Urine drug screening: A guide to monitoring Tx with controlled substances

Avoid error by ordering the appropriate test at a risk-based frequency. Be alert to sources of false-positives and adulteration. Be careful not to overreact to unexpected results.

Evaluation of the exposure prediction component of Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Essentials

The exposure prediction component of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Essentials model (paper version) was evaluated using field measurements from National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Health Hazard Evaluation (HHE) reports. Overall 757 measured exposures for 94 similar exposure groups (SEGs) were compared with the COSHH Essentials predicted exposure range (PER). The SEGs were stratified based on the magnitude of measured exposures (high, medium, or low) and physical state of the substance (vapor or particulate). The majority of measured exposures observed involved low-level exposure to vapors; thus, overall findings from the current study are limited to low-level vapor exposure scenarios. Overall, the exposure prediction component of COSHH Essentials vastly overestimated low-level exposures to vapors. This study went beyond the scope of previous studies and investigated which model components led to the overestimation. It was concluded that COSHH Essential's tendency to overestimate was due to multiple complex interactions among model components. Overall, the magnitude of overestimation seems to increase exponentially as values for predictor variables increase. This is likely due to the log-based scale used by the model to allocate concentration ranges. In addition, the current banding scheme used to allocate volatility appears to play a role in the overestimation of low-level exposures to vapors.

Ultrafast capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry of controlled substances with optical isomer separation in about a minute

RATIONALE

Analysis of forensic evidence by information-rich technologies such as mass spectrometry (MS) is one of the fastest growing areas in forensic analysis. To provide more accurate identification of forensic evidence, in the past few years there has been a growing interest in moving this technology to the field for on-site, real-time analysis. To this end, several portable mass spectrometers have been introduced; however, the analysis of controlled substances could be complicated by the existence of various isomers including optical isomers in which sentencing may depend on the identification of the isomer. To date very few portable separation devices are capable of separating and identifying the optical isomers.

METHODS

In this study, the application of the portable ultrafast capillary electrophoresis (UFCE) to the separation of controlled substances is presented and the results are compared with the results obtained from a bench-top CE system. Both a nominal mass ion trap mass spectrometer and an accurate mass orbitrap mass spectrometer were interfaced with CE using a porous tip capillary.

RESULTS

A mixture of several controlled substances can be separated and detected using UFCE/MS in about a minute using field strengths of ≥1000 V/cm. Furthermore, separation and detection of underivatized optical isomers of amphetamine, cathinone, nor-mephedrone, and pregabalin using UFCE/MS can be achieved with an analysis time of less than two minutes. Resolutions of 1.3, 3.7 and 3.8 were achieved for pregabalin, cathinone and nor-mephedrone, respectively, under UFCE/MS conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

Amphetamine, cathinone, nor-mephedrone and pregabalin were separated and detected in about a minute, demonstrating the utility of the portable CE instrument for the analysis of controlled substances and their optical isomers. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Prevalence and sunlight photolysis of controlled and chemotherapeutic drugs in aqueous environments

This study addresses the occurrences and natural fates of chemotherapeutics and controlled drugs when found together in hospital effluents and surface waters. The results revealed the presence of 11 out of 16 drugs in hospital effluents, and the maximum detected concentrations were at the μg L(-1) level in the hospital effluents and the ng L(-1) level in surface waters. The highest concentrations corresponded to meperidine, morphine, 5-fluorouracil and cyclophosphamide. The sunlight photolysis of the target compounds was investigated, and the results indicated that morphine and codeine can be significantly attenuated, with half-lives of 0.27 and 2.5 h, respectively, in natural waters. Photolysis can lower the detected environmental concentrations, also lowering the estimated environmental risks of the target drugs to human health. Nevertheless, 5-fluorouracil and codeine were found to have a high risk quotient (RQ), demonstrating the high risks of directly releasing hospital wastewater into the environment.

Determination of drugs and drug-like compounds in different samples with direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry

Direct analysis in real time (DART), a relatively new ionization source for mass spectrometry, ionizes small-molecule components from different kinds of samples without any sample preparation and chromatographic separation. The current paper reviews the published data available on the determination of drugs and drug-like compounds in different matrices with DART-MS, including identification and quantitation issues. Parameters that affect ionization efficiency and mass spectra composition are also discussed.