HCV and HIV Infection among Heroin Abusers in a Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program

Over the years, it was getting attention to hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immu-nodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among injected drug users (IDUs) in Taiwan. This study investigated the frequency of risky behaviors for HCV carriers and IDUs who were HIV carriers in methadone maintenance treatment program. The subjects, intravenously injected heroin abusers, were collected from a special methadone maintenance treatment clinic. The survey included characteristics of participants, sexual activity and attitude towards condom usage. The total number of subjects was 151. Data were analyzed using the statistical package SPSS 15.0. The analytical methods included descriptive analysis, Fisher’s exact test, and the logistic regression model. The study showed that 82% of intravenously injected heroin abusers were hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive, and 44.4% were hepatitis B virus (HBV)-positive;89.5% of HIV-positive heroin abusers were type C hepatitis positive. Only 21.2% of these intra-venously injected heroin abusers always used a condom, and 39.7% never used a condom during sexual activity. Logistic regression analysis showed smoking, sharing syringes needles, HBV status and condom use status were four main risk factors on HIV infection. Sharing or using contaminated syringes needles was the main cause of HIV, HBV, and HCV infection in the drug addiction group. Since our government has the policy of providing a methadone maintenance treatment program, the spread of HIV is under control, but knowledge about HIV and safe sex education still needs improvement.

Experience of Drug Abusers Participating in Community-Based Drug Rehabilitation Services Provided by the Counselling Centres for Psychotropic Substance Abusers (CCPSAs) in Hong Kong

Despite the official statistics showing that the number of drug users has been declining, the problem of drug abuse remains serious in Hong Kong. This problem is evidenced by the trend of hidden and prolonged drug abuse. The recovery of drug abusers is an important process, because the misuse of drugs can cause many bio-psycho-social complications. Therefore, 11 Counselling Centres for Psychotropic Substance Abusers (CCPSAs) in different districts in Hong Kong play an important role on those drug abusers [1]. As a core community-based drug rehabilitation service in Hong Kong, studies about CCPSAs are limited. This study uses a descriptive qualitative approach to explore the experience of drug abusers participating in community-based drug rehabilitation services provided by CCPSAs. Five CCPSA users, who utilized the services for more than two months, participated in the semi-structured face-to-face interviews. Data collected were then analysed by thematic analysis, and five themes were generated: 1) receiving supportive counselling service in CCPSAs, 2) revealing variance towards nonmandatory services in CCPSAs, 3) encountering intrapersonal conflicts when participating in CCPSAs, 4) expanding social network through integration in group activities and 5) wishing to be a companion to other drug abusers. Findings of this study provide valuable insights towards services modification and the enhancement of drug rehabilitation and drug abusers’ wellbeing over the collaboration of healthcare workers, services providers and the media. However, this study has some limitations, and it presents suggestions for future research.

Altered functional connectivity of prefrontal cortex in chronic heroin abusers

In this study, we investigated alterations in the resting-state functional connectivity of the prefrontal cortex in chronic heroin abusers using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We found that, compared with normal controls, in heroin abusers the left prefrontal cortex showed decreased functional connectivity with the left hippocampus, right anterior cingulate, left middle frontal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus and right precuneus. However, the right prefrontal cortex showed decreased functional connectivity with the left orbital frontal cortex and the left middle frontal gyrus in chronic heroin abusers. These alterations of resting-state functional connectivity in the prefrontal cortices of heroin abusers suggest that their frontal executive neural network may be impaired, and that this may contribute to their continued heroin abuse and relapse after withdrawal.

Helping People and Changing the World with CS

What should academic institutions be doing in order to benefit students,the community at large,and society in the new era?Particularly,as computing is impacting all aspects of human society,it also brings many challenges and opportunities for the academic departments of computer science.Some of these challenges include the increasing impact of software on society,issues involving privacy and data abuse,and ethical issues concerning AI.Towards addressing these challenges,the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology(KAIST)leverages its position as an educator in order to train the future computing workforce to be more aware of these issues.To achieve this goal,KAIST mainly adopts three strategies:Combining science&technology and humanities together;putting academy and industry together;training software experts while making them understand people and the world.

