Syringe-sharing behaviors among injection drug users (IDUs) are typically based on self-reports and subject to socially desirable responding. We used 3 short tandem repeat (STR) genetic biomarkers to detect sharing in 2,512 syringes exchanged by 315 IDUs in the Baltimore needle exchange program (NEP; 738 person-visits). Demographic characteristics as well as direct and indirect needle-sharing b...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have reported the occurrence of taste and odour disturbances among patients undergoing IV flush with prefilled syringes of 0.9% sodium chloride (normal saline [NS]). These disturbances have been attributed to the leaching of volatile substances into the NS from the plastic of the syringe. To date, there have been no studies comparing the occurrence of taste and odour...

BACKGROUND The United States (U.S.) approved use of federal funds for needle and syringe programs (NSPs) in December 2009. This study compares syringe disposal practices in a U.S. city with NSPs to a U.S. city without NSPs by examining the prevalence of improperly discarded syringes in public places and the self-reported syringe disposal practices of injection drug users (IDUs) in the two citie...

A glass syringe with disposable membrane filters was tested as a constant-flow air sampling device. The principle of this sampling device is straightforward: when the syringe is inverted vertically, the syringe plunger falls at a constant speed if an appropriate flow restrictor is connected at the syringe inlet. In case of a 100 ml syringe with two Teflon membrane filters of 0.50 microns in por...

AIMS To measure the frequency of syringe borrowing in young Irish injecting drug users (IDUs) and identify associated characteristics. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. SETTING Addiction treatment services in Dublin. PARTICIPANTS Treated IDUs (N = 246). MEASUREMENTS Data on drug injecting and syringe borrowing in the previous 6 months. FINDINGS The median age was 22 years and the median ...

BACKGROUND More than 50,000 new HIV infections occur annually in the United States. Injection drug users represent twelve percent of incident HIV infections each year. Pharmacy sales of over-the-counter (OTC) syringes have helped prevent HIV transmission among injection drug users in many states throughout the United States. However, concerns exist among some law enforcement officials, policyma...

We present a simple approach for bacterial detection that uses bead-bound RNA-cleaving DNAzyme (RcD) and syringe. The RcD used in this study, F-EC1, is fluorescently labelled can be specifically activated by protein target released E. coli. Upon immobilization on agarose beads, the kinetic behaviour of F-EC1 remains similar to solution. F-EC1-agarose system was able detect as few 1,000 CFUs col...

We studied how lowering a syringe pump and changing the outflow pressure could affect syringe pump output. We experimentally reduced the height of three different syringe pump systems by 80 cm (adult setting) or 130 cm (neonatal setting), as can happen clinically, using five flow rates. We measured the time of backward flow, no flow and the total time without flow. An exponential negative corre...

Over the past few decades, lab-on-a-chip (LOC) technologies have played a great role in revolutionizing the way in vitro medical diagnostics are conducted and transforming bulky and expensive laboratory instruments and labour-intensive tests into easy to use, cost-effective miniaturized systems with faster analysis time, which can be used for near-patient or point-of-care (POC) tests. Fluidic p...