scholarly journals Modern possibilities of forensic medical evaluation and differentiation of acute intoxications

2021 ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Dunaiev ◽  
Serhii Kozlov ◽  
Igor Oliynyk ◽  
Mykhailo Bratenko

This article analyzes modern scientific sources on the problems of detection of toxic substances in the human body, considers the existing methods of toxicological examination used in practical forensic medicine to establish and differentiate acute intoxications with various chemical compounds. Despite the presence of a large number of methods of toxicological analysis, forensic diagnosis of poisoning is often complicated due to lack of data on the circumstances of the event, clinical data of poisoning, pathognomonic signs of poisoning, the difficulty of interpreting the results. Conclusions. When interpreting the results of a toxicological study should always take into account the circumstances of the case and factors that may have influenced the change in the concentration of toxic substances. There is a need to develop and implement in practice forensic toxicology laboratories fundamentally new diagnostic approaches for the detection of toxic substances and the differentiation of types of poisoning.

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateusz Kacper Woźniak ◽  
Marek Wiergowski ◽  
Jacek Namieśnik ◽  
Marek Biziuk

Background:Ethyl alcohol is the most popular legal drug, but its excessive consumption causes social problems. Despite many public campaigns against alcohol use, car accidents, instances of aggressive behaviour, sexual assaults and deterioration in labor productivity caused by inebriated people is still commonplace. Fast and easy diagnosis of alcohol consumption is required in order to introduce proper and effective therapy, and is crucial in forensic toxicology analysis. The easiest method to prove alcohol intake is determination of ethanol in body fluids or in breath. However, since ethanol is rapidly metabolized in the human organism, only recent consumption can be detected using this method. Because of that, the determination of alcohol biomarkers was introduced for monitoring alcohol consumption over a wider range of time.Objective:The objective of this study was to review published studies focusing on the sample preparation methods and chromatographic or biochemical techniques for the determination of alcohol biomarkers in whole blood, plasma, serum and urine.Methods:An electronic literature search was performed to discuss possibilities and limitations of application of alcohol biomarkers in toxicological analysis.Results:Authors described the markers of alcohol consumption such as: ethanol, its nonoxidative metabolites (ethyl glucuronide, ethyl sulfate, phosphatidylethanol, ethyl phosphate, fatty acid ethyl esters) and oxidative metabolites (acetaldehyde and acetaldehyde adducts). We also discussed issues concerning the detection window of these biomarkers, and possibilities and limitations of their use in routine analytical toxicology for monitoring alcohol consumption or sobriety during alcohol therapy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 3010
Author(s):  
Michal Szeremeta ◽  
Karolina Pietrowska ◽  
Anna Niemcunowicz-Janica ◽  
Adam Kretowski ◽  
Michal Ciborowski

Forensic toxicology and forensic medicine are unique among all other medical fields because of their essential legal impact, especially in civil and criminal cases. New high-throughput technologies, borrowed from chemistry and physics, have proven that metabolomics, the youngest of the “omics sciences”, could be one of the most powerful tools for monitoring changes in forensic disciplines. Metabolomics is a particular method that allows for the measurement of metabolic changes in a multicellular system using two different approaches: targeted and untargeted. Targeted studies are focused on a known number of defined metabolites. Untargeted metabolomics aims to capture all metabolites present in a sample. Different statistical approaches (e.g., uni- or multivariate statistics, machine learning) can be applied to extract useful and important information in both cases. This review aims to describe the role of metabolomics in forensic toxicology and in forensic medicine.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 884-890
Author(s):  
Irina Bejanidze ◽  
Tina Kharebava ◽  
Nunu Nakashidze ◽  
Lamzira Komcelidze ◽  
Nazi Davitadze

