When the SARS virus broke out in China in January 2003, Karl Taro Greenfeld was the editor of Time Asia in Hong Kong, just a few miles from the epicenter of the outbreak. After vague, initial reports of terrified Chinese boiling vinegar to "purify" the air, Greenfeld and his staff soon found themselves immersed in the story of a lifetime.

Deftly tracking a mysterious viral killer from the bedside of one of the first victims to China's overwhelmed hospital wards--from cutting-edge labs where researchers struggle to identify the virus to the war rooms at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva--"China Syndrome" takes readers on a gripping ride that blows through the Chinese government's effort to cover up the disease . . . and sounds a clarion call warning of a catastrophe to come: a great viral storm potentially more deadly than any respiratory disease since the influenza of 1918.

The human foot is a complex body part composed of fifty-two bones, which is twenty-five percent of all the bones in the body. Nonetheless, the foot is often viewed by the public and doctors as a "minor" body part. Similarly, the importance of pedal evidence in crime investigation has also long been undervalued, but as footwear evidence has become more commonly used in forensic situations, so has pedal evidence, which is why this seminal work is so important: it is the first textbook ever dedicated to forensic podiatry. Forensic Podiatry is an international compilation of current practices authored by the pioneers in the field. Part I discusses general forensic concerns, including those at the crime scene, from an informative perspective. It covers tasks performed by the crime laboratory, forensic podiatry principles, and various aspects of human identification. Part II deals with specific forensic podiatric concerns such as photographic techniques, bare footprint identification, and footwear examination and analysis. It also discusses forensic gate and analysis as well as the identification of pedal remains from podiatry records, which is important for mass disaster scenes. Part III presents actual forensic podiatry case studies from the United Kingdom and the United States, and Part IV focuses on podiatry practice standards, which in many instances parallel expert witness responsibilities. Groundbreaking and essential, this book is useful for medical and criminal justice students as well as podiatrists, criminalists, footwear examiners, forensic anthropologists, attorneys and investigators.

The publication of this third edition of the definitive text on clinical forensic medicine comes at an exciting time for a subject now gaining recognition as a speciality in the medical establishment. This growing acknowledgement reflects the fact that increasing numbers of health professionals are becoming engaged in general forensic services. Nurses and paramedics are more involved than ever in custody care, while nurses themselves are conducting more examinations in cases involving alleged sexual offences. Thus it is vital that those caring for this vulnerable group of patients (whether detainees or complainants) have the tools to master this specialist set of skills. All the chapters in this new edition have been fully updated, with some undergoing extensive revision. Recent developments in child protection protocols have prompted a major rewrite of the chapter on non-accidental injury, and the text now includes a specific chapter on the use of the TASER. Other aspects of restraint are now dealt with separately. The material on care of detainees and fitness for interview has been split into individual chapters to allow a more comprehensive discussion of the issues. In addition, new authors have joined the team of contributors, facilitating a wider range of international perspectives. From its chapters on the history and core principles of clinical forensic medicine, right up to the text's discussion of substance misuse and deaths in custody, this volume remains the gold standard source for health professionals whose working lives bring them into contact with those in the law enforcement arena.

The police composite sketch, one of the most crucial investigative tools in law enforcement, is developed during a composite session-an intense display of communication and art in which the words of a witness are transformed into the features of a suspect. Despite the incredible technological leaps made in investigative work, the forensic science of composite sketching still relies on the basic elements of drawing skill, interpretive ability and the spoken word. The Police Composite Sketch is a comprehensive manual on how to conduct a complete composite session. Through an array of case studies, it details several disciplines that comprise this specialized forensic art, including composite sketching, image modification, age progression, facial comparison analysis, demonstrative evidence and postmortem/skull reconstruction. It also explores how to intuit insights that are often inadvertently revealed by witnesses, victims and perpetrators during the composite session. In addition, this book discusses other relevant topics, such as the three-stage drawing technique, witness and victim types, descriptive terminologies, managing composite sessions. Complete with numerous illustrations and drawing tips, this seminal work offers a general composite session philosophy and specific session strategies to both experienced and aspiring forensic artists as well as any lay reader intrigued by this fascinating skill.

