Drugs and Poisons in Humans

It was with great pleasure that I accepted the invitation to write the foreword for Drugs and Poisons in Humans. A Handbook of Practical Analysis. Dr. Osamu Suzuki and Dr. Mikio Yashiki, two outstanding Japanese scientists, f rst published the Handbook in Japanese in 2002. Specialists throughout Japan contributed analytical methods for a wide variety of therapeutic and illicit drugs, pesticides, and natural toxins and alkaloids. In fact, rarely has such a wide spectrum of analytes and metabolites been addressed within a single reference manual. At the beginning of the book, general topics are addressed, including instructions on h- dling biological materials, measurement of drugs in alternative specimens, and guidance on resolving analytical problems that may occur. T ere are discussions of extraction modalities and detection methodologies and how to select these appropriately based on the physioche- cal characteristics of the drug. Analysis of specif c classes of drugs and relevant metabolites are covered in subsequent chapters. Clinical, analytical and forensic toxicology and clinical ch- istry laboratories will f nd the volume informative and useful. Toxicologists are of en faced with developing methods for new drugs and metabolites with little information available in the literature. T is book provides a great starting point for method development providing pro- dures that have been utilized in real life situations. In addition, toxicologists developing new methodologies may use this volume as a guide to selecting the most appropriate instrumen- tion to handle the breadth of their analytical workload.

Chapters of general nature. - How to handle biological specimens. - Alternative specimens. - Pitfalls and cautions in analysis of drugs and poisons. - Pretreatments of human specimens. - Detection methods. - A computer system for diagnosis of causative drugs and poisons developed by the Japan Poison Information Center (Tokyo). - Practical use of the poison-net developed by the Japan Information Network (Hiroshima). - Problems in toxin analysis in emergency medicine. - Analysis of chemical warfare agents and their related compounds. - Chapters on specific toxins. - Carbon monoxide. - Hydrogen sulfide and its metabolite. - Cyanide. - Methanol and formic acid. - Ethanol. - Chloroform and dichloromethane. - Toluene, benzene, xylene and styrene. - Alkyl nitrites. - Components of gasoline and kerosene. - Amphetamines and their metabolites. - Cannabinoids and their metabolites. - Morphine and its analogues. - Cocaine and its metabolites. - Pentazocine. - Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). - 3, 4-Methylenedioxyamphetamines. - Phencyclidine. - ? -Hydroxybutyric acid. - Phenothiazines. - Butyrophenones. - Tricyclic and tetracyclic antidepressants. - Benzodiazepines. - Bromisovalum. - Barbiturates. - Diphenylmethane antihistaminics. - Propionic acid derivative analgesic-antipyretics. - Acetaminophen (paracetamol). - Acetylsalicylic acid. - Antiepileptics. - Muscle relaxants. - ? -Blockers. - Local anaesthetics. - Salicylic acid. - ? -Lactam antibiotics. - Hypochlorite. - Benzalkonium chlorides. - Hair dyes. - Permethrin. - Boric acid. - Naphthalene. - p-Dichlorobenzene. - Ethylene glycol. - Aconite toxins. - Mushroom toxins. - Tetrodotoxin. - Methylxanthine derivatives. - Nicotine and cotinine. - Tropane alkaloids. - Oleander toxins. - Simultaneous analysis of pesticides by GC/MS. - Organophosphorus pesticides. - Glufosinate and glyphosate. -Carbamate pesticides. - Paraquat and diquat. - Cresol. - Diazine and triazine herbicides. - Coumarin rodenticides. - Sarin and its decomposition products. - VX and its decomposition products. - Sodium azide. - Arsenic compounds and other inorganic poisons. - Nitrate and nitrite compounds. - Methemoglobin.