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Development And Validation Of A Lc-Ms/Ms Method For Detection And Quantification Of 18 Antidepressants In Whole Blood, Linda Kim Jun 2019

Development And Validation Of A Lc-Ms/Ms Method For Detection And Quantification Of 18 Antidepressants In Whole Blood, Linda Kim

Student Theses

Antidepressants are one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in America, with researchers reporting one in six Americans take some form of psychiatric drugs-mostly antidepressants (NBC News, 2016). Antidepressants are often present in combination with other drugs in suicides and drug-related deaths, so a sensitive and specific method to detect and quantify antidepressants is necessary. We developed a method for the detection and quantification of 18 different antidepressants in whole blood, with a range of 2.5-900 ng/mL and LOQ of 2.5 ng/mL. Three hundred uL of blood was used and the analytes were extracted using solid-phase extraction and analyzed by …


Simultaneous Determination Of Fourteen Antipsychotic Drugs In Whole Blood By Solid Phase Extraction And Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Theresa M. Dawe May 2019

Simultaneous Determination Of Fourteen Antipsychotic Drugs In Whole Blood By Solid Phase Extraction And Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Theresa M. Dawe

Student Theses

Anti-psychotic drugs are commonly prescribed to patients to treat several mental conditions, such as bipolar, schizophrenia, and manic-depressive disorder. The analysis of anti-psychotic drugs in blood is a common practice in clinical and forensic toxicology, to monitor drug treatment (therapeutic drug monitoring) or to explain the cause of the impairment or intoxication in human performance and in postmortem cases. However, most of the current studies have been performed in plasma, and a limited number in blood. We developed and validated a method to confirm and quantify a panel of commonly prescribed anti-psychotic drugs in whole blood using solid phase extraction …


Analysis Of Synthetic Opioids In Postmortem Blood, Vitreous Humor, And Brain Tissue, Rachel K. Chesser Dec 2018

Analysis Of Synthetic Opioids In Postmortem Blood, Vitreous Humor, And Brain Tissue, Rachel K. Chesser

Student Theses

In the United States, the use of new synthetic opioids (e.g. fentanyl and derivatives) has become an increasing health issue with thousands of overdose deaths being observed since 2013. With the high mortality rate associated with these substances, postmortem analyses and interpretation of synthetic opioids has become extremely important. However, due to the novelty of these compounds, the available data is limited and provides challenges to toxicologists. The focus of this project was to examine the postmortem distribution of new synthetic opioids in blood, vitreous humor, and brain tissue. New methods were developed and validated to quantify 13 synthetic opioids …


Detection Of In-Utero Ethanol Exposure Via Etg And Ets Analysis In Umbilical Cord And Placenta, Jennifer Hanna Aug 2018

Detection Of In-Utero Ethanol Exposure Via Etg And Ets Analysis In Umbilical Cord And Placenta, Jennifer Hanna

Student Theses

Alcohol exposure during pregnancy constitutes one of the leading preventable causes of birth defects, mental retardation and neurodevelopmental disorders in exposed children. According to the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, alcohol was the second most prevalent substance (8.3%) after tobacco (10%), being this alcohol prevalence higher among 26-44 years old pregnant women than in the 18-25 years old group (9.1 vs 6.5%) (Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, 2017). The ethanol marker ethyl glucuronide (EtG) has proven to be a specific long-term marker of ethanol in-utero exposure in meconium; however, currently there are scarce or no …


Δ-9-Thc Effect On The Dopamine Transporter, Brooke E. Nielsen Jun 2018

Δ-9-Thc Effect On The Dopamine Transporter, Brooke E. Nielsen

Student Theses

Understanding the mechanism behind drugs of abuse is one of the key elements to understanding why addiction is so prevalent in society. The goal of this research was to determine the effect that a popular cannabinoid, Δ -9-tetrahydrocannabinol has on the regulation of dopamine neurotransmitter in the synapses. It was hypothesized that the addictive high users experience from using Δ-9-THC had a direct effect on lowering the dopamine transporter protein on cell surface causing a buildup of dopamine in the synapse. The results of the study show that the higher concentration of Δ-9-THC that the cells were exposed to caused …


Zolpidem Facilitated Sexual Assaults: A Hair Method Validation, Danielle N. Chasworth Jun 2018

