one victim
This seems important to me - why not test samples from multiple victims?
10 Matching Annotations
- Last 7 days
-
link.springer.com link.springer.com
-
-
This suggests that aging happened either quite rapidly in the victim within 24 h, or occurred through postmortem processes after death before sample taking. For comparison, when we analyzed the plasma samples of Japanese victims of the Tokyo Subway sarin attack, the expected O-isopropyl methylphosphonic BChE adduct was found [12]. We, therefore, consider the postmortem aging reaction as the most likely explanation for the presence of the MPA-BChE adduct.
This is an interesting difference. Why did aging occur here and not in the Tokyo victims?
-
According to the requirements given by the OPCW, qualitative analysis was sufficient for verification of exposure.
what instead of how much
-
IMPA was analyzed by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode as well as by high-resolution mass spectrometry (HR-MS) without fragmentation following liquid chromatography (LC) separation and electrospray ionization (ESI) in negative mode, ESI (−).
Short explanation of how the IMPA (more stable version of sarin after it enters the body) was found.
-
ccordingly, this product might also act as a diagnostic marker for poisoning with organophosphorus agents.
Put simply, Sarin binds with protein in the body and the remnant is a strong indicator of poisoning.
-
The limited stability and high reactivity of sarin (Fig. 1) precludes detection of the intact poison in vivo, thus requiring the search for more stable and long-lived surrogate parameters derived from biotransformation.
This explains my previous question as to why the sarin was analyzed so long after the victim's death.
-
Tissues of a dead female victim were taken several weeks after death. Immediately after poisoning on April 29, 2013 in the Syrian city of Saraqueb, the victim was reported to have shown miosis (contraction of the pupils) and other symptoms of cholinergic crisis, and died within 24 h after suspected exposure [2].
- So is miosis a key symptom?
- The samples were taken several weeks after death. Might this affect the samples, or does the substance not degrade?
- Might any other demographic info (age, location, etc.) affect the samples?
-
These experimental results provided unambiguous evidence for a systemic intoxication and were the first proving the use of sarin in the ongoing bellicose conflict. This scenario underlines the requirement for qualified and specialized analytical laboratories to face repeated violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Main point - strongly claims "unambiguous" evidence
-
variety of biotransformation products of the nerve agent sarin was detected, including the hydrolysis product O-isopropyl methylphosphonic acid (IMPA) as well as covalent protein adducts with e.g., albumin and human butyrylcholinesterase (hBChE).
Key finding
-
Syrian Arab Republic in 2013
2013 means that these samples come from near the beginning of the civil war (began in 2011).
-