Fulminant Hepatitis Associated with Chronic Consumption of 3,4-Methylenedioxy-Methamphetamine;Case Report

The amphetamine derivative 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), also called ecstasy, is a neurotoxin widely consumed among young people that has increased in recent years because it is a recreational drug, of which immediate effects are known such as a greater sensation of well-being, extroversion, increased sensory perception. However, its long-term effects have been described very little in the medical literature, including damage to the heart, central nervous system, kidney, etc. One of its little-known effects is hepatotoxicity, of which few cases are known associated with fulminant hepatitis, which is a rapidly deteriorating condition that is generally associated with a syndrome of multiple organ dysfunction and death. Therefore, it is very important to know this type of damage in the short and long term. The following case is of a 39-year-old man who came to our service due to jaundice syndrome and the only history of MDMA consumption, who as the days went by met the criteria for fulminant liver failure, with damage to multiple organs (organ dysfunction syndrome).

Demographic characteristics of convicted child sexual abusers in South of Sweden,between 2013 and 2018:a pilot study

This study evaluates variables concerning demographic characteristics for all adult male offenders convicted of Child Sexual Abuse(CSA)aged 0–17 in Malmö,Sweden between 2013 and 2018.All convictions(n=18)based on court documents from the District Court,the Court of Appeals and information from the Swedish Tax Agency were reviewed.A total of 30 victims were identified.Frequency analyses show that the most common features were that of a single offender,averaging 25 years old,with a non-Swedish background and a high school degree.The predominately extrafamilial CSA(i.e.committed by an acquaintance to the family)occurred in a private setting and consisted of penetrative acts.Girls averaging 13years old were abused multiple times,under fear and pressure.Although assumptions based on these results are preliminary,they provide a clearer image of the typical circumstances under which CSA occurred within this time frame and geographical location.This study is a first attempt to construct an overview of demographic characteristics of CSA.As more data are gathered from this region,more sophisticated analyses can be conducted,providing stronger generalizations.Information of this kind may be important for research,classification of offender profiling and in case linking.

BS-SC Model:A Novel Method for Predicting Child Abuse Using Borderline-SMOTE Enabled Stacking Classifier

For a long time,legal entities have developed and used crime prediction methodologies.The techniques are frequently updated based on crime evaluations and responses from scientific communities.There is a need to develop type-based crime prediction methodologies that can be used to address issues at the subgroup level.Child maltreatment is not adequately addressed because children are voiceless.As a result,the possibility of developing a model for predicting child abuse was investigated in this study.Various exploratory analysis methods were used to examine the city of Chicago’s child abuse events.The data set was balanced using the Borderline-SMOTE technique,and then a stacking classifier was employed to ensemble multiple algorithms to predict various types of child abuse.The proposed approach successfully predicted crime types with 93%of accuracy,precision,recall,and F1-Score.The AUC value of the same was 0.989.However,when compared to the Extra Trees model(17.55),which is the second best,the proposed model’s execution time was significantly longer(476.63).We discovered that Machine Learning methods effectively evaluate the demographic and spatial-temporal characteristics of the crimes and predict the occurrences of various subtypes of child abuse.The results indicated that the proposed Borderline-SMOTE enabled Stacking Classifier model(BS-SC Model)would be effective in the real-time child abuse prediction and prevention process.

自动乳腺超声成像系统联合数字乳腺断层摄影对致密型乳腺内乳腺癌诊断价值分析

目的:探讨自动乳腺超声成像系统(ABUS)联合数字乳腺断层摄影(DBT)对致密型乳腺内乳腺癌诊断价值。方法:选取医院收治的96例致密型乳腺内乳腺癌患者,所有患者均在穿刺、手术等有创操作前1周内完成ABUS和DBT检查。以病理结果作为“金标准”,分析ABUS与DBT对致密型乳腺内乳腺癌的诊断价值。结果:96例患者经病理检查出96个病灶,以病理结果作为“金标准”,ABUS诊断致密型乳腺内乳腺癌的灵敏度、特异度及受试者工作特征(ROC)曲线下面积(AUC)分别为77.32%、82.53%和0.711(95%CI:0.635~0.792),DBT诊断致密型乳腺内乳腺癌的灵敏度、特异度及AUC分别为81.59%、80.23%和0.734(95%CI:0.612~0.776),ABUS联合DBT诊断致密型乳腺内乳腺癌的灵敏度、特异度及AUC分别为89.38%、92.46%和0.787(95%CI:0.659~0.824)。结论:ABUS联合DBT有利于提高致密型乳腺内乳腺癌临床检出率,减少肿块不伴钙化病灶的漏诊。

