Pavlic,M.; Libiseller,K.; Grubwieser,P.; Rabl,W.; When testing the Microgenics CEDIA assay for immunological buprenorphine analysis, cross-reactivity between the buprenorphine reagents and opiates was observed at concentrations higher than 120 mg/l morphine, 320 mg/l methadone, 30 mg/l codeine, 60 mg/l dihydrocodeine and 520 mg/l morphine-3-glucuronide. The cross-reactivity with morphine has the greatest impact on routine screening as opiate maintenance therapy in Austria is also performed with slow-release oral morphine. The use of a second cutoff value of 30 mug/l for urine samples that are (immunologically) positive for opiates is therefore suggested, compared to the cutoff value of 5 microg/l proposed by the manufacturer [Read More]

Oberacher,H.; Niederstätter,H.; Casetta,B.; Parson,W.; The potential of ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on-line hyphenated to electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry for the characterization of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified nucleic acids was evaluated. For that purpose, a “SNP toolbox” was constructed by cloning and PCR-mediated site-directed in vitro mutagenesis at nucleotide position (ntp) 16,519 of a sequence-verified fragment of the human mitochondrial genome (ntps 15,900-599). Confirmatory sequencing demonstrated that within the sequences of the clones one and the same base was mutated to all other bases. [Read More]

Köchl,S.; Niederstätter,H.; Parson,W.; Forensic laboratories are increasingly confronted with problematic samples from the scene of crime, containing only minute amounts of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which may include polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-inhibiting substances. Efficient DNA extraction procedures, as well as accurate DNA quantification methods, are critical steps involved in the process of successful DNA analysis of such samples. The phenol-chloroform method is a sensitive method for the extraction of DNA from a wide variety of forensic samples, although it is known to be laborious compared with single-tube extraction methods. [Read More]

Steinlechner,M.; Parson,W.; Rabl,W.; Grubwieser,P.; Scheithauer,R.; Mehr als 400 Proben von 101 Opfern der Tsunami Katastrophe aus Sri Lanka wurden an unser Institut übermittelt. Gesichert wurden diese mittels Abnahmesets, die bereits barcodierte Gefäße und ein Stieltupfersystem enthalten. Pro Opfer sollten zwei Abriebe von inneren Körperregionen, zwei Zähne und ein ca. 4 cm langes Stück Röhrenknochen gesichert und gekühlt transportiert werden. Zuerst wurden die Abstriche im Doppelansatz automatisiert untersucht, wobei hier Ergebnisse schnell (24 Stunden) erhalten werden konnten. [Read More]

Falkensammer,B.; Fasser,W.; Scherer,K.; Zemann,A.; Parson,W.; Ulmer,H.; Dierich,M.P.; Stoiber,H.; The aim of this study was to correlate results of therapeutic drug monitoring, genotypic resistance and viral response to lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) or saquinavir/ritonavir (SQV/r) containing antiretroviral regimens. The retrospective short-term study included 20 patients with LPV/r and 20 patients with SQV/r containing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). At baseline 7 LPV/r patients and 10 SQV/r patients had CD4+T cell counts above 410 cells/microl. [Read More]