Theory and applications of microelectrodes

Theory and applications of microelectrodes

trends inanalyticalchemistry, XIII vol. 11, no. 5,1992 Drugs in competitive athletics Drugs in Competitive Athletics: Proceedings of the First Inte...

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trends inanalyticalchemistry,

XIII

vol. 11, no. 5,1992

Drugs in competitive athletics Drugs in Competitive Athletics: Proceedings of the First International Symposium, edited by J.R. Shipe, JI: and J. Savory, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 1991, f 18.50, (iii + I39 pages), ISBN: O-632-03181-6

This symposium was organized under the auspices of IUPAC and the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry. The two sections cover analytical testing and health effects. The first section starts with a comprehensive paper on the metbodological imperatives and analytical requirements for the detection and identification of drugs misused in sports @ugal and Masse). Extraction procedures, screening techniques and confirmation procedures are very well documented. The partial list of GCMS acquisition parameters for the selected ion monitoring of anabolic steroids and metabolites should be helpful for those laboratories particularly interested in anabolic steroid analysis. The combined use of an extraction step at a single pH and HPLC as a screening technique for the detection of basic and acid diuretics is described (Ventura et al.). Preliminary results of thermospray MS combined with HPLC for the conformation of these doping agents are also presented. Although immunoassays should be considered as screening methods and GC-MS or LC-MS as methods to be applied under legal circumstances, the immunological techniques are still used as they are very rapid. RL4 is used in doping analysis to detect synthetic and natural corticosteroids (Southan and Brooks), and the exogenous administration of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (Brooks et al.). Immunoassay procedures are reviewed and the main side effects of exogenous anabolics on the endocrine system are clearly presented (Hampl and Starka). Recently introduced techniques such as radio receptor assays and their potential applications for steroid screening are described (Felder et al.). Identification of drug metabolites

by GC-MS (Rendic) and the mass spectrometry instrumentation for the 1990’s are reviewed (Shipe). Although not belonging to analytical chemistry per se, a summary of drug testing in USA baseball (Lubran) and doping control in Italy (Marigo and Menini) are also included in this section, both papers having only a documentary value for the analyst. The health risks of doping are treated in Section 2, including a chap ter on the risks of steroid use, the knowledge of which is based on occasional reports and second hand information (Ljungqvist). In a a very well documented paper Verselinovitch et al. demonstrate that the use of synthetic steroids could represent a significant carcinogenic risk only to individuals exposed to chemical or viral liver carcinogens. Although based on health concerns, their recommendation that athletes should be screened for viral infections before the administration of anabolic steroids is rather improper as the use of these drugs is not allowed. The effects of anabolic steroids on adrenal steroidogenesis (Megias et

al.), on liver, testicles and muscles of experimental animals during training (Stanojevic and Musulin) are briefly described. The influence on liver function of the administration of high doses of the anabolising androgens fluoxymesterone and mestanolone has been investigated (Saborido et al.). An important conclusion from their work is that the alterations of the liver function induced by prolonged high-dose anabolic steroids use do not seem to be adequately reflected on the serum parameters commonly evaluated. Each section ends with the synopsis of an open forum discussion. Due to circumstances beyond the control of the editors, several interesting papers presented at this conference were not included. The 3-year delay in publication since the symposium is not beneficial to the exchange of knowledge and reduces the scientific value of this book somewhat for those involved in doping analysis.

M. DEBACKERE and E DELBEKE DI: M. Debackew and E Delbeke are at the Laboratory of Doping Analysis, Ghent, Belgium.

Analysis for drugs and metabolites Analysis for Drugs and Metabolites including Anti-Infective Agents, (Methodological Surveys in Biochemistry and Analysis, Volume 20), edited by E. Reid and I.D. Wilson, Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, 1990, f 62.50 (v + 386 pages), ISBN: O-851 86-9564

This book consists of three parts. The second and third parts describe, respectively, the development of analytical methods of anti-infective drugs in fluids and of other drugs, including some recent sample preparation and detection methods. These chapters are in general well written and informative, but the most interesting part is the first one, which describes method validation. There arc (too) few texts on this topic and they tend to treat the subject from an academic point of view. The

chapters here were written by specialists from industry. They treat authoritatively subjects to be considered when developing or validating a method, such as sample collection, storage stability, quality control, techniques for data processing, matrix interferences, etc. Of major interest are discussions of the validation requirements of authorities such as the FDA, the Medicines Commission, etc. Much attention is paid to describing the quality of methods by performance criteria and to calibration, and to the statistics involved in both operations. It is gratifying to note that some pseudostatistical customs are not accepted unthinkingly. For instance, some of the authors warn (quite rightly) against the unconsidered use of the correlation coefficient to evaluate the linearity of a calibration line.