Forensic Aspects of a Fatal Intoxication Involving Acetaminophen, Citalopram and Trazodone: A Case Report.

We report the case of a young man, a former heroin addict, found dead at home by the Police Forces in an advanced state of decomposition. Numerous blisters and unpacked tablets of medications were found all over the bed and on the floor of the room. Multiple injuries to the face, left arm and neck of the deceased were noted.

Alcohol consumption and employment: a cross-sectional study of office workers and unemployed people.

Background: Alcohol is a psychoactive substance with toxic and addictive properties. Biomarkers like GGT, AST, ALT and MCV are influenced by excessive ethanol consumption. Alcohol consumption represents a health risk and it has been linked to unemployment.

New Psychoactive Substances: A Matter of Time.

In the last few years, a wide range of new psychoactive substances (NPS) have been produced and marketed to elude the controlled substance lists. These molecules enter the traditional illegal and web market with poor knowledge about their toxicity, mechanism of action, metabolism, abuse potential so that they are directly tested by the consumers. This perspective highlights the main issues connected with NPS: the celerity they enter and leave the market once included in the banning laws to be substituted by new legal analogues; the unavailability of analytical screening tests and certified standards to perform toxicological analyses; the time lag between NPS identification and inclusion in the controlled substances lists.

Determination of cannabinoids in oral fluid and urine of "light cannabis" consumers: a pilot study.

Background In those countries where cannabis use is still illegal, some manufacturers started producing and selling "light cannabis": dried flowering tops containing the psychoactive principle Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) at concentrations lower than 0.2% together with variable concentration of cannabidiol (CBD). We here report a pilot study on the determination of cannabinoids in the oral fluid and urine of six individuals after smoking 1 g of "light cannabis".

Determination of oxycodone and its major metabolites noroxycodone and oxymorphone by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry in plasma and urine: application to real cases.

Background: Oxycodone is a narcotic drug widely used to alleviate moderate and severe acute and chronic pain. Variability in analgesic efficacy could be explained by inter-subject variations in plasma concentrations of parent drug and its active metabolite, oxymorphone. To evaluate patient compliance and to set up therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) assay was developed and validated for the parent drug and its major metabolites noroxycodone and oxymorphone.

Neurotoxicity Induced by Mephedrone: An up-to-date Review.

Background: Mephedrone is a β-ketoamphetamine belonging to the family of synthetic cathinones, an emerging class of designer drugs known for their hallucinogenic and psychostimulant properties as well as for their abuse potential.

Objective: The aim of this review was to examine the emerging scientific literature on the possible mephedrone-induced neurotoxicity, yet not well defined due to the limited number of experimental studies, mainly carried on animal models.

Materials And Methods: Relevant scientific articles were identified from international literature databases (Medline, Scopus, etc.

Determination of GHB levels in breast milk and correlation with blood concentrations.

The sodium salt of GHB or sodium oxybate is approved and registered in some countries as a therapeutic substance (Xyrem(®)) for the treatment of narcolepsy-associated cataplexy. This study was designed to measure the GHB endogenous levels in blood and breast milk of 20 breastfeeding women. In addition, blood and breast milk samples of a 32-year-old narcoleptic nursing mother, who was on sodium oxybate treatment, were simultaneously collected at 0.

Assessment of the stability of mephedrone in ante-mortem and post-mortem blood specimens.

Aims: The aim of this work is to test the stability of mephedrone added to whole blood collected from alive and dead mephedrone free-users and stored at three different temperatures (-20, +4 and +20°C) with and without preservatives up to 6 months, trying to establish the best storage condition in order to reduce possible analyte loss/degradation during the storage period.

Materials And Methods: Different sources of blood were obtained as follow: 10 samples of blood came from 10 alive mephedrone free-users (mean age 34±15.8 years old) (Group 1), whereas 10 post mortem blood samples were obtained from 10 cadavers, in which the post mortem interval was between 24 and 36h (Group 2).

Development and Validation of a GC-MS Method for the Detection and Quantification of Clotiapine in Blood and Urine Specimens and Application to a Postmortem Case.

Introduction. Clotiapine is an atypical antipsychotic of the dibenzothiazepine class introduced in a few European countries since 1970, efficient in treatment-resistant schizophrenic patients. There is little published data on the therapeutic and toxic concentrations of this drug.

Recreational use, analysis and toxicity of tryptamines.

Unlabelled: The definition New psychoactive substances (NPS) refers to emerging drugs whose chemical structures are similar to other psychoactive compounds but not identical, representing a "legal" alternative to internationally controlled drugs. There are many categories of NPS, such as synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic cathinones, phenylethylamines, piperazines, ketamine derivatives and tryptamines. Tryptamines are naturally occurring compounds, which can derive from the amino acid tryptophan by several biosynthetic pathways: their structure is a combination of a benzene ring and a pyrrole ring, with the addition of a 2-carbon side chain.

Fatal self administration of tramadol and propofol: a case report.

We describe a case of unintentional intoxication due to tramadol and propofol self administration, occurred in a middle aged man, healthcare provider, deceased despite advanced medical assistance an hour later the onset of severe and increasing dyspnea. Toxicological analysis performed with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in blood sample, evidenced a lethal tramadol concentration and therapeutic level of Propofol. Quantitative determination was also performed in other specimens such as bile, tissues (liver, spleen, kidney) and pubic hair, to assess chronic exposure.