1,720,979 research outputs found
Legislazione internazionale, nazionale e problematiche terminologiche e definitorie in tema di cannabis
Get PDFNon di rado compaiono all’interno delle sentenze e della normativa in tema di stupefacenti, termini riferiti alla cannabis
che non sembrano essere in linea con gli studi scientifici condotti dalla botanica e dalla tossicologia. Numerose sono state le
occasioni avute a livello legislativo per porre rimedio a questa discordanza lessicale e terminologica; tuttavia, ancora oggi,
persiste una diffusa incertezza che potrebbe avere ripercussioni sulla concreta applicazione dei precetti penali previsti dal
combinato disposto degli articoli 28 e 73 del T.U., D.P.R. 309/1990. Il presente lavoro si pone, dunque, l’obiettivo di affrontare
i temi sopra accennati anche tramite l’analisi della normativa nazionale e comunitaria oltre che attraverso l’esame di alcune
significative decisioni della Corte di Cassazione penale e della Corte di giustizia europea
Detection of cannabinoids by ELISA and GC-MS methods in a hair sample previously used to detect other drugs of abuse
No full textA forensic standard procedure is described that combines enzymelinked
immunoassay for screening and gas chromatography–mass
spectrometry (GC–MS) for confirmation to detect drugs of abuse in
a sample before used to detect opioids and cocaine. We used two
equal aliquots of the same previously selected cannabinoid positive
hair samples, one of which was subjected to acid hydrolysis.
Afterward, both the aliquots were subjected to basic extraction
and then to immunoassay screening. After derivatization, the GC–
MS parameters were the same for both the aliquots for the determination
of the cannabinoids (D9-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiol and
cannabinol). The results show that there were no statistical differences
between the nonpreviously treated and the pretreated hair samples
for the quantification of the three cannabis products for immunochemical
procedure. No differences between the two groupswere shown as
for GC–MS confirmation procedures. All substances showed a good
linearity between 0.05 and 2 ng/mg. The limit of detection ranged
from 0.02 to 0.03 ng/mg, and the limit of quantification was
0.05 ng/mg for all substances. To our knowledge, this is the first
time that screening and confirmation procedures have been applied
on the same sample of hair to detect more than one drug of abus
Determination of Drugs of Abuse in a Single Sample of Human Teeth by a Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry Method
No full textThe purpose of this study was to develop and validate a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method to detect drugs of abuse in a single sample of tooth. Pulverized samples of dental materials were subjected to acid hydrolysis to detect opiates, cocaine and their metabolites. The residual dental materials from these analyses were subjected to basic extraction to detect cannabis products (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiol and cannabinol). The method showed a good linearity between 0.05 and 2 ng/mg for all substances. The limit of detection ranged from 0.02 to 0.03 ng/mg, and the limit of quantification was 0.05 ng/mg. The application of the method to samples of teeth obtained from drug addicts was successful. It can be applied in post-mortem cases, especially when limited amounts of sample are available
A study of free and total morphine in heroin death of chronic users
Get PDFHeroin is a widely abused substance, involved in a large number of deaths. It has been seen that long-term exposure to street heroin results in an increase in morphine glu- curonide metabolites. This suggested us that there might be a relationship between blood morphine metabolites concentrations and heroin-related deaths. In particular, the concen- tration of morphine glucuronide metabolites could be higher in delayed heroin-related death compared to rapid heroin-related deaths. To evaluate this hypothesis, 53 forensic autopsies of heroin-related death collected between 2016 and 2022 were divided into two groups: chronic user (CU) and non-chronic users (NCU), on the basis of the morphine positivity in hair. The dif- ference of blood free morphine concentrations (FM), blood total morphine concentrations (TM) in blood and bile morphine concentrations (BTM), in the two groups were statistically analysed. Also, the FM/TM ratios were calculated. FM was used to analyse the difference of immediate, subacute and delayed deaths in the two groups. The results showed that the median FM value in the CU group was non-statistically higher than in NCU one. The CU group showed a significantly higher median TM and BTM values, but a significantly lower FM/TM value than in NCU group. Furthermore, the CU group showed a significantly higher percentage of FM in delayed deaths than NCU group. In conclusion, measurements of blood variables indicate a shift in morphine metabolites that could be involved in heroin-related death among chronic users, possibly being a risk factor for delayed causes of death of drug users
A study into the nature and extent of polydrug use in driving recidivism behavior
