Browse the latest forensic toxicology articles or search the collection.
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Can Small Average Pulse Changes Hide Lisdexamfetamine Outliers? A Historical Safety Review
A four-week adult trial reported modest average pulse changes and a small number of readings at or above 100 beats per minute. Means, threshold crossings and repeated findings answer different safety questions.
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A Fentanyl Patch Was Present but Blood Was Below Detection: What Fourteen Postmortem Cases Showed
Fourteen postmortem specimens in a prescribed-patch study were below a 0.9 µg/L detection limit. The negative finding did not independently establish absence of fentanyl treatment.
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Can a Normal Infant Autopsy Exclude Poisoning? Evidence From Five Diphenhydramine Death Investigations
Five infants had no anatomical finding that explained death, yet toxicology and case evidence supported diphenhydramine poisoning. Normal anatomy did not make the drug findings incidental.
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Do Disadvantageous Gambling Choices Prove Risk Seeking in Amphetamine Research?
A historical review separates learning, probability judgments, betting and feedback response. Different gambling tasks do not measure one interchangeable trait called risk taking.
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Does a Fruit Fly’s Methamphetamine Preference Measure Addiction? What Feeding and Activity Assays Show
A 2022 review describes how feeding concentration, voluntary consumption and repeated vapor exposure change different fly behaviors. Preference and locomotor sensitization are separate experimental endpoints.
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Did ADHD Stimulant Treatment Cause Later Substance Misuse? Reading a Historical Review
A 2009 review described mixed follow-up findings about stimulant treatment and later substance use. Drug identity, treatment timing, comparison groups and confounding limit a causal interpretation.
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Why Do College Stimulant-Use Estimates Differ So Much? Lessons From a 2011 Review
Lifetime, past-year and past-month use are different measures. A historical review explains how drug definitions, sampling and reported motives change estimates of nonmedical prescription-stimulant use.
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Do 64 Effect Sizes Mean 64 Trials? Reading a Methamphetamine Exercise Meta-Analysis
A 2025 review pooled 64 executive-function effect sizes from 11 trials. The study count, dependent outcomes and inconsistent population reporting change how confidently the findings can be applied.
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Cardiovascular Drugs After Death: Why Atenolol, Verapamil and Diltiazem Did Not Share One Correction
A hospital-to-mortuary compilation found different median ratios and wide individual ranges across five cardiovascular drugs. Treatment history and earlier specimen type complicated interpretation.
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A Null Decomposition Comparison Did Not Validate Drug Ratios in Advanced Putrefaction
A Dutch autopsy study found no significant decomposition-group differences, but most cases were in grades I–II. Small advanced groups limited what that null result could establish.
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Higher Femoral Amphetamine Concentrations Had Lower Site Ratios: What 75 Autopsies Can Establish
A 75-pair autopsy comparison found lower cardiac/femoral amphetamine ratios in the highest concentration quartile. It did not validate a concentration-at-death correction.
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Does a Stimulant Adverse-Event Risk Ratio of 1.34 Mean a 34% Chance of Harm?
A 2025 meta-analysis reported a pooled adverse-event risk ratio of 1.34 across stimulant classes. Relative risk, absolute risk, 90% intervals and long-term safety remain different questions.
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Did Amphetamines Improve Adult ADHD Symptoms Without Improving Treatment Retention? A Historical Cochrane Review
A 2018 review found short-term symptom benefits, no clear improvement in retention and more adverse-event withdrawals. Those outcomes used different study populations and evidence ratings.
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Lower Postmortem Quetiapine Than Hospital Results: Why the Difference Did Not Prove One Degradation Mechanism
Thirty paired quetiapine cases had a median postmortem/antemortem ratio of 0.55. Earlier specimen type, collection timing and missing treatment information limited a degradation-only explanation.
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The 16-Fold Pholcodine Postmortem Ratio: Why the Earlier Specimen Type Changed the Comparison
A 16-case pholcodine comparison had a median postmortem/antemortem ratio of 16. Restricting the analysis to seven earlier whole-blood specimens gave a median of 5.0.
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MDMA Above the Quantitation Range: Why Some Autopsies Had an MDA Ratio but No MDMA Ratio
Nine MDA-positive autopsies lacked an MDMA site ratio because cardiac MDMA exceeded the quantitation limit without diluted reanalysis. Missing ratios did not mean negative exposure.
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Does Resuscitation Lower Postmortem MDA Ratios? Why the Autopsy Association Was Not a Causal Test
MDA cardiac-to-femoral ratios were lower in cases with attempted resuscitation, but cause of death was associated with resuscitation status. The study could not isolate a CPR effect.
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Midazolam After Death: Why a Low-BMI Signal Did Not Establish a Redistribution Correction
A Dutch autopsy study found a midazolam BMI comparison with p = 0.027, above its corrected significance threshold. Only three cases were in the low-BMI group.
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Does Sweating at Methamphetamine Cues Prove Drug Use? Skin Conductance Is Not a Sweat Drug Test
A 2025 review describes skin-conductance responses to methamphetamine cues. Physiological arousal, reported craving and chemical drug detection answer different questions.
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Whole-Blood Calibration for Autopsy Tissues: Why Internal Standards Did Not Guarantee Equal Accuracy
A six-matrix sedative study tested blood-based calibration across alternative specimens. Midazolam muscle bias near 30% and flunitrazepam bias up to −24% qualified the overall favorable performance.