Forensic Entomology deals with the use of insects and other arthropods in medico legal investigations. We are sure that many people know this or a similar definition, maybe even already read a scientific or popular book dealing with this topic. So, do we really need another book on Forensic Entomology? The answer is 13, 29, 31, 38, and 61. These are not some golden bingo numbers, but an excerpt of the increasing amount of annual publications in the current decade dealing with Forensic Entomology. Comparing them with 89 articles which were published d- ing the 1990s it illustrates the growing interest in this very special intersection of Forensic Science and Entomology and clearly underlines the statement: Yes, we need this book because Forensic Entomology is on the move with so many new things happening every year. One of the most attractive features of Forensic Entomology is that it is multid- ciplinary. There is almost no branch in natural science which cannot find its field of activity here. The chapters included in this book highlight this variety of researches and would like to give the impetus for future work, improving the dev- opment of Forensic Entomology, which is clearly needed by the scientific com- nity. On its way to the courtrooms of the world this discipline needs a sound and serious scientific background to receive the acceptance it deserves.

A majority of the Fortune 500 Companies implement some practice of workplace drug testing in their company policies. This practice was first initiated by President Ronald Reagan when he ordered federal agencies to drug test federal employees involved in sensitive positions as well as positions involving public safety. As a practicing toxicologist, Dr. Amitava Dasgupta is involved with the pre-employment drug testing at his own hospital and aptly shares his expertise in Beating Drug Tests and Defending Positive Results: A Toxicologist's Perspective, which covers all major issues concerning how people try to beat drug tests and defend positive test results. In each chapter, extensive references are cited so that readers can access more information on a particular topic that may interest them. The book will undoubtedly prove helpful to toxicologists, medical technologists, pathologists, human resources professionals and anyone interested in workplace drug testing.

Forensic pathologists and clinicians are increasingly faced with challenges when it comes to geriatric cases, due to an aging population and increased comorbidities in the elderly. This text provides an up-to-date guide to all facets of geriatric forensic pathology, with contributions from experts from a variety of disciplines. Packed with color illustrations and case examples, chapters cover inflicted, self-inflicted, and accidental trauma, as well as natural conditions leading to unexpected death. In addition, specific chapters cover a wide range of difficult and topical areas, from elder abuse, dementias, and nutrition to pharmacology and toxicology issues, long-term care facilities, and scene investigation. Topics such as euthanasia are also explored to provide the reader with a rich, contemporary understanding of medicolegal issues. This is an invaluable resource not only for pathologists, but also for medical practitioners and lawyers dealing with geriatric cases. The book comes packaged with online access to the text and high-resolution images.

A wide variety of professionals find themselves intimately involved in the criminal justice system; firefighters, emergency medical providers, nurses, physicians, public health personnel, environmental professionals, public works personnel, and many others. No previous work has attempted to address the criminal justice system in terms relevant to these professionals. Interface: A Guide for Professionals Supporting the Criminal Justice System explains the system, provides the reader with guidance to documenting incidents so that the data is both of value to the professional in the future and for use by the other components of the system. Further, this volume presents evidence from the aspect of these professionals, their needs in handling evidence, and basics of collection and preservation for those instances where it falls to them to do so. Professionals, not familiar with safety issues outside of their fields of expertise, have been injured or died as a result of exposure to hazards; it also educates them to considerations for their safety when out of their area of comfort. In addition, this book considers the role of the professional as interviewer, and provides basic guidance to this often valuable skill. Finally, Interface attempts to make the professional knowledgeable and comfortable in the courts, especially on the stand, where the professional may appear as a witness or even as an expert.

Here, experts contribute general examination techniques followed by more specific application models. Beginning with reviews of the principles of chemistry, the chapters also serve as introductions to the tasks and tools of examiners, and illustrate clandestine laboratory operations.

This volume is a summary of a 1S-year effort to determine the effects of prison crowding and their relationship to the broader realm of crowding phenomena and theories. Although the writing of this volume was for the most part a solitary effort, the data and ideas it is based on were mostly the result of a collaborative effort with Verne Cox and Garvin McCain. Their schedules limited their ability to contribute to this volume, but they provided much constructive feedback and assistance. Cox also wrote a preliminary draft of Chapter 3, and both McCain and Cox made major contributions to Chapter S and assisted with several other chapters. I am greatly indebted to these two fine scholars for their efforts and support over the course of our joint research endeavors. In recognition of this fact, the pronoun "we" is used throughout this volume. This research would not have been possible without the cooperation and support of thousands of inmates and hundreds of prison officials. The un conditional support throughout the project from Director Norman Carlson and former regional research director Jerome Mabli, both of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, is also greatly appreciated. Thanks are due to the National Institute of Justice for financial support during various phases of this project. The support of John Spevacek of the Institute was indispens able. Funds were also provided by the Hogg Foundation, U. S. Department of Justice-Civil Rights Division, and the University of Texas at Arlington."

