Ethanol, acetaldehyde, and methanol in the gas phase and rainwater in different biomes and urban regions of Brazil.

In the context of the increasing global use of ethanol biofuel, this work investigates the concentrations of ethanol, methanol, and acetaldehyde, in both the gaseous phase and rainwater, across six diverse urban regions and biomes in Brazil, a country where ethanol accounts for nearly half the light-duty vehicular fuel consumption. Atmospheric ethanol median concentrations in São Paulo (SP) (12.3 ± 12.1 ppbv) and Ribeirão Preto (RP) (12.1 ± 10.9 ppbv) were remarkably close, despite the SP vehicular fleet being ∼13 times larger. Likewise, the rainwater VWM ethanol concentration in SP (4.64 ± 0.38 µmol L-1) was only 26 % higher than in RP (3.42 ± 0.13 µmol L-1). This work demonstrated the importance of evaporative emissions, together with biomass burning, as sources of the compounds studied. The importance of biogenic emissions of methanol during forest flooding was identified in campaigns in the Amazon and Atlantic forests. Marine air masses arriving at a coastal site led to the lowest concentrations of ethanol measured in this work. Besides vehicular and biomass burning emissions, secondary formation of acetaldehyde by photochemical reactions may be relevant in urban and non-urban regions. The combined deposition flux of ethanol and methanol was 6.2 kg ha-1 year-1, avoiding oxidation to the corresponding and more toxic aldehydes. Considering the species determined here, the ozone formation potential (OFP) in RP was around two-fold higher than in SP, further evidencing the importance of emissions from regional distilleries and biomass burning, in addition to vehicles. At the forest and coastal sites, the OFP was approximately 5 times lower than at the urban sites. Our work evidenced that transition from gasoline to ethanol or ethanol blends brings the associated risk of increasing the concentrations of highly toxic aldehydes and ozone, potentially impacting the atmosphere and threatening air quality and human health in urban areas.

Uncovering the Counterfeit: A study of whiskey authenticity through volatile organic compound fingerprinting, aroma and color sensory analysis.

This study presents a method employing gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME-GC-MS), supplemented with chemometrics (Soft independent modelling of class analogies - SIMCA), to analyze volatile organic compound (VOCs) profiles in suspect whiskey samples. Furthermore, a sensory analysis of aroma and color was conducted with a panel of 52 non-trained volunteers to evaluate their ability to discriminate and preference for counterfeit whiskeys. The HS-SPME-GC-MS method successfully distinguished 41 seized samples from authentic beverages. Interestingly, sensory analysis revealed that panelists could differentiate between counterfeit and authentic samples with a reference standard but did not consistently show a preference for aroma. In some cases, there was even a preference for the color of counterfeit whiskeys. The findings suggest that sensorial tests alone may not effectively distinguish counterfeit from authentic whiskeys, especially for non-expert consumers, highlighting the need for analytical instrumentation methods in fraud detection.

Purification and use of crude green glycerol from the transesterification of triglycerides in the formulation of an alcohol gel hand sanitizer.

The aim of this study was to produce an alcohol gel hand sanitizer containing green glycerol. Crude glycerol was purified using chemical and physical treatments. The sanitizer was prepared using 71.100 g of 99.3° GL ethanol, 28.0 g H2O, 0.5 g of Carboxypolymethylene [Carbopol 940® or Carbomer], 5 drops of triethanolamine (pH 5-7), and glycerol (1.5% w/w). The thermal behavior of the ethanol, carbopol, triethanolamine, glycerol, and alcohol gels were evaluated using Thermogravimetry and Differential Thermal Analysis. The apparent viscosity was obtained using a rotary viscometer. The determination of in vitro spreadability was achieved by an adaptation of the Knorst method. The ethanol content was measured by headspace gas chromatography using a flame ionization detector. The thermal behavior of the gels was influenced by the presence of glycerol, which confirms the possible network interactions formed. The relative densities of the samples were between 0.887 and 0.890 g/cm3. No alteration of the pH of the formulation resulted from the incorporation of glycerol. The apparent viscosities of the alcohol gels were greater than 20,000 cP. No alteration in the in vitro spreadability of the gel alcohol (530.6 mm2) resulted from the addition of glycerol. Hand sanitizer was produced using glycerol from a transesterification reaction. It represents an alternative use for the glycerol being produced in biodiesel processes. The product satisfied the requirements of WHO that preconize a formulation containing 1.45% glycerol as an humectant to protect skin against dryness and dermatitis.

