Journal of analytical toxicology
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As one of the most abundant toxic contaminants in the atmosphere, carbon monoxide (CO) plays a significant role in toxicology and public health. Every year, around half of the accidental non-fire-related poisoning deaths are attributed to CO in the USA, UK and many other countries. However, due to the non-specificity of the symptoms and often encountered inconsistency of these with the results obtained from measurements of the biomarker for CO poisonings, carboxyhemoglobin (COHb), there is a high rate of misdiagnoses. ⋯ Results showed a significant decrease in TBCO when samples were flushed (10-60%), whereas no constant trend was observed for COHb. Therefore, measurement of TBCO by AGS-GC-MS suggests the presence of more dissolved CO than previously known. This constitutes a first step into the acknowledgment of a possibly significant amount of CO present not in the form of COHb, but as free CO, which might help explain the incongruences with symptoms and decrease misdiagnoses.
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Electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) are battery-powered devices that heat and vaporize solutions containing propylene glycol (PG) and/or vegetable glycerin (VG), nicotine and possible trace flavorants to produce an inhalable aerosol. The heating process can lead to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are linked to various oxidative damage-initiated diseases. Several studies in the literature have addressed ROS emissions in ECIG aerosols, but the effects of power, ECIG device design and liquid composition on ROS are relatively unknown. ⋯ ROS emissions are a function of device design and liquid composition at a given power. For a given liquid composition, a promising metric for predicting ROS emissions across device designs and operating conditions is power per unit area of the heating coil. Importantly, ROS formation is significant even when the ECIG liquid consists of pure analytical solutions of PG and VG; it can therefore be viewed as intrinsic to ECIG operation and not solely a by-product of particular flavorants, contaminants or additives.
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The number of new psychoactive substances (NPS) available is constantly increasing, making it difficult for toxicology laboratories to keep screening methods up to date. Full scan high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) is a versatile technique which allows for progressive updating of spectral databases to increase the scope of screening. It also allows for retrospective screening of data-specifically, reprocessing of data files using an updated spectral database without the need for re-extraction or reanalysis. ⋯ These substances, along with lorazepam and etizolam, were also confirmed in the post-mortem urine and an investigation into blood and urinary metabolites was carried out. All analyses were performed using the same LC-quadrupole-time of flight method. The cause of death was aspiration (of gastric content into airways and lungs) due to mixed drug toxicity.
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Electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) deliver nicotine in an aerosol to the user that simulates the smoke of traditional cigarettes purportedly without the pathology of inhaling tobacco smoke due to the absence of combustion. Advanced versions of e-cigs enable the user to potentially moderate the concentration of drug in the aerosol by selecting from a range of voltages on the power supply. A method was developed to trap the aerosol produced by a KangerTech AeroTank, 1.8 Ω preassembled atomizer in order to analyze the concentration of nicotine and to evaluate the constituents of the aerosol at various voltages on the power supply. ⋯ The glass trap system was also used in combination with a 100-μm solid-phase microextraction fiber to capture the aerosol and analyze it via DART-MS and GC-MS. Four commercial e-liquids labeled to contain nicotine were aerosolized at 4.3 V. The pharmacologically active ingredient, nicotine, as well as PG, VG and a number of flavoring agents found in these formulations were identified.
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Tapentadol is a centrally acting synthetic analgesic which is prescribed for the treatment of a range of chronic pain conditions. Its use in treating various pain conditions is increasing and, as with other opioids, it has the potential to be abused. We describe a three-stage incorporation of tapentadol into validated screening and quantitative methods through: (i) addition of retention time/mass spectral data to a database, (ii) qualitative validation and (iii) quantitative validation. ⋯ The measured ante-mortem blood:serum ratio was 1.7, and is the first such ratio to be reported. Other drugs were detected in almost all cases, with the majority being prescription analgesics, sedatives and antidepressants. The number of cases in which tapentadol has been detected has increased in recent years, highlighting the importance of screening for this drug in forensic toxicological laboratories.