Seize the day

BACKGROUND: Drug-induced pneumonia, especially immune-related adverse events, can sometimes be fatal, and it is crucial to seize the signs for early treatment. A clinical trial (ATTRACTION-4) reported no cases of grade 4 or 5 pneumonia or interstitial lung disease associated with nivolumab plus S-1 and oxaliplatin. However, we encountered two cases of fatal pneumonia induced by this regimen. CASE DESCRIPTION: The two patients were in their 70s, male and diagnosed gastric cancer with peritoneal dissemination...

BACKGROUND: Approximately 60% of patients with CRLM experience relapse within 2 years after radical resection, previous studies have proven that repeat local treatment (LT) could prolong survival, however, it is difficult to seize the window for LT due to the lack of a high-sensitive surveillance method. In this study, we aim to examine the value of longitudinal circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in guiding adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT), optimizing clinical surveillance strategy, and thereby improving CRLM outcomes...

Globally, the number of drug users and the proportion of the drug using population has increased from 210 million in 2009 to 269 million in 2019. Several studies suggest that music festival attendees are more likely to abuse illicit substances and have a high-risk profile. Consequently, it is crucial to develop robust field drug analysis methods that facilitate harm reduction and drug monitoring. The work presented in this report aimed at developing and validating qualitative analytical methods for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, 4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C-B), ketamine and N-ethylpentylone on two portable gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) systems: Griffin G510 (Teledyne FLIR, West Lafayette, IN) and Torion T-9 (PerkinElmer, Shelton, CT)...

Amphetamine-type stimulants are abused worldwide, and methamphetamine (METH) accounts for a large majority of seized abused drug cases. Recently, the paternal origin of health and disease theory has been proposed as a concept wherein paternal factors influence descendants. Although METH abuse is more common among males, its effects on their descendants were not examined. Therefore, we investigated the effects of paternal METH exposure on F1 and F2 levels in a mouse model. Sires were administered METH for 21 days and mated with female mice to obtain F1 mice...

The Catering Service Industry (CSI) experienced profound impacts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the long-term and multi-timepoint analysis using big data remained limited, influencing governmental decision-making. We applied Kernel Density Estimation, Shannon Diversity Index, and the Geographic detector to explore the spatial heterogeneity and determinants of the CSI in Beijing during the pandemic, with monthly granularity. The temporal-spatial dynamics of the CSI presented a "W"-shaped trend from 2018 to 2023, with pivotal shifts aligning with key pandemic stages...

Prognosis of metastatic triple negative breast cancer (mTNBC) remains poor despite recent advances in therapeutic options. Trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) has shown promising efficacy in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-low breast cancer, which is defined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) 1+ or 2+ and lack of HER2 amplification by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) testing. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the safety and initial evidence of efficacy of intratumoral administration of CF33-hNIS-anti-PD-L1 (CHECKvacc) against mTNBC...

Saracatinib/AZD0530 (SAR), a Src tyrosine kinase inhibitor, mitigates seizure-induced brain pathology in epilepsy models upon repeated oral dosing. However, repeated dosing is stressful and can be challenging in some seizing animals. To overcome this issue, we have incorporated SAR-in-Diet and compared serum pharmacokinetics (PK) and brain concentrations with conventional repeated oral dosing. Saracatinib in solution or in-diet was stable at room temperature for >4 weeks (97 ± 1...

Microplastic pollution is a leading global problem affecting terrestrial and marine aquatic ecosystems. Due to the stagnant nature of microplastics, the toxic effect of microplastics is more pronounced to benthic organisms than the surface feeder. Hence, the present study effort was to study the microplastic bioaccumulation pattern and changes in the enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant and AChE pattern of freshwater snail Filopaludina bengalensis, which were subjected to 0.5 ppm to 5 ppm levels of polystyrene microsphere (∼ 30 µm) for 27 days...

In today's world, stress is a major factor for various diseases in modern societies which affects the day-to-day activities of human beings. The measurement of stress is a contributing factor for governments and societies that impacts the quality of daily lives. The strategy of stress monitoring systems requires an accurate stress classification technique which is identified via the reactions of the body to regulate itself to changes within the environment through mental and emotional responses. Therefore, this research proposed a novel deep learning approach for the stress classification system...

OBJECTIVE: Many people are struggling to get back to their lives after severe COVID-19. To facilitate their reintegration into everyday life, we need to understand how the process is experienced. We aimed to gain deeper knowledge about this process by interviewing persons one year after hospitalisation due to COVID-19. METHODS: The study is based on a qualitative design, with eleven in-depth interviews conducted one year after discharge for COVID-19. Participants were recruited to form a heterogeneous sample with respect to age, gender and socioeconomic background...