From inspection to analysis: A combined approach to identifying counterfeit whiskeys using HS-GC-FID and bottle integrity.

Counterfeiting of alcoholic beverages, particularly high-value spirits such as whiskey, presents significant challenges for regulators, manufacturers, and consumers. In this study, we introduce and validate a novel application of headspace extraction (HS) followed by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) for the quantitative determination of ethanol content in 42 suspected counterfeit brazilian samples of whiskeys. This method, in conjunction with visual inspection of material inconsistencies, offers a combined approach to identify potential cases of fraud. The HS-GC-FID findings revealed that only 19% of the analyzed samples had ethanol content in the limits declared on the label, emphasizing the role of ethanol content as a chemical marker for suspected beverage fraud.

Quality control of psychoactive substances in human breastmilk samples from a human milk bank by disposable pipette extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

The lack of data regarding infant exposure to drugs of abuse consumed by lactating mothers has become a major health concern. Investigating psychoactive substances and their metabolites in breastmilk is an analytical approach to estimate the rate at which drugs of abuse are excreted and how much infants are exposed to them. In this study, we have developed and validated a GC-MS method using disposable pipette tips for simultaneously extracting ten analytes from breastmilk samples obtained from a milk bank in the city of Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. All the 67 analyzed samples tested negative for all the analytes. This is the first study that has applied disposable pipette extraction to analyze drugs of abuse in breastmilk samples.

Breastfeeding, the most effective single strategy to reduce child mortality, provides numerous benefits for both the mother and the infant. The mother's consumption habits during breastfeeding strongly influence breastmilk quality and the newborn's nutrition. Given that drugs of abuse negatively affect both the mother's and the infant's health, analyzing breastmilk samples helps to estimate infant exposure to these drugs and to evaluate how severe this public health issue is. We have developed a new method to monitor ten substances in breastmilk, to improve our understanding of this issue in Brazil. None of the substances were detected in the few samples obtained from a milk bank, which showed that this organization successfully analyzes the donor's profile and conducts effective anamnesis. Future analysis of a larger number of samples and hence more data could help to describe the current scenario in more detail.

Hybrid volatilomics in cancer diagnosis by HS-GC-FID fingerprinting.

Assessing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as cancer signatures is one of the most promising techniques toward developing non-invasive, simple, and affordable diagnosis. Here, we have evaluated the feasibility of employing static headspace extraction (HS) followed by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID) as a screening tool to discriminate between cancer patients (head and neck-HNC,n= 15; and gastrointestinal cancer-GIC,n= 19) and healthy controls (n= 37) on the basis of a non-target (fingerprinting) analysis of oral fluid and urine. We evaluated the discrimination considering a single bodily fluid and adopting the hybrid approach, in which the oral fluid and urinary VOCs profiles were combined through data fusion. We used supervised orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis for classification, and we assessed the prediction power of the models by analyzing the values of goodness of prediction (Q2Y), area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity. The individual models HNC urine, HNC oral fluid, and GIC oral fluid successfully discriminated between healthy controls and positive samples (Q2Y = 0.560, 0.525, and 0.559; AUC = 0.814, 0.850, and 0.926; sensitivity = 84.8, 70.2, and 78.6%; and specificity = 82.3; 81.5; 87.5%, respectively), whereas GIC urine was not adequate (Q2Y = 0.292, AUC = 0.694, sensitivity = 66.1%, and specificity = 77.0%). Compared to the respective individual models, Q2Y for the hybrid models increased (0.623 for hybrid HNC and 0.562 for hybrid GIC). However, sensitivity was higher for HNC urine and GIC oral fluid than for hybrid HNC (75.6%) and hybrid GIC (69.8%), respectively. These results suggested that HS-GC-FID fingerprinting is suitable and holds great potential for cancer screening. Additionally, the hybrid approach tends to increase the predictive power if the individual models present suitable quality parameter values. Otherwise, it is more advantageous to use a single body fluid for analysis.

Analysis of Stimulants in Sweat and Urine Using Disposable Pipette Extraction and Gas Chromatography Coupled to Mass Spectrometry in the Context of Doping Control.

