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Why a Ratio of Average Cardiac and Femoral Drug Concentrations Is Not a Paired Redistribution Result
A Milan cocaine series reported similar average cardiac and femoral concentrations, but the averages had different specimen denominators. Their ratio could not represent every decedent.
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A 74.3% Positive Rate in Selected Autopsies Was Not a Population Drug-Use Rate
Only 136 of 1,323 Milan autopsies underwent requested toxicological analysis. The resulting positivity and poisoning percentages depended on which denominator was used.
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Did Pregabalin Reduce Heroin Intake? What Postmortem Morphine Comparisons Could Actually Test
Morphine concentrations did not differ significantly between pregabalin-positive and gabapentinoid-negative heroin groups. That did not measure individual heroin doses or rule out interactions.
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Higher Postmortem Pregabalin Concentrations Did Not Establish a Higher Dose or a Lethal Cutoff
A 3,750-case study found higher pregabalin concentrations in a heroin-use subgroup. Unknown dosing times and overlapping distributions limited individual interpretation.
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Does Later Sleep After Amphetamine Treatment Prove a Shift in the Body Clock?
A 2026 narrative review links amphetamine treatment, sleep and circadian biology. Later bedtime, sleep loss and a measured body-clock shift remain different findings.
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Why Death Certificates and Forensic Files Produced Different Pharmaceutical-Poisoning Counts
A population study classified 12 deaths from certificates, 10 from forensic files and nine after integrated review. Those counts were overlapping assessments, not additive totals.
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Postmortem CYP2D6 Genotyping: What an Ultrarapid Prediction Did and Did Not Establish
A study obtained usable genotypes from 74 veterans. Its predicted ultrarapid subgroup did not establish a genetic explanation for an individual opioid death.
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Paroxetine at 3.3 mg/L After Death: Why a Concentration Did Not Diagnose Serotonin Syndrome
A mixed-drug fatality had high paroxetine in external iliac blood, but the authors could neither establish serotonin syndrome nor document arrhythmia as the mechanism.
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Cocaine in Postmortem Skin Extracts: How Metabolites Helped Investigate Surface Contamination
A dermal-extract study used metabolite networks and multiple sampling sites to strengthen exposure assessments. It did not establish a universal contamination cutoff.
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Postmortem Dermal Drug Screening: Why 95% Positive Overlap Is Not 95% Sensitivity
A 93-person study compared skin extracts with conventional toxicology. Average agreement did not establish universal sensitivity or quantitative blood prediction.
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Methamphetamine and Global Trust: A Null Result After Conversation With a Stranger
In a 20-person placebo-controlled experiment, oral methamphetamine did not significantly improve broader social well-being ratings. Separate MDMA results do not establish a direct between-drug difference.
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Methamphetamine and Sildenafil in a Long Beach Survey: Lifetime Use Did Not Establish Simultaneous Exposure
A historical Long Beach survey linked reported use of methamphetamine and sildenafil with several risk markers. Its lifetime exposure groups, selected sample and unequal testing denominators limit causal interpretation.
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Cannabis-Positive Toxicology and an Organized Coronary Thrombus: What One Autopsy Established
A 2025 autopsy documented coronary occlusion and cannabis findings, but its authors could not establish that cannabis caused the thrombus. Analytical reporting limits also matter.
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Clonazepam and 7-Aminoclonazepam in Muscle: Why the Metabolite Ratio Depends on the Matrix
An autopsy study found lower metabolite-to-parent ratios in muscle than in blood. Switching matrices could change the apparent pattern without establishing a different ingestion history.
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Zopiclone in Vitreous Humor: An Exception That Does Not Create a Blood Conversion Rule
Sixteen paired cases gave a median vitreous-to-blood zopiclone ratio near one, but individual ratios ranged from 0.13 to 3.7.
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Why an Internal Standard Did Not Correct Every Drug Loss in Lipemic Postmortem Blood
A 19-analyte experiment found lipid-related losses that internal standards did not always track. Normal standard response did not guarantee accurate analyte recovery.
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What 0°C Storage Meant in a Ten-Day MDMA Redistribution Experiment
A 720-rat experiment compared two temperature-and-humidity environments. Cold storage delayed some MDMA peaks but did not preserve every concentration unchanged.
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Specimen Availability in a 166-Autopsy Ethanol Study: Each Correlation Has Its Own Denominator
The 2024 series included 166 autopsies, but ethanol correlations used 125 or 127 pairs. Total case count cannot substitute for specimen-specific evidence.
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Do Higher Ethanol Means in Autopsy Cases Prove an Increase After Death?
A 2024 study compared different living and deceased groups. Its significant mean differences did not measure an individual’s change from life to death.
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Added Glucose in Banked Blood: A Limit on Interpreting a Candida Ethanol Experiment
A 1989 fermentation experiment used pooled bank blood containing added dextrose. Its ethanol yields cannot define a ceiling for ordinary forensic blood specimens.