19: Nail Analysis in Forensic Toxicology
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Published:14 Jul 2016
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Special Collection: RSC eTextbook CollectionProduct Type: Textbooks
N. P. Lemos, in Forensic Toxicology: Drug Use and Misuse, ed. S. Davies, A. Johnston, and D. Holt, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2016, pp. 400-410.
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Nail has been sporadically explored as a non-conventional analytical specimen in forensic toxicology during the last half-century but remains underutilized and poorly understood. In this chapter, nail is introduced as one of the non-conventional biological specimens that may be relied upon to answer questions that other specimens may not be capable of doing. A brief synopsis of the anatomy and physiology of the nail follows and the chapter continues with a discussion of the current state of knowledge in the area of nail analysis in forensic and analytical toxicology, before concluding with a discussion of common challenges and further considerations regarding nail as a potentially useful specimen in post-mortem and human performance forensic toxicology cases.