Journal of analytical toxicology
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Comparative Study
Performance evaluation of four on-site drug-testing devices for detection of drugs of abuse in urine.
On-site drug tests are becoming increasingly more popular because of their easy test protocols and instantaneous results. This study evaluates the performance of four on-site drug testing devices that use competitive binding immunoassays to qualitatively determine the presence of drugs in urine: Triage Panel for Drugs of Abuse plus TCA, QuickScreen Pro-Multi Drug Screening Tests, Syva Rapid Test d.a.u. 5 and d.a.u. 2, and Rapid Drug Screen. All devices simultaneously determine the presence of the following drugs of abuse: amphetamine (AMP), benzoylecgonine (BE), 11-nor-9-carboxy-delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THCA), opiates (OPI), and phencyclidine (PCP). ⋯ Sensitivity and specificity calculations demonstrated that Triage performed most predictably in the donor urine specimens and the drug-added specimens. In addition, it required the least amount of test volume and was the only device in which the appearance of a colored line indicated a positive result. Therefore, of the devices studied, Triage was the most dependable and reproducible on-site drug-screening device.
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There has been a recent and significant increase in the use and availability of hemp seed oil products. These products are being marketed as a healthy source of essential omega fatty acids when taken orally. Although the health aspects of these oils is open to debate, the probability that oils derived from the hemp seed will contain delta9-tetrahyrdocannabinol (THC) is noteworthy. ⋯ The Abbott AxSYM FPIA and Roche On-Line KIMS immunoassays were used to screen the urine samples, and GC-MS was used to determine the amount of THC in each oil as well as confirm and quantitate THCA in the urine of study participants immediately before and 6 h after each dose. Peak THCA levels in the participants' urine ranged from 1 to 49 ng/mL. All volunteers were below positive screen and confirmation cutoffs within 48 h after cessation of ingestion.
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Determination of toxic glycols and alcohols in an emergency setting requires a rapid yet accurate and reliable method. To simultaneously determine diethylene glycol (DEG) along with ethylene glycol, methanol, isopropanol, acetone, and ethanol, we modified a previously developed gas chromatographic (GC) method. The system used a Hewlett-Packard 6890 GC with EPC, a Gooseneck splitless liner, and an Rtx-200 capillary column (30 m x 0.53-mm i.d., 3 mm). ⋯ Limit of detection and linear range for all compounds were 1 or 2.5 mg/dL and 0-500 mg/dL, respectively. In addition, there was no interference from propionic acid, propylene glycol, and 2,3-butanediol. The modifications in the equipment and temperature program allowed increased resolution and thus, detection and reliable quantitation of DEG and other common toxic glycols and alcohols of clinical interest.
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Comparative Study
Monitoring opiate use in substance abuse treatment patients with sweat and urine drug testing.
Although urine testing remains the standard for drug use monitoring, sweat testing for drugs of abuse is increasing, especially in criminal justice programs. One reason for this increase is sweat testing may widen the detection window compared to urine testing. Drug metabolites are rapidly excreted in urine limiting the window of detection of a single use to a few days. ⋯ Analysis of sweat patches provides an alternate method for objectively monitoring drug use and provides an advantage over urine drug testing by extending drug detection times to one week or longer. In addition, identification of heroin and/or 6-acetylmorphine in sweat patches confirmed the use of heroin in 78.1% of the positive cases and differentiated illicit heroin use from possible ingestion of codeine or opiate-containing foods. However, the percentage of false-negative results, at least in this treatment population, indicates that weekly sweat testing may be less sensitive than thrice weekly urine testing in detecting opiate use.