Pharmaceuticals are considered to be important environmental contaminants. The aim of this study was to evaluate their presence in water intended for public supply to Municipally of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The regional environmental assessment was done from the analysis of surface water and distribution for the presence of psychiatric drugs. The study reveals the presence of benzodiazepine derivatives in all samples of surface water samples of the Guandu River, with the amounts of 42 ng L-1, 198 ng L-1 and 335 ng L-1 for bromazepam, clonazepam, and diazepam, respectively. The population served by Companhia Estadual de Águas e Esgotos (CEDAE) is the order of ten million. Psychiatric pharmaceuticals, in particular, are thought to impose significant ecological risks. A better understanding of the real impact of these pollutants implies a comprehensive evaluation of their persistence and fate in environmental matrices. The studies presented in this article are intended to contribute to improve the knowledge about the occurrence of some psychiatric drugs in the water supply. Manuscript profile

The occurrence and fate of trace-level contamination of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment has been recognized as one of the emerging issues in environmental chemistry. The effluents of wastewater treatment plants, usually directly emitted to the environment, often contain the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac. Diclofenac was chosen because it is of high consumption; by background literature indicate toxic effects on biota and the lack of profile in sewage removal provided by the city. For this purpose, a survey on the presence of diclofenac in urban wastewater of Rio de Janeiro was carried out. It were evaluated diclofenac concentration in the affluent and effluent from wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) Penha and Ilha do Governador, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Samples were collected along the line of treatment of each WWTP, and for clean up the samples were solid phase extraction (SPE), analysed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), assisted by diode array detector (DAD) techniques. The removal efficiency of pharmaceuticals in the wastewater treatment plants was roughly evaluated. Diclofenac was detected in all samples analysed wastewater (treated and raw), which confirms the low removal efficiency of conventional treatment systems, aerobes and anaerobes. Manuscript profile

Drug addiction is a serious public health problem, related to several psychiatric and psychosocial problems. Drug users are generally inserted in a context of great social vulnerability, often associated with violence, poverty, and family conflicts. The effects on the cognitive sphere of drug user patients undergoing treatment at the Center for Psychosocial Care - Alcohol and Drugs (CAPS-AD), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a diagnosis of crack dependence (CUD group - Drug Use Disorder) were evaluated. Cocaine) and/or alcohol (AUD group - Alcohol Use Disorder), according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). This is a quantitative, exploratory, and descriptive research based on (sociodemographic research) and structured questionnaires (Frontal Assessment Battery, Mini-Mental State Examination, Obsessive-Compulsive Drinking Scale, Cocaine Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, Hamilton Depression Rating, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale). The results obtained after the application and interpretation of the questionnaires point to cognitive deterioration in drug users. At the same time, alcohol and drug users showed the worst results in the domains of attention/calculation, evocation memory and temporal/spatial orientation. The results obtained in the research showed that the users of alcohol and drugs participating in the research presented a worse result in the fields of attention/calculation, evocation memory and time/spatial orientation. This fact corroborates the hypothesis that the chronic use of alcohol and crack cocaine affects more directly prefrontal and temporal brain regions and the forebrain, areas responsible for abstract thoughts and planning, associations of thoughts and memories, attention, verbal fluency, memory visual, verbal memory, learning ability and executive functions. Manuscript profile

Intake of illicit drugs should be expressed not merely for the reason of the public health aspects but also in an environmental context concerning the contamination of surface waters. Wastewater-based epidemiology consists in acquiring relevant information about the standard of living and in population health status athwart the investigation of wastewater samples collected at the influent of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). This method has been applied to the examination on samples from 4 WWTPs situated in Rio de Janeiro Municipality, Brazil, to investigate the presence of illicit drugs and their metabolites. These included cocaine (COC), benzoylecgonine (BE, cocaine metabolite), amphetamine (AMP), methamphetamine (METH), and 11-nor-9-carboxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH, THC metabolite). Concentrations of COC and its main metabolite BE ranged from 201.3 to 2751.5 ng/L and from 630.7 to 5849.2 ng/L, respectively. Amphetamine-like stimulants ranged from 21.7 to 110.0 ng/L for AMP, and from 55.3 ng/L to 477.4 ng/L for METH. THC-COOH ranged from 188.8 to 940.2ng/L. The concentrations found, besides being noteworthy to public health, may likely have important repercussion influence at the functioning of the environment. It is important to detach that COC and amphetamines (including metabolites as well) have potent pharmacological activities and their incidence as multifarious assortments in the ecosystem must hurt aquatic organisms and, consequently, in human health. However, unfortunately, there is no current regulation demanding the determination of the occurrence of these pollutants at the environment. In conclusion, investigates on the spreading configuration of these illicit drugs and their potentially harmful impact on our environment needs immediate attention and regulatory limits. Manuscript profile