This report details the toxicology profile of victims of drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) in New Zealand from 2015 to 2018. This study represents all of the toxicology results for DFSA cases in New Zealand during this time period, of which there were 161 cases. Blood and urine samples were screened for legal and illicit drugs in addition to testing for alcohol and correlating alcohol concentration with sampling delay. Our results indicate that increased delay in sampling time resulted in a corresponding decrease in alcohol concentration. In victims who had declared alcohol use but of which none was detected, the average sampling time was 14 hours for blood and 17 hours for urine, which is in excess of the average sampling delay for even the lowest alcohol-positive samples. The most frequently detected alcohol concentration was in the range of 51–80 mg/100 mL for blood and 121–200 mg/100 mL for urine with an average sampling time of 8.5 and 6.5 hours, respectively. We also examined acetone concentrations in alcohol-positive samples, and our results indicate that 82% of blood alcohol-positive samples contained acetone at concentrations between 5 and 10 mg/L and 68% of alcohol-positive urine samples contained acetone at a concentration >20 mg/L. It may be that the nature of sexual assault affects an individual’s metabolism of alcohol and results in increased acetone production. Cannabis was the most commonly detected illicit drug, followed by methamphetamine. In relation to medicinal drugs, there was a high usage of antidepressants and antipsychotics, suggesting the victims may have been people of vulnerable personality. Based on case information, it does not appear there are many cases where stupefaction by unknown administration of a drug has occurred, instead loss of consent through voluntary alcohol and drug consumption is more common and poses a greater risk than surreptitious drug administration.

A new forma specialis of Fusarium oxysporum (F. oxysporum f. sp. erythroxyli) pathogenic to Erythroxylum coca and E. novogranatense is described. The pathogen was isolated from the vascular tissue of diseased plants from an Erythroxylum plantation in Hawaii. This pathogen causes vascular wilt symptoms and death in both E. coca and E. novogranatense plants as soon as 7 weeks after soil infestation. The pathogenicity of seven isolates from the affected field was determined in field and growth-chamber studies. Genetic variation was not detected among the seven Hawaiian isolates, using arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction. The seven isolates could be differentiated from a strain isolated from a diseased E. coca plant from South America. All Hawaiian isolates and the South American isolate belonged to a single vegetative compatibility group.

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We describe the validation of a method for the simultaneous analysis of 29 synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) and metabolites, 4 amphetamines, and 2 cannabinoids in human whole blood. This method enables one analysis to cover what previously required multiple analyses for these classic and novel drugs-of-abuse with diverse physicochemical properties. The scope of targeted analytes was based on the most prevalent drugs-ofabuse and SCs encountered at the New Zealand border in 2017 and included parent compounds and metabolites belonging to the indole and indazole carboxamide, quinolinyl indole carboxylate, and naphthoylindole classifications. Samples were prepared by supported-liquid-extraction (SLE) followed by liquid chromatography −tandem mass spectrometry (LC−MS/MS) analysis with positive electrospray ionization (ESI). The method was validated with respect to selectivity, matrix effects, process efficiency, sensitivity, repeatability, extract stability, and carryover for qualitative confirmation. Linearity as well as accuracy and precision data at target decision concentrations were also evaluated. The limits of detection and confirmation ranged from 0.1 to 6.0 ng/mL and 1.0 to 6.0 ng/mL, respectively. The described method was successfully applied to the analysis of 564 ante-and post-mortem blood samples in 2018. There were 132 cases (23%) with positive findings of at least one SC, with the five most commonly detected SCs being AMB-FUBINACA and/or acid (61%), 5F-ADB and/or acid (40%), ADB-FUBINACA (11%), 5F-MDMB-PICA acid (6%), and MDMB-FUBINACA acid (6%). The results also demonstrate the predominant presence of metabolites at higher levels than the unchanged parent SCs in blood, highlighting the need to maintain forensic screening methods capable of the simultaneous detection of both parent compounds and metabolites.

Fusarium wilt of palms occurs worldwide, caused by different Fusarium oxysporum ff. spp. including F. oxysporum f. sp. elaeidis, F. oxysporum f. sp. canariensis, and F. oxysporum f. sp. albedinis (3). Prior to 2010, F. oxysporum f. sp. canariensis was the only palm infecting species known to occur in the United States. In 2010, isolates of F. oxysporum were reported from dying Syagrus romanzoffiana and Washingtonia robusta in Florida. Based on morphological and molecular data, as well as the unique host species affected by the pathogen, this fungus was determined to be a new forma specialis of F. oxysporum, designated f. sp. palmarum (1). The pathogen infects foliar tissue, causing complete necrosis of the crown and leading to tree death within 2 to 3 months. In June 2012, the Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (TPDDL) received a plant sample from a dying W. robusta palm, exhibiting reddish-brown stripes on the petiole with chlorotic and necrotic leaves, from an established palm in the landscape from Harris County, Texas. Fungal cultures were obtained from symptomatic foliar tissue and identified as F. oxysporum based on morphology. Microconidia were oval to reniform, 1- to 2-septate, measuring 5 to 18 × 2.5 to 5 μm. Phialides were short with microconidia produced in false heads. Macroconidia were curved and slender with a foot-shaped basal cell, usually 3-septate, and 22 to 37 × 2.5 to 5 μm. Chlamydospores were roundish and ranged from 7 to 13 μm in diameter. Fungal colonies had white to purple mycelia when grown on potato dextrose agar. DNA from a single spore culture was extracted, amplified by PCR using primers corresponding to a segment of the translation elongation factor 1α (EF-1α) gene, and the PCR product sequenced (2). Using the sequence alignment tool (BLASTn) in GenBank, the TPDDL's sequence (GenBank Accession No. KC897693) was aligned with EF-1α regions from F. oxysporum f. sp. palmarum isolates previously entered into the database ([1]; accessions GQ154455[=NRRL53544] and GQ154456[=NRRL46589]), revealing 100% homology between the isolates. Based on host source and sequence similarity, the fungus was tentatively identified as F. oxysporum f. sp. palmarum. Pathogenicity tests were performed on three leaf seedlings of W. robusta and W. filifera. Fifteen plants of each species were inoculated with the suspect isolate (designated KB2012) and 10 control plants were mock-inoculated as described by (1). Plants were grown in a greenhouse for 8 weeks post-inoculation. During this time, 83% of inoculated plants developed foliar lesions and died or severely declined, and all control plants remained healthy. F. oxysporum was recovered in culture from 100% of the symptomatic plants. DNA was extracted from fungal cultures, and EF-1α was amplified by PCR and sequenced, as described above. The amplicon was determined to share 100% homology with known F. oxysporum f. sp. palmarum isolates, confirming this fungus as the cause of disease in W. robusta. This is the first report of this pathogen in Texas, as well as the first report outside of Florida. This is also the first documentation of W. filifera as a host of this pathogen. References: (1) M. L. Elliott et al. Plant Dis. 94:31, 2010. (2) D. M. Geiser et al. Eur. J. Plant Pathol. 110:473, 2004. (3) G. W. Simone. Pages 17-19 in: Compendium of Ornamental Palm Diseases and Disorders, M. L. Elliott et al., eds. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN, 2004.