Wastewater surveillance to assess cocaine and methylenedioxymethamphetamine use trends during a major music festival in Brazil.

Wastewater-based epidemiology was applied in northeastern Brazil during a dance festival, revealing that cocaine consumption doubled during the event days. The daily drug loads were 0.95 ± 0.03 to 11.4 ± 0.4 g/day for BE, 1.8 ± 0.4 to 7.6 ± 0.3 g/day for COC, 0.04 ± 0.02 to 0.19 ± 0.02 g/day for COE, and 0.08 ± 0.02 to 0.80 ± 0.02 g/day for MDMA.

This study employed the wastewater­based epidemiology (WBE) strategy to investigate cocaine (COC) and ecstasy (MDMA) usage during Carnatal festival in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Wastewater samples were collected over the four festival days (December 12­15, 2019), as well as during corresponding days before and after the event. The samples underwent filtration, acidification, solid­phase extraction (SPE) for pre­concentration, and analysis using ultra­high­performance liquid chromatography­tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC­MS/MS) with calibration using deuterated internal standards. The measured concentration ranges in the wastewater samples were as follows: benzoylecgonine (BE, a metabolite of COC use) ranged from 760 ± 30 to 8914 ± 252 ng/L, COC (non­metabolized or directly discharged) ranged from 1182 ± 25 to 6,760 ± 95 ng/L, cocaethylene (COE, a metabolite of alcohol­COC use) ranged from 21 ± 10 to 161 ± 10 ng/L, and MDMA (ecstasy) ranged from 18 ± 5 to 613 ± 15 ng/L. Daily wastewater loads were estimated as 0.81 ± 0.03 to 11.69 ± 0.33 g/day for BE, 1.42 ± 0.03 to 8.06 ± 0.11 g/day for COC, 0.02 ± 0.01 to 0.21 ± 0.01 g/day for COE, and 0.02 ± 0.01 to 0.80 ± 0.02 g/day for MDMA. Notably, COE and MDMA were only detected above the quantification limit during the festival days. The data enable estimating that COC consumption doubled during the event days. The COC/BE ratio indicated likely drug disposals on the event's last day and the subsequent week. The study's findings shed light on illicit substance consumption, assisting in public health programs and combating drug trafficking efforts.

Laboratory-Scale Preparation and Characterization of Dried Extract of Muirapuama (Ptychopetalumolacoides Benth) by Green Analytical Techniques.

This work reports on the preparation of a drying process from the ethanolic extract of Muirapuama and its characterization through green analytical techniques. The spray-drying processes were performed by using ethanolic extract in a ratio of 1:1 extract/excipient and 32 factorial design. The properties of dried powder were investigated in terms of total flavonoid content, moisture content, powder yield, and particle size distribution. An analytical eco-scale was applied to assess the greenness of the developed protocol. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC)with reduced solvent consumption in the analysis was compared to the conventional HPLC method. A Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopic method was applied based on the principal component scores for the prediction of extract/excipient mixtures and partial least squares regression model for quantitative analysis. NIR spectroscopy is an economic, powerful, and fast methodology for the detection of excipient in muirapuama dried extracts, generating no residue in the analysis. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed samples with a higher concentration of excipient, presenting better morphological characteristics and a lower moisture absorption rate. An eco-scale score value of 85 was achieved for UHPLC and 100 was achieved for NIR (excellent green analysis). Above all, these methods are rapid and green for the routine analysis of herbal medicines based on dried extracts.