1,354,316 research outputs found
Drugs of abuse analysis in urine and hair for the evaluation of the driving fitness. An epidemiological study
No full textLa guida sotto l’effetto di sostanze stupefacenti rappresenta un grave problema per la sicurezza stradale. La legge Italiana vieta il rilascio o la conferma della patente di guida a chiunque si trovi in stato di dipendenza o faccia un consumo abituale di sostanze stupefacenti o psicotrope. Ciò ha rilevanti ripercussioni sul piano sociale e professionale, dal momento che oggi la patente di guida è diventato uno strumento essenziale, oltre che per la mobilità, anche per lo svolgimento di numerose attività professionali. La normativa prevede che la valutazione di queste condizioni di consumo abituale e/o di dipendenza da sostanze d'abuso sia affidata alle commissioni mediche provinciali per le patenti, che si avvalgono di accertamenti chimico-tossicologici eseguiti sulle urine e/o sui capelli. Questo studio si è proposto di analizzare i risultati degli accertamenti chimico-tossicologici effettuati, su richiesta della Commissione Medica Provinciale per le patenti di Verona, dal laboratorio di Tossicologia Forense del Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Medicina di Comunità dell'Università di Verona con l’obiettivo di: (i) valutare frequenze relative di positività ed eventuali trend per le diverse classi di sostanze d’abuso nel periodo 2003-2008; (ii) definire, nell’ambito della popolazione esaminata, i principali fattori di rischio per la positività all'accertamento; (iii) identificare l’approccio diagnostico più efficace per la valutazione di idoneità alla guida in rapporto all’uso di droga.
Durante il periodo esaminato la cocaina è stata in assoluto la sostanza stupefacente riscontrata più frequentemente. Il confronto tra l'analisi delle urine e dei capelli ha confermato la complementarietà delle due matrici biologiche e, dunque, la necessità di effettuare entrambe le analisi al fine di massimizzare la sensibilità epidemiologica dell'accertamento. Questo studio ha inoltre dimostrato come l'accertamento di idoneità alla guida costituisca un efficace deterrente al consumo di droghe dal momento che soltanto circa un quarto dei soggetti positivi al primo controllo risulta nuovamente positivo al secondo controllo.Driving under the influence of drugs is a serious problem for road traffic safety. According to the Italian Road Traffic Code, the driving licence must not be issued to anyone who abuses, is addicted to, or suffers for dependence to illicit or psychotropic drugs. The diagnosis of such clinical conditions is performed by Provincial Medical Commissions of the Public Health Service also on the basis of drugs of abuse testing results on urine and/or hair samples. This study aimed at examining test results obtained by the Forensic Toxicology laboratory of the Department of Public Health & Community Medicine, University of Verona, upon request of the local Medical Commission, over the period 2003-2008 with the purposes of (i) defining trends in drug abuse in the examined population (ii) identifying specific risk factors for testing positive and for relapse, (iii) selecting the most effective and efficient analytical strategy to detect illicit drugs use.
During the study period, cocaine was the most frequently detected illicit drug. The comparison of results from urine and hair testing confirmed the complementary features of these two biological substrates and the importance to have both data in order to increase the sensitivity in detecting illicit drug use. Moreover, this study showed that testing for driving fitness is an effective deterrent to illicit drug use, as only about one quarter of subjects testing positive at the first testing are still positive at the second testing
Analytical and diagnostic aspects of carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT): A critical review over years 2007-2017.
No full textThe need for investigating alcohol abuse by means of objective tools is worldwide accepted. Among the currently available biomarkers of chronic alcohol abuse, carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) is one of the most used indicator, mainly because of its high specificity. However, some CDT analytical and interpretation aspects are still under discussion, as witnessed by numerous research papers and reviews. The present article presents a critical review of the literature on CDT appeared in the period from 2007 to 2017 (included). The article is organized in the following sections: (1) introduction, (2) pre-analytical aspects (3) analytical aspects (4) diagnostic aspects (5) concluding remarks. As many as 139 papers appeared in the international literature and retrieved by the search engines PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus are quoted
Evaluation of driving fitness in relation with the use of illicit and psychotropic substances. Epidemiological study of cases from Verona
No full textDriving under the influence of drugs is a serious problem for road traffic safety. According to the Italian Road Traffic Code, the driving licence must not be issued to anyone who abuses, is addicted to, or suffers for dependence to illicit or psychotropic drugs. The diagnosis of such clinical conditions is performed by Provincial Medical Commissions of the Public Health Service also on the basis of drugs of abuse testing results on urine and/or hair samples. This study aimed at examining test results obtained by the Forensic Toxicology laboratory of the Department of Public Health & Community Medicine, University of Verona, upon request of the local Medical Commission, over the period 2003-2008 with the purposes of(i) defining trends in drug abuse in the examined population (ii) identifying specific risk factors for testing positive and for relapse, (iii) selecting the most effective and efficient analytical strategy to detect illicit drugs use. During the study period, cocaine was the most frequently delected illicit drug. The comparison of results from urine and hair testing confirmed the complementary features of these two biological substrates and the importance to have both data in order to increase the sensitivity in detecting illicit drug use. Moreover, this study showed that testing for driving fitness is an effective deterrent to illicit drug use, as only about one quarter of subjects testing positive at the first testing are still positive at the second testing