No full textbjective: Polydrug use has become a frequent pattern of drug consumption in Europe, and this is considered a particularly dangerous risk factor for impaired driving. In Italy, persons whose license has been revoked or suspended due to the use of psychoactive drugs can reapply for a new driving license, depending on the judgment of the relevant local medical committee (CML). To regain a revoked license, offenders must remain drug free throughout an observation period. An important problem with enforcement of impaired driving is recidivism. The aim of the present study is to analyze the influence of polydrug use on driving recidivism. Method: We report the findings of several years’ experience at the forensic toxicology laboratory of the University of Macerata. Hair samples collected over a 7-year period by the CML from drug users were analyzed for cocaine, opiates, and cannabis using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Results: Three hundred thirty-five of the tested subjects were recidivists. Recidivism was more frequent among monodrug users (81%) compared with polydrug users (19%), but logistic regression showed that polydrug use is certainly a risk factor for recidivism compared to monodrug use (odds ratio [OR] = 1.99). The sex and age distribution of recidivist subjects showed a strong predominance of males in both groups, but there were no sex differences. There were more recidivist polydrug users than recidivist monodrug users in the younger age groups (OR = 2.012). Cocaine use was most prevalent in the recidivist monodrug group. All drugs analyzed were demonstrated to be a risk factor for recidivism among monodrug users, whereas only the cocaine and cannabis combination was shown to be a risk factor for recidivism among polydrug users (OR = 1.65 versus cocaine; OR = 1.30 versus Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol). Almost all polydrug users became monodrug users, and cocaine was the most frequently detected drug in the subsequent test during the monitoring phase. Conclusions: Our results show that polydrug use increases the risk of impaired driving recidivism and represents a considerable threat to road safety
Identification of N-piperidinyl etonitazene in alternative keratinous matrices from a decomposing cadaver
No full textThis short report describes research on N-piperidinyl etonitazene, also known as etonitazepipne, in keratinous matrices (hair and nails) after death related to a suspected opioid overdose. Etonitazepipne belongs to the family of benzimidazole opioids, a class of new synthetic opioids that has penetrated the illicit drug market. Analysis in the case under study showed the presence of etonitazepipne in both hair and nails, confirming that the substance accumulates in the body with repeated intake
Driving under the effect of drugs: Hair analysis in order to evaluate recidivism
No full textUnder Italian law drug addiction and regular drug abuse are incompatible with driving ability. One important problem with the enforcement of the impaired driving law is the large number of people that re-offend. To regain their license, offenders must be drug-free for the duration of an observation period, according to the judgement of a medical commission. The exclusion of illicit drug use is determined by toxicological analysis. A few studies exist that have used a hair matrix to monitor recidivism. Hair is an attractive matrix for monitoring drug recidivism, due to the large time window for drug detection, and to the non-alterability of this matrix. We report the results of several years of experience at our forensic toxicology laboratory in the use of hair analysis for the assessment of past exposure to drugs in persons suspected of driving under the influence of drugs. 5592 subjects were analyzed for opiates, cocaine and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (D9-THC) using a GC/MS method. 1062 (19.0%) subjects resulted positive. From this group, the individuals that resulted positive at least at the second control were considered recidivists (243, 22.9%). 79.7% of recidivist subjects were positive for cocaine and metabolites, 14.9% for morphine and metabolites, 5.4% for D9-THC. We also studied the time frame of the abuse, as well as gender and age distribution of recidivist subjects. Furthermore, we analyzed risk factors associated with recidivist behaviour. Our results show that cocaine consumption was the only factor that showed significance with regard to increased likelihood of being a recidivist. ã _2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved
Comparative postmortem blood alcohol concentrations in cardiac and peripheral blood: a case series
No full textBlood is an exceptionally important tissue in forensic toxicology. Determination of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is conducted in gas chromatography with flame ionization detection using the headspace technique (HS-GC-FID). Whenever possible, postmortem blood from two districts, cardiac and peripheral, should be drawn at each autopsy. Because of the high probability of contamination, blood from the thoracic and abdominal cavities should be avoided unless no other blood matrix is available. In postmortem analysis for the determination and quantification of exogenous substances, cardiac blood tends to be more prone to redistribution than peripheral blood. Postmortem redistribution (PMR) is a phenomenon whereby the concentration of exogenous substances undergoes alterations in the body after death. The underlying mechanism is complex and still unclear; moreover, the degree of PMR can vary depending on the districts and tissues involved. Analyses conducted on peripheral (e.g., femoral) blood show greater reliability in terms of results than cardiac blood
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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