Estimation of ethanol and methanol exposure through jarred fruit purees

Introduction. Chemicals in foods enter the human body from early life likely posing chronic toxic health risks in the future. This study aimed to estimate the exposure to ethanol and methanol in children consuming an acceptable daily amount of fruit purees. Methods. Different fruit purees were purchased and measured for methanol and ethanol by using HS-GC. The exposure dose of these alcohols was calculated based on a consumption of 125-250 g of fruit purees in children weighing 7, 12 and 16 kg. Results. The highest methanol was found in carrot-apple puree (29.07 mg/dL) and ethanol in peach-banana puree (42.07 mg/dL). Daily methanol exposure was estimated between 4.54 and 6.06, and ethanol between 6.57 and 8.76 mg/kg bw. Conclusions. Our results show higher exposure doses of methanol and ethanol than allowable ones (methanol 2 and ethanol 6 mg/kg/day) in children consuming fruit purees. This should be handled as a public health risk and further comprehensive studies should be enrolled on the chronic toxic effects of food-derived alcohols. Besides, food-derived exposure to toxic chemicals from early life should be more questioned by physicians (in assessing chronic diseases), and related authorities should establish a sustainable, safe, and healthy food production policy

Postmortem biochemistry

Postmortem biochemistry is becoming more important in forensic pathology. Involving of biochemical investigations full autopsy can provide to detect divers pathologic conditions such as antemortem acute/chronic diseases, fatal metabolic conditions, survival time, postmortem biochemical changes, and the source of analytes. Biochemical tests may be usefull where the morphological examinations cannot lighten the fatal pathology (Diabetes Mellitus (DM), alcoholic ketoacidosis, sepsis, electrolytic disorders). This article presents the analytes that may be useful in forensic medicine upon the studies performed and published in the literature

Development and Validation of Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry Method for Determination of Aldrin and Dieldrin in Serum

Aim: Exposure to many banned pesticides continues all over the world and in our country due to the long half-lives of pesticides. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to obtain a rapid, simple, and convenient method for the simultaneous determination of aldrin and dieldrin. Material and Methods: Method improving and validation assessment are the most important elements for establishing reference techniques and reliable analysis results. In order to analyze analytes, validation of the analytical method is carried out by checking the parameters of specificity, recovery, precision, linearity, the limit of detection (LOD), and the limit of quantification (LOQ). Results: In our study, an easily applicable, so rapid, effective, and safe GC-MS method was created for the determination of aldrin and dieldrin in serum. In the developed method, 4,4'-Dichlorobenzophenone (4,4-DBP) was used as the internal standard. Aldrin and dieldrin were analyzed in serum in a very short time of 4 minutes. Linear correlation coefficients (R2 ? 0.99) of the linear calibration curves between a range of 1-250 ng/mL of analytes in serum were established. The limit of detection for aldrin and dieldrin were 0.28 and 0.29 ng/mL, respectively. More than 80% recovery of aldrin and dieldrin were obtained at high concentrations, and consistent relative standard deviation (RSD ? 6.03%) values were found for both pesticides. Conclusion: This new method can reliably and quickly be used in routine analysis. The study showed that exposure to aldrin and dieldrin can be detected and monitored in such a short time as four minutes

Assessment of the results of a three-year program for National Standardization and Quality Improvement of Medical Laboratories on Drug of Abuse Testing by the Ministry of Health in Turkey

The aim of this study is to assess the results of inspections in the last three years of drug abuse testing in medical laboratories according to the latest regulations in Turkey. The on-site inspections of medical laboratories for drugs abuse testing performed in Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment Centers during 2014-2016 are described, and laboratory processes and performance evaluated. The performance of 35 laboratories in 2014, 62 laboratories in 2015, and 94 laboratories in 2016 were scored as the sum of the scores for all answers on the inspection form. An inspected laboratory was considered to have an unconformity if the total score was less than 2/3 of maximum score. The total scores of inspections and the number of laboratories with between years were compared using one-way analysis of variance and slope Chi-square for trend test, respectively. Total scores increased statistically significantly from 35.9 +/- 16.2 in 2014, to 43.5 +/- 16.3 in 2015 and 49.1 +/- 1.3 in 2016 (p < 0.001). The laboratories with unconformities decreased statistically significantly from 57% in 2014 to 37% in 2015 and 22% in 2016 (p < 0.001). The published legislation and the inspections contributed to national standardization and improved quality of service in medical laboratories for drug abuse testing