Publications by authors named "Dean Fritch"

Background: Although current abuse of barbiturates is low compared with other classes of abused drugs, their narrow margin of safety, risk of dependence, and abuse liability remain a health concern. Limited information is available on the disposition of barbiturates in different biologic matrices.

Objective: The authors conducted a clinical study of the disposition of barbiturates in oral fluid, plasma, and urine after single-dose administration to healthy subjects.

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Analytical methods for measuring multiple licit and illicit drugs and metabolites in oral fluid require high sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy. With the limited volume available for testing, comprehensive methodology is needed for simultaneous measurement of multiple analytes in a single aliquot. This report describes the validation of a semi-automated method for the simultaneous extraction, identification, and quantitation of 21 analytes in a single oral fluid aliquot.

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A simple and rapid procedure for the simultaneous screening of 14 benzodiazepines in oral fluid is presented. The procedure involves a solid-phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS). The target compounds include diazepam, oxazepam, temazepam, nordiazepam, lorazepam, chlordiazepoxide, alprazolam, alpha-hydroxyalprazolam, desalkylflurazepam, hydroxyethylflurazepam, clonazepam, 7-aminoclonazepam, flunitrazepam, and 7-aminoflunitrazepam.

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Two studies were conducted to determine if extreme passive exposure to cannabis smoke in a motor vehicle would produce positive results for delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in oral fluid. Passive exposure to cannabis smoke in an unventilated room has been shown to produce a transient appearance of THC in oral fluid for up to 30 min. However, it is well known that such factors as room size and extent of smoke exposure can affect results.

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Oral fluid testing for Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) provides a convenient means of detection of recent cannabis usage. In this study, the risk of positive oral fluid tests from passive cannabis smoke exposure was investigated by housing four cannabis-free volunteers in a small, unventilated, and sealed room with an approximate volume of 36 m(3). Five active cannabis smokers were also present in the room, and each smoked a single cannabis cigarette (1.

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Identification of 6-acetylmorphine, a specific metabolite of heroin, is considered to be definitive evidence of heroin use. Although 6-acetylmorphine has been identified in oral fluid following controlled heroin administration, no prevalence data is available for oral fluid specimens collected in the workplace. We evaluated the prevalence of positive test results for 6-acetylmorphine in 77,218 oral fluid specimens collected over a 10-month period (January-October 2001) from private workplace testing programs.

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Draft guidelines for the use of oral fluid for workplace drug testing are under development by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in cooperation with industry and researchers. Comparison studies of the effectiveness of oral fluid testing versus urine testing are needed to establish scientifically reliable cutoff concentrations for oral fluid testing. We present the results of the first large scale database on oral fluid testing in private industry.

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