Browsing by Author "Matos, Francisco"
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- Development and validation of a multi-substance method for routine analysis of pesticides in post-mortem samples by UPLC-MS/MSPublication . Matos, Francisco; Barroso, Mário; Antunes, Mónica; Franco, João; Fonseca, SuzanaPesticides play an important role in forensic toxicology and are usually classified as a single class of chemicals, but in fact there are several different types of compounds, including organophosphates, carbamates, pyrethroids or organochlorines, among others, with different toxicities. Pesticide analysis in post-mortem samples can be difficult due to the complexity of the samples and to the high toxicity of these compounds. The aim of this study was to develop and validate an easy to use, sensitive, and robust method, using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to be incorporated in the routine flow for more than fifty pesticide analysis in post-mortem blood. The developed analytical method was fully validated according to the guiding principles of the ANSI/ASB Standard 036 and applied to routine post-mortem samples, being already detected more than 15 positive cases. This UPLC-MS/MS method is useful and a powerful tool in a toxicology lab because it is fast, simple, effective, and trustworthy. This method is able to detect and analyse pesticides in post-mortem samples. It is set to use for routine analysis and successfully applied to intoxication cases.
- A review of publications in hair testing: 2020-2023Publication . Simão, Ana Y.; Antunes, Mónica; Pires, Bruno; Catarro, Gonçalo; Soares, Sofia; Matos, Francisco; Rosado, Tiago; Gallardo, Eugenia; Barroso, MárioIntroduction and Aims: Since its first use until now, the relevance of hair in the toxicological expertise has evolved, mainly due to its advantages over traditional samples. Despite the fact that it is one of the most used alternative specimens, hair still presents important challenges. The objective of this study was to perform a bibliographic review of scientific publications on toxicological applications of hair testing between the years 2020 and 2023. Materials & Methods: The Scopus database was used for literature search, for papers published from 2020 to 2023 (10th April), and only articles written in English were considered. The search strings for terms included in the title, abstract or keywords were “hair testing” and “hair samples”. The papers were independently reviewed by four of the authors to determine their relevance in the context of this study. Results & Discussion: Taking into consideration these criteria and search strings, 218 articles were found, from which 18 were excluded since animal hair specimens had been used. The papers were classified according to type (e.g. review, research paper), analytes, extraction and clean-up approaches. Each paper could be placed under more than one category, except review papers (32 articles). Concerning analytes, the highest number of papers involved drugs of abuse (175, from which 45 involving new psychoactive substances), drugs (44) and alcohol biomarkers (17). Other biomarkers included hormones, endocannabinoids, etc. (44 papers, 25 of which involved cortisol). Most studies involve protein precipitation and direct injection (91), and only 12 studies address the issues of cosmetic treatments or drug adulterants. Conclusions: Hair testing is still mainly directed to the determination of drugs of abuse, and new psychoactive substances are still seldom included. Additionally, other applications are becoming more relevant, for instance the use of hair to determine biomarkers in some diseases.