Browse every published article, from the latest research to earlier analysis. Use the page numbers below to explore the complete archive.
A four-year New South Wales seizure study quantified MDMA tablets, capsules, and powders. The data reveal wide dose variability, emerging adulterants, and important limits on what police-selected samples represent.
A laboratory study found that highly concentrated MDMA, methamphetamine, and diphenhydramine solutions can produce false-positive results on one fentanyl test strip—an important lesson about dilution, matrix effects, and forensic interpretation.
A mouse study found greater cardiac sympathetic activation and cellular-stress signaling after combined binge ethanol and MDMA exposure than after either drug alone.
A controlled rat study found that alcohol co-exposure and storage conditions changed postmortem MDMA concentration patterns, illustrating why one specimen cannot reconstruct the antemortem level.
A controlled pharmacokinetic study shows how CYP2D6 phenotype and bupropion alter MDMA exposure—and why a concentration still cannot be interpreted in isolation.
In a randomized on-road study, MDMA did not materially change driving performance or offset the impairment caused by a night without sleep; morning lane weaving reached a clinically important level.
A 2024 study of Norwegian drug-driving cases found no significant concentration–impairment relationship for MDMA in the 85 monodrug cases, underscoring why a number alone cannot reconstruct driving performance.
A 1998 study measured cannabinoids in commercially available cannabis seed products and found much higher concentrations in attached bracts, illustrating why sample composition and preparation matter.
The endocannabinoid system includes multiple receptors, ligands, enzymes, and signaling pathways. That complexity matters when interpreting cannabis findings in forensic toxicology.
A systematic review found widely different CBD half-life estimates after smoking, oromucosal use, intravenous dosing, and chronic oral administration.
A microglial cell study linked N-arachidonoyl glycine and abnormal cannabidiol signaling to GPR18, illustrating why cannabinoid pharmacology extends beyond CB1 and CB2.
A study of two high-CBD cannabis breeding populations shows why leaf shape and plant appearance cannot substitute for chemical analysis.
High-resolution mass spectrometry found chemical subgroups beyond THC and CBD in 18 cannabis varieties, but fingerprinting is not automatic source identification.
A prescription THC/CBD spray can produce matrix-dependent cannabinoid findings. Here is what blood, urine, oral fluid, and hair can—and cannot—establish.
A cartridge chemistry study identified vitamin E acetate, hydrocarbons, terpenes, plasticizers, pesticides and metals—but chemical detection and individual medical causation remain different questions.
The time of entry into a rescue experiment determines which outcomes it can estimate. A cocaine-hydrolase study tested delayed intervention in rats that were still alive when treatment became possible. Protection and rescue used different sequences Zhang and colleagues investigated an engineered cocaine-metabolizing enzyme, Albu-CocH1. Their experiments included pretreatment before cocaine, rescue shortly after convulsions,…
A drug name in an analytical method can identify a laboratory reagent. A rat-plasma assay for lesinurad used diazepam as an internal standard, making the sample-preparation record essential to interpreting its presence. What the laboratory added Zhou and colleagues developed a UHPLC-MS/MS method for lesinurad and applied it to a rat pharmacokinetic experiment. During preparation,…
A percentage of patients receiving a drug can describe only one phase of treatment. A coronary bypass trial illustrates why a postoperative medication result needs to be placed alongside the preoperative regimen. Shared premedication came first Obersztyn and colleagues randomized 80 patients undergoing low-risk coronary artery surgery to general anesthesia with thoracic epidural analgesia or…
A complication rate depends on how an event enters the dataset. In a Japanese procedural-sedation study, researchers inferred complications from treatment-related records because the database lacked direct adverse-event information. The operational definition Matsui and colleagues analyzed hospital claims from 2012 through 2015 for catheter ablation, gastrointestinal endoscopic examination, and endoscopic surgery performed under local anesthesia.…
Dose extraction can change the interpretation of a sedation study. A 2017 pediatric echocardiography trial illustrates why the abstract and methods need to be read together before its results enter an expert report. Two different dose statements Salehi and colleagues randomized 68 children between oral midazolam and chloral hydrate. The abstract lists the midazolam dose…
A cellular stress response and an adverse clinical outcome are different observations. A 2017 toxicogenomic study examined how dose and time shaped inferred gene-regulatory networks in chemically exposed human hepatocytes. How the networks were built The researchers analyzed publicly available expression data using Dose–Time Network Identification. They compared groups of compounds associated with carcinogenicity, drug-induced…
A compound can bind a receptor in a screening assay while its effect in a functioning neuronal circuit remains uncertain. A 2018 methods paper described a staged approach for investigating compounds that modulate GABAA neurotransmission. What the first stages establish The workflow begins with radioligand-binding assays using membranes expressing selected receptor subtypes. Electrophysiological experiments in…
A developmental comparison can change when a quantity is expressed for an entire organ or per gram of tissue. A 2018 midazolam study illustrates that distinction in physiological population pharmacokinetic modeling of children undergoing surgery. Which data were modeled? Investigators analyzed midazolam and 1-hydroxymidazolam data from 264 children aged one to eighteen after oral administration.…
A pharmacokinetic model can reproduce observed concentrations while leaving its performance in new circumstances open to testing. A 2018 study developed an agent-based model of human oral absorption, using midazolam and clonazepam as examples. How agreement was assessed The in silico drug absorption tract, or ISDAT, represented physiological spaces, membranes, and metabolic processes. Simulations were…
Closely related molecules can help test competing explanations of how a drug fits a receptor. A 2018 benzodiazepine study used stereoisomer pairs to investigate proposed binding orientations at GABAA receptors. How the hypothesis was tested Computational docking into receptor homology models suggested that a chiral methyl group could discriminate among candidate orientations. Researchers then studied…
A urine drug screen answers a question about its tested analytes and specimen. A 2017 prospective study of ICU admissions illustrates how a negative urine result can coexist with other evidence supporting intoxication. How the study population was assembled The investigators enrolled 65 adults admitted from an emergency department to intensive care during a six-month…
A report of no observed adverse events depends on which events were sought and how completely they were measured. A 2018 medication-use evaluation examined intramuscular olanzapine and lorazepam at a county psychiatric hospital. What counted as coadministration? The retrospective evaluation identified 91 instances in which both medications were administered within 24 hours. A subgroup of…
A change in a probe drug’s metabolism can have several mechanistic explanations. A 2018 metoprolol study investigated an apparent inconsistency by combining human pharmacokinetic observations with experiments in liver cells, microsomes, and recombinant enzymes. What prompted the investigation? After rifampicin treatment, data from 15 healthy volunteers showed a 25% increase in metoprolol clearance. Formation of…
A positive laboratory inhibition result can justify a clinical interaction study. The clinical study then answers a more specific question about the exposure actually tested. A 2017 tenapanor paper followed that sequence using midazolam as a CYP3A probe. The laboratory signal and clinical test Tenapanor inhibited CYP3A4/5 in human liver microsomes, with reported half-maximal inhibitory…
An enzyme experiment can produce different results when the test compound has time to undergo metabolism before the probe substrate is added. A 2018 study of the synthetic cannabinoid EAM-2201 illustrates why forensic toxicologists should examine incubation conditions when evaluating a proposed drug interaction. Two experimental conditions The investigators measured probe-drug metabolism in pooled human…