Herbal highs: review on psychoactive effects and neuropharmacology

Background: A new trend among users of new psychoactive substances’ the consumption of “herbal highs”: plant parts containing psychoactive substances. Most of the substances extracted from herbs, in old centuries were at the centre of religious ceremonies of ancient civilizations. Currently, these herbal products are mainly sold by internet web sites and easily obtained since some of them have no legal restriction. Objective: We reviewed psychoactive effects and neuropharmacology of the most used “herbal highs” with characterized active principles, with studies reporting mechanisms of action, pharmacological and subjective effects, eventual secondary effects including intoxications and/or fatalities Method: The PubMed database was searched using the following key.words: herbal highs, Argyreia nervosa, Ipomoea violacea and Rivea corymbosa; Catha edulis; Datura stramonium; Piper methysticum; Mitragyna speciosa. Results: Psychoactive plants here reviewed have been known and used from ancient times, even if for some of them limited information still exist regarding subjective and neuropharmacological effects and consequent eventual toxicity when plants are used alone or in combination with “classical” drugs of abuse. Conclusion: Some “herbal highs” should be classified as harmful drugs since chronic administration has been linked with addiction and cognitive impairment; for some others taking into consideration only the recent trends of abuse, studies investigating these aspects are lacking

EFFECTS OF COVER CROP MANAGEMENT AND COMPOST APPLICATION ON SOIL FERTILITY OF ORGANIC MELON

A field experiment was carried out in Central Italy on growing melon (Cucumis melo L.) after barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Three different systems of cover crop termination (green manure, roller crimper and fallow, as control) were combined with three doses of compost (0, 15 and 30 t ha-1 d.m.) in a strip plot design. The main objective of the research was to evaluate their effects on organic melon production and on short and long term soil nitrogen (N) fertility. Marketable yield and quality and soil N availability along the melon cycle were determined and a simplified N budget calculated. Green manure (GM) treatment showed the highest total and marketable yield, followed by fallow (FA), while roller crimper (RC) was characterized by a significant lower yield respect to the other two treatments (45% and 62% of the marketable yield of GM and FA, respectively). On the other side, long term soil N fertility of GM and FA were characterized by N deficit unless combined with compost application at the dose of 15 t ha-1 d.m

Dietary Nitrate: Effects on the health of weaning pigs and Antimicrobial activity on seven probiotic Bifidobacterium spp. strains

The potential role of nitrite as an antimicrobial substance in the stomach may be of some importance in the ecology of the gastrointestinal tract and in host physiology. It has been shown that nitrite, under the acidic conditions of the stomach, may kill gut pathogens like Salmonella enteritidis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Yersinia enterocolitica, whereas acid alone has only a bacteriostatic effect. An in vivo study was conducted in order to assess the effects of dietary nitrate on microbiota and on the health of the gut (particularly in the stomach and small intestine). 96 weaning pigs were fed a diet containing high nitrate levels (15 mg and 150 mg) and then challenged with Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium. Differences in composition of the gut microbiota were assessed by analysing samples from the pigs: To date analysis of 48 pigs has been completed.. Preliminary results demonstrated no effect on the population densities of microbial groups either from the challenge or from nitrate intake. However, increasing the time from challenge decreased either the counts of LAB in the stomach and jejunum or of clostridia in the stomach. Bifidobacteria also decreased in the stomach contents as nitrate supplementation increased. Supplementing the feedstuff with high dietary nitrate intake and then challenging with Salmonella did not affect the gastric pH or the degree of ulceration in the pigs. The synergistic bactericidal effects of pH, nitrite and thiocyanate on seven probiotic Bifidobacterium spp. strains were also investigated in an in vitro study. The results of the in vitro study demonstrated that an inhibitory effect exists on the seven probiotic bifidobacteria investigated with an exposure longer than 2 hours and pH values < 5.0. Addition of thiocyanate also increased the susceptibility of the tested strains. In this in vitro study, the most resistant strains at all conditions were B. animalis subsp. lactis Ra 18 and P32 and B. choerinum Su 877, Su 837 and Su 891

New psychoactive substances: evolution in the exchange of information and innovative legal responses in the european union

At the end of 2019, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction was monitoring around 790 new psychoactive substances, more than twice the total number of controlled substances under the United Nations Conventions. These substances, which are not subject to international drug controls, include a wide range of molecules, including the assortment of drugs such as synthetic cannabinoids, stimulants, opiates, and benzodiazepines. Most of them are sold as “legal” substitutes for illicit drugs, while others are intended for small groups willing to experiment with them in order to know their possible new effects. At the national level, various measures have been taken to control new substances and many European countries have responded with specific legislation in favor of consumer safety and by extending or adapting existing drug laws to incorporate the new psychoactive substances. Moreover, since 1997, an early warning system has been created in Europe for identifying and responding quickly to the risks of new psychoactive substances. In order to establish a quicker and more effective system to address the criminal activities associated with new dangerous psychoactive substances, the European legal framework has considerably changed over the years

Local conditions vs regional context: variation in composition of bird communities along the Middle Paraná River, an extensive river-floodplain system of South America

