[Drug addiction in the medico-legal certification of the Department of Forensic Medicine of Medical University of Gdańsk in the years 1996-2005].

The objective of the study was the presentation of the type and extent of drug addiction in the region covered by the Department of Forensic Medicine of the Medical University of Gdańsk based on the results of analyses of biological samples collected from the living and deceased subjects during the decade from 1996 to 2005. The studies were based on 110 cases of lethal intoxication after psychoactive substances overdosing and 63 cases of living people involved in the infringement of the law. Body-fluids (blood, urine) and post-mortem samples (stomach contents, small intestine contents, liver, kidney, brain and lung tissues) were collected and stored at -20 OC.

[Sampling, storage and transport of biological materials collected from living and deceased subjects for determination of concentration levels of ethyl alcohol and similarly acting substances. A proposal of updating the blood and urine sampling protocol].

The present paper emphasizes the most common mistakes committed at the beginning of an analytical procedure. To shorten the time and decrease the cost of determinations of substances with similar to alcohol activity, it is postulated to introduce mass-scale screening analysis of saliva collected from a living subject at the site of the event, with all positive results confirmed in blood or urine samples. If no saliva sample is collected for toxicology, a urine sample, allowing for a stat fast screening analysis, and a blood sample, to confirm the result, should be ensured.

[Uncertainty of measurement as an integral part of the result and a tool of quality of work improvement for the chemical-toxicology laboratory].

An uncertainty in measurements is a numerical defined range that is supposed to find a true value with a given level of probability. The purpose of this study was to estimate a type A and B of uncertainty in the analysis of ethanol using the ADH method and prove it to be useful in lab practice. A large percentage of uncertainty was shown for pipetting of the ADH and perchloric acid solutions.