Browsing by Author "Dias da Silva, Diana"
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- Drug use among the student population of the University of Porto: Analysis of prevalence patternsPublication . Garcia, Helena Rafaela; Bravo, Rita Roque; Dias da Silva, Diana; Dias da Silva, Diana CristinaAlcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs use by university students is a complex issue that has garnered concern and interest from public health officials, educators, and scientific community [1]. This concern is driven by various factors, including the potential to affect academic performance and mental and physical health.This study was designed to determine the prevalence and patterns of psychotropic drug use among students at the University of Porto (UP). This was an observational, transversal, and descriptive study approved by the Ethics Committee of CHUP/ICBAS (2021/CE/P006[P346/CETI/ICBAS]). Voluntary participants (n=4,052) from the student body of UP en-rolled in the academic year 2021/2022 completed a web-based questionnaire assessing self-reported drug use across a range of specified psychoactive substances, between February and April of 2022. Gender, age, living situation, economic status, drug use patterns and intent were also collected and used as strati-fication and association variables. The three most consumed substances were alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis and its derivatives (CAD). Notably, 23.0% of respondents declared smoking cigarettes every day, while only 1.8% of alcohol users drank every day (36.8% drank it 2-4 times per month). “Nightclubs and bars” and “other people’s homes” were the most cited locations for alcohol and cigarette use. Illicit drugs have more variety when it comes to settings depending on their usual context and motive for use. “Having fun” was reported by half of the students as the reason for drinking alcohol, while curiosity was the main drive for smoking tobacco and CAD. Students have access to and consume dif-ferent (il)licit drugs. These results confirm the importance of this typeof research, tracing a more defined image of the drug use prevalence patterns of this population, which in turn can aid health officials and other institutions when constructing and enforcing population-specific prevention and drug treatment measures.
- Enantioseparationof 3-chloromethcathinone by liquid chromatography at the milligram scalePublication . Langa, Ivan; Ribeiro, Cláudia; Gonçalves, Virgínia; Dias da Silva, Diana; Cravo, Sara; Tiritan, Maria; Dias da Silva, Diana CristinaThe most prominent synthetic cathinone (SCAT)is 3-chloromethcathinone (3-CMC), accounting for 34% and 63.41% of the total seized new psychoactive substances (NPS) in Europe in 2021 and 2022, respectively [1, 2].Over the latest years, since the first identification on the European drug market in September 2014 in Sweden, 3-CMC has gained significant popularity among the younger drug users [3]. Moreover, 3-CMC is chiral and its enantiomers can show different biological activity, highlighting the importance of the enantio selectivity studies in clinical, forensic and ecotoxicological context. The aim of this study was to optimize a chromatographic method for the enantiomeric separation of 3-CMC at the milligram scale for further use in in vitroand ecotoxicity assessments. The enantio separation as well as the enantiomeric purity evaluation of the 3-CMC were performed by liquid chromatography coupled to the ultraviolet-visible detector (UV/Vis), using a CHIRALPAK®AD-H 10x250mm, 5 μm, a semi-preparative column. A Dionex Ultimate 3000 automated fraction collector was used for fractions collection. Data was analyzed by Chromeleon 7.0 software. For method conditions optimization, a solution at 100 μgmL-1of 3-CMC in ethanol with diethylamine was used. The optimized method allowed the separation of the enantiomers of 3-CMCat final concentration of 3.7 mg mL-1, with an enantiomeric purity of 98 % and 95 % for the first and second eluted enantiomer, respectively. The determination of the absolute configuration of theenantiomers is ongoing by electronic circular dichroism. The isolated enantiomers will be used for the enantio selective evaluation of the 3-CMC ecotoxicity.The determination of the absolute configuration of the enantiomers will enable correlating the ecotoxicity of each enantiomer.