Our understanding of the humoral (B-cell) immune system has increased dramatically in recent years. IVIG Therapy Today highlights new third generation IgG products for intravenous use. Commercial gammaglobulin preparations first appeared in the early 1980s, and, since that time, therapeutic applications of intravenous immune serum globulin, or IVIG, have been developed at a rapid pace. Uses include replacement therapy in patients with antibody deficiencies and immunoregulatory/immunomodulatory agents in treatment of the autoimmune diseases. In two major parts, IVIG Therapy Today first presents reviews of primary and acquired humoral/B-cell immune deficiencies, featuring IVIG as replacement therapy, then explores the immunomodulatory effects of IVIG in autoimmune disorders.Chapters cover a wealth of timely background information and clinical applications, including: IVIG replacement therapy in primary immune deficiency syndrome * IVIG in prevention and treatment of neonatal bacterial infections * potential use of monoclonal antibodies in neonatal infections * immune deficiencies in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and multiple myeloma * IVIG in treatment of children with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and autoimmune cytopenias * IVIG therapy in neonatal isoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura and alloimmunization thrombocytopenias * IVIG in Kawasaki disease and other autoimmune diseases * use of intravenous serum globulin in patients with antiphospholipid antibodies and recurrent pregnancy losses * IVIG in neurologic diseases * IVIG in asthma management. Dr. Ballow has assembled an outstanding collection of state-of-the-art information, making IVIG Therapy Today an essential guide for specialists in clinical and experimental immunotherapy.

Margaret Stark and a team of authoritative experts offer a timely survey of the fundamental principles and latest developments in clinical forensic medicine. Topics range from sexual assault examination to injury interpretation, from nonaccidental injury in children, to crowd control agents. Also included are extensive discussions of the care of detainees, the management of substance abuse detainees in custody, the causes and prevention of deaths in custody, and the fundamentals of traffic medicine. In the absence of international standards of training, the authors also address the basic issues of consent, confidentiality, note-keeping, court reporting, and attendance in court. Comprehensive and authoritative, A Physicians Guide to Clinical Forensic Medicine offers forensic specialists and allied professionals a reliable, up-to-date guide to proven practices and procedures for a every variety of police inquiry requiring clinical forensic investigation.

This volume begins by reviewing selected malignancies in which the search for clinically relevant oncogenes has led to more focused studies on gain-of-function and loss-of-function genetic abnormalities, as well as autocrine and paracrine growth factor loops known to regulate tumor physiology and malignant cell behavior. Many of these genetic and functional abnormalities are shared by several different tumor types and are not uniformly present in all tumors of the same type. This observation brings up molecular questions about the tissue-specific determinants that underlie individual cancers and also gives added impetus to the suggestion that molecular abnormalities (referred to as tumor markers) be included among the histopathologic features used for clinical diagnosis and management. The remainder of the volume updates molecular mechanisms relating to select growth factor systems, oncogenes, and tumor suppressor genes introduced earlier in the disease-oriented chapters. These reviews convey the increasing fascination that comes with a greater understanding of tumor physiology.They reveal, for instance, that tumor cells can induce the secretion of paracrine growth factors from non-malignant tissues, thus usurping normal genetic programs reserved for fetal development or wound healing such as those that provide neovascularization for a malignant tissue colony. The uncovering of these subverted intercellular mechanisms, as well as the constitutively stimulated intracellular signaling pathways associated with activated oncogenes and mutated tumor suppressor genes, provide researchers with many new targets for the development of more specific and less toxic anticancer agents. A number of these novel gents are already in clinical test.

One of the surprising things about the natural world is that animals are dying around us all the time and yet we rarely see any evidence of it. This is a testimony to the efficiency of the large variety of organisms which decompose animal corpses. Whilst bacteria and fungi are the main groups involved in decomposition processes, the larger insects additionally provide an important physical disruption of body tissues, which aids the penetration of micro organisms and speeds the collapse of the body structure. A human corpse is treated no differently and the same groups of organisms are involved. From a forensic science viewpoint the universality of the decay process provides two major advantages. Information based on the decomposition of animals is of considerable value when considering human cases and the successional pattern of decay is broadly equivalent wherever the process is being studied. Historically, the usefulness of insects in solving crime can be traced back in the literature to the 13th century. McKnight 1, 2] translated a Chinese text of this period which contains an account of how a law officer dealt with a case of murder in the rice fields. Death had been caused by a sickle and the official ordered all the field workers to line up and lay their sickles on the ground in front of them. Flies began to be attracted to one of the sickles whereupon its owner confessed to the crime."

