Publications by authors named "A Serra Castanera"

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and severe obesity share a common pathophysiological phenomenon, systemic and tissue hypoxia. Hypoxaemia modifies microRNA expression, particularly, extracellular vesicles microRNAs which are involved in the progression of cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome and cancer. We aim to evaluate extracellular vesicle miRNAs among patients with severe obesity with and without OSA and the effect of OSA and severe obesity treatment: continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and bariatric surgery.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examined trends in MDMA-related death rates across Australia, Finland, Portugal, and Turkey, analyzing toxicology reports and causes of death between 2001 and 2019.
  • A total of 2,052 MDMA-related deaths were identified, with the majority involving males aged 24 to 27.5 years, and drug toxicity being the primary cause of death in most cases.
  • The research found that the rates of MDMA-related deaths significantly increased from 2011 to 2017, correlating with higher purity and availability of the drug; poly-drug use was common, with other stimulants and alcohol frequently detected.
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One of the techniques most widely used in ethanol analysis in forensic laboratories is undoubtedly the headspace gas chromatography with flame-ionization detection (HS-GC-FID) since the determination of this substance is carried out directly, without the need for additional purification procedures, which leads to increased productivity. This is a very important factor due to the high number of alcohol analysis requested to these laboratories. The presence of other volatile substances can cause a problem given the fact that they can be interferents in ethanol analysis by HS-GC-FID, which can have legal consequences related with driving under the influence of alcohol.

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A simple and sensitive procedure, using n-propanol as internal standard (IS), was developed and validated for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of a group of 11 volatile organic substances with different physicochemical properties (1-butanol, 2-propanol, acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate, acetone, acetonitrile, chloroform, diethyl ether, methanol, toluene and p-xylene) in whole blood, urine and vitreous humor. Samples were prepared by dilution with an aqueous solution of internal standard followed by Headspace Gas Chromatography with a Flame-ionization Detector (HS GC-FID) analysis. Chromatographic separation was performed using two capillary columns with different polarities (DB-ALC2: 30m×0.

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The application of the design of experiments to optimize method development in the field of forensic toxicology using the urinary morphine 3-glucuronide acid hydrolysis as an example is described. Morphine and its trideuterated analogue (used as an internal standard) were extracted from urine samples by liquid-liquid extraction (ToxiTubes A) and derivatized by silylation. Chromatographic analysis was done by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in the selected ion monitoring mode.

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