Unit 7: Toxicology
7.1 Definition, Classification and Nature of Poisons
The forensic toxicology (the LAW5510-U7’s clinical twin): the poisons’ medical science — the diagnosis, the treatment, the detection, the medico-legal interpretation. The classification (the exam’s faces):
- By the origin: the corrosives (the acids-alkalis); the irritants (the metals — the arsenic, mercury; the plants — the castor, croton); the neurotoxins (the opioids, the sedatives, the alcohols); the asphyxiants (the gases of U4.1).
- By the use-and-case: the homicidal poisons (the odourless-and-tasteless preference — the arsenic’s historic infamy); the suicidal (the accessible — the pesticides: the South Asian epidemic of the organophosphates); the accidental (the household’s-and-occupational); the stupefying (the robbery-facilitation: the datura’s lore — the “road of roses” cases).
- By the action’s speed (the acute-vs-chronic of the LAW5505-U7’s toxicology companion).
7.2 Clinical Features of Poisons
The diagnosis’s clinic: the symptomatic clusters (the exam’s core): the corrosives’ burns (the mouth’s-and-throat’s staining — the acid’s black, the alkali’s white); the organophosphates’ cholinergic syndrome (the SLUDGE mnemonic’s faces: the salivation, the lacrimation, the urination, the defecation, the GI-distress, the emesis — the pupils’ pinpoint); the opioids’ triad (the consciousness’s depression, the respiration’s depression, the pinpoint pupils — the naloxone’s reversal); the cyanide’s bitter-almond (the smell’s famous sign — the genetic-smeller’s caveat); the CO’s cherry-red (the lividity’s hue); the atropine’s dry-and-hot (the datura’s face: the flushed skin, the dilated pupils, the delirium). The clinical’s discipline: the cluster’s recognition (the poisoning’s suspicion — the sudden-and-unexplained); the history’s search (the container’s-and-purchase’s faces).
7.3 General Management of Poisons
The emergency’s ladder (the treatment’s exam-list):
- The life-support (the ABC: the airway-breathing-circulation — the resuscitation first).
- The decontamination: the skin’s washing (the corrosives-and-pesticides); the gut’s — the emesis’s caution (the contraindicated: the corrosives-and-petroleum); the gastric-lavage (the early window); the activated-charcoal (the adsorption’s modern mainstay); the cathartics.
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