Urine is initially collected from athletes to screen for the presence of illicit drugs. Sweat is an alternative sample matrix that provides advantages over urine including reduced opportunity for sample adulteration, longer detection-time window and non-invasive collection. Sweat is suitable for analysis of the parent drug and metabolites. In this study, a method was developed and validated to determine the presence of 13 amphetamine- and cocaine-related substances and their metabolites in sweat and urine using disposable pipette extraction (DPX) by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The DPX extraction was performed using 0.1 M HCl and dichloromethane:isopropanol:ammonium hydroxide (78:20:2, v/v/v) followed by derivatization with N-methyl-N-(trimethylsilyl) trifluoroacetamide at 90°C for 20 min. DPX extraction efficiencies ranged between 65.0% and 96.0% in urine and 68.0% and 101.0% in sweat. Method accuracy was from 90.0% to 104.0% in urine and from 89.0% to 105.0% in sweat. Intra-assay precision in urine and in sweat were <15.6% and <17.8%, respectively, and inter-assay precision ranged from 4.70% to 15.3% in urine and from 4.05% to 15.4% in sweat. Calibration curves presented a correlation coefficient -0.99 for all analytes in both matrices. The validated method was applied to urine and sweat samples collected from 40 professional athletes who knowingly took one or more of the target illicit drugs. Thirteen of 40 athletes were positive for at least one drug. All the drugs detected in the urine were also detected in sweat samples indicating that sweat is a viable matrix for screening or confirmatory drug testing.

Alternative matrices in forensic toxicology: a critical review.

PURPOSE: The use of alternative matrices in toxicological analyses has been on the rise in clinical and forensic settings. Specimens alternative to blood and urine are useful in providing additional information regarding drug exposure and analytical benefits. The goal of this paper is to present a critical review on the most recent literature regarding the application of six common alternative matrices, i.e., oral fluid, hair, sweat, meconium, breast milk and vitreous humor in forensic toxicology. METHODS: The recent literature have been searched and reviewed for the characteristics, advantages and limitations of oral fluid, hair, sweat, meconium, breast milk and vitreous humor and its applications in the analysis of traditional drugs of abuse and novel psychoactive substances (NPS). RESULTS: This paper outlines the properties of six biological matrices that have been used in forensic analyses, as alternatives to whole blood and urine specimens. Each of this matrix has benefits in regards to sampling, extraction, detection window, typical drug levels and other aspects. However, theses matrices have also limitations such as limited incorporation of drugs (according to physical-chemical properties), impossibility to correlate the concentrations for effects, low levels of xenobiotics and ultimately the need for more sensitive analysis. For more traditional drugs of abuse (e.g., cocaine and amphetamines), there are already data available on the detection in alternative matrices. However, data on the determination of emerging drugs such as the NPS in alternative biological matrices are more limited. CONCLUSIONS: Alternative biological fluids are important specimens in forensic toxicology. These matrices have been increasingly reported over the years, and this dynamic will probably continue in the future, especially considering their inherent advantages and the possibility to be used when blood or urine are unavailable. However, one should be aware that these matrices have limitations and particular properties, and the findings obtained from the analysis of these specimens may vary according to the type of matrix. As a potential perspective in forensic toxicology, the topic of alternative matrices will be continuously explored, especially emphasizing NPS.

Alcohol and Alcohol Combined with Texting: Evaluation of Driving Impairment Effects in a Closed-Course Section.

OBJECTIVE: Examine the driving impairment effects of alcohol alone and of alcohol combined with texting. METHODS: Fifteen drivers (nine male, six female; mean age: 31.1 ± 6.9 years, range: 23 to 43 years) with similar drinking habit (i.e., social drinkers) completed a lap in a closed-course section in six different situations: (I) sober; (II) sober and while texting; (III) 30 minutes after ingesting a moderate dose of ethanol (0.50 g/kg); (IV) 30 minutes after drinking and while texting; (V) 60 minutes after drinking, (VI) 60 minutes after drinking and while texting. Driving performance was analyzed by means of maximum and mean speed, braking time and braking distance; and ability to control the car (i.e., evaluating if the drivers hit a traffic cone or exceeded the boundaries of the course). P values of < 0.05 were considered significant. RESULTS: Pre and post-alcohol consumption results show a significant increase concerning the drivers' mean and maximum speed after drinking (p < 3.2x10-8). However, neither alcohol nor texting had significant effects on braking parameters (p > 0.05). Traffic cones were knocked down only in texting experiments. In addition, when using the cell phone drivers tended to reduce the speed, and to accelerate abruptly right after they finish texting. CONCLUSION: Our findings strengthen the hypothesis that even moderate alcohol doses may significantly impair the driving performance. Additionally, alcohol and texting have complementary effects on driving impairment, and their combination represents a significant risk factor for crashes.

