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A new multi-target screening (MTS) procedure for drugs in blood and urine for toxicological analysis has been developed using a hybrid triple-quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometer (QTrap) for the fast detection and identification of 301 forensically important drugs, e.g. tranquilizers (benzodiazepines), hypnotics, drugs of abuse (opiates, cocaine, amphetamines, cannabinoids), antidepressants, neuroleptics, and some cardiac drugs, in one single liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) analysis. Samples were extracted either with liquid-liquid extraction or solid-phase extraction. A multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) as survey scan and an enhanced product ion (EPI) scan as dependent scan were performed in an information-dependent acquisition (IDA) experiment. Finally, drug identification was carried out by library search with a newly developed MS/MS library based on EPI spectra at three different collision energies in positive mode. The advantage of this newly developed method is the possibility to detect and identify 301 drugs in one single LC/MS/MS run.

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Background Alcohol is heavily consumed in sub-Saharan Africa and affects HIV transmission and treatment but is difficult to measure. Our goal was to examine the test characteristics of a direct metabolite of alcohol consumption, phosphatidylethanol (PEth). Methods Persons infected with HIV were recruited from a large HIV clinic in southwestern Uganda. We conducted surveys and breath alcohol concentration (BRAC) testing at 21 daily home or drinking establishment visits and blood was collected on day 21 (n=77). PEth in whole blood was compared to prior 7-, 14-, and 21-day alcohol consumption. Results 1) The receiver operator characteristic area under the curve (ROC-AUC) was highest for PEth versus any consumption over the prior 21 days (0.92; 95% CI: 0.86-0.97). The sensitivity for any detectable PEth was 88.0% (95% CI: 76.0-95.6%) and the specificity was 88.5% (95% CI: 69.8-97.6%). 2) The ROC-AUC of PEth versus any 21-day alcohol consumption did not vary by age, body mass index, CD4 cell count, hepatitis B virus infection and antiretroviral therapy status, but was higher for men compared to women (p=0.03). 3) PEth measurements were correlated with several measures of alcohol consumption, including number of drinking days in the prior 21 (Spearman r=0.74, p<0.001) and BRAC (r=0.75, p<0.001). Conclusions The data add support to the body of evidence for PEth as a useful marker of alcohol consumption with high ROC-AUC, sensitivity, and specificity. Future studies should further address the period and level of alcohol consumption for which PEth is detectable.