Since late September 2014, there have been approximately 10 cases in Japan where people have died from inhaling smoke from herbal blends containing a newly emerged synthetic cannabinoid. Although the drug was tentatively identified by some drug-monitoring institutions as 5-fluoro-ADB, to our knowledge, its data have not been published in any scientific context. We recently encountered an autopsy case in which 5-fluoro-ADB was involved. The deceased was a 34-year-old man who was found dead in his room. The postmortem interval was estimated at 35-40 h. The direct cause of the death was asphyxia due to aspiration of stomach contents into the trachea, which likely took place during vomiting under low-consciousness conditions provoked by inhalation of the 5-fluoro-ADB smoke. The cadaver was subjected to autopsy at our department. Femoral vein blood, right heart blood, left heart blood, urine, stomach contents, and nine solid tissues including the adipose tissue were collected and frozen until analysis. The extraction of 5-fluoro-ADB and internal standard 5-fluoro-AMB was performed using a modified QuEChERS method plus filtration through Captiva ND Lipids cartridges, followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) analysis. Because this study dealt with various kinds of human matrices, we used the standard addition method for quantitation to overcome the matrix effects. The levels of 5-fluoro-ADB in the cadaver specimens were generally low; it could not be detected from blood or urine specimens. The levels of 5-fluoro-ADB in solid tissues were 1.17-7.95 ng/g. Because the highest levels were found for the adipose tissue and heart muscle, the final extracts of the adipose tissue and/or heart muscle were concentrated 10-and 200-fold to obtain product ion mass spectra of 5-fluoro-ADB using LC-MS-MS and its mass spectrum by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, respectively. Both spectra completely coincided with those obtained from the reference standard 5-fluoro-ADB, confirming that the target compound was 5-fluoro-ADB. The quantitative results obtained by selected reaction monitoring of LC-MS-MS showed the highest level, at 7.95 ng/g, in the adipose tissue, followed by stomach contents, brain, heart muscle, pancreas, and spleen. For the lung, liver, kidney, and skeletal muscle, levels were below the quantitation limit (about 0.5 ng/g), although very small peaks above the detection limit (about 0.1 ng/g) could be observed for all of the above solid tissues. The low levels of 5-fluoro-ADB in the solid tissues were likely as a result of only a small amount of 5-fluoro-ADB incorporated into the body via the lungs due to the short period from the beginning of smoking the herb to the fatal asphyxia resulting from aspiration of a massive amount of stomach contents into the trachea under low-consciousness conditions. In addition, we measured the content of 5-fluoro-ADB in three packages, all of which were opened, that were found under a pillow near the deceased; their levels of 5-fluoro-ADB were 49.2 mg/g, ...

Optimal direction of the suture button can provide adequate stabilization of the ankle and could benefit athletes with syndesmosis injuries.

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The double-armed diazacrown ethers, which have a base diazacrown ether ring with two diamide-type side chains, were designed and synthesized on the basis of the proposed molecular model for the novel neutral Ca2+ and Mg2+ ionophores. The potentiometric ion-selective electrodes were prepared with over 20 kinds of systematically synthesized diazacrown ether derivatives. The relationship between the molecular structures of the ionophores and the ion selectivities was fully discussed. The electrodes based on the 21and 18-membered diazacrown ether derivatives possessing a glycolic diamide and malonic diamide in their side chains (K23E1 and K22B5) exhibited excellent Ca2+ and Mg2+ selectivities, respectively. The ion-selectivity features of the novel Ca2+ and Mg2+ ionophores supply important structural information about the design of host molecules for alkaline earth metal cations.Calcium is one of the essential electrolytes in the human body, and its biological actions nave been actively investigated.1'* 12 345678*For monitoring this important electrolyte, a calcium ion-selective electrode, which is a convenient chemical sensor, has been successfully developed and utilized.3-5 Magnesium is also an important blood electrolyte. Nevertheless, despite the large demand for monitoring Mg2+ in human and animal bodies, a Mg2+selective electrode with adequate characteristics satisfying the requirement for blood analysis has not been developed to date. In the past, several Mg2+-selective ionophores for an ion-selective electrode, which were mostly /3-diketone types, were investigated.4-9