Recreational use, analysis and toxicity of tryptamines

The definition New psychoactive substances (NPS) refers to emerging drugs whose chemical structures are similar to other psychoactive compounds but not identical, representing a "legal" alternative to internationally controlled drugs. There are many categories of NPS, such as synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic cathinones, phenylethylamines, piperazines, ketamine derivatives and tryptamines. Tryptamines are naturally occurring compounds, which can derive from the amino acid tryptophan by several biosynthetic pathways: their structure is a combination of a benzene ring and a pyrrole ring, with the addition of a 2-carbon side chain. Tryptamines include serotonin and melatonin as well as other compounds known for their hallucinogenic properties, such as psilocybin in 'Magic mushrooms' and dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in Ayahuasca brews

Conflictos docentes en Chile y Argentina (1925) ¿Identidades de clase distintas?

During the hectic year of 1925 the General Association of Teachers led a movement that had been simmering for some years. Specifically criticized the Compulsory Primary Education Act (1920) and pressed with Workers Federation with the aim of achieving a transformation of the school system. These teachers will be accused of subversive by President Alessandri, dismissed and prosecuted. In Argentina, the suicide of a teacher in April begins a conflict between teachers of Buenos Aires and the National Council of Education. According to teachers' associations held a meeting in honor of the late teacher, the incident stemmed from petty conveniences and political favours that guided the Council in the allocation of charges. Days later, the association's newspaper published articles accusing the CNE of inept and corrupt. The answer was blunt: eighteen teachers are cast. They must defend the respectability of his "class". While one side of the ridge, the teachers build a class identity close to the proletariat class that joined together to attack the system, the other side the teachers demonstrated an outright fear that be confused by working masses.La Asociación General de Profesores de Chile en el agitado 1925 encabezó un movimiento que se venía gestando hace algunos años. Puntualmente criticó la Ley de Educación Primaria Obligatoria (1920) y presionó junto a la Federación Obrera por una reforma que dejara atrás el modelo escolar elitista. Estos maestros serán acusados de subversivos por el Presidente Alessandri, despedidos y perseguidos. Durante el mismo año en Argentina las asociaciones docentes desataron su protesta a partir del suicidio de una maestra postergada en su profesión como consecuencia del clientelismo político reinante. Había llegado la hora de la acción, "una clase dormida despertaba" (Tribuna del Magisterio, 12/4/1925). Desde la prensa gremial se acusó al gobierno escolar de inepto y corrupto. La respuesta fue contundente: dieciocho maestros son acusados de antinacionalistas y exonerados. Debieron defenderse aludiendo a la respetabilidad de "su clase", diferenciándose del obrero con el que compartirían penurias económicas pero del que diferirían en valores. Mientras de un lado de la cordillera los maestros construían una identidad de clase cercana al proletariado al que se unían para atacar el sistema; del otro lado, demostraban un franco temor de que la "clase enseñante" -culta, moderada y pacífica- sea confundida con la muchedumbre obrera

Complexities of tourism development - Viewpoints of development practitioner

The sustainable development approach to tourism is based on the idea that the majority of the resources upon which the industry depends are regional and local in nature. Thus, recent approaches to tourism development put local communities at the centre of the development process, using approaches such as participation and consultation to develop regions, clusters and sectors linkages within and between them. At the heart of the process there is an emphasis on self-sufficiency and local control over change with the declared aim of enhancing “positive externalities” for the actors involved. Although, viability of tourism development projects has been questioned if not linked to mainstream industry, with market forces and government allocations determining where the costs and benefits of tourism are directed. Given the asymmetries in the sector, communities need power and resourceful allies to make tourism a real development opportunity, and this is rather a complex task

Development and validation of a GC-MS method for the detection and quantification of clotiapine in blood and urine specimens and application to a postmortem case

INTRODUCTION: Clotiapine is an atypical antipsychotic of the dibenzothiazepine class introduced in a few European countries since 1970, efficient in treatment-resistant schizophrenic patients. There is little published data on the therapeutic and toxic concentrations of this drug. AIMS: The aim of the present study is the development and validation of a method that allows the detection and quantification of clotiapine in blood and urine specimens by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). METHODS: Validation was performed working on spiked postmortem blood and urine samples. Samples were extracted with liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) technique at pH 8.5 with n-hexane/dichloromethane (85/15 v/v) and analysis was followed by GC-MS. Methadone-d9 was used as internal standard. RESULTS: The limit of detection (LOD) was 1.2 and 1.3 ng/mL for urine and blood, respectively, while the lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 3.9 and 4.3 ng/mL, respectively. Linearity, precision, selectivity, accuracy, and recovery were also determined. The method was applied to a postmortem case. The blood and urine clotiapine concentrations were 1.32 and 0.49 μg/mL, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: A reliable GC-MS method for the detection and quantification of clotiapine in blood and urine samples has been developed and fully validated and then applied to a postmortem case