Zolpidem Facilitated Sexual Assaults: A Hair Method Validation, Danielle N. Chasworth

Student Theses

A liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MSMS) method was developed and validated to detect for the presence of zolpidem in human hair samples. Zolpidem is a sedative hypnotic whose adverse effects make it a common drug found in drug facilitated crimes (DFC). It is important to be able to detect and quantitate the drug after a long period of time due to the victim’s delayed reporting of the crime. Hair’s long window of detection makes it a useful matrix for DFC investigations. The linear range of the assay was targeted at 2 pg/mg to 1,000 pg/mg and experiments designed to …


Investigating The Effects Of Trans-Spinal Direct Current Stimulation On The Expression Of Nkcc1 In Mice, Pasindu Weliwaththage May 2018

Investigating The Effects Of Trans-Spinal Direct Current Stimulation On The Expression Of Nkcc1 In Mice, Pasindu Weliwaththage

Student Theses

Trans-spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS) is a non-invasive powerful tool demonstrated to positively affect behavior and motor function. tsDCS is a neuromodulatory technique capable of altering spinal and cortical excitability and even regain motor function after complete motor paralysis (Cortes et at, 2017). tsDCS causes immediate and long-term effects in spinal excitability (Ahmed, 2011, 2013; Ahmed and Wieraszko, 2012; Cogiamanian et al., 2011, 2012). Studies have been conducted on both healthy and injured subjects. The ultimate goal is to ameliorate the devastating effects of Spinal Cord Injury. Though researchers have been successful in improving motor function, the molecular basis of …


The Y-Screen Assay: Validation And Evaluation Of Subsequent Str Success, Kassandra Luyando May 2018

The Y-Screen Assay: Validation And Evaluation Of Subsequent Str Success, Kassandra Luyando

Student Theses

There are hundreds of untested sexual assault kits in police custody. As of 2017, New York State passed a law stating that all untested kits must be turned over to forensic laboratories to be tested, causing backlogs at laboratories to increase. The Y-Screen assay is a DNA extraction protocol which utilizes NaOH to rapidly lyse epithelial and sperm cells, and the Quantifiler Trio DNA quantification kit to detect the presence or absence of male DNA prior to standard sample processing. The Y-Screen assay is a commercial product used in this research to test a defined set of validation samples with …


Ant Predation Of Blow Flies During Decomposition And Its Potential Impact On Pmi Estimations, Vincent J. Nappi May 2018

Ant Predation Of Blow Flies During Decomposition And Its Potential Impact On Pmi Estimations, Vincent J. Nappi

Student Theses

When an organism dies, the process of decomposition begins and many insects are attracted to the decomposing remains, or carrion, as a prospective food source for themselves, or their offspring. Blow flies (Family: Calliphoridae), in particular, are one of the first insects to discover and colonize a dead body due to the ability to detect a decomposing resource from large distances. As a result, forensic entomologists take advantage of the behavior and developmental cycles of early colonizers to calculate the post-mortem interval (PMI) in order to determine the time since death. However, along with the insects that are attracted to …


Identification And Quantification Of Cyanide And Its Metabolites In Lemur Urine, Jeremy Peralta Dec 2017

Identification And Quantification Of Cyanide And Its Metabolites In Lemur Urine, Jeremy Peralta

Student Theses

Cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the monovalent groups of carbon and nitrogen. This substance is considered a rapidly acting deadly chemical. However, some animals such as lemurs consume food products that are known to contain elevated levels of cyanide without major consequences. The mechanism by which the lemur can handle this high exposure to cyanide is unknown. In this study, we developed and validated two analytical methods for the determination of cyanide and two metabolites, thiocyanate and 2-aminothiazoline-4-carboxylic acid (ATCA) in lemur urine. The method was applied to 47 authentic lemur urine samples collected from 4 different species …


Evaluation Of A Direct Pcr Method And The Qiagen Investigator 24plex Go! Kit For Typing Blood, Saliva And Touch Dna On Multiple Substrates, Angelita Pierre-Noel Dec 2017

Evaluation Of A Direct Pcr Method And The Qiagen Investigator 24plex Go! Kit For Typing Blood, Saliva And Touch Dna On Multiple Substrates, Angelita Pierre-Noel

