Special Issue "The Identification of Drug Abuse"
A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 January 2022.
Special Issue Editor
Interests: forensic toxicology; data acquisition; gender differences; proteomics; post-mortem analysis; drug abuse; psychoactive substances
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Over the last decades, interest in the field of forensic toxicology has continually increased and assumed a leading role, becoming one of the reference sciences for the elucidation of events of judicial importance. The need to reconcile analytical problems (e.g., relating to the qualitative/quantitative analysis of substances of abuse in complex biological matrices) with judicial requirements (i.e., providing data that can be used as documentary evidence in proceedings) makes the discipline unique among all "analytical" sciences. Thus, the availability of validated procedures, the constant monitoring of analytical performance through quality assurance protocols, the availability of certified “in matrix” standards, and the analytical problems underlying the analysis of new psychoactive substances in blood and other biological fluids represent the challenges of modern forensic toxicology. The correct interpretation of analytical data, especially to elucidate the extent of impairment induced by a certain substance, and "old" issues related to the correct interpretation of post-mortem data (given the impossibility of translating the therapeutic ranges defined “in vivo”) represent further areas of research and debate among scientists. Finally, the possibility of interacting with other disciplines (such as proteomics and social sciences) allows for extending the concept of analytical data acquisition/interpretation beyond the classical limits of forensic toxicology (for example, considering the influence of gender when interpreting the effect of a substance).
We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue of Toxics on forensic toxicology, which will be focused on problems related to data acquisition/interpretation, with particular emphasis on post-mortem data, new psychoactive substances, strategies for an appropriate impairment judgment, and application of proteomics to forensic toxicology. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are particularly welcomed.
I look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Maria Pieri
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- drugs of abuse detection
- interpretation of forensic toxicological data
- impairment degree definition
- post-mortem data
- new psychoactive substances
- biological matrices
- method validation
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: Thermal (in)stability of atropine and scopolamine in the GC-MS inlet
Authors: Gordana Koželja*; Helena Prosenb
Affiliation: a. Institute of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Korytkova 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia b. Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Večna pot 113, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract: The intoxication due to unintentional or intentional ingestion of plant material containing tropane alkaloids is quite frequent. GC-MS method is still widely used for the identification of these toxicologically important substances in human specimen. To allow detection of less volatile substances during general unknown analysis, high temperature of inlet, at least 270 °C, is commonly used. Unfortunately, both tropanes are thermally unstable and could be overlooked due to their degradability. The temperature related degradation of tropanes atropine and scopolamine was systematically studied in the inlet of a gas chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer in the range from 110 °C to 250 °C by increments of 20 °C, additionally also at 275 °C and in different solvents. At inlet temperatures below 250 °C, the degradation products were formed by elimination of water and cleavage of atropine’s ester bond. At higher temperatures, elimination of formaldehyde became predominant. These phenomena were less pronounced when ethyl acetate was used instead of methanol, while hexane proved unsuitable for several reasons. At inlet temperature of 275 °C tropanes were barely detectable. During systematic toxicological analysis any presence of tropanes’ degradation products should trigger the suspicion that atropine and/or scopolamine are present in the sample. To confirm their presence, it is not necessary to prepare thermally stable derivatives as the temperature of inlet can be decreased to 250 °C, which is enough to decrease their degradation to a level where their detection and identification are possible.
Title: The thin border between palliative sedation and incongruous drug administration in terminal cancer patients.
Authors: P. Basilicata1; P. Giugliano2; G. Vacchiano3; A. Simonelli1,*; R. Guadagni1; A. Silvestre1; M. Pieri1
Affiliation: 1Department of Advanced Biomedical Science-Legal Medicine Section. University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples (Italy). 2AORN “Sant’Anna e San Sebastiano” Caserta- Legal Medicine Section, Caserta (Italy). 3Department of Law, Economics and Mathematical Methods. University of Sannio, Benevento (Italy).
Abstract: I decided to focus our contribution to the special issue on the item of drug administration in very critical patients. In particular, I would like to illustrate a case of incongruous benzodiazepine administration to a terminal cancer patient, to address the issue of the correct definition of therapies in the light of the particular conditions of the individual patient. A tentative title and list of Authors is attached
Title: Thermal (in)stability of atropine and scopolamine in the GC-MS inlet
Authors: Gordana Koželj; Helena Prosen
Affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Korytkova 2, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract: The intoxication due to unintentional or intentional ingestion of plant material containing tropane alkaloids is quite frequent. GC-MS method is still widely used for the identification of these toxicologically important substances in human specimen. During general unknown analysis, high temperature of inlet, at least 270 °C, is commonly used for less volatile substances. Unfortunately, both tropanes are thermally unstable and could be overlooked due to their degradation. The temperature related degradation of tropanes atropine and scopolamine was systematically studied in the inlet of a GC-MS instrument in the range 110–250 °C by increments of 20 °C, additionally also at 275 °C, and in different solvents. At inlet temperatures not higher than 250 °C, the degradation products were formed by elimination of water and cleavage of atropine’s ester bond. At higher temperatures, elimination of formaldehyde became predominant. These phenomena were less pronounced when ethyl acetate was used instead of methanol, while n-hexane proved unsuitable for several reasons. At inlet temperature of 275 °C tropanes were barely detectable. During systematic toxicological analysis any tropanes’ degradation products should indicate possible presence of atropine and/or scopolamine in the sample. It is not necessary to prepare thermally stable derivatives for confirmation. Instead, the inlet temperature can be decreased to 250 °C, which diminishes their degradation to a level where their detection and identification are possible.