For more than 35 years the Swiss Society of Neuropathology has organiseditstraditionalInternationalWinterMeeting.Themainaimofthis venue is to bring together neuropathologists and clinicians as well as neuroscientistsinterestedindiseasemechanisms.TheXVIIIthInternational WinterMeeting washeld inMarch 2000 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The topicofthe2000Meetingwas"NeuropathologyandGeneticsofDementia." Aprogrammeofinvitedplenarylecturesofhigheducationalvalueaswellas platform andposterpresentations given by manyparticipantscoveredthe broadspectrumofdementingdisorders.Encouragedbythehighstandardof the meeting, and probably also influenced by the advent of a new Millenniumwedecided, togetherwithKluwerAcademiclPlenumPublishers, topublishtheProceedingsofthe2000Meetinginthepresentbook. The increaseofthe agedpopulation challenges social and health care systemsinindustrializedsocieties.Maintenanceofhealthandautonomyinto oldage isakeyfactor, andtheautonomyandindependenceofoldpersons crucially depend on mental health. However, neurodegenerative disorders accompanied bydementiaaffect 5-10%ofindividualsoverthe ageof65, and for the age group between 65 and 95 the prevalence of cognitive dysfunction doubles every 5 years. With this challenge in mind, Rossor discusses the clinical syndrome of dementia which encompasses an enormousvarietyofunderlyingdisorders. Over the last few years it has become apparent that many neurodegenerative disorders are characterised by protein misfolding and aberrant polymerization and may therefore be viewed as "aggregation proteopathies." Among them a substantial subsetofdementing disorders, either with or without motor dysfunction, are characterised by abundant v VI Preface neuronaland/orglialaccumulationofhyperphosphorylatedtauprotein.The molecular parametersofthese "tauopathies" are reviewed by Delacourte. Therecentdiscoverythatmutationsofthetaugenearecausativeforfamilial formsoffrontotemporaldementiaandParkinsonism(FTDP-17)broughtthe "taupathway"and the"tauopathies"tothecentrestage.Thisextraordinary breakthroughwillbecoveredbySpillantiniandGoedert.Thereisincreasing evidence that argyrophilic grain disease is much more frequent in older patients than previously thought. Tolnay et al. are reviewing recent contributionstothepathologyofthislate-onsetdementingdisorderinwhich ofamyloidbetadeposits, isalmost taupathology, inthealmosttotalabsence exclusivelyrestricted to the limbic lobe and the amygdala. Schultzet al. report an intriguing age-related progression of neuronal and glial tau pathologyinbaboonsthusrenderingthe baboonapotentialprimatemodel forage-relatedhuman"tauopathies." Gotzetal. introducetransgenicmice expressingmutated human tau as valuable animal models for reproducing formationofneuro-andglialfibrillarylesions.

"Forensic Medicine," written by L. Buris, Professor of Forensic Medicine at the Debrecen Medical University in Hungary, is an informative and practice-oriented review of the topic. The book contains essential data and references of forensic medicine, both in theoretical and practical aspects. It gives a pathological, pathophysiological and biochemical interpretation of various alterations with the up-to-date results of forensic medical research as well.

This book provides, in a single volume, an extensive, research-based evaluation of the most popular clinical assessment tools as applied in forensic settings. These widely used instruments often require important modifications in their administration and interpretation when used for forensic purposes, and it is vital that the clinician is intimately familiar with their correct application, as well as their limitations. The test instruments included are analyzed by senior figures in the field of psychological assessment who are uniquely qualified to discuss them because they have either had a crucial role in the development of the tests, or they have dedicated their careers to advancing our understanding of these clinical assessment measures. Each chapter begins with a summary of the development of the assessment instrument in its more traditional applications in clinical settings, and then considers its utilization in forensic settings. The types of forensic issues which have been addressed with that instrument are reviewed, and an illustrative case example is given which reflects the types of uses and limitations of the assessment technique when applied in a forensic context. New in this edition are a chapter on the MMPI-2-RF and separate chapters for the adult and youth versions of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist. Psychologists using assessment instruments in applied forensic settings will find this to be a valuable and practical source of information, as will attorneys wishing to gain an understanding of the application of these psychological assessment approaches in the courtroom.

