Bedside wireless lung ultrasound for the evaluation of COVID-19 lung injury in senior nursing home residents.

Lung Ultrasound (LUS) is regarded to be potentially useful to diagnose lung injury in older adults living in nursing homes with suspected COVID-19 pneumonia. We aimed at evaluating presence lung injury among senior nursing home residents by LUS performed with portable wireless scanner echography. The study population consisted of 150 residents with a mean age of 88 years (85% female) residing in 12 nursing homes in Northern Italy. Subjects had to have a history of recent onset of symptoms compatible with COVID-19 pneumonia or have been exposed to the contagion of patients carrying the disease. COVID-19 testing was performed with SARS-CoV-2 nasal-pharyngeal (NP) swabs. Positive subjects to LUS scanning were considered those with non-coascelent B-lines in >3 zones, coalescent B-lines in >3 zones and with iperdensed patchy non-consolidated lungs. Sixty-three percent had positive NP testing and 65% had LUS signs of pulmonary injury. LUS had a sensitivity of 79% in predicting positive NP testing. Sixteen percent of residents tested negative for SARSCoV-2 carried the signs of COVID-19 lung injury at LUS. There were 92 patients (61%) with current or recent symptoms.Positivity to LUS scanning was reported in 73% of residents with symptoms, while it was 53% in those without (P=0.016). A positive NP testing was observed in 66% of residents with symptoms and in 57% of those without (P=0.27). We conclude that assessment of LUS by portable wireless scanner echography can be profitability utilized to diagnose lung injury among senior nursing home residents with or without symptoms compatible with COVID-19 pneumonia

Drugs on the web; the Psychonaut 2002 EU project

Abstract Purpose: Only a few formal assessments of websites with drug-related contents have been carried out. We aimed here at fostering collection and analysis of data from web pages related to information on consumption, manufacture and sales of psychoactive substances. General methods: An 8-language, two-engine, assessment of the information available in a purposeful sample of 1633 unique websites was carried out. Findings: A pro-drug and a harm reduction approach were evident, respectively, in 18% and 10% of websites accessed. About 1 in 10 websites offered either psychoactive compounds for sale or detailed data on drugs' synthesis/extraction procedures. Information on a number of psychoactive substances and on unusual drugs' combinations not found in the Medline was elicited. Abbreviations: 2C-E, 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylphenethylamine; 2C-I, 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenethylamine; 2C-P, 4-( n )-propyl-2,5-DMPEA; 2C-T-2, 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylthiophenethylamine; 2C-T-7, 2,5-dimethoxy-4-(n)-propylthiophenethylamine; 4 OH-DET (''CZ-74''), N,N-diethyl-4-hydroxytryptamine; 4 OH-DIPT, 4-hydroxy-N,N-diisopropyltryptamine; 4-acetoxy-DET, 4-acetoxy-hydroxytryptamine; 4-acetoxy-DIPT, 4-acethoxydiisopropyltryptamine; 5-MeO-AMT, 5-methoxyalpha-methyltryptamine; 5-MeO-DALT, 5-methoxy-diallyltryptamine; 5-MeO-DMT, 5-methoxydimethyltryptamine; ANOVA, analysis of variance; BZP, 1-benzylpiperazine; DMT, dimethyltryptamine; DPT, N,N-dipropyltryptamine; GHB, gamma-hydroxy-butyrate; HSD, Honestly Significant Difference; mCPP, mchlorophenylpiperazine; MDMA, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine; TFMPP, 3-trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine monohydrochloride; i, trade mark; URL, Uniform Resource Locator. Conclusions: This represents the first review which is both comprehensive and multilingual of the online available information on psychoactive compounds. Health professionals may need to be aware of the web being a new drug resource for information and possibly purchase.

New trends in the cyber and street market of recreational drugs? : The case of 2C-T-7 ('Blue Mystic')

2C-T-7 ('Blue Mystic'), an illicit compound which shows similarities with MDMA and other designer drugs, has been only occasionally identified in the EU, but discussion on the Internet between experimenters has recently grown significantly. We aimed at collecting together in a review the available information on 2C-T-7, both at the cyber and at the street market level. 2C-T-7 was first synthesized in 1986; its desired effects include both a sense of empathy and of well-being. Hallucinations, nausea, anxiety, panic attacks and paranoid ideation are anecdotally reported. According to the different European sources here approached, the availability of 2C-T-7 at street level seems to be currently very low, although one death related to a mono-intoxication with 2C-T-7 has been documented in the USA. With respect to information on 2C-T-7 available online, due to both redundancy and relevance issues the initial identified sample of 360 was reduced to 118 websites. In 14 (11.9%) websites, the detailed description of the 2C-T-7 synthesis was given. Harm Reduction websites appeared significantly earlier in the search engines results' list than Anti drugs (p = 0.006) websites. Five (4.2%) websites apparently offered 2C-T-7 for sale. The large body of knowledge available online seems to contrast with small numbers of seizures at street level; an exhaustive web mapping of drug-related issues may be of interest for the clinician. Projects aimed at designing more 'attractive' prevention websites should be planned and future studies should better assess the characteristics of those consumers who take advantage of the online information of hallucinogenic compounds. © 2005 British Association for Psychopharmacology.Peer reviewe