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Background: Incarceration provides an opportunity for health interventions, including opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment and prevention of opioid-related overdoses post-release. All FDA-approved forms of medication for OUD (MOUD) treatment were mandated in several Massachusetts jails in 2019, with some jails offering extended-release buprenorphine (XR-Bup). Little is known about patient perspectives on and experiences with XR-Bup in carceral settings., Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews in 2022 with community-dwelling people who received MOUD during a recent incarceration in a Massachusetts jail. We asked participants about their experiences with and perspectives on XR-Bup while in jail. Qualitative data were double-coded deductively and reviewed inductively to identify emergent themes, which were structured using the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability (TFA)., Results: Participants (n = 38) had a mean age of 41.5 years, were 86% male, 84% White, 24% Hispanic, and 95% continued to receive MOUD at the time of their interview, including 11% receiving XR-Bup. Participants who viewed XR-Bup favorably appreciated avoiding the taste of sublingual buprenorphine; avoiding procedural difficulties and indignities associated with daily dosing in carceral settings (e.g., mouth checks, stigmatizing treatment from correctional staff); avoiding daily reminders of their addiction; experiencing less withdrawal; having extra time for other activities, such as work; and reduction of diversion of MOUD within the jail setting. Participants who viewed XR-Bup less favorably preferred to maintain their daily dosing routine; liked daily time out of their housing unit; wanted to know what was "going into my body everyday"; and feared needles and adverse events. Participants also reported that jail clinicians used XR-Bup for patients who were previously caught diverting sublingual buprenorphine, suggesting limited patient participation in decision-making around XR-Bup initiation in some jails., Conclusion: People who received MOUD in Massachusetts jails had both favorable and unfavorable views and experiences with XR-Bup. Understanding these preferences can inform protocols in jails that are considering implementation of XR-Bup treatment., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Release from incarceration is a high-risk period for opioid overdose. Concern about COVID-19 spread in jails led to early releases; it is unknown whether pandemic era releases of persons with opioid use disorder (OUD) contributed to increases in community overdose rates., Methods: Observational data compared overdose rates three months after release among jailed persons with OUD released before (9/1/2019-3/9/2020) and during the pandemic (3/10/2020-8/10/2020) from seven jails in Massachusetts. Data on overdoses come from the Massachusetts Ambulance Trip Record Information System and Registry of Vital Records Death Certificate file. Other information came from jail administrative data. Logistic models regressed overdose on release period, controlling for MOUD received, county of release, race/ethnicity, sex, age, and prior overdose., Results: Pandemic releases with OUD had a higher risk of fatal overdose (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 3.06; 95% CI, 1.49 to 6.26); 20 persons released with OUD (1.3%) experienced a fatal overdose within three months of release, versus 14 (0.5%) pre-pandemic. MOUD had no detectable relationship with overdose mortality. Pandemic release did not impact non-fatal overdose rates (aOR 0.84; 95% CI 0.60 to 1.18), though in-jail methadone treatment was protective (aOR 0.34; 95% CI 0.18 to 0.67)., Conclusions: Persons with OUD released from jail during the pandemic experienced higher overdose mortality compared to pre-pandemic, but the number of deaths was small. They did not experience significantly different rates of non-fatal overdose. Early jail releases during the pandemic were unlikely to explain much, if any, of the observed increase in community overdoses in Massachusetts., Competing Interests: No conflict declared., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Investigating novel, biologically-active coordination compounds that may be useful in the design of breast anticancer, antifungal, and antimicrobial agents is still the main challenge for chemists. In order to get closer to solving this problem, three new copper coordination compounds containing thiazole-based derivatives were synthesized. The structures of the synthesized compounds and their physicochemical characterization were evaluated based on elemental analysis, 1 H and l3 C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (F-AAS), single-crystal X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The pharmacokinetics were studied using SwissADME. The results obtained from the computational studies supported the results obtained from the MTT analysis, and the antimicrobial activity was expressed as the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC).

