Illegal products containing selective androgen receptor modulators purchased online from Italy: health risks for consumers.

Background: Selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) are small synthetic drug molecules that are still not approved as medicine in Europe or the United States but are sold on illegal websites to improve sport performance, particularly bodybuilding.

Aim: To address the quality issues of illegal SARM products and their increasing diffusion in Italy with their potential health risks for consumers.

Methods: Web-based tools were used to investigate retail websites, trending searches, and information exchange via social media.

A screening method for the quantitative determination of selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) in capsules by high resolution F- and H-NMR spectroscopy.

A new method for rapid determination of the content of selective androgenic receptor modulators (SARMs) andarine, cardarine, ligandrol, ostarine and S-23 in capsules by H- and F-high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was described and validated. Specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, detection and quantification limits were considered as validation parameters. Full H-, C- and F-NMR structural assignment of the SARMs is provided as a tool for self-standing identification without a reference standard.

A case of medicine in disguise: motion sickness patches sold as medical devices containing active pharmaceutical substances.

Introduction: A case study is reported on anti-motion sickness transdermal patches sold in the Internet, claiming to contain only natural ingredients but, actually, containing undeclared medicinal active substances. The visual inspection of the samples evidenced many inconsistencies in secondary and primary packaging, missing of various legal information and a non-compliant "CE" mark.

Methods: The qualitative analysis was performed by liquid chromatography - high resolution mass spectrometry and the quantitative by liquid chromatography with diode array detector.

A special case of medicine in disguise: Tattoo inks containing anaesthetics.

This paper describes a case of medicine in disguise: seized tattoo inks containing lidocaine and tetracaine at high concentration. Identification of anaesthetics was performed by LC MS Q-TOF with ESI source, by accurate mass measurement and by comparing the fragmentation patterns of molecular ions, at 30 V and 10 V of collision-offset voltage, with reference standards. Quantification was also performed by LC MS Q-TOF on the chromatographic peaks in the extracted ion chromatograms, by calibration curves obtained at different standard concentrations and by standard additions approach.

Health risks related to illegal and on-line sale of drugs and food supplements: results of a survey on marketed products in Italy from 2011 to 2013.

Objectives: The increasing illegal and on-line market of medicines and food supplements is helping the widespread diffusion of harmful counterfeit and forbidden products among consumers of developed countries. The objectives of this survey were the description of the main frauds recognized by public officers and the detection of illegal or counterfeit drugs and food supplements.

Methods: Medicines and food supplements found by Police forces on the illegal market or resulting from seizures made by Italian Customs authorities were visually inspected and analysed to evaluate their quality and the presence of other undeclared substances.

A survey on illegal and counterfeit medicines for the treatment of erectile dysfunctions in Italy.

Introduction: In developed countries the phenomenon of pharmaceutical counterfeiting is steadily increasing through the illegal and the Internet market. Medicines for the treatment of erectile dysfunctions containing phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5) are especially prone to falsification.

Aims: To obtain evidence of the health risks for patients taking these products and to provide useful information to general practitioners and specialists in sexual medicine.

Counterfeit drugs detection by measurement of tablets and secondary packaging colour.

The growth of pharmaceutical counterfeiting is a major public health problem. This growth is resulting in a proportional increase in the number of samples that medicines control laboratories have to test. Thus the need for simple and affordable preliminary screening methods to be used by inspectors to decide in the field whether to collect a sample for further laboratory analysis or not.

Different crystal morphologies arising from different preparation methods of a same polymorphic form may result in different properties of the final materials: the case of diclofenac sodium trihydrate.

Diclofenac sodium is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug widely used in painful and inflammatory diseases. It can exist in different hydrate phases. Recently the physico-chemical and pharmaceutical properties of a trihydrate form, named DSH3 were reported by the same authors.

Lidocaine 2% gel versus lidocaine 4% unpreserved drops for topical anesthesia in cataract surgery: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To compare intracameral levels and clinical efficacy of lidocaine 2% gel with lidocaine 4% unpreserved drops.

Design: Double-blind, randomized, one-surgeon, controlled trial.

Participants: One hundred seven consecutive cataract cases eligible for topical anesthesia.