This book provides, in a single volume, an extensive, research-based evaluation of the most popular clinical assessment tools as applied in forensic settings. These widely used instruments often require important modifications in their administration and interpretation when used for forensic purposes, and it is vital that the clinician is intimately familiar with their correct application, as well as their limitations. The test instruments included are analyzed by senior figures in the field of psychological assessment who are uniquely qualified to discuss them because they have either had a crucial role in the development of the tests, or they have dedicated their careers to advancing our understanding of these clinical assessment measures. Each chapter begins with a summary of the development of the assessment instrument in its more traditional applications in clinical settings, and then considers its utilization in forensic settings. The types of forensic issues which have been addressed with that instrument are reviewed, and an illustrative case example is given which reflects the types of uses and limitations of the assessment technique when applied in a forensic context. New in this edition are a chapter on the MMPI-2-RF and separate chapters for the adult and youth versions of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist. Psychologists using assessment instruments in applied forensic settings will find this to be a valuable and practical source of information, as will attorneys wishing to gain an understanding of the application of these psychological assessment approaches in the courtroom.

" ... this is an excellent compilation of data which should be on the bookshelves of all analysts interested in the benzodiazepines. It is to be hoped that, with the introduction of so many new ben zodiazepines, the author will quickly add these in a second edi tion" (A. C. Moffat in: Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 1983). This review, deputizing for many others, reflects the friendly reception enjoyed by the first volume of Benzodiazepines, which was published in 1982 and apparently closed a gap in the ben zodiazepine literature. In the meantime, Benzodiazepines has established itself as a standard book, as evidenced by numerous letters and quotations. Suggestions were also soon made for a new edition in view of the unusually rapid development in the field of the benzodiazepines. It became quickly obvious, however, that it would not be sufficient to publish a revised second edition, but that a completely new second volume would be required for which, however, the successful previous format could be largely retained. The following considerations seem worth mentioning in connection with the preparation of Volume II: - To ensure continuity with Volume I as far as possible, the list of references was consecutively numbered (references 1 to 3779 in Volume I, references 3780 to 11338 in Volume II). Whereas in Vol. I the substances appear in the sequential order of their historical development they are listed in alphabetical order in Vol. II."

Francois Delaporte's Chagas Disease chronicles Brazilian medicine's encounter with a disease, an insect, and a history of discovery. Between 1909 and 1911, Carlos Chagas described an infection (pathogenic trypanosome), its intermediate host, and the illness that he believed it caused, parasitic thyroiditis. Chagas's work did not lack significance: the disease that came to share his name would be one of Latin America's most serious endemic diseases. However, the clinical identification of the disease through "Romana's sign" (a palpebral edema or swelling of the eyelid) some decades later marked a transformation in the general medical knowledge of the disease and its basis altogether. Not only was the disease entity that Chagas had described shown to be a nosological illusion, but twenty-five years of scientific controversy turned out to have been based on a misunderstanding. The continued use of the term "Chagas's Disease" even after Cecilio Romana's discovery thus refers to a fundamental ambiguity. Delaporte dispels this ambiguity by re-examining the various discoveries, dead ends, controversies, and major epistemological transformations that marked the history of the disease--a history that begins with the creation of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro and ends in the forests of Santa Fe in northern Argentina. Delaporte's study shows how an epistemological focus can add depth to the history of medicine and complexity to accounts of scientific discovery.

Forensic toxicology has progressed rapidly and diversified greatly in recent years. The members of the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists provide a valuable service through the association's bulletin. In its pages members hear of new poisons as they are encountered and the analytical techniques used to deal with them. There is a wealth of information in the form of case reports which is used to assist with the interpretation of the results. Each year the members have the opportunity of meeting in Europe. In 1979 the chosen venue was the University of Glasgow and the meeting was hosted by the Department of Forensic Medicine and Science. The department was established by Royal Charter in 1839 within a few years of the beginning of the modern approach to toxicology. In those early years the function of the department was to teach forensic medicine and toxicology. Today the department has become a recognised centre for the teaching of forensic medicine. The toxicology section has expanded greatly to provide the best forensic and environmental toxicology in Scotland. Inorganic analytical facilities are available for the investigation of metallic poisons by atomic absorption spectrometry, neutron activation analysis, X-ray fluorescence and anodic stripping voltametry. Organic analytical toxicology is pursued using gas chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography, immunoassays, and gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Apart from the normal research and routine investigations of a toxicological laboratory the department specialises in the investigation of fire related deaths, solvent abuse (glue sniffing) and trace element studies in human subjects.