Student Theses

In forensic DNA typing, omitting the DNA extraction procedure and adding the sample directly to the polymerase chain reaction (direct PCR) mixture has several advantages. Without extraction and purification, there is less of a risk of sample loss, sample mix up, or contamination. This study tested the feasibility of direct PCR using the Qiagen® Investigator® 24plex GO! Kit, a megaplex kit that amplifies 22 polymorphic STR markers and the Amelogenin sex determination alleles. Test samples included blood, saliva and skin cells on porous substrates, specifically denim, white cotton, polyester fabric, and paper tissue. Glass slides were used to represent non-porous …


Study Of Self-Similarity In Brain Data, Jennifer Holst Dec 2017

Study Of Self-Similarity In Brain Data, Jennifer Holst

Student Theses

In the area of computer science, past research has found that the concept of self-similarity is present in local and Internet-based network traffic. This study considers the possibility that data traveling through the neuronal network in the human brain is also self-similar. By analyzing publicly available raw EEG data and estimating its Hurst parameter, we find indications that brain data traffic may in fact be self-similar.


Range Of Detection For Proteins And Dna From Fingerprints On Fired And Unfired Cartridge Casings, Stacey-Ann R. Sterling Aug 2017

Range Of Detection For Proteins And Dna From Fingerprints On Fired And Unfired Cartridge Casings, Stacey-Ann R. Sterling

Student Theses

Cartridges and spent cartridge casings can be probative pieces of evidence. Unfortunately due to a combination of factors such as exposure to high temperatures and initially low amounts of biological material on the surface, DNA testing so far has been mostly unsuccessful for these items. Typing other marker systems, such as protein polymorphisms, on the same biological evidence would add power of discrimination. To explore this option we developed a DNA-protein trypsin-based co-extraction method that was optimized for unfired and fired cartridges. Various sample wet and dry collection methods and multiple metal casings, such as aluminum, nickel, steel, and brass …


Optimizing A Method For Simultaneous Recovery Of Proteins And Dna From Fingerprints, Steven Kranes Aug 2017

Optimizing A Method For Simultaneous Recovery Of Proteins And Dna From Fingerprints, Steven Kranes

Student Theses

DNA testing on touched objects is a valuable tool in forensic investigations, but DNA is usually present in low amounts, causing poor STR typing results. For touch DNA evidence, there is a clear need for additional individualization, especially for highly probative samples. This could be achieved by testing genetically variable proteins. The goal of this project was to develop a DNA/protein co-extraction method to facilitate DNA and protein testing on the same evidence item. Existing DNA extraction methods were carefully adjusted to allow for downstream mass spectrometry analysis. Initial experiments on saliva and fingerprints placed on glass suggested that trypsin …


A Validation Of The Detection Of Barbiturates In Hair By Elisa, Alisa M. Valentino Jun 2017

A Validation Of The Detection Of Barbiturates In Hair By Elisa, Alisa M. Valentino

Student Theses

An original method to extract and detect barbiturates, specifically secobarbital, in hair by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), has been developed. Drug-free hair specimens were fortified with an exaggerated amount of secobarbital to produce a homogeneous, true positive sample to be utilized to test the drug extraction efficiency from hair. Drug extraction using hair extraction buffer (HEB) from Immunalysis was compared to a base digestion using 1M NaOH. After LCMS/MS analysis, HEB extraction was deemed a successful method for extracting barbiturates from hair. Using this method, the Barbiturates Direct ELISA Kit from Immunalysis was evaluated for its potential use in the …


Psychopathy, Empathic Concern, And Emotional-Sentence Processing: An N400 Erp Study, Farren Larson Jun 2017

Psychopathy, Empathic Concern, And Emotional-Sentence Processing: An N400 Erp Study, Farren Larson

Student Theses

Using an undergraduate sample, the present study examined how psychopathic traits (assessed by the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised) and empathic concern (assessed by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index) affect emotional-information processing using event-related potentials (ERPs) and a sentential priming paradigm. Participants had their electroencephalogram (EEG) recorded while they silently read sentences with three types of endings: congruent, incongruent, and emotionally negative. We hypothesized that participants with high levels of psychopathic traits and participants with low levels of empathic concern would find the emotionally negative sentence endings less unexpected and disturbing (yielding a smaller N400), compared to participants with low levels of psychopathic …