Healing bacterial chronic wounds caused by hyperglycemia is of great significance to protect the physical and mental health of diabetic patients. In this context, emerging chemodynamic therapy (CDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) with broad antibacterial spectra and high spatiotemporal controllability have flourished. However, CDT was challenged by the near-neutral pH and inadequate H2 O2 surrounding the chronic wound site, while PTT showed overheating-triggered side effects (e.g., damaging the normal tissue) and poor effects on thermotolerant bacterial biofilms...

Illicit fentanyl has flooded the United States' drug market, increasing the risk of overdose and poisonings throughout the general population and accidental exposure among law enforcement officers confiscating the increasing number of seizures. Fentanyl test strips (FTS) are used to obtain presumptive information about the presence of fentanyl in a suspected sample. However, their adoption by law enforcement personnel and seized-drug analysts has been limited because most products are advertised for urine testing, not for assays using water solutions...

Benzimidazole opioids were originally developed from the late 1950s to 1970s as analgesics for medical use, although a lot of them could not be approved as licit medicines because of their severe side effects and physical dependence. Such benzimidazole opioid analogs as abused drug, however, have recently been found in illicit drug markets throughout the world. Isotonitazene is one such benzimidazole opioids, whose analgesic potency can be as much as 500 times greater than that of morphine, according to previous animal studies...

Daily life unfolds in a sequence of situational contexts, which are pivotal for explaining people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. While situational data were previously difficult to collect, the ubiquity of smartphones now opens up new opportunities for assessing situations in situ, that is, while they occur. Seizing this opportunity, the present study demonstrates how smartphones can help establish associations between the psychological perception and physical reality of situations. We employed an intensive longitudinal sampling design and investigated 9,790 situational snapshots experienced by 455 participants for 14 consecutive days...

Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs), which are considered some of the most widely abused new psychoactive substances available today, are much more potent than natural cannabis and display greater efficacy. New SCs can be developed by adding substituents such as halogen, alkyl, or alkoxy groups to one of the aromatic ring systems, or by changing the length of the alkyl chain. Following the emergence of the so-called first-generation SCs, further developments have led to eighth-generation indole/indazole amide-based SCs...

Objectives. To test the hypothesis that law enforcement efforts to disrupt local drug markets by seizing opioids or stimulants are associated with increased spatiotemporal clustering of overdose events in the surrounding geographic area. Methods. We performed a retrospective (January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021), population-based cohort study using administrative data from Marion County, Indiana. We compared frequency and characteristics of drug (i.e., opioids and stimulants) seizures with changes in fatal overdose, emergency medical services nonfatal overdose calls for service, and naloxone administration in the geographic area and time following the seizures...

BACKGROUND: Depres sion is reported in up to 90% of cancer patients but to this date, a standardized screening tool for depression specifically modified for patients diagnosed with brain tumors is lacking. Thus, this study aims to develop an adapted screening tool and identify a suitable time slot for screening. METHODS: Sixty-one patients with brain lesions were interviewed prior to neurosurgical resection. For screening purposes, established depression scores were used...

Songbirds are currently the most prevalent animals in illegal trafficking in Brazil and other countries, so they are often confiscated, and this poses legal, ethical, and conservation challenges. Returning them to nature requires complex and expensive management, a topic that is sparingly addressed in the literature. Here, we described the processes and costs associated with an attempt to rehabilitate and release confiscated songbirds into the wild. A total of 1,721 songbirds of several species were quarantined, rehabilitated, and released, primarily on two farms located within their typical geographical distribution...

Criminal cases are studied from several disciplines to link a suspect with a criminal act. In this case, a man was reported missing in a coastal area in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. The victim's relatives pointed to a possible suspect, and the local police carried out the investigation. We contributed to this research by applying palynological and mycological techniques. Palynomorphs and fungal spores offer valuable trace evidence, as they can be easily transferred between objects and crime scenes due to their minute size and persist on them for a long time...

BACKGROUND: Background: There is widespread misinformation about the effects of alcohol consumption on health, which were amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic through social media and internet channels. Chatbots and conversational agents became an important piece of the WHO response during the COVID-19 pandemic to quickly disseminate evidence-based information to the public, related to COVID-19 and tobacco. PAHO seized the opportunity to develop a conversational agent to talk about alcohol related topics and therefore complement traditional forms of health education which have been promoted in the past...