David Michael Wood

..There are discrepancies in the legal status of both the khat plant and its extracted alkaloids between the UK and the USA...

..We will discuss the acute cardiac and non-cardiac toxicity associated with cocaine and highlight the lack of data on the true UK prevalence of acute cocaine toxicity and on the incidence of cocaine-related cardiac arrhythmias...

..This may be because people have large amounts of paracetamol stored at home, but no previous studies have explored this question...

..This suggests that the control of mephedrone in the United Kingdom may have been effective in reducing the acute harm associated with the drug...

..Patients deemed to be at 'high risk' of hepatotoxicity have lower treatment thresholds than those deemed to be at 'normal risk'. Errors in this process can lead to harmful or potentially fatal under or over treatment...

..This review will discuss the pharmacology and mechanisms of action of these two compounds, available data on their sources and prevalence of use and reports of acute toxicity and fatalities associated with their use...

..This demonstrates that mephedrone has a pattern of acute toxicity that is similar to other stimulant drugs such as MDMA, amphetamine and cocaine...

..However, most surveys of recreational drug use focus on classical drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy, and there is limited information on how commonly emerging novel psychoactive substances are used...

..We audited the effect of targeted interventions to improve performance against this guideline...

..We will then describe how pattern of acute toxicity associated with the use of the cathinone mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone) was established using triangulation of these different data sources...

..We report here a case series of three individuals with acute toxicity related to the analytically confirmed use of methoxetamine...

..There is limited information on the acute toxicity related to both D2PM and 2-DPMP. We report here a case series of five individuals with acute toxicity related to the use of D2PM...

..Future educational campaigns aimed at recreational drug and legal high users should include reference to the potential legal implications of buying these substances...

..However, there have only two single case reports of mephedrone toxicity. The aim of this study is to report the pattern of clinical toxicity seen with mephedrone use...

..No previous studies have reported the validity of clinical coding in identifying patients who present with acute recreational drug toxicity...

..The pilot study described here looks at the analysis of presumed recreational drugs in the possession of individuals presenting to the ED with acute recreational drug toxicity...

..Although work has shown this variation in other areas of the world, no studies have reported on the variation of MDMA content in UK ecstasy tablets...

..Previous reports of acute toxicity/harm associated with mephedrone use have been based on self-reported mephedrone use; toxicological screening has not been undertaken in these cases to determine whether mephedrone has been used...

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..The management of cocaine-induced ACS/AMI is different to classical atheromatous ACS/MI, because the mechanisms are different...

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..Chromium toxicity is rare in individuals who do not have a history of occupational or deliberate exposure to chromium or chromium-containing compounds...

..Although there have been nine other reported fatalities, co-existent factors have probably contributed to all of these deaths. We report here a fatality from isolated toxicity following self-poisoning with sustained-release ibuprofen...

..We report a patient with status epilepticus requiring quadruple anti-convulsant treatment following a fluvoxamine overdose...

..Future guidelines should be published in journals more widely read by those doctors treating poisoned patients...

..However, its precursors gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) and 1,4-butanediol (1,4BD) remain legally available despite having similar clinical effects...

..There is increasing interest in whether methamphetamine is an emerging recreational drug in the UK...

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..In particular, we review the evidence concerning the controversies relating to the use of lidocaine in comparison with sodium bicarbonate, in terms of QRS prolongation secondary to sodium channel blockade...

..Limitations related to data collection are discussed. Further studies are needed to investigate the use brief interventions in those with problem recreational drug use within the nightclub environment...

..In addition, there are very few "user reports" of effects when TFMPP is taken alone or in combination with BZP [1-benzylpiperazine]...

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..These are often not covered under current legislation, despite the fact that they often have both similar chemical structures and/or clinical effects to controlled recreational drugs...

..However, no animal studies have been reported that confirm these findings, and there are no previous reports of attempted use of these agents in patients with acute rotenone-induced toxicity...

..Patients who die from drug and poison intoxication tend to have similar characteristics but are less frequently offered as potential organ donors...

..The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and frequency of use of mephedrone among school and college/university aged individuals and to collect data on the sources of mephedrone and acute harm related to its use...

..Because the maximum tolerated dose and pharmacokinetics of intravenous iron preparations are not known, their use in both adults and children should still be undertaken with caution...

..Some controversies surround the use of some of these antidotes, especially flumazenil in benzodiazepine toxicity. There are no previously published data on doctors' knowledge of the use of these specific antidotes...

..It is unclear how these admissions are coded, as often there are no specific ICD-10 codes for the drug(s) involved. This study was undertaken to determine how acute recreational drug toxicity admissions are routinely coded...

..Recreational drug toxicity is a common reason for presentation to the Emergency Department. Knowledge of recreational drug names is important to allow targeted assessment of patients presenting with recreational drug toxicity...