New coordination compounds of Mn(II), Fe(III), Co(II), and Ni(II) and the biologically active ligand L ( N '-benzylidenepyrazine-2-carbohydrazonamide) were synthesized and characterized by appropriate analytical techniques: elemental analysis (EA), thermogravimetric analysis (TG-DTG), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and flame-atomic absorption spectrometry (F-AAS). The biological activity of the obtained compounds was then comprehensively investigated. Rational use of these compounds as potential drugs was proven by ADME analysis. All obtained compounds were screened in vitro for antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer activities. Some of the studied complexes exhibited significantly higher activity than the ligand alone.

A novel biologically active thiosemicarbazide derivative ligand L ( N-[(phenylcarbamothioyl)amino]pyridine-3-carboxamide ) and a series of its five metal(II) complexes, namely: [Co(L)Cl 2 ], [Ni(L)Cl 2 (H 2 O)], [Cu(L)Cl 2 (H 2 O)], [Zn(L)Cl 2 ] and [Cd(L)Cl 2 (H 2 O)] have been synthesized and thoroughly investigated. The physicochemical characterization of the newly obtained compounds has been performed using appropriate analytical techniques, such as 1 H and l3 C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), inductively coupled plasma (ICP), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and magnetic measurements. In order to study the pharmacokinetic profile of the compounds, ADMET analysis was performed. The in vitro studies revealed that the synthesized compounds exhibit potent biological activity against A549 human cancer cell line.

Civil commitment for substance use disorders is an increasingly used intervention to mitigate the risks associated with severe substance use. Although court clinicians play a vital role in helping courts determine whether respondents meet statutory requirements for commitment, little is known about their experiences conducting these evaluations. In this pilot study, we surveyed all court clinicians who perform evaluations for civil commitment for substance use disorders in Massachusetts, a state with one of the highest rates of such commitments nationally. Court clinicians reported that these evaluations are most frequently ordered for individuals who use heroin and other opioids, alcohol, and cannabis. They reported a recent suicide attempt or drug overdose, intentional physical harm to another, use of dangerous weapon, and driving while intoxicated as the behaviors most likely to satisfy the statutory requirement of imminent risk. At the same time, many court clinicians consider a much broader range of behaviors as constituting imminent risk, and many reported having endorsed commitment on one or more occasions in the absence of statutory criteria being satisfied. These findings underscore the need for additional research on the performance of civil commitment evaluations for substance use disorder and standards for such evaluations., (© 2021 American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.)

The degree of automaticity of locomotion in primates compared with other mammals remains unclear. Here, we examine the possibility for activation of the spinal locomotor circuitry in noninjured humans by spinal electromagnetic stimulation (SEMS). SEMS (3 Hz and 1.3-1.82 tesla) at the T11-T12 vertebrae induced involuntary bilateral locomotor-like movements in the legs of individuals placed in a gravity-neutral position. The formation of locomotor-like activity during SEMS started with a latency of 0.68 +/- 0.1 s after delivering the first stimulus, unlike continuous vibration of muscles, which requires several seconds. The first EMG burst in response to SEMS was observed most often in a proximal flexor muscle. We speculate that SEMS directly activates the circuitry intrinsic to the spinal cord, as suggested by the immediate response and the electrophysiological observations demonstrating an absence of strictly time-linked responses within the EMG burst associated with individual stimuli during SEMS. SEMS in the presence of vibration of the leg muscles was more effective in facilitating locomotor-like activity than SEMS alone. The present results suggest that SEMS could be an effective noninvasive clinical tool to determine the potential of an individual to recover locomotion after a spinal cord injury, as well as being an effective rehabilitation tool itself.

This study examined the effectiveness of an abbreviated version of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS-A) in identifying malingered mental illness. The SIRS-A is comprised of 69 items drawn from the SIRS (R. Rogers et al. 1992, SIRS: Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms: Professional Manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.), substantially reducing the administration time. A simulation design was used with three samples; 87 psychiatric outpatients who responded honestly were compared to 29 community-dwelling adults and 24 psychiatric patients instructed to malinger psychopathology. The SIRS-A generated sensitivity comparable to or exceeding that of the SIRS normative data, but specificity was poorer; many genuinely impaired patients were misclassified as malingering. Although these findings suggest the SIRS-A may be an effective means to assess malingering in psychiatric populations, further research assessing the reasons for the elevated false positive rates is necessary.