Comparison of different approaches for direct coupling of solid-phase microextraction to mass spectrometry for drugs of abuse analysis in plasma

The direct coupling of solid-phase microextraction(SPME)to mass spectrometry(MS)(SPME-MS)has proven to be an effective method for the fast screening and quantitative analysis of compounds in complex matrices such as blood and plasma.In recent years,our lab has developed three novel SPME-MS techniques:SPME-microfluidic open interface-MS(SPME-MOI-MS),coated blade spray-MS(CBS-MS),and SPME-probe electrospray ionization-MS(SPME-PESI-MS).The fast and high-throughput nature of these SPME-MS technologies makes them attractive options for point-of-care analysis and anti-doping testing.However,all these three techniques utilize different SPME geometries and were tested with different MS instruments.Lack of comparative data makes it difficult to determine which of these methodologies is the best option for any given application.This work fills this gap by making a comprehensive comparison of these three technologies with different SPME devices including SPME fibers,CBS blades,and SPME-PESI probes and SPME-liquid chromatography-MS(SPME-LC-MS)for the analysis of drugs of abuse using the same MS instrument.Furthermore,for the first time,we developed different desorption chambers for MOI-MS for coupling with SPME fibers,CBS blades,and SPME-PESI probes,thus illustrating the universality of this approach.In total,eight analytical methods were developed,with the experimental data showing that all the SPME-based methods provided good analytical performance with R^(2)of linearities larger than 0.9925,accuracies between 81%and 118%,and good precision with an RSD%≤13%.

Evaluation of Perinatal and Developmental Outcomes in Neonates with Abstinence Syndrome Admitted to NICU

Drug abuse by pregnant women is one of the significant problems for mothers and their neonates.This study aimed to investigate the effects of maternal substance use disorder during pregnancy on neonatal developmental criteria.In a case-control study,clinical records of 90 neonates diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome who were admitted to NICU in one of four hospitals affiliated with Shahid-Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran,Iran between 2017 and 2020 were compared to 90 neonates without neonatal abstinence syndrome(control group).Demographic information and data for neonatal developmental characteristics and complications were extracted from the clinical records of this convenience sample.Data for the type and method of maternal substance use during pregnancy were collected through a telephone call with mothers.Our data showed that the prevalence of drug addiction was 1.8%among pregnant women,and the most common drugs used by mothers were opium(n=45%,50%),amphetamine(n=30%,33%),and methadone(n=14%,16%).Neonates with abstinence syndrome had a higher prevalence of transient tachypnea of the newborn(TTN)(P=0.004),and a prevalence of being admitted to NICU(P=0.05)and for a longer duration(P<0.001).Their mothers had a higher prevalence of having pre-eclampsia(P=0.010).Using morphine vs.amphetamine showed no difference based on their effects on mothers and neonates.Substance use during pregnancy increased the prevalence of pregnancy complications(pre-eclampsia)and neonatal complications(TTN and prevalence and duration of hospitalization).Therefore,planning for the development of health policies to raise awareness among women and more broadly,all members of the community,is important to prevent the tendency to engage in this potentially high-risk behavior.

Analysis of Capacity Decay, Impedance, and Heat Generation of Lithium-ionBatteries Experiencing Multiple Simultaneous Abuse Conditions

Abuse of Lithium-ion batteries,both physical and electrochemical,can lead to significantly reduced operational capabilities.In some instances,abuse can cause catastrophic failure,including thermal runaway,combustion,and explosion.Many different test standards that include abuse conditions have been developed,but these generally consider only one condition at a time and only provide go/no-go criteria.In this work,different types of cell abuse are implemented concurrently to determine the extent to which simultaneous abuse conditions aggravate cell degradation and failure.Vibrational loading is chosen to be the consistent type of physical abuse,and the first group of cells is cycled at different vibrational frequencies.The next group of cells is cycled at the same frequencies,with multiple charge pulses occurring during each discharge.The final group of cells is cycled at the same frequencies,with a partial nail puncture occurring near the beginning of cycling.The results show that abusing cells with vibrational loading or vibrational loading with current pulses does not cause a significant decrease in operational capabilities while abusing cells with vibrational loading and a nail puncture drastically reduces operational capabilities.The cells with vibration only experience an increase in internal resistance by a factor of 1.09–1.26,the cells with vibration and current pulses experience an increase in internal resistance by a factor of 1.16–1.23,and all cells from each group reach their rated lifetime of 500 cycles without reaching their end-of-life capacity.However,the cells with vibration and nail puncture experience an increase in internal resistance by a factor of 6.83–22.1,and each cell reaches its end-of-life capacity within 50 cycles.Overall,the results show that testing multiple abuse conditions simultaneously provides a better representation of the extreme limitations of cell operation and should be considered for inclusion in reference test standards.

