Quantitation of cocaine and cocaethylene in small volumes of rat whole blood using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A simple solid phase extraction (SPE) technique combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) operated in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode is described for quantitation of cocaine and cocaethylene in small samples (250 microliters) of rat whole blood. Use of (N-[2H3C])-cocaine and (N-[2H3C])-cocaethylene internal standards resulted in high sensitivity and selectivity for this analytical method. Analysis was performed using a Hewlett-Packard 5890 GC equipped with a 7673A Automatic Liquid Sampler linked to a Hewlett-Packard 5972 Mass Selective Detector.

Blood mercury levels with amalgam retroseals: a longitudinal study.

A clinical study was performed to determine if placement of an amalgam retroseal resulted in elevated blood mercury levels. Ten subjects had blood drawn 7 days before and immediately before placement of an amalgam retroseal. Postoperative blood draws occurred at 7 and 30 days.

Saliva alcohol reagent strips in altered response protocols.

The prehospital care provider has been limited in his or her initial assessment of patients due to having available only a limited number of simple diagnostic tests. There has not been an accurate field test available to rule out significant ethanol intoxication. We designed a prospective trial for the prehospital setting to test the utility of a rapid, semi-quantitative, saliva alcohol reagent strip for patients with an altered level of consciousness.

An analysis of clinical toxicology urine specimens using the KDI Quik test.

The KDI Quik test is a rapid qualitative method for detecting narcotics, cocaine, PCP, and amphetamines in urine. The accuracy of this test was evaluated by testing 106 clinical toxicology urine specimens. Three investigators independently reviewed the test results and compared them to results of standard toxicological analyses.