Fresh fruit juices contain organic acids and mineral substances (potassium, calcium, iron, copper, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, molybdenum, boron, iodine), and their salts, large amounts of fiber, pectin and enzymes - complex substances, that contribute to the food processing and absorption of nutritional elements. Natural citrus juices contain essential vitamins and nutrients for the human body. Therefore, they represent a good opportunity for the treatment and prevention of various diseases. With the vitamins, taken through the juice, the human body becomes more resistant to viruses and infections, stressful situations and intense physical stress, and the body’s metabolism becomes normalized. Beverages, prepared from juices improve intestinal motility and thus contribute to improving the allocation of toxic substances and slags from the organism. The purpose of this work is the development of technological parameters of the ultrafiltration process to obtain natural juices which are sterile, resistant to precipitation and turbidity, and have a long shelf life. This paper examines the performance of the ultrafiltration process of citrus juices (lemon, tangerine, orange) and its dependence on the pressure and duration of the process, type and porosity of the membrane, the nature of the juice, and acidity. The juice composition was studied before and after ultrafiltration. It was established, that the productivity of the ultrafiltration process depends on: the duration of the process and this dependence is determined by the nature of the process: membrane type, in particular, filtration material and pressure: with an increase in membrane porosity and pressure, the productivity of the process, the volume of filtered juice, filtering speed and duration increases; the productivity of the ultrafiltration process, during the filtration both in dynamic and static mode, depends on the type and consistency of the juice: it increases with the increase of juice acidity. It was established: the general acidity (1.17%), density (1.038 g/cm3), the content of dry substances (9.9%), sugars (7.8%), including invert (7.2%), ash ( 0.26%), and vitamin C ( 20mg/ 100gr.), do not change in the course of ultrafiltration of tangerine juice. The viscosity, the content of carotenoids, cellulose and pectin decreases. The amino-acid structure practically does not change; hollow fibers detain only 6 - 8% of proteins and amino acids. For obtaining high-quality citrus juices, ultrafiltration should be carried out at a pressure 0.2MPa, on hollow fiber, in a dynamic, circulating mode. The juices obtained by ultrafiltration on hollow fibers (AP-2.0) are sterile, resistant to precipitation and turbidity, have significantly increased shelf lives, and they retain their organoleptic properties and nutritional values.


2020 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-47
Author(s):  
Sanavio Matteo ◽  
Saladini Marina ◽  
Favretto Donata ◽  
Snenghi Rossella

We present the case of a 60-year-old male, with a long history of epilepsy, who was discovered submerged and unconscious in a small thermal whirlpool bath. The circumstances were forensically reviewed to include examination of clinical data and an autopsy with toxicological analysis. The conclusion was that “warm” hydro-therapy had contributed more than “hot” mud-therapy to the onset of epilepsy which led to accidental drowning, notwithstanding the deceased’s treatment with the long-lasting, poly-drug antiepileptic therapy. Further, we analysed the Italian medical indications of wellness centres for patients with epilepsy or other diseases.


2011 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 1892-1895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nebile Daglioglu ◽  
Ramazan Akcan ◽  
Mete Korkut Gulmen ◽  
Fadile Yener ◽  
Pinar Efeoglu

In Cukurova region, pesticide poisonings still remain an unfortunate cause of death, which led to the present study. The autopsy records of Adana Branch of the Council of Forensic Medicine, between 2006 and 2008, were evaluated retrospectively. Deaths that were attributed to pesticide poisoning were included in the scope of the study to identify the type of pesticide, and etiology of intoxication. The frequency and distribution of intoxications were also analyzed in terms of sex and age. In the studied period, a total of 4199 autopsies were referred to the forensic toxicology laboratory for pesticide analysis. Seventy-two cases were positive for pesticide analysis. Of these, 42 (58.33%) were male and 30 (41.67%) were female, with a mean age of 38.8 ± 20.6 years. Among the inspected pesticides, endosulfan was found to be the most common with 47.2% of prevalence, followed by dichlorvos. This report showed that certain pesticides, endosulfan in particular, remains as common cause of poisonings in Cukurova region.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 454
Author(s):  
Estelle Flament ◽  
Jérôme Guitton ◽  
Jean-Michel Gaulier ◽  
Yvan Gaillard

