Browse the latest forensic toxicology articles or search the collection.
-
Muscle Homogenate Dilution Can Change Which Postmortem Drug Results Reach the Reporting Limit
A six-matrix autopsy study applied quantitation limits to diluted muscle homogenates before correcting back to tissue concentration. The preparation affected which low results entered the comparison.
-
Pericardial Diazepam Concentrations: Why a Strong Blood Correlation Did Not Make the Specimens Interchangeable
In 37 paired autopsy measurements, pericardial-fluid/peripheral-blood diazepam ratios ranged from 0.30 to 7.3. Strong correlation did not establish equality or an individual conversion rule.
-
Does Cognitive Overlap Make Methamphetamine Use Disorder Equivalent to Schizophrenia?
A 2019 review found cognitive and neural overlap, but also inconsistent working-memory findings and different cingulate responses. Similarities did not establish diagnostic equivalence or transferable treatment efficacy.
-
Diphenhydramine Below a Published “Lethal” Boundary: What Two Adult Autopsies Established
Two adult cases attributed to diphenhydramine had peripheral-blood concentrations below a quoted 5 µg/mL boundary. Their circumstances support individual assessment, not a new universal cutoff.
-
Can a Postmortem Diphenhydramine Metabolite Ratio Establish the Time of Ingestion?
A Berlin case series applied DPMA/diphenhydramine ratios to suggest survival intervals. It did not validate an individual ingestion clock against known dose times or correct postmortem changes.
-
Diphenhydramine in Gastric Contents When Decomposition Leaves No Blood Sample
Two decomposed cases had diphenhydramine measured only in gastric contents. The findings supported intake, while absorbed dose, blood concentration and drug contribution remained unresolved.
-
Quetiapine Heart and Femoral Blood: Three Quantified Pairs Were Not Seven Redistribution Measurements
Seven autopsies yielded only three fully quantified heart–femoral quetiapine pairs. Their differences supported concern about specimen site without measuring each person’s change after death.
-
Quetiapine Detected Below 0.10 mg/L: What “Present but Unquantified” Meant in Seven Autopsies
Two cases had quetiapine present below the assay’s 0.10 mg/L quantitation limit. Confirmation supported identity, while neither zero nor an exact low concentration was established.
-
Which Exercise Works Best in Methamphetamine Recovery? What a 17-Study Review Could Establish
A 2024 review summarized 17 exercise studies and 1,836 reported participants. Varied interventions and outcomes limited treatment rankings and conclusions about lasting abstinence.
-
Can Blood Inflammation Markers Diagnose Methamphetamine-Related Brain Injury? A 30-Person Study
A 2023 study found blood-count and cognitive differences in 15 methamphetamine users and 15 controls. Peripheral findings did not validate a diagnostic test for brain inflammation or impairment.
-
Did Methamphetamine Raise Blood Pressure More Than D-Amphetamine? Why Separate Placebo Tests Cannot Answer
A seven-person oral-dose experiment found significant cardiovascular changes versus placebo only with methamphetamine. Direct drug comparisons told a more qualified story.
-
Mephedrone in Hair After a Death: Exposure History Is Not the Acute Blood Result
A hair study described three deaths and one living complainant. Their hair findings added exposure history but did not validate dose reconstruction or prove event-specific impairment.
-
Can the Two Eyes Give Different Vitreous Drug Results? A Paired MDPHP Autopsy Example
One autopsy yielded MDPHP at 1,846.45 ng/mL in right vitreous and 2,568.01 ng/mL in left vitreous. A proposed coagulation explanation was not experimentally established.
-
A 72% Mass-Spectral Library Hit Was Not the Final Drug Identification in an MDPHP Autopsy
General unknown screening suggested a different cathinone. Targeted LC–MS/MS identified MDPHP, illustrating why a library match score is not a probability of correct identity.
-
How a “Main Intoxicant” Rule Can Hide Contributions From Other Drugs in Fatal-Poisoning Statistics
A Nordic survey assigned one main intoxicant using a hierarchy when no single drug could be chosen. Its authors warned that the rule could obscure other drugs’ contributions.
-
Standard Addition in Postmortem Tissues: What Specimen-Specific Calibration Can and Cannot Correct
A cannabinoid pig study calibrated within each tissue specimen to reduce matrix effects. That analytical strategy could not reverse redistribution or reconstruct antemortem concentrations.
-
A Cannabinoid Metabolite Appeared in Blood After Death: What the RCS-4 Pig Experiment Established
HO-RCS-4 was absent from perimortem blood but appeared in some room-temperature postmortem specimens. The experiment did not validate a human clock for drug use.
-
Ethanol in Pediatric Autopsy Samples: Three Cases With Different Evidence About Its Origin
An Ontario case series interpreted one ethanol finding as likely ingestion and two as likely microbial production. The numbers alone did not distinguish those origins.
-
Diphenhydramine in Pediatric Autopsy Blood: What Seven Cases Say About Toxic and Incidental Findings
Seven pediatric cases included two deaths attributed to diphenhydramine and five incidental detections. Specimen site, analytical scope and circumstances limited concentration-only conclusions.
-
Midazolam After a Fatal Crash: Why Emergency Treatment Must Be Checked Before Inferring Precrash Use
Two crash cases in a Milan autopsy review illustrate how treatment can explain postmortem drug detection. A positive result alone could not establish exposure before the collision.