Investigation of poisoning

Sticht G, Kaferstein H, Staak M (1989) Results of toxicological investigations of poisonings with atropine and scopolamine. Acta Med Leg Soc (Liege) 39 441—447... 

Volatile bases, gas chromatography, 17 Volatile compounds, gas chromatography, 199 investigation of poisoning, 43... 

Whole-body counters were originally developed for investigation of poisoning by radioactive substances such as radium. They are now used diagnostically and consist of a large scintillation, or semiconductor, detector with the whole system, including the patient, placed in a heavily shielded room. The sensitivity is sufficient to measure natural radioactivity in the human body from such nuclides as... 

Oh and Cavendish " (L),(T) Investigation of poison accumulation in washcoats for catalytic mufflers... 

The adventitious discovery of the antitumor action of the nitrogen mustard poison war gases led to intensive investigation of the mode of action of these compounds. In brief, it has been fairly well established that these agents owe their effect to the presence of the highly reactive bis(2-chloroethyl)amine group. The cytotoxic activity of... 

Various investigators have tried to obtain information concerning the reaction mechanism from kinetic studies. However, as is often the case in catalytic studies, the reproducibility of the kinetic measurements proved to be poor. A poor reproducibility can be caused by many factors, including sensitivity of the catalyst to traces of poisons in the reactants and dependence of the catalytic activity on storage conditions, activation procedures, and previous experimental use. Moreover, the activity of the catalyst may not be constant in time because of an induction period or of catalyst decay. Hence, it is often impossible to obtain a catalyst with a constant, reproducible activity and, therefore, kinetic data must be evaluated carefully. 

Second, there has been another severe outbreak of paralytic shellfish poisoning along the Pacific coast of Central America, with veiy high levels of shellHsh toxicity detected in Guatemala. There have, however, been no deaths and very few illnesses reported there, due to a timely response based on information gained from detailed investigations of the first outbreak. This time they were ready. 

The danger to domestic animals, including pets, is an important hazard in the use of all newer economic poisons. Drift dusts or sprays from carelessly applied materials may set back the useful development of many valuable chemicals. Only recently have authorities finally decided that we should slow down on the use of DDT on cows until we know more about the occurrence of the chemical in rtiilk, butter, and steaks. Our sportsmen and, incidentally, a major economic factor in our pleasant way of life—the fish, game, and wildlife activities—are part and parcel of the problem of chemical usage in forests and streams. We need continued and expanded investigations of the effects of the newer pesticides on wild life. 

The pharmacology and toxicology of certain economic poisons have been developed to a degree which surpasses investigations of any other class of nonmedicinal compounds. In certain instances more is known concerning the site and mechanism of action, the absorption, distribution, and excretion of these substances than is known concerning some of the more commonly used pharmaceutical compounds. This has come about as a result of the conscientious recognition of the public health hazards which are inherent in the economic poisons. 

Sisson, P. R. Kramer, J. M. Brett, M. M. Freeman, R. Gilbert, R. J. Lightfoot, N. F. Application of pyrolysis mass spectrometry to the investigation of outbreaks of food poisoning and non-gastrointestinal infection associated with Bacillus species and Clostridium perfringens. Int. J. Food Microbiol. 1992,17, 57-66. 

Pain, D.J. 1987. Lead Poisoning in Waterfowl An Investigation of Sources and Screening Techniques. Ph.D. thesis, Oxford University, England. 335 pp. 

The types of medical data that help accident investigations include (1) type and level of toxic or abusive substances in the blood, (2) location and magnitude of injuries, (3) type of poisoning (carbon monoxide, toluene, etc.), (4) signs of suffocation, (5) signs of heat exposure or heat exhaustion, and (6) signs of eye irritation. 

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