Several families of higher fungi contain mycotoxins that cause serious or even fatal poisoning when consumed by humans. The aim of this review is to inventory, from an analytical point of view, poisoning cases linked with certain significantly toxic mycotoxins: orellanine, α- and β-amanitin, muscarine, ibotenic acid and muscimol, and gyromitrin. Clinicians are calling for the cases to be documented by toxicological analysis. This document is therefore a review of poisoning cases involving these mycotoxins reported in the literature and carries out an inventory of the analytical techniques available for their identification and quantification. It seems indeed that these poisonings are only rarely documented by toxicological analysis, due mainly to a lack of analytical methods in biological matrices. There are many reasons for this issue: the numerous varieties of mushroom involved, mycotoxins with different chemical structures, a lack of knowledge about distribution and metabolism. To sum up, we are faced with (i) obstacles to the documentation and interpretation of fatal (or non-fatal) poisoning cases and (ii) a real need for analytical methods of identifying and quantifying these mycotoxins (and their metabolites) in biological matrices.


2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank T. Peters ◽  
Dirk K. Wissenbach

AbstractThe so-called systematic toxicological analysis (STA) aiming at simultaneous analysis of as many toxicologically relevant compounds in biosamples as possible is an important part of routine analysis in clinical and forensic toxicology. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography with diode array detection have been the most widely used techniques for this purpose. However, in recent years STA methods based on liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS) or tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) have become increasingly important, although their widespread use is still hampered by the lack of a universal reference library of mass spectra that can be used on all major instrument platforms. In this review, LC-MS(/MS) methods for STA in urine and/or blood published in the past 6 years will be compared and discussed with regard to sample preparation, separation, instrument types used for mass spectrometric detection, and method validation. In addition, different approaches to achieving the goal of a universal reference library will be summarized.


2004 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 571-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
H M Teixeira ◽  
F Reis ◽  
P Proença ◽  
P Ramos ◽  
O Quińtela ◽  
...  

The quantification of medical or toxic substances in vitreous humour (VH) could be very useful in forensic toxicology when blood sample determinations are impossible due to absence or deterioration. However, few studies have been made in this area and even fewer have tried to find a relationship between drug levels in both samples. To determine a correlation ratio between blood and VH diazepam (DZ) levels, we performed an experimental study using rabbits administered with a sub-toxic dose of DZ under known and controlled conditions. Blood and VH samples were collected 0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 6 hours after the drug administration in order to determine DZ and its main active metabolite, desmethyldiazepam (DMD). In addition, we have studied an animal group sacrificed 2 hours after intramuscular (i.m.) drug administration with blood and VH collection 24 hours later, to evaluate the existence of possible post-mortem changes. After DZ administration, a fast absorption phase was observed with a plasma Cmax value 1 hour after, followed by a rapid concentration decrease, with a half-life of 1 hour, indicating that, besides elimination, a fast distribution to other organs and tissues and/or hepatic metabolism occurred. Diazepam Cmax value in VH was achieved between 1 and 2 hours, when plasma concentrations had already decreased to half the value. The plasma/VH DZ ratio calculated at this time was 10. In the post-mortem study, while plasma DZ concentration at 24 hours was smaller, DMD levels were higher than those at the time of death. In the VH, both DZ and DMD concentrations at 24 hours were higher than those obtained at the time of death. That is, in both fluids DZ and DMD concentrations were different from those at the time of death and post-mortem distribution and redistribution phenomena occurred. The combination of antemortem and post-mortem studies has allowed the determination of a correlation ratio for DZ in the rabbit of 6×, comparing the concentrations in VH collected 24 hours after death with the concentrations detected in plasma at the time of death. This study opens new perspectives for the use of VH as a complementary sample to blood for DZ detection and confirmation. The putative relevance of the correlation ratio obtained, for forensic toxicology practice with medical substances, namely benzodiazepines, recommends further studies in humans.


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