Hydromorphone-related fatalities in ontario.

The interpretation of drug intoxication in death investigations is based on the available published literature. In the case of hydromorphone, the literature is limited. This report serves to facilitate the evaluation of cases where hydromorphone may be implicated in a fatality through the examination of 251 hydromorphone-positive cases in the province of Ontario from 1985 to 2003. Thirty-three of these cases were selected for review in greater detail. In four cases in which hydromorphone was the sole drug detected and death was attributed to hydromorphone toxicity, concentrations ranged from 77 to 2684 ng/mL. Hydromorphone concentrations ranged from 21 to 441 ng/mL in 28 cases in which at least one other drug was detected. In five deaths attributed to natural causes, blood hydromorphone concentrations ranged from 75 to 423 ng/mL. The results of this study emphasize the importance of case specific information. Fatalities due to hydromorphone occurred at 51 ng/mL and greater; however, tolerant users of this drug, as seen in the deaths attributed to natural causes, may achieve incidental concentrations that would otherwise be considered fatal. Hydromorphone was detected and quantitated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

N-nitrosodimethylamine in drinking water using a rapid, solid-phase extraction method.

A simple, rapid method for the extraction of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) from drinking and surface waters was developed using Ambersorb 572. Development of an alternative method to classical liquid-liquid extraction techniques was necessary to handle the workload presented by implementation of a provincial guideline of 9 ppt for drinking water and a regulatory level of 200 ppt for effluents. A granular adsorbent, Ambersorb 572, was used to extract the NDMA from the water in the sample bottle. The NDMA was extracted from the Ambersorb 572 with dichloromethane in the autosampler vial. Method characteristics include a precision of 4 % for replicate analyses, an accuracy of 6 % at 10 ppt and a detection limit of 1.0 ppt NDMA in water. Comparative data between the Ambersorb 572 method and liquid-liquid extraction showed excellent agreement (average difference of 12 %). With the Ambersorb 572 method, dichloromethane use has been reduced by a factor of 1,000 and productivity has been increased by a factor of 3-4. Monitoring of a drinking water supply showed rapidly changing concentrations of NDMA from day to day.

Alcohol and drugs in suspected impaired drivers in Ontario from 2001 to 2005.

INTRODUCTION: Blood samples from 733 drivers suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol in the province of Ontario from 2001 to 2005 were retrospectively examined. METHODS: Samples were analyzed for alcohol content by headspace gas chromatography with flame ionization detection. Drivers ranged in age from 15 to 83 years old with the majority of blood samples obtained from males (n=623, 85%). Of the 704 cases where quantifiable numerical values were obtained, blood alcohol concentrations ranged from 13 to 414 mg/100 mL (mean 172 mg/100 mL) for males and 10 to 425 mg/100 mL (mean 173 mg/100 mL) for females. The majority of these drivers (n=640/704, 90.9%) had blood alcohol concentrations of 80 mg/100 mL and greater at the time of sampling. Analysis for alcohol was undertaken in all cases. However, additional toxicological examinations for drugs was conducted on a case-by-case basis based on the submitted case history and/or where there were requests for additional drug analysis, or where such analysis would be probative in the absence of the detection of alcohol at a concentration that could cause impairment. RESULTS: Therefore, analyses for drugs were only performed in a small subset of 42 cases (6%). Thirty-four of these cases had positive drug findings, with Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol being the most frequently encountered drug (n=18), followed by benzoylecgonine/cocaine (n=8), morphine (n=6), lorazepam (n=5) and diphenhydramine (n=4). The majority of individuals were involved in some type of motor vehicle accident (n=658, 89.8%), with single motor vehicle accidents (n=412, 56.2%) being the most common, followed by multiple motor vehicle accidents (n=169, 23%). Injuries (n=309, 42.1%) were the main cause of individuals not being able to provide breath samples with specific, non-life threatening injuries (n=178, 24.3%) representing the highest percentage of cases. The majority of incidents (n=449, 61.3%) occurred between Friday and Sunday reaching a peak on Saturday (n=174, 23.7%). Incidents occurred throughout the day, with the majority of events (n=449/705, 63.7%) for which a time was provided occurring between 6:01 pm and 3:00 am, and the peak number of incidents occurring between 9:01 pm and midnight (n=168/705, 23.8%). CONCLUSION: However, these data demonstrate that ''drugged driving" does occur and that further, comprehensive investigation is needed to determine the frequency and type of drug use by Ontario drivers.

The determination of six taste and odour compounds in water using Ambersorb 572 and high resolution mass spectrometry.

A method for the analysis of six taste and odour causing compounds in aqueous samples using the granular adsorbent, Ambersorb 572, and gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS) has been developed. This method for the determination of geosmin, 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB), 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (IPMP), 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (IBMP), 2,3,6-trichloroanisole (236-TCA) and 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (246-TCA) is highly productive [up to 40 samples per day + 23 quality control (QC) samples] and provides rapid (24-48 h) turnaround times. The analytes are extracted from water by the addition of Ambersorb 572 to the sample bottle and rolling for 1 h. The adsorbent is isolated by filtration and allowed to air dry for 1 h. The Ambersorb 572 is transferred to an autosampler vial and the analytes are desorbed into dichloromethane. The extract is analysed by GC-HRMS at 7000 resolving power (RP). Quantification is performed by isotope dilution and internal standard techniques utilizing d3-geosmin, d3-2-MIB, d5-246-TCA and 2-sec-butyl-3-methoxypyrazine (s-BMP). Method precisions of 3.5-5.8% and accuracies of +/- 5.7-8.9% were obtained. Reporting detection limits (RDLs) of 1.0 ng L-1 were obtained for 2-MIB, geosmin, IPMP and IBMP, while RDLs of 2.0 ng L-1 were obtained for 236-TCA and 246-TCA.