Analysis of evidence is a challenge. Crime scene materials are complex, diverse, sometimes of an unknown nature. Forensic science provides the most critical applications for their examination.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLatent fingermarks are important trace evidence found in crime scenes mainly used for identification purposes. Once deposited, the composition of samples changes over time influencing the efficacy of latent fingermark development methods. In this sense, the aims of this work were to characterize the fatty acid (FA) profile of sebaceous latent fingermarks by GC-FID and to preliminarily evaluate the development efficiency of enhancement methods (powder dusting, iodine fuming and silver nitrate method) in a 30-day period of aging under controlled parameters of temperature, photoperiod and humidity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc
February 2017
Cannabis sativa L. (cannabis, Cannabaceae), popularly called marijuana, is one of the oldest plants known to man and it is the illicit drug most used worldwide. It also has been the subject of increasing discussions from the scientific and political points of view due to its medicinal properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCannabis sativa L. is cultivated in most regions of the world. In 2013, the Brazilian Federal Police (BFP) reported 220 tons of marijuana seized and about 800,000 cannabis plants eradicated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrazil is considered one of the countries with the highest number of amphetamine-type stimulant (ATS) users worldwide, mainly diethylpropion (DIE) and fenproporex (FEN). The use of ATS is mostly linked to diverted prescription stimulants and this misuse is widely associated with (ab)use by drivers. A validated method was developed for the simultaneous analysis of amphetamine (AMP), DIE and FEN in plasma samples employing direct immersion-solid-phase microextraction, and gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrazil is one of the world's highest users of anorectic drugs, mainly diethylpropione, fenproporex and sibutramine. The present work focuses on physical and chemical characteristics of 17 counterfeited capsules containing amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) from three seizures conducted by Brazilian Federal Police. The physical profile was useful in indicating forgery, bring complementary information, but the use of this data singly was not sufficient to distinguish between authentic and counterfeited medicines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this work, the chemical profile of 43 commercial samples of tablets for male erectile dysfunction (Viagra, Cialis, Lazar, Libiden, Maxfil, Plenovit, Potent 75, Rigix, Vimax, Pramil 75 and Pramil) and 65 counterfeit samples (Viagra and Cialis) were obtained from UPLC-MS data. Methanol extracts of crushed tablets were investigated by ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) with diode array detection (DAD) coupled with eletrospray ionization in the positive ion mode (ESI(+)) quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-Tof) mass spectrometry (MS). A validated method was employed for the simultaneous determination of sildenafil citrate (SLD) and tadalafil (TAD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper proposes a direct and efficient method to discriminate between counterfeit and authentic Cialis and Viagra samples by combining attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy with multivariate techniques. The chemical profile of 53 commercial samples (Viagra(®), Cialis(®)) and 104 counterfeit samples (Viagra and Cialis) from distinct seizures were obtained from ATR-FTIR data derived from 10mg of crushed core tablets. Principal component analysis (PCA) technique was employed to classify samples based on the fingerprint region mid-infrared spectra (1800-525 cm(-1)) using OMNIC v.
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