Caffeine content of energy drinks marketed in Brazil.

Energy drinks represent a multibillionaire industry that has been growing continuously worldwide. These drinks are especially consumed by young people, athletes, and military personnel due to their claimed "boost" effects. However, there have been concerns about their consumption since incompatibilities regarding the accuracy of the declared caffeine content of these drinks have been reported. Therefore, in this study, we have developed a fast and simple method to quantify caffeine in energy drinks. Sample preparation consisted of a dilute-and-shoot process, and analyses were performed by gas chromatography with nitrogen-phosphorus detector (GC-NPD). The method was applied to quantify caffeine in 37 energy drinks marketed in Brazil. Compared with the labeled caffeine content, 84% of the tested drinks presented caffeine levels in accordance with the specifications. The determined caffeine concentrations ranged from 10 to 67 mg/100 ml, with an average value of 31 mg/100 ml. According to the recommended serving size, no drinks exceeded the safe caffeine daily intake for the general population (400 mg). These findings are more favorable than the results of similar studies. Nevertheless, to avoid caffeine intoxication, energy drink consumers should be aware of three aspects. First, they need to avoid consuming multiple serving doses in short periods of time. Additionally, some energy drinks are labeled as "nutritional supplements," so they may present much more caffeine than similar products commonly regulated as beverages. Finally, despite the growing interest in energy drinks, their consumption by children and early adolescents is being discouraged by the health authorities.

Pre-workout supplements marketed in Brazil: Caffeine quantification and caffeine daily intake assessment.

The stimulating and performance-enhancing properties of caffeine are often explored in one the most consumed types of supplements: the pre-workout supplements (PWS). However, despite the popularity of PWS, previous studies have reported incompatibilities between what is described in their labels and their actual caffeine content. This study aimed to develop, to optimize, and to validate a gas-chromatography coupled to nitrogen-phosphorus detector (GC-NPD) method to quantify caffeine in PWS and to analyze commercial PWS marketed in Brazil to estimate the caffeine daily intake. For this purpose, three different extraction procedures were evaluated: agitation in vortex, shaker, and sonication. Sonication yielded the best extraction results. Next, the parameters' temperature and time were optimized by using central composite rotatable design (CCRD) and response surface methodology, which revealed the optimal values of 70°C and 10 min. The method was validated and applied to quantify caffeine in 52 PWS. From the 36 PWS labels that specified the caffeine amount, seven (19%) presented more than 120% of the declared quantity, whereas 15 (42%) contained less than 80% of the labeled caffeine. Additionally, six products presented undeclared caffeine. Considering the label stated doses, five supplements exceeded the safe caffeine daily intake (400 mg). On the basis of these findings, supplement quality control remains an issue that deserves more attention from consumers, manufacturers, and regulatory agencies. Finally, we suggest that PWS consumers be careful of the habit of ingesting caffeine through other sources and avoid ingesting two or more different PWS products in the same day.

Induced sputum abnormalities in gas station attendants.

PURPOSE: To investigate inflammatory changes in the induced sputum (IS) of gas station attendants (GSAs) at risk of exposure to fuel vapors through inhalation and susceptible to respiratory complaints and impaired lung function. METHODS: Hypertonic saline-IS was collected from 52 GSAs who had never smoked (42 men, age = 35.9 ± 8.9 years) and had no known comorbidities. A group of 22 non-smokers (11 men, age = 30.5 ± 5.1 years) selected from the University staff served as control. The GSAs answered a questionnaire and underwent spirometry and chest tomography. A total of 15 inflammatory biomarkers associated with inflammation, including cytokines, chemokines, and mediators of immunological response, were also measured. RESULTS: The most common symptoms of GSAs were coughing (42.3%) and dyspnea (59.6%) based on the New York Heart Association (NYHA; Class II) classification. Significant elevations (p < 0.05) in forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume within the first second were observed in the GSAs relative to those in the controls (GSA vs. control: 99 ± 12% vs. 90 ± 9% and 94 ± 11% vs. 87 ± 10%, respectively). The GSAs had a lower percentage of IS lymphocytes than that in the control group (4.5 ± 5.7% vs. 7.7 ± 9.8%). The GSAs also had significantly lower concentrations of IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-12P70, IFN-γ, and MIP-1α, but IL-3 levels were higher. No differences were observed in the airway thickness and the amount of emphysema between the GSAs and the controls. CONCLUSION: Despite normal lung function and absence of abnormalities on HRCT, GSAs have a higher frequency of respiratory complaints, with evidence of impairment of lymphocytic activity in the airways.

