Development of a Gas-Tight Syringe Headspace GC-FID Method for the Detection of Ethanol, and a Description of the Legal and Practical Framework for Its Analysis, in Samples of English and Welsh Motorists' Blood and Urine.

Ethanol is the most commonly used recreational drug worldwide. This study describes the development and validation of a headspace gas chromatography flame ionisation detection (HS-GC-FID) method using dual columns and detectors for simultaneous separation and quantitation. The use of a dual-column, dual-detector HS-GC-FID to quantitate ethanol is a common analytical technique in forensic toxicology; however, most analytical systems utilise pressure-balance injection rather than a simplified gas-tight syringe, as per this technique. This study is the first to develop and validate a technique that meets the specifications of the United Kingdom's requirements for road traffic toxicology testing using a Shimadzu GC-2014 gas-tight syringe. The calibration ranged from 10 to 400 mg/100 mL, with a target minimum linearity of r2 > 0.999, using tertiary butanol as the internal standard marker. The method has an expanded uncertainty at 99.73% confidence of 3.64% at 80 mg/100 mL, which is the blood alcohol limit for drink driving in England and Wales. In addition, at 200 mg%­the limit at which a custodial sentence may be imposed on the defendant­the expanded uncertainty was 1.95%. For both the 80 mg% and 200 mg% concentrations, no bias was present in the analytical method. This method displays sufficient separation for other alcohols, such as methanol, isopropanol, acetaldehyde, and acetone. The validation of this technique complies with the recommended laboratory guidelines set out by United Kingdom and Ireland Association of Forensic Toxicologists (UKIAFT), the recently issued Laboratory 51 guidelines by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), and the criteria set out by the California Code of Regulations (CCR), 17 CCR § 1220.1.

Nutrition knowledge among university students in the UK: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate nutrition knowledge (NK) in university students, potential factors affecting knowledge and predictors of good NK. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2017-2018. The revised General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire was administered online to assess overall NK and subsections of knowledge (dietary recommendations, nutrient sources of foods, healthy food choices and diet-disease relationships). The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare overall NK scores according to sex, age, ethnicity, field of study, studying status, living arrangement, being on a special diet and perceived health. Logistic regression was performed to identify which of these factors were associated with a good level of NK (defined as having an overall NK score above the median score of the sample population). SETTING: Two London-based universities. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and ninety students from various academic disciplines. RESULTS: The highest NK scores were found in the healthy food choices (10 out of 13 points) and the lowest in the nutrient sources of foods section (25 out of 36 points). Overall NK score was 64 out of 88 points, with 46·8 % students reaching a good level of knowledge. Knowledge scores significantly differed according to age, field of study, ethnicity and perceived health. Having good NK was positively associated with age (OR = 1·05, (95 % CI 1·00, 1·1), P < 0·05), White ethnicity (OR = 3·27, (95 % CI 1·68, 6·35), P < 0·001) and health rating as very good or excellent (OR = 4·71, (95 % CI 1·95, 11·4), P < 0·05). CONCLUSIONS: Future health-promoting interventions should focus on increasing knowledge of specific nutrition areas and consider the personal and academic factors affecting NK in university students.

Comparative efficacy of active recovery and cold water immersion as post-match recovery interventions in elite youth soccer.

The current study compared cold-water immersion (CWI) and active recovery (AR) to static stretching (SS) on muscle recovery post-competitive soccer matches in elite youth players (n = 15). In a controlled crossover design, participants played a total of nine competitive soccer games, comprising three 80 minute games for each intervention (SS, CWI and AR). Muscle oedema, creatine kinase (CK), countermovement jump performance (CMJA) and perceived muscle soreness (PMS) were assessed pre-, immediately post-, and 48 hours post-match and compared across time-intervals and between interventions. Following SS, all markers of muscle damage remained significantly elevated (P < 0.05) compared to baseline at 48 hours post-match. Following AR and CWI, CMJA returned to baseline at 48 hours post-match, whilst CK returned to baseline following CWI at 48 hours post-match only. Analysis between recovery interventions revealed a significant improvement in PMS (P < 0.05) at 48 hours post-match when comparing AR and CWI to SS, with no significant differences between AR and CWI observed (P > 0.05). Analysis of %change for CK and CMJA revealed significant improvements for AR and CWI compared to SS. The present study indicated both AR and CWI are beneficial recovery interventions for elite young soccer players following competitive soccer matches, of which were superior to SS.