Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in the environment: Updates on pretreatment and determination methods.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used in human and animal health care to reduce persistent inflammation, pain and fever because of their anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic effects. However, the improper discharge and disposal make it becomes a major contaminant in the environment, which poses a big threat to the ecosystem. For this reason, accurate, sensitive, effective, green, and economic techniques are urgently required and have been rapidly developed in recent years. This review summarizes the advancement of sample preparation technologies for NSAIDs involving solid-phase extraction, solid-phase microextraction, liquid-phase microextraction, QuEChERS, and matrix solid-phase dispersion. Meanwhile, we overview and compare analytical technologies for NSAIDs, including liquid chromatography-based methods, gas chromatography-based methods, capillary electrophoresis, and sensors, particularly the development of liquid chromatography-based methods. Furthermore, we focus on their progress and conduct a comparison between their advantages and disadvantages.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in the environment: Recent updates on the occurrence, fate, hazards and removal technologies.

Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) are extensively utilized pharmaceuticals worldwide. However, owing to the improper discharge and disposal practices, they have emerged as significant contaminants that are widely distributed in water, soils, and sewage sediments. This ubiquity poses a substantial threat to the ecosystem and human health. Consequently, it is imperative to develop rapid, cost-effective, efficient and reliable approaches for containing these substance in order to mitigate the deleterious impact of NSAIDs. This research provides a comprehensive review of the occurrence, fate, and hazards associated with NSAIDs in the general environment. Additionally, various removal technologies, including advanced oxidation processes, biodegradation, and adsorption, were systematically summarized. The study also presents a comparative analysis of the benefits and drawbacks of different removal technologies while interpreting challenges related to NSAIDs' removal and proposing strategies for future development.

Systematic evaluation of line probe assays for the diagnosis of tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis.

BACKGROUND: Line probe assays (LPAs) are PCR-based assays used for the rapid diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). But studies on its performance are insufficient. Thus, in this study, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of LPAs in the detection of MTB and drug-resistant TB in comparison with the traditional culture and DST methods. METHODS: A systemic literature search was conducted on the Web of Science, Embase, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Scopus, and OVID databases. All the included studies were classified according to different detecting objects. Sensitivity, specificity, Positive Likely Ratio (PLR), Negative Likely Ratio (NLR), Diagnostic Odds Ratio (DOR), corresponding 95% confidence interval, Area Under Curve (AUC), Deeks' funnel plot, and Bivariate Boxplot was used to do the evaluation. RESULTS: 147 studies included 491 datasets, with 182,448 samples, were incorporated into our analysis. The sensitivity (95% CI), specificity (95% CI), PLR, NLR, DOR and AUC for MTB were 0.89 (0.86 to 0.92), 0.94 (0.90 to 0.97), 15.70, 0.11, 139 and 0.96, respectively; for rifampicin-resistant TB were 0.96 (0.95 to 0.97), 0.99 (0.98 to 0.99), 82.9, 0.04, 1994 and 1.00, respectively; for isoniazid-resistant TB were 0.91 (0.89 to 0.93), 0.99 (0.98 to 0.99), 83.4, 0.09, (0.99 to 1.00), 195.7, 0.07, 2783 and 1.00, respectively; for Multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) were 0.93 (0.90 to 0.95), 1.00 (0.99 to 1.00), 195.7, 0.07, 2783 and 1.00, respectively; for extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) were 0.60 (0.33 to 0.82), 1.00 (0.95 to 1.00), 291.3, 0.4, 726 and 0.95, respectively; for (second-line drug-resistant TB) SLID-TB were 0.83 (0.78 to 0.87), 0.98 (0.97 to 0.99), 44.6, 0.17, 262 and 0.98, respectively. Sensitivity in pre-extensively drug-resistant TB (Pre-XDR-TB) was 0.67, specificity was 0.91. No publication bias existed according to Deeks' funnel plot. CONCLUSION: High diagnosis performance was confirmed in LPAs for the diagnosis of MTB and drug-resistant TB. LPAs might be a good alternative to culture and DST in detecting MTB, RR-TB, INH-TB, XDR-TB, SLID-TB, and MDR-TB. While more studies were still needed to explore the diagnosis performance of LPAs for Pre-XDR TB.

Medication adherence among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treated in a primary general hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to investigate medication adherence and the associated influencing factors in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who were treated in a primary general hospital in Shanghai China during the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: From March to April 2020, all of the COPD patients treated in our department in the last 7 years were interviewed by telephone. The basic patient data and each questionnaire item were collected, and influencing factors were analyzed by the Chi-square test, U test, and univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: A total of 191 patients with COPD were queried, and 84 (44.0%) valid questionnaires were obtained. Among them, individuals with group B symptoms were most represented (45.2%); 53.6% had Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnea levels of 2 or above. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease assessment test (CAT) had an average of 9 [3, 13], and 52.4% of patients used two-drug combination therapy. Medication adherence was both good in ordinary times and over the past 2 months of the pandemic, and 88.8% of patients had no acute exacerbation during the pandemic. The CAT scores of male patients <70 years old, and patients with general outpatient follow-up and regular gargling were reduced (P<0.05). Drug combination and doctor's supervision were favorable factors affecting medication adherence during the 2 months of the pandemic, while possible depression was an unfavorable factor (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: During the pandemic, medication adherence in patients with COPD was similar to that in regular times, and was significantly related to drug combination, doctor's supervision, and accompanying mood disorders. An effective way to improve patient adherence and disease control could be strengthening follow-up education and diagnosing and treating depression and other complications.