Evaluation of salivary VOC profile composition directed towards oral cancer and oral lesion assessment.

OBJECTIVES: Endogenous substances have been analyzed in biological samples in order to be related with metabolic dysfunctions and diseases. The study aimed to investigate profiles of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from fresh and incubated saliva donated by healthy controls, individuals with oral tissue lesions and with oral cancer, in order to assess case-specific biomarkers of oxidative stress. MATERIALS AND METHODS: VOCs were pre-concentrated using headspace-solid phase microextraction and analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Then, VOCs positively modulated by incubation process were subtracted, yielding profiles with selected features. Principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were used to inspect data distribution, while univariate statistics was applied to indicate potential markers of oral cancer. Machine learning algorithm was implemented, aiming multiclass prediction. RESULTS: The removal of bacterial contribution to VOC profiles allowed the obtaining of more specific case-related patterns. Artificial neural network model included 9 most relevant compounds (1-octen-3-ol, hexanoic acid, E-2-octenal, heptanoic acid, octanoic acid, E-2-nonenal, nonanoic acid, 2,4-decadienal and 9-undecenoic acid). Model performance was assessed using 10-fold cross validation and receiver operating characteristic curves. Obtained overall accuracy was 90%. Oral cancer cases were predicted with 100% of sensitivity and specificity. CONCLUSIONS: The selected VOCs were ascribed to lipid oxidation mechanism and presented potential to differentiate oral cancer from other inflammatory conditions. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: These results highlight the importance of interpretation of saliva composition and the clinical value of salivary VOCs. Elucidated metabolic alterations have the potential to aid the early detection of oral cancer and the monitoring of oral lesions.

Application of microextraction techniques in alternative biological matrices with focus on forensic toxicology: a review.

The interest in alternative biological matrices (e.g., hair and saliva) for forensic toxicology analysis has increased, and recent developments in sample preparation have targeted rapid, cheap, efficient and eco-friendly methods, including microextraction techniques. For this review, we have gathered information about these two hot topics. We discuss the composition, incorporation of analytes and advantages and disadvantages of different biological matrices, and also present the operation principles of the most reported microextraction procedures and their application in forensic toxicology. The outcome of this review may encourage future forensic researches into alternative samples and microextraction techniques.

Psychoactive substances in human breast milk: a review of analytical strategies for their investigation.

WHO recommends breastfeeding for the first 6 months of newborn's life. Due to its physicochemical properties, breast milk may contain undesirable components originated from mother's feeding, medication and illicit drugs consumption. Some of these substances transferred from bloodstream to milk and delivered to the infant can cause harmful effects. For the last decades, analytical advances enabled the analysis of several substances in milk using different techniques. Thereby, it is possible to evaluate infant's level of exposure to these substances. This review presents the information published in the main scientific dissemination media about psychoactive drugs investigation in human breast milk, involving the sample preparation techniques and chromatographic validated methods developed in the past 10 years.

Investigation of Ayahuasca ß-Carboline Alkaloids and Tryptamine in Sweat Samples from Religious Community Participants by GC-MS.

Ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic beverage used in religious rituals in South America, has become a global phenomenon. Its main active components are the ß-carbolines alkaloids, harmine (HRM) and harmaline (HRL), as well as the potent hallucinogen N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Despite its rising consumption, information regarding possible clinical applications and toxicological effects of ayahuasca is still limited. This study presents the first investigation of the use of sweat for the determination of DMT, HRM and HRL in ayahuasca users during a religious ritual. Sweat is an alternative matrix with advantages over many conventional biological samples, mainly because the collection procedure is non-invasive, easy and simple and samples can be collected without disturbing the religious ritual. In the study, solid-phase extraction was performed under basic conditions. Linearity was observed ranging from 20 to 1500 ng/patch with coefficients of determination (R2) higher than 0.99 for all analytes. The results indicated high selectivity for all investigated analytes, with extraction efficiency exceeding 70%, accuracy ranging from 87.5 to 102.4%, intra-assay precision of 1.85-9.44% and inter-assay precision between 3.34 and 9.85%. The limits of detection were 15 ng/patch for HRM and HRL and 10 ng/patch for DMT. The sweat proved to be a viable option to monitor ayahuasca use.