Fresh research has opened up new vistas in forensic pathology that are allowing for closer national and international cooperation between pathologists and scientists in a range of medical and scientific disciplines. At the same time, autopsy and laboratory techniques are undergoing rapid evolution, with new procedures coming on stream while existing processes yield additional -- and more accurate -- results. This sixth volume of reviews in forensic pathology provides professionals working in the field with cutting-edge material on the latest key advances in the fields of traumatic death, sudden natural death and death time estimation. Now with numerous color illustrations, the book gives forensic experts across the world a fully up-to-date guide to contemporary procedures and theory in forensic science and medicine. The chapters cover an exhaustive range of aspects in the discipline, from the analysis of sudden natural deaths in infancy and childhood to the cardiac proteomics approach in the study of cases involving sudden cardiac death. Other specialist chapters deal with the forensic investigation of deaths in aviation and as a result of accidents involving all- terrain vehicles. The volume covers fresh research in the use of protein markers for the estimation of post-mortem intervals, and features a chapter telling the story of the medico-legal investigation into the deaths resulting from the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.Comprehensive and current, this fresh volume of reviews is an essential resource for professionals who need to stay ahead of the game in a fast-moving and exciting field of scientific endeavor.

The range at which a weapon has been fired is an important measurement for the reconstruction of firearms offenses (murder, suicide, accident). All changes caused by a shot and which vary according to the distance from the weapon are suitable in principle for determining this distance. However, some procedures are very elegant in theory but hardly applicable in practice. The constructions of ammunition and the sequence of events during a shot are dealt with first as this knowledge forms a basis for understanding the various methods. \ The individual zones (classes) of firing distances (contact shot, intermediate shot, distance shot) are described. In this connection, the morphological methods for determining the firing distance are discussed. From the shape and size of the powder residue distribution (soot stains, powder tattooing) and with the knowledge of the weapon and ammunition, the distance from the target can be elucidated. In this chapter, the methods of making an invisible distribution visible are also dealt with. In order to determine the range of the shot from the appearance of the wound no complicated apparatus is necessary. One can judge with the naked eye. These procedures have a great advantage over the methods discussed in the following chapter in that they give stronger proof. They are more vivid and convincing for the uninitiated (judge or jury) than abstract measurements obtained by scientific devices.

Methamphetamine is one of the most widely abused stimulants and together with amphetamine has led to serious social problems. Numerous papers in the fields of medicine, toxicology, pharmacology, sociology, etc. have appeared. In Japan for example about 20,000 to 22,000 persons have been arrested in recent years on suspicion of abuse, smuggling or illegal manufacture of drugs. In other countries, stimulant drugs also present social problems and efforts have been directed toward prevention. Although marked development of analytical techniques in the field of forensic sciences has been achieved, there is a need for a continuous review of recent advances. A review of studies on methamphetamine has therefore been made from the standpoint of forensic toxicology and legal medicine. Attention has been directed to biological samples because analyses and interpretation for the purpose of t.oxicological and As a detailed survey on abuse drugs involving clinical practice are important. 1 methamphetamine and amphetamine has been made by Fishbein and covered the time before 1980, we refer only to data and events appearing after 1980.

Competitive binding techniques such as radioimmunoassay (RIA) are widely used to measure an enormous variety of compounds in biological fluids. Current methods have 1 2 arisen from the pioneering work ofYalow and Berson in the U. S. A. and Ekins in the u. K. Much of the early development was concerned with the analysis of protein hormones, and nearly a decade passed before attention focussed also on small molecules such as steroids and drugs. The potential of immunoassay methods for drug monitoring in clinical and forensic laboratories and in addict treatment programmes resulted in the commercial production of immunoassays for various therapeutic and abused drugs, making the technique available to laboratories lacking the facilities to raise their own antisera and synthesise labelled compounds. However, commercial assays are not only expensive but are restricted in range, and so it is advantageous for a forensic laboratory to have the capability to devise "in-house" immunoassays suited to its particular requirements. This chapter describes the theory and practice of RIA in forensic drug analysis. Much of the theory and some of the practice are applicable to immunoassays in which non isotopic labels are used, but such assays are not described in detail since, to date, the versatility and sensitivity of RIA have made it the immunoassay technique of choice in forensic toxicology. The particular advantages of RIA are its sensitivity and the fact that samples such as haemolysed blood can be assayed with little or no prior preparation."