Quantitative analysis of multiple illicit drugs in preserved oral fluid by solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

We present a validated method for the simultaneous analysis of basic drugs which comprises a sample clean-up step, using mixed-mode solid-phase extraction (SPE), followed by LC-MS/MS analysis. Deuterated analogues for all of the analytes of interest were used for quantitation. The applied HPLC gradient ensured the elution of all the drugs examined within 14 min and produced chromatographic peaks of acceptable symmetry. Selectivity of the method was achieved by a combination of retention time, and two precursor-product ion transitions for the non-deuterated analogues. Oral fluid was collected with the Intercept, a FDA approved sampling device that is used on a large scale in the US for workplace drug testing. However, this collection system contains some ingredients (stabilizers and preservatives) that can cause substantial interferences, e.g. ion suppression or enhancement during LC-MS/MS analysis, in the absence of suitable sample pre-treatment. The use of the SPE was demonstrated to be highly effective and led to significant decreases in the interferences. Extraction was found to be both reproducible and efficient with recoveries >76% for all of the analytes. Furthermore, the processed samples were demonstrated to be stable for 48 h, except for cocaine and benzoylecgonine, where a slight negative trend was observed, but did not compromise the quantitation. In all cases the method was linear over the range investigated (2-200 microg/L) with an excellent intra-assay and inter-assay precision (coefficients of variation <10% in most cases) for QC samples spiked at a concentration of 4, 12 and 100 microg/L. Limits of quantitation were estimated to be at 2 microg/L with limits of detection ranging from 0.2 to 0.5 microg/L, which meets the requirements of SAMHSA for oral fluid testing in the workplace. The method was subsequently applied to the analysis of Intercept samples collected at the roadside by the police, and to determine MDMA and MDA levels in oral fluid samples from a controlled study.     

DNA mixtures in forensic casework: a 4-year retrospective study

Occasionally interpretation guidelines from validation studies are difficult to apply to real forensic casework, especially in the case of mixed samples. Exogenous contamination, an unknown number of contributors or unbalanced proportion of each one in the sample and a varied degree of degradation of the biological materials, contribute to the difficulties in the interpretation of sample profiles. In this paper we have reviewed all the mixed genetic STR profiles encountered in our laboratory over 4 years (1997-2000) and evaluated the problems in the interpretation of the results. From 1547 criminal cases with 2424 samples typed, 163 showed a mixed profile (6.7%). We have observed that occasionally, a mixture appeared in the same sample with one multiplex amplification kit (e.g. Blue) and not with another (e.g. Green). From our results, it can be suggested that technical characteristics of the different fluorochrome groups in the multiplexes override the molecular characteristics of each STR in their capacity to detect mixtures.     

Radiographic evaluation of third molar development in Spanish children and young people

Third molar development was evaluated in 786 young people aged between 4 and 20 years, all patients at the School of Dentistry of the University of Granada. The development of third molars and of mandibular second premolars and second molars was determined according to the stages proposed by Nolla. The onset of mandibular third molar formation was observed at very variable ages in this series, ranging from 5.86 to 14.66 years. The first developmental stages of maxillary third molars are not usually visible radiographically, which can lead to an incorrect diagnosis of agenesis. We found no significant relationship between the gender or age of the patient and the presence or absence of third molars. However, the presence/absence of the third molar can be predicted in 82.82% of cases when there is some degree of calcification of mandibular second molars and second premolars.     

Reviews

Big Men, Small Boys and Politics in Ghana: Power, Ideology and the Burden of History, 1982–1994 by Paul Nugent. Pinter Publishing Limited (London and New York). 1995. xiv plus 306pp. including bibliography and index. £35 or $63 hardback.

Understanding Contemporary Africa (2nd edition) edited by April A. Gordon and Donald L. Gordon. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder and London. 1996. xiv plus 432pp. including maps, illustrations, notes, bibliographies, appendices and index.

The Politics of Difference: Ethnic Premises in a World of Power edited by Edwin N. Wilmsen and Patrick McAllister. University of Chicago Press: Chicago and London. 1996. ix plus 210pp.

The Multilateral Development Banks. Volume 1. The African Development Bank by E. Philip English and Harris M. Mule. The North‐South Institute. Ottawa. 1996. xvi plus 213pp.

Brothers at War: Dissidence and Rebellion in Southern Africa by Abiodun Alao. British Academic Press, London and New York. 1994. xiii plus 201pp. including notes, bibliography, index. £39.50. Hardback.

Now that We are Free: Coloured Communities in Democratic South Africa edited by Wilmot James, Daria Caliguire and Kerry Cullinan. Lynne Rienner Publishing, Boulder (Colorado) and London. 1996. 142pp.

Imperialism or Solidarity? International Labour and South African Trade Unions by Roger Southall. University of Cape Town Press, Cape Town. 1995. 398pp.

The Aid Relationship in Zambia: A Conflict Scenario by Oliver Saasa and Jerker Carlsson. Institute for African Studies, Lusaka (Zambia) and Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala (Sweden). 1996. 170pp. including figures, tables, notes, bibliography and index. Paperback.     

The Sovietization of Lithuania after WWII: modernization,transculturation, and the lettered city

ABSTRACT

This article approaches the Sovietization of the Baltics in the light of two critical notions developed by the noted Latin American critic Angel Rama: “narrative transculturation” and “the lettered city.” By revisiting key moments in the development of Soviet Lithuanian culture and intellectual class against a backdrop of forced collectivization, urbanization, and modernization, the article aims at a novel interpretation of what Sovietization meant in the Lithuanian context, the significance of de-Stalinization and cultural modernism during the Thaw in the 1960s, and the cultural preconditions for the emergence of the popular movement against Soviet rule in the late 1980s.     

Word on the Street: The Persistence of Leftist-dominated Protest in Europe

Classic studies of protest politics have traditionally defended the dominant left-wing orientation of protesters. However, some recent research has highlighted the general spread of protest by the increasing participation of right-wing individuals. Has this process meant an ‘ideological normalisation’ of protesters? The present article tackles this question by examining competing hypotheses regarding the relationship between ideology and political protest. Through a hierarchical multilevel design, the article tests whether left-wing (or right-wing) supporters are more likely to stay at home when left-wing (right-wing) parties are in power and whether they intensify their protest activities when they are more distant from the government’s ideological position. The article shows that left-wing individuals protest more under right-wing governments than under left-wing governments and yet, they are the group which protest the most also under left-wing governments. Both party mobilisation and values appear to be behind these individuals' greater propensity to participate regardless of the governments' ideological orientation.