Linked Life Data

11444668

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/11444668

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1
pubmed:dateCreated
2001-7-10
pubmed:abstractText
In Greece, sectional hair analysis, in addition to clinical examination, has been used as a valuable tool for the confirmation of a person's history of drug use. The present report concerns the toxicologic analysis of the exhumed remains and hair samples of an 18-year-old woman. Postmortem toxicologic analysis of blood and urine confirmed recent opiate and cannabis use and indicated that death was associated with heroin abuse. Several months later, the woman's family asked for exhumation and reexamination of the body, insisting that the cause of death was homicide. The investigating judge ordered exhumation and new medicolegal examination of the body. The investigation of the drug profile along the hair shaft was undertaken by analyzing hair sections 1 cm from the hair root for morphine, 6-monoacetylmorphine, heroin, and cannabinoids. The total lengths of the hair samples ranged from 8 to 11 cm. The total morphine levels in the hair sections corresponding to the 3-month period before death were significantly lower (1.5-2.85 ng/mg) than those of the 4- to 10-month period before death (7.4-14.8 ng/mg). An interpretation of these results may be occasional drug use (with considerable attenuation of use during the last 3 months before death). Decrease of tolerance to heroin caused by abstinence and relapse in use could have been the cause of death.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Mar
pubmed:issn
0195-7910
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
22
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
73-7
pubmed:dateRevised
2011-2-2
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2001
pubmed:articleTitle
Evaluation of the addiction history of a dead woman after exhumation and sectional hair testing.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Forensic Sciences, University of Crete, Greece.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Case Reports