This paper presents a multi-drug fatality in which methyl salicylate was ingested. It is presented to inform the toxicological community that a particularly expeditious method of detection for methyl salicylate exists. Previously published methods for the analysis of methyl salicylate include a gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric method and an alkaline/acidic extraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) analysis. This article describes a method for analyzing methyl salicylate using HPLC, in which a simple, rapid extraction procedure is used. Using a previously published HPLC method, methyl salicylate and salicylic acid were easily identified in biological specimens. Methyl salicylate and salicylic acid were detected using an extraction solution of acetonitrile coupled with internal standard and then analyzed by HPLC-diode-array detection. Because of its concentrated liquid form, methyl salicylate ingestion can cause rapid onset salicylate toxicity. As the potentially fatal methyl salicylate forms are readily available and easily found on drugstore shelves, the need to rapidly detect and quantitate salicylic acid concentrations that are due to methyl salicylate ingestion may arise. In the case presented, the peripheral blood concentration of salicylic acid from methyl salicylate ingestion was 320 mg/L, and the concentration in gastric contents was 820 mg. It alone was not the cause of death, however. The discovery of the ability to detect and quantitate methyl salicylate was due to its suspected ingestion.
Anuran tadpoles exhibit extraordinary diversity in mouthpart morphology, reflecting phylogenetic relationships, life history specializations, and ecological adaptations. In this study, we investigate patterns and potential environmental drivers of variation in labial teeth counts across and within the coastal tailed frog (Ascaphus truei) and the Rocky Mountain tailed frog (A. montanus), which together constitute the basal frog family Ascaphidae. Tailed frogs occupy cold, fast-flowing, high gradient streams in mesic forests of western North America, with differences in environmental conditions that reflect their coastal and continental distributions. Despite a very strong relationship between the number of labial teeth and developmental (Gosner) stage, we found significant relationships between tooth counts and site-specific environmental predictors after controlling for stage. The most important environmental predictor varied between the species, with percent canopy cover for A. truei and average benthic substrate size for A. montanus. There were also differences in the overall tooth counts between species, with A. truei having more teeth in all rows compared to A. montanus. These findings demonstrate that differences in oral morphology in response to local environmental conditions can override the homogenizing effects of gene flow in both Ascaphus species, likely through a combination of local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity. Follow-up investigations should include the assessment of community level variability across sites, and experimental tests to confirm functional relationships between environmental variation and oral morphology, in addition to partitioning genetic from plastic mechanisms.
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