Fatal Intoxications with Zopiclone-A Cause for Concern?

Introduction: Zopiclone, a controlled substance prescribed for insomnia, has become a common toxicological finding in forensic autopsy cases. This study investigated the role and extent of zopiclone use in fatal intoxications in Sweden.

Methods: All forensic autopsy cases positive for zopiclone in femoral blood during 2012-2020 were selected.

Do P2Y12 receptor inhibitors prescribed poststroke modify the risk of cognitive disorder or dementia? Protocol for a target trial using multiple national Swedish registries.

Introduction: The target of a class of antiplatelet medicines, P2Y12R inhibitors, exists both on platelets and on brain immune cells (microglia). This protocol aims to describe a causal (based on a counterfactual model) approach for analysing whether P2Y12R inhibitors prescribed for secondary prevention poststroke may increase the risk of cognitive disorder or dementia via their actions on microglia, using real-world evidence.

Methods And Analysis: This will be a cohort study nested within the Swedish National Health and Medical Registers, including all people with incident stroke from 2006 to 2016.

Oxycodone-Related Deaths: The Significance of Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Drug Interactions.

Background And Objectives: Oxycodone is frequently prescribed as well as detected in postmortem cases. Concurrent use of pharmacodynamically or pharmacokinetically interacting drugs can cause adverse effects or even fatal intoxication. The aims of this study were to investigate differences in prescriptions for and toxicological findings of pharmacodynamically and pharmacokinetically interacting drugs in fatal oxycodone-related intoxications and other causes of death.

False negative results in testosterone doping in forensic cases: Sensitivity of the urinary detection criteria T/E and T/LH.

At the Swedish national forensic toxicology laboratory, a measured testosterone/epitestosterone (T/E) ratio ≥ 12 together with testosterone/luteinizing hormone (T/LH) in urine > 400 nmol/IU is considered as a proof of exogenous testosterone administration. However, according to the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), samples with T/E ratio > 4 are considered suspicious and shall be further analysed by gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS) to confirm the origin of testosterone and its metabolites. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of false negative results and to estimate the frequency of negative results using the current criteria for detection of abuse of testosterone in forensic investigations.

Cardiovascular fitness and risk of migraine: a large, prospective population-based study of Swedish young adult men.

Objectives: To examine the longitudinal relationship between cardiovascular fitness in young adult men and future risk of migraine and to estimate eventual differential effects among categories of body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure.

Design: National, prospective, population-based cohort study.

Setting: Sweden 1968-2014.

Comparison of Annoyance from Railway Noise and Railway Vibration.

The aim of this study is to compare vibration exposure to noise exposure from railway traffic in terms of equal annoyance, i.e., to determine when a certain noise level is equally annoying as a corresponding vibration velocity.

Psychosocial job conditions, fear avoidance beliefs and expected return to work following acute coronary syndrome: a cross-sectional study of fear-avoidance as a potential mediator.

Background: Despite improvements in treatment, acute coronary syndrome remains a substantial cause for prolonged sick absences and premature retirement. Knowledge regarding what benefits return to work is limited, especially the effect of psychological processes and psychosocial work factors. The purposes of this cross-sectional study were two-fold: to examine associations between adverse psychosocial job conditions and fear-avoidance beliefs towards work, and to determine whether such beliefs mediated the relationship between work conditions and expected return to work in acute coronary syndrome survivors.

Regression models for log-normal data: comparing different methods for quantifying the association between abdominal adiposity and biomarkers of inflammation and insulin resistance.

We compared six methods for regression on log-normal heteroscedastic data with respect to the estimated associations with explanatory factors (bias and standard error) and the estimated expected outcome (bias and confidence interval). Method comparisons were based on results from a simulation study, and also the estimation of the association between abdominal adiposity and two biomarkers; C-Reactive Protein (CRP) (inflammation marker,) and Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) (marker of insulin resistance). Five of the methods provide unbiased estimates of the associations and the expected outcome; two of them provide confidence intervals with correct coverage.