Quantitative Analysis Of Opioids And Cannabinoids In Wastewater Samples, Alethea Jacox May 2017

Quantitative Analysis Of Opioids And Cannabinoids In Wastewater Samples, Alethea Jacox

Student Theses

Wastewater-based epidemiology is an innovative approach that uses the analysis of human excretion products in wastewater to obtain information about exposure to drugs in defined population groups. We developed and validated an analytical method for the detection and quantification of opioids (morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, oxymorphone and hydromorphone), and cannabinoids (9-tetrahydrocannabinol, 11-nor 9-carboxy- tetrahydrocannabinol (THCCOOH) and THCCOOH-glucuronide) in raw influent wastewater samples by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Method validation included linearity (5–1 000 ng/L for opioids, 10–1 000 ng/L for cannabinoids), imprecision (<21.2%), accuracy (83%–131%), matrix effect (from –35.1% to –14.7%) and extraction efficiency (25%–84%), limit of detection (1–5 ng/L) and quantification (5–10 ng/L) and auto-sampler stability (no loss detected). River, sewage overflow and wastewater samples were collected in triplicate from different locations in New York City and stored at -20 C until analysis. River water samples were negative for all the compounds. Water from sewage overflow location tested positive for morphine (10.7 ng/L), oxycodone (4.2–23.5 ng/L), oxymorphone (4.8 ng/L) and hydromorphone (4.2 ng/L). Wastewater samples tested positive for morphine (133.0– 258.3 ng/L), oxycodone (31.1– 63.6 ng/L), oxymorphone (16.0–56.8 ng/L), hydromorphone (6.8–18.0 ng/L), hydrocodone (4.0– 12.8 ng/L) and THCCOOH (168.2– 772.0 ng/L). This method is sensitive and specific for opioids and marijuana determination in wastewater samples.


The Effect Of Resource Quality And Species Interactions On The Colonization Behavior Of The Black Blow Fly, Phormia Regina (Meigen), Melissa N. Branker May 2017

The Effect Of Resource Quality And Species Interactions On The Colonization Behavior Of The Black Blow Fly, Phormia Regina (Meigen), Melissa N. Branker

Student Theses

During decomposition, there are many different insects groups that utilize carrion as a resource. In particular, blow flies (Order: Diptera; Family: Calliphoridae) are considered to be a forensically important family due to their ability to rapidly locate and colonize a carrion resource. As a result, blow flies are commonly used as indicator species in PMI estimations. However, recent research indicates that the colonization behavior of these species can be influenced by a variety of abiotic and biotic factors. In this study, the effects of arrival order, resource quality and bacterial or species cues on the oviposition behavior of Phormia regina …


Exploration Of Dna Transfer In The Nyc Subway, Sannia K. Tauqeer Dec 2016

Exploration Of Dna Transfer In The Nyc Subway, Sannia K. Tauqeer

Student Theses

The ability to detect “touch” DNA has complicated the interpretation of DNA profiles in the field of forensics because it leads to the introduction of the concept of DNA transfer, persistence and background into casework. This project is geared towards understanding DNA transfer in the NYC subways and has relevance in groping and attempted sexual assault cases, where garments are submitted as evidence. The study involved 10 volunteers who were asked to wear a clean jacket during their trips on the subway for one week and the DNA from these jackets was collected, extracted, quantified, amplified and typed. The results …


Analysis Of Synthetic Cannabinoids And Drugs Of Abuse Amongst Hiv-Infected Individuals, Jillian M. Wetzel Dec 2016

Analysis Of Synthetic Cannabinoids And Drugs Of Abuse Amongst Hiv-Infected Individuals, Jillian M. Wetzel

Student Theses

Synthetic cannabinoids are man-made mind-alternating chemicals. Law enforcement and legislation have attempted to classify many of these synthetic cannabinoids as schedule I controlled substances, however, they are continuously being modified by dealers at the retail end of the distribution chain. Addiction and moderate use of illicit drugs have been identified as major reasons for non-adherence to antiretroviral therapy among HIV patients. However, there is no data regarding the impact of synthetic cannabinoid exposure in this population and how this affects their compliancy with taking antiretroviral therapy. A total of 72 authentic urine specimens were collected weekly from 13 individuals with …