A rapid test for heroin (3,6-diacetylmorphine) based on two chemiluminescence reactions

A rapid method for screening drug seizure samples for 3,6-diacetylmorphine (heroin), which consists of a simple hydrolysis procedure and flow-injection analysis with two chemiluminescence reagents, is described. Before hydrolysis, 3,6-diacetylmorphine evokes an intense response with a tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(III) reagent (prepared by dissolving the perchlorate salt in acetonitrile), and a relatively weak chemiluminescence response with a second reagent: potassium permanganate in an aqueous acidic polyphosphate solution. However, the permanganate reagent is extremely sensitive toward the hydrolysis products of 3,6-diacetylmorphine (i.e., 6-monoacetylmorphine and morphine). Some compounds commonly found in drug laboratories may cause false positives with tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(III), but do not produce the markedly increased response with the permanganate reagent after the hydrolysis procedure. The combination of these two tests therefore provides an effective presumptive test for the presence of 3,6-diacetylmorphine, which we have verified with 14 samples obtained from a forensic science laboratory.     

Quantitation of atenolol, metoprolol, and propranolol in postmortem human fluid and tissue specimens via LC/APCI-MS

Hypertension is a growing medical concern in the United States. With the number of Americans suffering from hypertension increasing, the use of antihypertensives such as beta-blockers is increasing as well. In fact, three beta-blockers - atenolol, metoprolol and propranolol - were among the 200 most prescribed medications in the United States in 2003. Pilots that successfully manage their hypertension can remain certified to fly. The Federal Aviation Administration currently designates approximately 8% of active pilots as "hypertensive with medication". The Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) performs toxicological evaluation on victims of fatal aviation accidents. At CAMI beta-blockers are analyzed using gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection. We have, however, recently developed a liquid chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (LC/MS) method for the simultaneous quantitation of three commonly prescribed beta-blockers, atenolol, metoprolol and propranolol. One advantage of our LC/MS method is the specificity provided by an ion trap MS. Utilizing an ion trap MS, we were able to conduct MS/MS and MS/MS/MS on each analyte. This method also eliminates the time-consuming and costly derivitization step necessary during GC/MS analysis. Additionally, by utilizing this novel method, any concerns about beta-blocker metabolite and/or sample matrix interference are eliminated. The limits of detection for this method ranged from 0.39 to 0.78 ng/mL and the linear dynamic range was generally 1.6-3200 ng/mL. The extraction efficiencies for each analyte ranged from 58% to 82%. This method was successfully applied to postmortem fluid and tissue specimens obtained from victims of three separate aviation accidents.     

杆状病毒表达的猪传染性胃肠炎病毒钉状糖蛋白在其血清学诊断上的应用

利用从猪传染性胃肠炎病毒（ＴＧＥＶ）Ｍｉｌｅｒ株（Ｍ５Ｃ）克隆建立的一株重组杆状病毒（Ｒ２－２）表达的重组ＴＧＥＶ钉状糖蛋白（Ｓ），建立了一种阻断酶联免疫吸附试验（ＥＬＩＳＡ）来检测猪群抗ＴＧＥＶ抗体。试验表明，用重组病毒Ｒ２－２接种ｓｆ９细胞（ｓｐｏｄｏｐｔｅｒａｆｒｕｇｉｐｅｒｄａ）所表达的重组蛋白量在接种后第７２ｈ达到最高值；该重组蛋白能与抗ＴＧＥＶＳ蛋白Ａ位点的单克隆抗体特异性结合。用阻断ＥＬＩＳＡ检测６８份来自无ＴＧＥＶ感染或ＴＧＥＶ（Ｐｕｒｄｕｅｌ５）免疫的仔猪或母猪血清，结果与ＴＧＥＶ蚀斑减数试验完全相符，灵敏度和特异性均为１００％。同时检测来自ＴＧＥＶ试验免疫猪、美国部分地区猪群、我国进口猪以及我国国内猪群血清６２７份，阳性检出率分别为８２．６１％、６１．６２％、５８．３３％和２９．１０％；用中和试验（微量中和试验或病毒蚀斑减数试验）检测的ＴＧＥ血清抗体阳性率分别为８０．８７％、５９．６０％、５６．１１％和３０．６０％，两种方法对抗ＴＧＥＶ抗体的检出率没有显著差异。     

Ironies of inclusion: social class and deinstitutionalization

This paper discusses changes in the social organization of mental institutionalization as they relate to developments in the wider social and economic environment. Despite dramatic changes in the system of inpatient psychiatric care during the last three decades, the historic division of labor between the private and the public system (with the latter treating the poor, the unemployed, and the nonwhite) has not ceased to exist. At the same time, under the influence of the postwar trend towards greater political integration of disadvantaged and marginal groups into society's central value systems, treatment of the mentally ill has become less segregated and more voluntary. An important implication of these two interacting trends--the changed legal position of the patient vis-à-vis the provider and the deteriorating economic position of the user of public psychiatric facilities--has been the exceeding irrelevance of one of the basic tenets of psychiatric care: that clinical treatment precedes social functioning. With two vignettes of chronic patients the article illustrates how symptoms and survival are fused in the contemporary, inclusionary system of care.     

A median-voter model of economic regulation

A basic median-voter model is developed and extended to analyze issues of economic regulation and public policy outcomes. The model is used to generate comparative static results relating changes in public-policy outcomes to changes in relative group sizes, total population, information costs, and population heterogeneity. The model is also used to explore the issue of optimal group size — the size of the special-interest group that maximizes the group's per capita public policy gains. Comparative static analysis reveals how optimal group size and gains per capita are affected by changes in population heterogeneity, the size of the total population, and relative knowledge levels.