A novel method for the simultaneous determination of drugs of abuse, ethyl glucuronide and synthetic opioids in human hair through a single digestion, purification and analysis in LC-MS/MS.

Polydrug use is a serious health and social problem worldwide. Over the past several years, there has been an increasing tendency to combine narcotics, alcohol, sedatives, and/or stimulants. To the traditional drugs of abuse and alcohol, an increase of new abuse drugs such as synthetic opioids has been added.

Cannabinoid Stability in Postmortem Brain Samples Stored at Different Temperatures.

Drug stability is an important concern of forensic toxicological testing, particularly postmortem (PM) samples that may be stored for an extensive period of time before analysis. In PM toxicology, the complex assessment of analyte stability in biological matrices can profoundly impact the interpretation of toxicological results and the outcome of forensic casework. The aim of this work is to assess the stability of ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol, 11-hydroxy-THC (11-OH-THC), 11-nor-9-carboxy-∆9-THC (THCCOOH) and 11-nor-∆9-THC-9-carboxylic acid glucuronide (THCCOOH-glucuronide) in brain stored at three different temperatures (4°C, -20°C and -70°C) up to over 12 months (390 days) in order to establish the best storage condition for preventing potential drug degradation during the storage period.

The CRISPR Patent Landscape: Focus on Chinese Researchers.

Despite the strong presence of Chinese scientists in genome-editing research, little attention has been paid to the legal, economic, and scientific development of patented CRISPR technologies in China. In this study, we focus on CRISPR patent documents from academic and industrial Chinese players to assess their positioning on this breakthrough technology. We review the fields of application and the CRISPR components claimed in the relevant patent documents.

Post-mortem distribution of mephedrone and its metabolites in body fluids and organ tissues of an intoxication case.

New psychoactive substances (NPS) are substances that continue to appear on the drug market to bypass controlled substance legislation. Mephedrone or 4-methylmethcathinone is becoming the most popular new psychoactive substance among youth as a recreational drug. The present study describes the optimization and validation of a sensitive method that combined clean up procedure and LC-MS/MS technique designed to simultaneously determine the presence of Mephedrone and its two metabolites (normephedrone as active metabolite and dyhidromephedrone) in post-mortem specimens (body fluids and organ tissues).

Cannabinoids Determination in Brain: A Supplemental Helpful in Postmortem Evaluation.

The scientific interest in cannabis has been documented by a wide literature, but postmortem studies and interpretations of autopsy findings are lacking or limited to few cases, few matrices analyzed or a small number of analytes. The present study describes the development and full in-house validation of a sensitive and simple method based on an optimized rapid clean-up procedure combined with a robust and highly sensitive liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) technique, designed to simultaneous determination of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), 11-hydroxy-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (11-OH-THC), 11-nor-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol-carboxylic acid (THC-COOH) and 11-nor-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol-carboxylic acid glucuronated (THC-COOH gluc.) in postmortem samples: central blood (CB), femoral blood (FB) and brain tissue (BR).

Seizures of illicit substances for personal use in two Italian provinces: analysis of trends by type and purity from 2008 to 2017.

Background: The use of illicit substances represents one of the most difficult problems to confront in the health system. Drug use is a global problem but is not uniform throughout the world, within the same country and changes over time. Therefore, knowing the illicit substances that are used in a territory is essential to better organize health services in that specific geographical area.

Untargeted rat brain metabolomics after oral administration of a single high dose of cannabidiol.

Cannabidiol (CBD), for long time considered as a minor cannabinoid of Cannabis sativa, has recently gained much attention due to its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anticonvulsant properties. A liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry based method was developed for the quantitative determination of CBD and other cannabinoids (Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), 11-hydroxy-THC and 11-nor-9-carboxy-THC) in rat brain samples after oral administration of a single high dose (50 mg/kg) of CBD. The main challenge of the present work was to study CBD pharmacokinetics in rat cortex: the identification of its metabolites and pharmacodynamics through the study of variations in endogenous compounds' concentrations following CBD administration.

Pharmacokinetics and tolerability of oral cannabis preparations in patients with medication overuse headache (MOH)-a pilot study.

Purpose: The recent release of a medical cannabis strain has given a new impulse for the study of cannabis in Italy. The National Health Service advises to consume medical cannabis by vaporizing, in decoction or oil form. This is the first study that explores the pharmacokinetics and tolerability of a single oral dose of cannabis as decoction (200 ml) or in olive oil (1 ml), as a first step to improve the prescriptive recommendations.

Development of a simple and sensitive liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for the determination of cannabidiol (CBD), Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and its metabolites in rat whole blood after oral administration of a single high dose of CBD.

The investigation of the possible conversion of cannabidiol (CBD) into Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in vivo after oral administration of CBD is reported herein since recent publications suggested a rapid conversion in simulated gastric fluid. To this end, single high dose of CBD (50mg/kg) was administered orally to rats and their blood was collected after 3 and 6h. A highly sensitive and selective LC-MS/MS method was developed and fully validated in compliance with the Scientific Working Group of Forensic Toxicology (SWGTOX) standard practices for method validation in forensic toxicology.

