have high relapse rates following conventional withdrawal treatments. This study examines the efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of longer-term nabiximols treatment for outpatient cannabis dependent patients who have not responded to previous conventional treatment approaches.

Methods/design: A phase III multi-site outpatient, randomised, double-blinded, placebo controlled parallel design, comparing a 12-week course of nabiximols to placebo, with follow up at 24 weeks after enrolment.

Transferring Patients From Methadone to Buprenorphine: The Feasibility and Evaluation of Practice Guidelines.

Introduction And Aims: Transfer from methadone to buprenorphine is problematic for many opioid-dependent patients, with limited documented evidence or practical clinical guidance, particularly for the range of methadone doses routinely prescribed for most patients (>50 mg). This study aimed to implement and evaluate recent national Australian guidelines for transferring patients from methadone to buprenorphine.

Design And Methods: A multisite prospective cohort study.

Pu fallout across continental Australia: Implications on Pu use as a soil tracer.

At present there is a need for the development of new radioisotopes for soil erosion and sediment tracing especially as fallout Cs levels become depleted. Recent studies have shown that Pu can be a useful new soil erosion and sediment radioisotope tracer. Pu was released in the major atmospheric nuclear weapons tests of 1950's and 1960's.