Child Abuse during the Pandemic and Trauma-Informed Care: A Review of Evidence-Based Literature

Abuse of infants and children is a public health problem that warrants immediate attention. It is estimated that over 7 million children are affected by child abuse yearly, with the highest rate of abuse in those less than one year of age. Approximately 60% of child abuse victims are children under the age of three years, making infants and young children a particularly vulnerable population. Interventions targeting the perinatal period can be effective in mitigating child abuse, including parent education programs and trauma-informed care services. This paper provides an overview of the current evidence base related to child abuse following the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on prevention and intervention strategies that can be utilized to increase caregiver support and reduce child abuse rates during the perinatal period.

A Brief Review of the Relationship between Addiction and Memory Systems

This essay will reexamine research on the relationship between human memory and addiction. This paper will review several studies that discussed how memory systems in the human brain are involved in the acquisition of behavior that is learned and is associated with the development of drug addiction and drug relapse. Additional information reveals that when individuals make the transition from recreational drug or impulsive use to compulsive drug abuse, which may result in a neuroanatomical change in areas of the brain from cognitive control guided by the hippocampus/dorsomedial striatum towards conditioned control of behavior managed by the dorsolateral striatum (DLS) [1]. This review also looked at studies that involved experiments with humans and lower animals, which suggested that the hippocampus mediates a cognitive/spatial type of memory, while the dorsal striatum manages stimulus-response (S-R) habit memory, and the amygdala governs the classical conditioning form of learning and stimulus-affective-associative relationships [1]. Overall, these studies utilize the hypothesis of the memory systems view of addiction, and the involvement of learning and memory in the context of drug addiction, which was proposed by them [2]. This theory has been proposed in response to drug addiction research and includes alcohol, amphetamine, and cocaine [1]. The research also explains how stress and anxiety can play a role in how strong emotional excitement can lead to dependent habit memory in rodents and humans [1]. .

Implications of Declining Ground Water and Water Quality in the US Southeastern Coastal Plain Ecoregion and Areawide Environmental Impact Statement Required for Mining in the Greater Okefenokee Swamp Basin—Part 1

Karst aquifers occur worldwide and exhibit groundwater flow responses that differ considerably from aquifers lacking fractures, bedding planes, and other karst conduits where significant and rapid groundwater flow can occur. The regional, karst Floridan aquifer system underlies the United States (US) Southeastern Coastal Plain Physiographic Region and exhibits hydrologic interconnections with overlying surficial aquifers and throughout other zones of the aquifer system, as is characteristic of other karst aquifer systems. Anthropogenic groundwater declines in this regional karst aquifer system have been documented in published literature for decades, but the impacts of those declines in this coastal plain region and the embedded ecosystems that provide essential and critical habitat for native, endemic, and federally endangered and threatened species have not been considered previously. Those anthropogenic groundwater declines reduce surfacewater levels and flows due to the capture of both groundwater and overland flow of surfacewater, resulting in induced recharge through semi-confining zones and interbasin flow through fractures and other karst conduits. This case study identifies examples from the Greater Okefenokee Swamp Basin study area and comparison areas of how those declines result in loss of historic base flow to surface waters and other capture of surface waters, ultimately increasing saltwater intrusion. Those results alter and degrade the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters, in violation of the US Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972. Historic groundwater declines from mining and other anthropogenic groundwater withdrawals from this regional karst aquifer system already threaten the survival and recovery of federally endangered and threatened species, as well as existing and proposed critical habitat for those species within this regional extent, in violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973. This case study and its companion publication (Part 2) appear to be the first to provide scientific support for this regional karst aquifer system as the unifying factor in habitat responses to irreversible groundwater impacts on aquatic and marine ecosystems. These adverse impacts strongly suggest that the extent of the regional Floridan aquifer system should be designated as the Southeastern Coastal Plain Ecoregion for the purpose of managing natural resources. Mining activities continue to expand in our study area, which is the Greater Okefenokee Swamp Basin. Despite that fact, no comprehensive Areawide Environmental Impact Statement (AEIS), similar to the AEIS required for phosphate mining within the Central Florida Phosphate District (CFPD) approximately a decade ago has been conducted for any of the numerous mining projects that are occurring and are proposed within the Greater Okefenokee Swamp Basin. This case study also provides examples of why a comprehensive AEIS is essential to consider all of the adverse direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of those mining activities to the CWA, the ESA, and the irreversible losses to local economies, because federal agencies responsible for considering those adverse impacts rely on public comments to identify those adverse impacts. The mining activities authorized throughout the regional Floridan aquifer system under Category 44 Nationwide Permits (NWP) result in the same type of adverse impacts as the mining activities evaluated under Individual Permits in that region. Therefore, those Category 44 NWP mining activities also should be required to obtain Individual Permits and be evaluated under an AEIS in the Greater Okefenokee Swamp Basin. This case study also describes how Florida’s assumption of the CWA Section 404 regulatory authority in 2020 severs four sub-basins within the Greater Okefenokee Swamp Basin study area at the state line between Florida and Georgia.