Analysis of urinary VOCs using mass spectrometric methods to diagnose cancer: A review.

The development of non-invasive screening techniques for early cancer detection is one of the greatest scientific challenges of the 21st century. One promising emerging method is the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are low molecular weight substances generated as final products of cellular metabolism and emitted through a variety of biological matrices, such as breath, blood, saliva and urine. Urine stands out for its non-invasive nature, availability in large volumes, and the high concentration of VOCs in the kidneys. This review provides an overview of the available data on urinary VOCs that have been investigated in cancer-focused clinical studies using mass spectrometric (MS) techniques. A literature search was conducted in ScienceDirect, Pubmed and Web of Science, using the keywords "Urinary VOCs", "VOCs biomarkers" and "Volatile cancer biomarkers" in combination with the term "Mass spectrometry". Only studies in English published between January 2011 and May 2020 were selected. The three most evaluated types of cancers in the reviewed studies were lung, breast and prostate, and the most frequently identified urinary VOC biomarkers were hexanal, dimethyl disulfide and phenol; with the latter seeming to be closely related to breast cancer. Additionally, the challenges of analyzing urinary VOCs using MS-based techniques and translation to clinical utility are discussed. The outcome of this review may provide valuable information to future studies regarding cancer urinary VOCs.

Investigation of sweat VOC profiles in assessment of cancer biomarkers using HS-GC-MS.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been studied in biological samples in order to be related to the presence of diseases. Sweat can represent substances existing in blood, has less complex composition (compared with other biological matrices) and can be obtained in a non-invasive way. In this work, sweat patches were collected from healthy controls and volunteers with cancer. Static Headspace was used for VOCs extraction, analysis was performed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Principal Components Analysis was used to investigate data distribution. Random Forest was employed to develop classificatory models. Controls and positive cases could be distinguished with maximum sensitivity and specificity (100% of accuracy) in a model based on the incidence of 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, hexanal and octanal. Discrimination between controls, primary tumors and metastasis was achieved using a panel with 11 VOCs. Balanced accuracy of more than 70% was obtained for the classification of a neoplasm site. Total n-aldehydes presented to be strongly correlated with staging of adenocarcinomas, while phenol and 2,6-dimethyl-7-octen-2-ol were correlated with Gleason score. These findings corroborate with the development of accessible screening tools based on VOC analysis and highlight sweat as a promising matrix to be studied in a clinical context for cancer diagnosis.

A Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Method for Toxicological Analysis of MDA, MDEA and MDMA in Vitreous Humor Samples from Victims of Car Accidents.

Vitreous humor (VH) shows excellent potential as a matrix of choice for postmortem analytical toxicology due to the ease of sampling and low metabolic activity. This study demonstrates a simple and rapid analytical method to identify and quantify 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine and 3,4-methylenedioxy-ethylamphetamine in VH. Samples were collected with a simple eye puncture procedure, followed by liquid-liquid extraction and derivatization with heptafluorobutyric anhydride and analysis via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The accuracy of the method ranged 97-103%, intra-assay precision was between 4.54 and 9.14% relative standard deviation (RSD) and interassay precision ranged from 6.92 to 10.59% RSD. Limits of detection and quantification ranged from 1.0 to 2.5 ng/mL and 10 ng/mL, respectively. The validated method was successfully applied to detect methylenedioxyamphetamine derivatives in VH samples collected from victims of fatal car crashes.

Understanding alterations on blood and biochemical parameters in athletes that use dietary supplements, steroids and illicit drugs.

In recent years it was verified there are an alarming growing number of teenagers and young adults using a combination of dietary supplements (DS) anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) and drugs of abuse. This practice is used to improve physical fitness and appearance, may cause serious side effects. This article shows the alterations in the hematological and renal function parameters associate with these substances in 40 athletes. This research involved three steps: 1-the administration of a self-completion questionnaire ; 2-the assessment of hematological and biochemical parameters of renal function and; 3-toxicological urinalysis. Hematological and biochemical tests were conducted in an accredited laboratory and the toxicological urinalysis was validated in our laboratory using liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The testosterone levels in the participants who consumed steroids increased 20-60% and alterations in serum creatinine, urea and uric reached values of up to 1.9; 60.6 and 7.5mg/dL, respectively. The toxicological urinalysis supports self-reports confirming the use of AAS and recreational drugs, putting at risk the health of those athletes increasing the chances of kidney diseases.