Benzodiazepines use in Morocco: A nation wide consumption database study between 2004 and 2017

Association of benzodiazepine and Z-hypnotic use with cardiovascular disease risk: insights from a prospective study of 10 million people in China

AIM

To assess the association between Benzodiazepines (BZDs) or Z-hypnotic use and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) incidence in residents in Beijing, China.

METHODS

We included 2,415,573 individuals with a prescription record for BZDs or Z-hypnotics in the Beijing Medical Claim Data for Employees database during 2010-2017, and 8,794,356 non-users with other prescriptions for the same period. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using Cox proportional risk models for 712,850 exposed and 712,850 unexposed participants who were matched 1:1 by propensity score.

RESULTS

BZDs or Z-hypnotics users had a higher risk of CVD than non-users, with an HR of 1.11 (95% CI: 1.10, 1.13). Compared with non-users, those who used them for less than 3 months had the lowest risk of CVD, and those for more than 5 years had the highest risk, with HRs of 0.50 (0.48, 0.51) and 1.78 (1.72, 1.83), respectively. The risk of CVD was relatively low in those who used only one of the long-acting BZDs, short-acting BZDs, or Z-hypnotics compared to unexposed individuals. Individuals exposed to all three types of drugs had the highest risk, 2.33 (2.22, 2.44) times that of non-users. Users below the median dose had a lower risk of CVD compared to non-users, whereas users exceeding the median dose had an increased risk.

CONCLUSION

BZD or Z-hypnotic use in general was nominally associated with an elevated risk of CVD. However, for short-term, single-type, and low-to-moderate-dose users, not only did this elevated risk disappear, but drug use also demonstrated a protective effect.

Are symptoms of depression and anxiety in nursing students associated with their sociodemographic characteristics?

OBJECTIVE

to investigate symptoms of depression and anxiety and their association with the sociodemographic characteristics of undergraduate nursing students.

METHODS

a cross-sectional analytical study carried out with students from the Faculty of Nursing at Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora from June to July 019. Data were collected through a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories.

RESULTS

192 students participated, with a mean age of 21.44 (±3.56) years. 85.93% of participants were female. The mean depression score was 22.40 (±12.35), and anxiety was 17.56 (±11.98). There was a difference in the mean of the scales for sex and psychotropic drugs (p<0.05). Women presented moderate and severe classification for both scales. Severe symptoms prevailed among students from the 6th to the 10th semester (18.22%).

CONCLUSION

there was an association between depression and anxiety symptoms related to gender and psychotropic drugs.

Monoclonal Antibodies Application in Lateral Flow Immunochromatographic Assays for Drugs of Abuse Detection

Lateral flow assays (lateral flow immunoassays and nucleic acid lateral flow assays) have experienced a great boom in a wide variety of early diagnostic and screening applications. As opposed to conventional examinations (High Performance Liquid Chromatography, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Gas chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, etc.), they obtain the results of a sample's analysis within a short period. In resource-limited areas, these tests must be simple, reliable, and inexpensive. In this review, we outline the production process of antibodies against drugs of abuse (such as heroin, amphetamine, benzodiazepines, cannabis, etc.), used in lateral flow immunoassays as revelation or detection molecules, with a focus on the components, the principles, the formats, and the mechanisms of reaction of these assays. Further, we report the monoclonal antibody advantages over the polyclonal ones used against drugs of abuse. The perspective on aptamer use for lateral flow assay development was also discussed as a possible alternative to antibodies in view of improving the limit of detection, sensitivity, and specificity of lateral flow assays.