Lactate determination in human vitreous humour by capillary electrophoresis and time of death investigation
No full textForensic inquests, particularly, in assessing time since death currently recognize the importance of the analysis of vitreous humour (VH) biomarkers. Present research, studies, and validates the determination of lactate (La) in VH by CZE with indirect UV detection. The BGE (pH 8.9) consisted of Tris buffer (37 mM) containing 4-methoxybenzoic acid (4 mM) and alkyl-trimethyl-ammonium bromide (1.2 mM). Each VH specimen was diluted with a butyric acid solution (internal standard 0.057 mM) and La and butyrate were separated within 3-5 min (30 kV). The La LOQ and LOD were 4 and 2 mM, respectively. The calibration curve linearity ranged from 4 to 80 mM; intra- and interruns precisions were less than 10% for standard as well as for VH specimen, respectively. To investigate postmortem interval (PMI) and VH lactate level correlation, human VH specimens were collected during autopsy (n = 40) and stored at -20°C until assay. La levels ranged from 16 to 42 mM; PMI values ranged from 10 to 141 h. La (mM) and PMI (h) correlation was statistically significant (r2 = 0.527; p < 0.05). In conclusion, the present CZE analysis is efficacious to determine VH La as a biomarker for PMI investigatio
Laser-Assisted Etching of EagleXG Glass by Irradiation at Low Pulse-Repetition Rate
No full textFemtosecond laser micromachining is becoming an established technique for the fabrication of complex three-dimensional structures in glass. The combination of laser writing and chemical etching increases the technique versatility by allowing the fabrication of hollow structures within the bulk material. The possibility to encompass both optical and fluidic components in a single substrate allows us to realize optofluidic devices usable in several application fields. Here, we present new investigations of laser-assisted etching in Eagle XG glass showing good etching conditions at low repetition rates, where thermal effects can be neglected, and low irradiation speeds, which allow for complex microchannel network formation
Uhl's anomaly
No full textJ.D. Richardson, K.S.L. Teo, A.G. Bertaso, D.T.L. Wong, P. Disney, S.G. Worthle
La valutazione dell'idoneità alla guida in relazione all'uso di sostanze stupefacenti e psicotrope. Studio epidemiologico della casistica veronese
No full textDriving under the influence of drugs is a serious
problem for road traffic safety. According to the Italian Road
Traffic Code, the driving licence must not be issued to anyone
who abuses, is addicted to, or suffers for dependence to illicit
or psychotropic drugs. The diagnosis of such clinical conditions
is performed by Provincial Medical Commissions of the Public
Health Service also on the basis of drugs of abuse testing results
on urine and/or hair samples. This study aimed at examining
test results obtained by the Forensic Toxicology laboratory
of the Department of Public Health & Community Medicine,
University of Verona, upon request of the local Medical
Commission, over the period 2003-2008 with the purposes of (i) defining trends in drug abuse in the examined population
(ii) identifying specific risk factors for testing positive and for
relapse, (iii) selecting the most effective and efficient analytical
strategy to detect illicit drugs use. During the study period,
cocaine was the most frequently detected illicit drug.
The comparison of results from urine and hair testing confirmed
the complementary features of these two biological substrates
and the importance to have both data in order to increase the
sensitivity in detecting illicit drug use. Moreover, this study
showed that testing for driving fitness is an effective deterrent
to illicit drug use, as only about one quarter of subjects testing
positive at the first testing are still positive at the second testing
Synthetic Protein Circuits and Devices Based on Reversible Protein-Protein Interactions: An Overview
No full textProtein-protein interactions (PPIs) contribute to regulate many aspects of cell physiology and metabolism. Protein domains involved in PPIs are important building blocks for engineering genetic circuits through synthetic biology. These domains can be obtained from known proteins and rationally engineered to produce orthogonal scaffolds, or computationally designed de novo thanks to recent advances in structural biology and molecular dynamics prediction. Such circuits based on PPIs (or protein circuits) appear of particular interest, as they can directly affect transcriptional outputs, as well as induce behavioral/adaptational changes in cell metabolism, without the need for further protein synthesis. This last example was highlighted in recent works to enable the production of fast-responding circuits which can be exploited for biosensing and diagnostics. Notably, PPIs can also be engineered to develop new drugs able to bind specific intra- and extra-cellular targets. In this review, we summarize recent findings in the field of protein circuit design, with particular focus on the use of peptides as scaffolds to engineer these circuits
Heat Transfer Analysis and Modeling for a Coaxial Solar Collector in a Domestic Cogeneration System
No full textThe need for an efficient energy system in domestic houses push the research toward innovative cogeneration system, which can meets the needs for electricity, heating and cooling power. A good electrical conversion is achieved from an energy source when its temperature is over 250 °C. Both conventional and renewable sources can be used to run a domestic cogenerative system; they can be in the form of fossil fuels, biomass and solar energy.
For the system here analysed a concentrating solar collectors provide hot diathermic at 300 °C, which is then employed to run a cogenerative Stirling engine. The engine generates electricity and hot water for heating and sanitary purpose, by exploiting the cooling power from the engine’s cold heat exchanger. The overall energy efficiency for this system can be up to 70%
Myocardial grid-tagging is a superior predictor of myocardial viability than late gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging post STEMI
No full textAbstract 520D. Wong, D. Leong, M. Weightman, M. Leung, J. Richardson, A. Bertaso, K. Teo, I. Meredith, M. Worthley, S. Worthle
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