Cardiac and peripheral blood similarities in the comparison of nordiazepam and bromazepam blood concentrations.

Concomitant heart and peripheral blood determinations were performed on 40 fatal cases involving nordiazepam (20 cases) and bromazepam (20 cases). The heart blood concentration for the two drugs (588 ng/mL for nordiazepam and 802 ng/mL for bromazepam) does not differ from the corresponding peripheral blood concentration (587 ng/mL for nordiazepam and 883 ng/mL for bromazepam). The mean ratios for the heart and peripheral blood concentrations were 0.95 for nordiazepam and 0.86 for bromazepam. No postmortem redistribution was observed for these two benzodiazepines. The authors thus suggest that corresponding heart blood can be proposed in the quantitative analysis of these drugs when peripheral blood is unavailable. The present study also shows the stability of the two drugs after a year of storage.

[Individual exposure to air pollution in urban areas: the example of Marseille]. / Exposition individuelle à la pollution de l'air en milieu urbain: l'exemple de Marseille.

We examined the exposure of an urban population to the following air pollutants, in the home and outdoors: nitrogen dioxide, benzene and its derivative BTXE, carbon monoxide, ozone, aldehydes and particulate matter (PM)2,5. Measurements were made continuously during 48-hour periods in summer and in winter, in non-smoking volunteers, using passive and active samplers and appropriate analytical methods. NO2 concentrations were relatively low (lower in summer than in winter). Individual overall exposure correlated strongly with levels in the home. Benzene levels were high both outdoors and in the home, and were higher in winter than in summer; 47% of the volunteers were exposed to mean values up to 5 microg x m(-3) (annual mean value outdoors). Benzene derivative levels were also higher in winter than in summer. Personal exposure to CO was low and related to determinants such as trafic and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Mean concentrations of O3 were low in winter and higher in summer, owing to higher outdoor photochemical pollution. The most abundant aldehydes were formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein ; personal exposure was low. Overall personal exposure to formaldehyde correlated with concentrations in the home. PM2,5 reached high levels in the home in winter and outdoors in summer.