Biochip Array Technology (BAT) is a new technique used for screening purposes in clinical and forensic toxicology. The purpose of this article is to compare it with the standard ELISA with spectrophotometric detection (SD) in regard of its sensibility and specificity. Material and methods. Fifty five samples were analyzed on both BAT and ELISA SD; the results were confirmed using either GC-MS (for opiates, benzoilecgonine and cannabinoids) or HPLC (for barbiturates and benzodiazepines). Results. For opiates BAT technique had a sensibility of 100% and a specificity of 97.72%. Sensibility for ELISA SD technique was 92.3% and specificity 97.72%. For benzoilecgonine the sensibility and specificity for BAT was 100% whilst for ELISA SD the sensibility was 100% and specificity was 93.10%. For cannabinoids the sensibility for BAT was 90%, and specificity was 97.7% whilst for the ELISA SD technique the sensibility was 100% and the specificity was 91.11%. For barbiturates the sensibility and specificity was 100% for both methods. For benzodiazepines the sensibility for BAT was 100% and the specificity was 95.65% whilst for ELISA SD the sensibility was 100% and the specificity was 93.47%. Conclusions. The results obtained on BAT are comparable with those from ELISA-SD and have a high sensitivity and specificity compared to the used confirmatory methods. The results do not have however an increased statistical significance due to a very small number of positive results, caused by an abruptly decreasing number of positive cases in the last year, mainly due to increased used of "legal highs".
Aim The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the pattern of alcohol use in drivers. Materials and methods. At the National Institute of Legal Medicine from Bucharest, we performed a retrospective study on toxicology reports between January 1st , 2019 and December 31st, 2020. Breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) was tested using Dräger breathalyzers by police units at the scene, and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was evaluated using headspace gas chromatography. Most drivers gave two blood samples, separated by a one-hour interval, case in which they could request a retrograde extrapolation of the BAC at the time when they were stopped in traffic. Results The distribution of the number of cases depending on the month showed a sharp decline in the first six months of the lockdown, with a slow upward trend afterward. Mean overall values for BrAC were 0.49 +/-0.40 mg/L, for 1 st sample BAC - 1.15+/-0.99 g/L and for 2 nd sample BAC - 1.29+/-0.81 g/L. Mean values obtained for BrAC were 0.48+/-0.39 mg/L before the pandemic and 0.52+/-0.43 mg/L during the pandemic. The increase was similar in absolute numbers in both male and female drivers (0.03 versus 0.04 mg/L respectively for BrAC and 0.02 g/L for both genders for 1 st sample BAC). However, the percentage increase was significantly higher in women. There were 253 cases in which BrAC had values between 0.01 and 0.05, of which 138 occurred before the pandemic and 115 during the pandemic, the increase being highly statistically significant. The percentage of drivers with BAC levels below and above 0.8 g/L (the threshold value for which DUI is a felony in Romania) were similar before and during the pandemic. Conclusions During the lockdown, the number of alcohol tests in traffic has decreased significantly. This reduction was not associated with statistically significant changes in BrAC or BAC. We have seen a substantial increase in the number of minimally elevated BrAC and negative BAC cases, changes that could be caused by an increased use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers.
In the last few years in Romania a modern system of drug detection has been developed in the legal medicine system, increasing the detection rate and the sensitivity of DRD detection. In this short report we will present a general profile of drug abuse in Bucharest in 2010. The study was conducted in 2010 when a total number of 208 toxicology tests were conducted in the National Institute of Legal Medicine, 105 on cadavers and 103 on living persons. As main results, in living the most frequently identified drugs of abuse were THC and opiates whilst in cadavers opiates were the most frequent, followed by benzodiazepines. Conclusions. Opiate consumption has a tendency to decrease compared with 2009. Legal highs seems to shift the pattern of drug consumption in Bucharest and surrounding areas, but a definite results can only be obtained using test results from 2011.
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