ABSTRACT
We report a case of suicide due to organophosphate poisoning in an 80-year-old woman who ingested malathion mixed with a fruit drink. She presented with signs and symptoms of cholinergic crisis and initially improved with therapy. Her plasma cholinesterase (ChE) level remained low, her course progressively deteriorated with respiratory and renal failure, and she died 12 days after hospital admission. The antemortem blood malathion level of 23.9 mg/L is the highest reported in the literature, as determined by modern methods. Postmortem toxicologic analysis revealed still greatly reduced ChE activity.
Subject(s)
Malathion/poisoning , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Female , Humans , Malathion/blood , SuicideABSTRACT
The authors retrospectively evaluated 33 eye injuries due to metal missiles in 31 patients presenting to our emergency center over the last 3 years. Injuries occurred most frequently when the patients were grinding metal or working on their cars. The type of metal involved in the injury often dictates the type of ophthalmic reaction that will occur. A discussion of intraocular metallic foreign bodies with an emphasis on electroretinograms and metal analysis is presented.
Subject(s)
Eye Foreign Bodies/etiology , Foreign-Body Reaction/etiology , Metals , Wounds, Penetrating/etiology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Child , Foreign-Body Reaction/therapy , Humans , Male , Metals/analysis , Middle Aged , Retrospective Studies , Spectrophotometry, Atomic , Wound Infection/therapy , Wounds, Penetrating/therapyABSTRACT
A young adult male was found dead in a field. No cause of death was apparent at autopsy, and the only positive toxicological finding was the presence of a nicotine-like alkaloid isolated from the liver. Anabasine, the major, highly toxic alkaloid of the shrub, Nicotiana glauca (tree tobacco) was subsequently identified in all body specimens examined using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Concentrations of anabasine in blood, urine and other body organs are reported.
