Recommendations for toxicological investigations of drug-facilitated sexual assaults.

The recent increase in reports of drug-facilitated sexual assaults has caused alarm in the general public and prompted forensic toxicologists from across North America to address the toxicological issues surrounding this matter. The authors have developed recommendations and guidelines to inform law enforcement, medical, and scientific personnel of the requirements for performing successful toxicological examinations in cases of drug-facilitated rape.

Drug-analysis technology: overview and state of the art.

Analytical techniques are available to reliably detect and, if necessary, quantify drugs of abuse and their metabolites in urine. A variety of different immunoassays are likely to remain at the heart of initial screening methods but with an increasing emphasis on confirmation of positive findings by GC-MS. The quality of work in laboratories (which may make considerable financial gain through increased volume of samples) must be guarded by both internal quality assurance and external proficiency testing, but most of all by ensuring that staff are truly forensic toxicologists with adequate credentials and experience.

The influence of recombinant DNA-derived human and murine gamma interferons on mouse hepatic drug metabolism.

Human gamma interferon given for up to 5 days by subcutaneous infusion or intraperitoneal injection did not significantly alter mouse hepatic microsomal oxidative drug-metabolizing enzyme activities. In contrast, murine gamma interferon and human alpha interferon given for 5 days at the same dose (10(7) units/kg) caused 25 and 50% decreases, respectively, in hepatic microsomal cytochrome P-450 concentrations. The human alpha interferon-induced decline in cytochrome P-450 was accompanied by a significant drop in p-nitroanisole demethylase activity and significant elevations in serum alanine aminotransferase and cytosolic glutathione S-transferase activities.