Neurotoxicity induced by mephedrone: an up-to-date review

BACKGROUND: Mephedrone is a β-ketoamphetamine belonging to the family of synthetic cathinones, an emerging class of designer drugs known for their hallucinogenic and psychostimulant properties as well as for their abuse potential. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review was to examine the emerging scientific literature on the possible mephedrone-induced neurotoxicity, yet not well defined due to the limited number of experimental studies, mainly carried on animal models. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Relevant scientific articles were identified from international literature databases (Medline, Scopus, etc.) using the keywords: "Mephedrone", "4-MMC," "neurotoxicity," "neuropharmacology", "patents", "monoamine transporters" and "neurochemical effects". RESULTS: Of the 498 sources initially found, only 36 papers were suitable for the review. Neurotoxic effect of mephedrone on 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) systems remains controversial. Although some studies in animal models reported no damage to DA nerve endings in the striatum and no significant changes in brain monoamine levels, some others suggested a rapid reduction in 5-HT and DA transporter function. Persistent serotonergic deficits were observed after binge like treatment in a warm environment and in both serotonergic and dopaminergic nerve endings at high ambient temperature. Oxidative stress cytotoxicity and an increase in frontal cortex lipid peroxidation were also reported. In vitro cytotoxic properties were also observed, suggesting that mephedrone may act as a reductant agent and can also determine changes in mitochondrial respiration. However, due to the differences in the design of the experiments, including temperature and animal model used, the results are difficult to compare. CONCLUSIONS: Further studies on toxicology and pharmacology of mephedrone are therefore necessary to establish an appropriate treatment for substance abuse and eventual consequences for public health

Hepatotoxicity induced by greater celandine (Chelidonium majus L.): a review of the literature

The available literature assessing Chelidonium majus L. (CM) hepatotoxicity potential, and its risk to benefit assessment has been reviewed in this paper. Identification of significant scientific literature was performed via the following research databases: Cochrane Central, Google Scholar, EMBASE, Medline, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, using the following keywords: "Chelidonium majus", "greater celandine", "Hepatotoxicity", "Liver" "Injury", "Toxicity" individually investigated and then again in association. CM named also greater celandine, swallow-wort, or bai-qu-cai (Chinese), has been used for a long time in traditional Chinese medicine and phytotherapy. Its extracts have been claimed to display a wide variety of biological activities: antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, spasmolytic, antineoplastic, hepatoprotective, and analgesic. Moreover, herbal medicine suggests this plant have numerous additional effects which have not yet been scientifically evaluated, such as antitussive, diuretic, and eye-regenerative. However, despite its claimed hepatoprotective effects, several hepatotoxicity cases have been reported to be probably or highly probably connected with CM exposure, after their evaluation through liver-targeted causality assessment methods. CM hepatotoxicity has been defined as a distinct form of herb-induced liver injury (HILI), due to an idiosyncratic reaction of the metabolic type. This evidence has to be considered in relationship with the absence of considerable benefits of CM therapy. Therefore, the risk to benefit ratio of the use of herbal products containing greater celandine can actually be considered as negative

Pathologies Related to Fuel Poverty

Foreword Lucia Ruggeri The effective enforcement of energy transition is one of the keys to the successful fight to climate change. The interplay between the sustainable UN Agenda 2030 goals is a new interesting ground for the development of intersectorial and multidisciplinary studies. Thanks to University of Camerino which is focused on the contamination between different scientific areas and really engaged in strengthening international research, a group composed by more than forty researchers of ten different nationalities is studying the energy policies and the new phenomenon of energy prosumerism. This book is the first direct result of the research activities granted by University of Camerino under the Programme FAR 2019 in the ECPE Project ‘Enabling Consumer to become Prosumer in the Energy transition era’ (more details about the project ECPE are available at https://ecpe.unicam.it/). The object of this book is to collect and analyze the main barriers to self-consumption and prosumerism. Difficult as it is to discuss all obstacles in a single volume, the book focuses on selected barriers which impede the development of new types of fossil free energy production and consuption. The energy communities could play a central role in the implementation of the energy transition strategies, but legal, social, economic, political and cultural barriers can hinder their spread. To analyze the barriers and to find how to eliminate the obstacles to energy transition policies is pivotal to enhance research activities focused on the new EU Regulatory framework. Most in general it is crucial a multidisciplinary approach focused on the fight to climate change and the implementation of sustainable development. In this book are collected several articles which offer a different perspective on the energy transition barriers form different points of view and under different methodologies. The book is composed of four parties. The first one is dedicated to the analysis of the methodology and the results offered by questionnaires supplied online in two languages (Italian/English). The survey is the basis of the Working Paper which is the deliverable of the ECPE Work Programme n. 2 and which constitutes the ground for a discussion into the research group. The second part of the volume collects the contributions focused on the social and economic barriers to prosumerism, while the third one is dedicated to a description of failure cases of self consumption

Evaluating the uncertainty and reliability of standardized indices

Standardized indices are widely used in the spatio-temporal monitoring of several hydrological variables. The estimation of these indices is affected by uncertainty which depends on the methods adopted for their quantification and on the characteristics (i.e., size and variability) of the available sample of observations. In this paper various uncertainty measures, applicable to any kind of standardized index, are proposed. These measures derive from bootstrap-based confidence intervals expressed in years of return period and are effective for assessing both the uncertainty and the reliability of the index estimate. In the illustrative case study the indices considered are the Standardized Precipitation Index and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index. Their time series have been quantified by both nonparametric and parametric approaches, using the weather data of a single station in central Italy. For the parametric approach, two possible types of distributions have been assumed for each index. The results are discussed in order to analyze the behavior of the proposed uncertainty measures in relation to: sample size, type of approach (parametric or nonparametric), time scale, type of standardized index, and type of anomaly (excess or deficit)