Deliberate Self-Poisoning: Real-Time Characterization of Suicidal Habits and Toxidromes in the Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System

IntroductionDeliberate self-poisoning (DSP) using drugs is the preferred method of suicide at a global level. Its investigation is hampered by limited sample sizes and data reliability. We investigate the role of the US FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), a consolidated pharmacovigilance database, in outlining DSP habits and toxidromes.MethodsWe retrieved cases of 'intentional overdose' and 'poisoning deliberate' from the FAERS (January 2004-December 2021). Using descriptive and disproportionality analyses, we estimated temporal trends, potential risk factors, toxidromes, case-fatality rates and lethal doses (LDs) for the most frequently reported drugs.ResultsWe retrieved 42,103 DSP cases (17% fatal). Most cases were submitted in winter. Reports of DSP involved younger people, psychiatric conditions, and alcohol use, compared with non-DSP, and fatality was higher in men and older patients. Suspected drugs were mainly antidepressants, analgesics, and antipsychotics. Multiple drug intake was recorded in more than 50% of the reports, especially analgesics, psychotropics, and cardiovascular agents. The most frequently reported drugs were paracetamol, promethazine, amlodipine, quetiapine, and metformin. We estimated LD25 for paracetamol (150 g).ConclusionWorldwide coverage of the FAERS complements existing knowledge about DSP and may drive tailored prevention measures to timely address the DSP phenomenon and prevent intentional suicides

The COVID-19 pandemic and its global effects on dental practice. An international survey

Objectives A multicentre survey was designed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 outbreak on dental practice worldwide, estimate the COVID-19 related symptoms/signs, work attitudes and behaviour and the routine use of protective measures and personal protective equipment (PPE). Methods A global survey using a standardized questionnaire with research groups from 36 countries was designed. The questionnaire was developed and pretested during April 2020 and contained three domains: 1) personal data; 2) COVID-19 positive rate and symptoms/signs presumably related to the coronavirus; 3) working conditions and PPE adopted after the outbreak. Countries’ data were grouped by the country positive rate (CPR) during the survey period and by Gross-National-Income per capita. An ordinal multinomial logistic regression model was carried out with COVID-19 self-reported rate referred by dental professionals as dependent variable to assess the association with questionnaire items. Results A total of 52,491 questionnaires were returned with a male/female ratio of 0.63. Out of the total respondents, 7,859 dental professionals (15%) reported symptoms/signs compatible with COVID-19. More than half of the sample (n=27,818; 53%) stated to use FFP2/N95 masks, while 21,558 (41.07%) used eye protection. In the bivariate analysis, CPR and N95/FFP2 were significantly associated (OR=1.80 95%CI=1.60/2.82 and OR=5.20 95%CI=1.44/18.80, respectively), while Gross-National-Income was not statistically associated with CPR (OR=1.09 95%CI=0.97/1.60). The same significant associations were observed in the multivariate analysis. Conclusions Oral health service provision has not been significantly affected by COVID-19, although access to routine dental care was reduced due to country-specific temporary lockdown periods. While the dental profession has been identified at high-risk, the reported rates of COVID-19 for dental professionals were not significantly different to those reported for the general population in each country. These findings may help to better plan oral health care for future pandemic events

Miniaturization of Circularly Polarized Patch Antenna for RFID Reader Applications

This paper presents a Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna (CPMPA) miniaturization with parasitic elements, suitable for UHF RFID systems. The antenna consists of a half E-shaped patch with cuts. A truncated corner patch can generate an additional Circular Polarization (CP) radiation mode and further enhance the axial ratio. Two symmetric cross shaped slots along the horizontal axis of the CPMPA have been embedded, and its dimension optimization has been based on parametric analysis. Thanks to this slotted structure and reduced surface area, good CP quality has been obtained with a 25% overall size reduction. The proposed antenna is lightweight, low profile, simple, and easily produced. The structure’s simulation is made using CST Studio Suite 2014 to compute return loss (S11), gain, and the axial ratio of the antenna while the overall miniaturized antenna’s volume is 77mm×58mm×1.6mm operating at 915MHz.</jats:p

Electro-dewatering treatment of sludge: Assessment of the influence on relevant indicators for disposal in agriculture

Waste activated sludge requires effective dewatering, high biological stability and retention of nutrients prior to disposal for agricultural application. The study was conducted to evaluate the impact of pressure-driven electro-dewatering (EDW) on improving sludge characteristics related to disposal in agriculture, including biological stability, pathogen availability, heavy metals concentrations and nutrients content. Thickened conditioned and mechanically dewatered sludge samples were collected from two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), characterized by different stabilization processes, and treated by a lab-scale device at 5, 15 and 25 V. EDW increased significantly the dry solid (DS) content, up to 43–45%, starting from 2 to 3% of raw sludge. The endogenous value of specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR), monitored as indicator of biological stability, increased up to 56% and 39% after EDW tests for sludge from two WWTPs. On the other hand, the exogenous SOUR decreased, indicating a significant drop in the active bacterial population. Likewise, a 1–2 log unit reduction was observed for E. coli after EDW tests at 15 and 25 V. However, no remarkable removal of heavy metals, namely chromium, nickel, lead, copper and zinc, was achieved. Finally, the concentration of nutrients for soil, such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur, was not affected by the EDW process. In conclusion, EDW exerts considerable effects on the biological characteristics of sludge, which should be considered in a proper design of sludge management to ensure safe and sustainable resource recovery

Biofouling potential indicators to assess pretreatment and mitigate biofouling in SWRO membranes: A short review

Many desalination plants still struggle to control biological fouling in seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) systems as there are no standard methods to monitor this type of fouling. Strategies to control biofouling in SWRO systems have been proposed such as antifouling coating and lowering biofouling potential in SWRO feedwater through pretreatment processes. Measuring biofouling potential in the pretreatment and SWRO feedwater has gained increased interest due to its direct link to biofouling. Moreover, this approach can be used as an early warning system allowing for taking corrective actions in the pretreatment processes to meet the required SWRO feedwater quality. This article presents the biofouling potential methods/tools developed for seawater, their applications to monitor and assess raw seawater, SWRO pretreatment and SWRO feedwater, and how these methods are employed to control SWRO biofouling membrane systems. The reported removal efficiency of biofouling potential during SWRO pretreatment processes was found to be low to moderate. Threshold values for biofouling limitation were then proposed based on several lab and plant studies. Research on biofouling potential has provided insight into SWRO pretreatment performance optimisation and biofouling control. Future research is anticipated to determine better pretreatment processes and to identify robust threshold values for mitigating biofouling in SWRO membranes