The role of ethyl glucuronide in supporting medico-legal investigations: Analysis of this biomarker in different postmortem specimens from 21 selected autopsy cases.

Ethanol determination in postmortem blood is one of the most frequently requested analyses in legal medicine and forensic toxicology. Ethyl glucuronide is a non-oxidative ethanol metabolite. It is also a useful marker of ante-mortem alcohol ingestion when ethanol itself has been completely eliminated from the body and could be considered in autopsy cases to obtain more reliable indications.

Hair analysis for detection of triptans occasionally used or overused by migraine patients-a pilot study.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the detection rate of almotriptan, eletriptan, frovatriptan, sumatriptan, rizatriptan, and zolmitriptan in the hair of migraineurs taking these drugs; the degree of agreement between type of self-reported triptan and triptan found in hair; if the concentrations in hair were related to the reported cumulative doses of triptans; and whether hair analysis was able to distinguish occasional use from the overuse of these drugs.

Methods: Out of 300 headache patients consecutively enrolled, we included 147 migraine patients who reported to have taken at least one dose of one triptan in the previous 3 months; 51 % of the patients overused triptans. A detailed pharmacological history and a sample of hair were collected for each patient.

Hair testing in clinical setting: Simultaneous determination of 50 psychoactive drugs and metabolites in headache patients by LC tandem MS.

Headache patients suffering from recurrent attacks are a population at risk of overuse and abuse of analgesic medications. Associated with triptans, the first-line drugs recommended for the acute treatment, these patients usually take other medications such as opioids analgesics for the attack treatment, antidepressants and antiepileptics for prophylaxis treatment and benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepine hypnotics and antipsychotics for the treatment of comorbidities. Regular and frequent use of triptans, like of any other symptomatic analgesic, can cause chronic headache and medication-overuse headache (MOH).

Development and validation of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric assay for quantitative analyses of triptans in hair.

Triptans are specific drugs widely used for acute treatment of migraine, being selective 5HT1B/1D receptor agonists. A proper assumption of triptans is very important for an effective treatment; nevertheless patients often underuse, misuse, overuse or use triptans inconsistently, i.e.

Hair analysis to monitor abuse of analgesic combinations containing butalbital and propyphenazone.

Butalbital, a barbiturate, is present in analgesic combinations used by headache sufferers. Overuse/abuse of these combinations may cause dependence, chronic migraine, and medication-overuse headache (MOH). MOH is difficult to manage: it improves interrupting analgesic overuse, but requires monitoring, because relapses are frequent.

Tramadol chronic abuse: an evidence from hair analysis by LC tandem MS.

Hair analysis, as complementary matrix, has expanded across the spectrum of toxicological investigations for misuse drug monitoring. Hair has become an important matrix for drug analysis, owing to the possibility to detect target analytes for long time periods, depending on hair length. A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method has been developed for the quantitation of tramadol, a widely used centrally acting analgesic, and its main metabolites in hair (ODMT, NDMT, NOT).

Forensic botany II, DNA barcode for land plants: Which markers after the international agreement?

The ambitious idea of using a short piece of DNA for large-scale species identification (DNA barcoding) is already a powerful tool for scientists and the application of this standard technique seems promising in a range of fields including forensic genetics. While DNA barcoding enjoyed a remarkable success for animal identification through cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) analysis, the attempts to identify a single barcode for plants remained a vain hope for a longtime. From the beginning, the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) showed a lack of agreement on a core plant barcode, reflecting the diversity of viewpoints.

Tramadol abuse in a binge pattern in a young depressed woman.

Background: Tramadol is a central analgesic with a unique pharmacological profile in that it is an opioid agonist and an inhibitor of serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake. We describe a case of abuse of tramadol in a binge pattern in a young woman who had initially received the prescription of tramadol as an analgesic as needed.

Case Description: The patient had no history of drug or alcohol abuse, but suffered from depression.

Evaluation of equine urine reactivity towards phase II metabolites of 17-hydroxy steroids by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry.

Proper storage conditions of biological samples are fundamental to avoid microbiological contamination that can cause chemical modifications of the target analytes. A simple liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method through direct injection of diluted samples, without prior extraction, was used to evaluate the stability of phase II metabolites of boldenone and testosterone (glucuronides and sulphates) in intentionally poorly stored equine urine samples. We also considered the stability of some deuterated conjugated steroids generally used as internal standards, such as deuterated testosterone and epitestosterone glucuronides, and deuterated boldenone and testosterone sulphates.

Sustained transgene expression using non-viral enzymatic systems for stable chromosomal integration.

Gene delivery technologies have been developed for various biotechnology applications. In gene therapy, they are promising for the treatment of several inherited and acquired human diseases. When therapies require the transfection of a transgene, the vector integration is one of the solutions that is used for maintaining and sustaining expression.

Development of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for an euthanasic veterinarian drug: Tanax.

A development of a rapid and sensitive LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous detection of active ingredients of the euthanasic veterinarian drug Tanax mixture is described. The method proposed, with a retention time of few minutes (6 min) was developed for an equine serum sample with solid-phase extraction (S.P.