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BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Opioid agonist treatment is effective but resource intensive to administer safely in custodial settings, leading to significant under-treatment of opioid dependence in these settings world-wide. This study assessed the safety of subcutaneous slow-release depot buprenorphine in custody. SETTING: This is an open-label, non-randomized trial conducted in correctional centres in New South Wales, Australia. Sixty-seven men and women, aged ≥ 18 years of various security classifications with a diagnosis of moderate to severe DSM-5 opioid use disorder currently serving a custodial sentence of ≥ 6 months were recruited between November 2018 and July 2019. Patients not in opioid agonist treatment at recruitment commenced depot buprenorphine; patients already stable on oral methadone treatment were recruited to the comparison arm. INTERVENTION AND COMPARATOR: Depot buprenorphine (CAM2038 weekly for 4 weeks then monthly) and daily oral methadone. Safety was assessed by adverse event (AE) monitoring and physical examinations at every visit. Participants were administered a survey assessing self-reported diversion and substance use at baseline and weeks 4 and 16. FINDINGS: Retention in depot buprenorphine treatment was 92.3%. Ninety-four per cent of patients reported at least one adverse event, typically mild and transient. No diversion was identified. The prevalence of self-reported non-prescribed opioid use among depot buprenorphine patients decreased significantly between baseline (97%) and week 16 (12%, odds ratio = 0.0035, 95% confidence interval = 0.0007-0.018, P

A method was developed and validated for the determination of ochratoxin A (OTA), a fungal metabolite, in cocoa beans of high fat content. The sample was extracted by blending with a 1% sodium bicarbonate solution (pH 10) followed by ultrasonication, and the sample was defatted by treatment with a flocculant. The defatted sample was purified using immunoaffinity column chromatography, and OTA was detected using HPLC with fluorescence detection. The method was fully optimized, validated, and quality controlled using spike recovery analyses, with recoveries of 89–105% over spiking ranges of 320–2.5 ng/g with CV of analyses generally

Background: Very little is known about the long-term neuropsychological outcomes of infants who were treated with pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine for congenital Toxoplasma infection. This study investigated the neurocognitive functioning and behavior of a cohort of treated infants exposed to Toxoplasma gondii in the 1994-1995 outbreak in Victoria, British Columbia. Methods: Ten infants from the original cohort, treated with pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine starting during first year of life and continuing for 12 months, were evaluated at 7 to 8.5 years of age. Neuropsychological evaluations focused on the cognitive, academic, adaptive, and behavioral functioning of these children. Results: The cohort demonstrated generally average neurocognitive abilities and academic achievement. According to parental ratings, the children’s executive functions, behavior and adaptive functioning did not differ significantly from the normative population. However, subtle difficulties were seen on more demanding sustained attention and impulse control tasks. Conclusions: These results suggest favorable outcomes in infants who were treated for one year with pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine. Nonetheless, congenital toxoplasmosis might contribute to some difficulties with higher-order cognitive abilities or tasks demanding greater self-monitoring. These difficulties could become more pronounced as higher demands for these abilities and brain areas come online during late childhood and adolescence. These findings highlight the importance of effective treatment and longitudinal follow-up of children with congenital toxoplasmosis.

There are new realities of the modern age that can directly and indirectly implicate the current and future psychosocial development and emotional wellbeing of children. The following discussion in this article emanates from the common position of both authors who recognize a seismic shift in the lives of children has occurred. Both authors hold the position that the social realities of children have changed and continue to change. At the core of this shift lies an advance in technology; a technological advance so fluid, which has effectively rapidly disseminated into society and transformed children’s social realities. In this article, the realities of the psychological and emotional wellbeing concerns of children will be discussed, in addition to the implications of the new social realities for children, with a specific focus on technological advances, educational and parental implications. Finally, recommendations will be presented for addressing the seismic shift that has occurred in the social realities of children. The objective of this article is to therefore recognize the seismic shift and to offer recommendations to facilitate positive psychosocial and educational developmental pathways for the current and future social realities of twenty-first century children.