We studied spatial changes in species composition (i.e., beta diversity) of local assemblages of birds along ∼450 km of the Middle Paraná River, an extensive fluvial system of South America. Point counts were used to survey birds at 60 plots located in shrub swamps and marshes of the floodplain within four sites (15 plots per site). Two sites were surrounded by each of the two upland ecoregions. Beta diversity of bird assemblages was high and was more important than alpha diversity in shaping regional diversity (i.e., gamma diversity) of the fluvial system. Compositional changes were related to species turnover among plots, while nestedness dissimilarity was not important for shaping diversity patterns. Variation-partitioning analysis showed that local conditions (i.e., landscape composition within a radius of 200 m from the center of each plot) accounted for more spatial variation in assemblage composition than did location along the fluvial system. Adjacent upland ecoregions did not account for spatial changes in bird composition within the fluvial system. In conclusion, environmental heterogeneity created by flood pulses is an important factor for sustaining regional diversity of birds within the fluvial system through effects on beta diversity

Organic vs conventional stockless arable systems: a multidisciplinary approach to soil quality evaluation

Soil quality in Mediterranean conventional and organic stockless arable systems was assessed by a multidisciplinary approach. At the end of the first cycle of a 5-year crop rotation (2002–2006) in the Mediterranean Arable Systems Comparison Trial (MASCOT) long-term experiment, the effects of organic and conventional management systems were evaluated by using soil chemical, biochemical and biological parameters. Chemical and biochemical parameters linked to soil C cycle, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and microarthropod communities were analysed according to a comparative approach. Results suggested a higher soil carbon sequestration in the organic respect to the conventional system, as shown by the values of total organic C (9.5 and 7.8 g kg1, for organic and conventional system, respectively) and potentially mineralisable C (277 and 254 mg kg1, for organic and conventional system, respectively). AMF population, AMF root colonisation and diversity of microarthropod population were slightly influenced by management system. On the other hand, mites/collembolans ratio was higher in conventionally than in organically managed soil (2.67 and 1.30, respectively), indicating as organic managed soils were more disturbed than conventional ones, probably as the consequence of the more frequent soil tillage performed for mechanical weeds control. The overall results demonstrated that, even in the short-term, the implementation of organically managed stockless systems in Mediterranean areas determined significant changes of some attributes for soil quality evaluation

Alcohol consumption and employment: a cross-sectional study of office workers and unemployed people

Background. Alcohol is a psychoactive substance with toxic and addictive properties. Biomarkers like GGT, AST, ALT and MCV are influenced by excessive ethanol consumption. Alcohol consumption represents a health risk and it has been linked to unemployment. The aim of this study how working status predict alcohol consumption through a cross sectional study comparing alcohol-related biomarkers levels in office workers and unemployed people. Methods. This study includes 157 office workers and 157 unemployed people, who were recruited from January to December 2018. A propensity score matching procedure was applied to obtain two homogenous groups in terms of age and gender. A non- parametric analysis was performed on serum biomarkers that are generally altered by alcohol consumption. Logistic regression models were designed to evaluate how working status predict abnormal biomarker levels related with alcohol consumption. Results. No differences in median biomarker values were found between groups. Lo- gistic regression analysis showed that office work is a negative predictor of pathological biomarker levels. Office workers had a significant relation with the levels of GGT (OR 0.48; 95% CI [0.28-0.84]), AST (OR 0.42; 95% CI [0.22-0.78]), ALT (OR 0.39; 95% CI [0.23-0.66]), and MCV (OR 0.37; 95% CI [0.19-0.70]). Conclusion. Office workers had lower absolute frequencies of pathological values of alcohol consumption biomarkers, after matching for age and gender compared with unemployed people. In addition, a significant negative association between office work is a negative predictor of biomarker levels of alcohol consumption. These results showed that work is an important determinant of health and that can represent a benefit for workers in terms of reducing the risk of consuming alcohol

Human health risk assessment due to ambient PM10 and SO2 by an air quality modeling technique

Exposure to air pollutants may be an important environmental risk factor for human health. The main objective of this study was to assess the health impacts of exposure to particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter <= 10 mu g (PM10) and to sulfur dioxide (SO2) using the AirQ2.2.3 software developed by the WHO European Center for Environment and Health. Daily concentrations of PM10 and SO2 were used to assess the health effects. With regard to the mortality, the results showed that 3.9 (95 CI: 3.3-4.5) of total, 4.2 (95 CI: 2.7-9.05) of cardiovascular, and 6.2 (95 CI: 4.2-16.9) of respiratory mortality were related to PM10 concentrations above 10 mu g/m(3), respectively. In addition, 1.7 (95 CI: 1.3-2.06) of total, 3.4 (95 CI: 0.78-5.0) of cardiovascular, and 2 (95 CI: 2.5-5.7) of respiratory death were attributed to SO2 levels higher than 10 mu g/m(3), respectively. Given these findings, urgent policy decisions are needed to reduce the death caused by air pollution, and better quantification studies are recommended. (C) 2017 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Disposable Nafion-Coated Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Test Strip for Electrochemical Quantitative Determination of Acetaminophen in a Finger-Prick Whole Blood Sample

A disposable electrochemical test strip for the quantitative point-of-care (POC) determination of acetaminophen (paracetamol) in plasma and finger-prick whole blood was fabricated. The industrially scalable dry transfer process of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and screen printing of silver were combined to produce integrated electrochemical test strips. Nafion coating stabilized the potential of the Ag reference electrode and enabled the selective detection in spiked plasma as well as in whole blood samples. The test strips were able to detect acetaminophen in small 40 mu L samples with a detection limit of 0.8 mu M and a wide linear range from 1 mu M to 2 mM, well within the required clinical range. After a simple 1:1 dilution of plasma and whole blood, a quantitative detection with good recoveries of 79% in plasma and 74% in whole blood was achieved. These results strongly indicate that these electrodes can be used directly to determine the unbound acetaminophen fraction without the need for any additional steps. The developed test strip shows promise as a rapid and simple POC quantitative acetaminophen assay.Peer reviewe