二维超声检查与ABUS在乳腺微小结节良恶性鉴别中的诊断效能

关于乳腺微小结节良恶性鉴别诊断中应用二维超声检查和ABUS检查的临床效能进行探讨。方法 收集通过病理检查获得明确诊断属于乳腺微小结节病人资料60例,所选病人全部接受二维超声检查和ABUS检查,对比两种检查方式对于良恶性肿瘤的鉴别结果差异性。结果 采取ABUS检查方式在对于乳腺微小结节的检出率方面明显高于二维超声,两者对比差异明显;ABUS检查在对乳腺微小结节良恶性鉴别诊断中的准确度明显高于二维超声,两者对比差异明显。结论 临床中对于乳腺微小结节良恶性鉴别诊断采取ABUS检查的应用价值高于二维超声,可以帮助明确病人的结节位置,为疾病诊断提供可靠的参考依据。

信息型常见毒物质谱用户库的建立及其在毒物快速筛选上的应用研究

The spectrum user’s librarys containing 1533 familiar toxicants have been built; A method with high separability and sensitivity has been found,The RT and the detection limit of 210 familiar abuse drugs has been confirmed; the processing methods to analyse spectrum data automatically have been found; It is simple,quick,sensitive and reliable,and can take place of manual operation,It is very useful to screen the familiar toxicants in unkown sample.

药物使用和药物滥用的流行学调查

一、目前我国药物使用(drug use,简称“使用”,下同)和药物滥用(drug abuse,简称“滥用”,下同)的情况已引起人民群众和政府的关注。二、流行学调查 (一)目的 1.估计某地人群中“使用”和“滥用”的具体情况。 2.利用调查表进行调查以探索导致“使用”和“滥用”的一些预测因素,为开展治疗和预防提供论据。 (二)

长期虐待儿童致死尸检1例

虐待儿童(child abuse)是一项重要的社会问题,为保护儿童不受虐待的伤害和摧残,加深对虐待儿童的了解,及时揭露、惩处施虐者的犯罪行为,现将作者遇到的1例长期虐待儿童致死的尸检结果,结合有关资料报道如下:

药物依赖性与药物滥用的国际动态

在世界范围,毒品非法生产、贩运和滥用以及伴随的愈来愈升级的暴力已严重地威胁公众、甚至政治领导人的生命安全,给经济带来严重损失。在1990年期间,南美和西欧的贩毒组织已勾结起来。

The Importance of Molecular and Clinical Laboratory Tests in Diagnosis and Treatment of Coronavirus Disease

900 abusers were tested for the presence of drug abuse and coronavirus disease.In the early stage,the throat and noise samples of these patients were examined by polymerase chain reaction(PCR).The mean age of the study group is 42±23.Hematological and serological examinations were performed on 131 patients.All data were analyzed by t-test and one-way analysis of variance(ANOVA).Therefore,P<0.05 is considered as the significance of the test results.The results showed that 131 patients in the study group had positive results of PCR tests and nearby they had Covid-19.Approximately 90%of patients with coronavirus disease showed positive serological tests and lymphopenic condition.All of urine or blood samples in the 131 patients were positive for the presence of abuse drugs.C-reactive protein(CRP)is one of important serologic test that detected on these patients.This study showed the importance of molecular genetics test such as PCR and also hematology and serology tests in distinguish of coronavirus diseases.