1,720,981 research outputs found
Molecular analysis of different classes of RNA molecules from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded autoptic tissues: a pilot study.
No full textFor a long time, it has been thought that fresh and frozen tissues are the only possible source of biological material useful to extract nucleic acids suitable for downstream molecular analysis. Recently, for forensic purpose such as personal identification, also fixed tissues have been used to recover DNA molecules, whereas RNA extracted from such material is still considered too degraded for gene expression studies. In the present pilot study, we evaluated the possibility to use forensic formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples, collected at autopsy at different postmortem intervals (PMI) from four individuals, to perform advanced molecular analyses. In particular, we performed qualitative and quantitative analyses of total RNAs extracted from different FFPE tissues and put expression profiles in relation with the organ type and the duration of PMI. Different classes of RNA molecular targets were studied by real-time quantitative RT-PCR. We report molecular evidence that small RNAs are the only RNA molecules still detectable in all the FFPE autoptic tissues. In particular, microRNAs (miRNAs) represent a consistent, stable, and well-preserved molecular target detectable even from tissue sources displaying signs of ongoing putrefaction at autopsy. In this pilot study, we show that miRNAs could represent a highly sensitive and potentially useful forensic marker. Amplification of specific miRNAs using paraffin-embedded blocks could facilitate retrospective molecular analysis using specific forensic-archived tissues chosen as most suitable according to PMI, and this approach would address molecular evidence in forensic cases in which fresh or frozen material is no longer available
Contributo della tecnica immunoistochimica per le Selectine per la soluzione di casi giudiziari
No full textL’indagine patologico-forense rappresenta una fase di criticità nella risoluzione
di casi criminalistici; i quesiti relativi alle cause, ma soprattutto ai mezzi
e all’epoca del decesso, ne rappresentano un nodo cruciale, che sempre di piú
oggigiorno necessita dell’integrazione dell’esame autoptico con le piú moderne
tecniche diagnostiche e di laboratorio quali, ad esempio, l’immunoistochimica,
che stanno offrendo un contributo sempre maggiore ai fini di una concreta risposta
ai quesiti posti dall’Autorità Giudiziaria. Il contributo analizza la tecnica
immunoistochimica per la ricerca delle Selectine, molecole di adesione coinvolte
nell’interazione leucociti-endotelio, ed in particolar modo la sua applicazione
pratica per la risoluzione di casi sottoposti ad indagine peritale
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
A lethal case of hoarding due to the combination of traumatic and confined space asphyxia
No full textHoarding is defined as the acquisition of, and failure to discard, possessions of little use or value to others, usually associated with a significant degree of clutter in the individual’s home. We describe a case of a woman who died from a combined traumatic and confined space asphyxia, after being trapped under some of the objects amassed in her apartment. The event was considered to be accidental; by taking into account the information gathered during assessment of the scene, we believe that the accident took place while entering or exiting the apartment. It appears that the woman, who was trying to open or close the door, could have been using her leg to keep the objects piled behind the door from falling. Unfortunately the pile of hoarded objects collapsed and the woman was fatally trapped underneath them. The age and strength of the woman played an important role in the fatal incident, she was too old and weak to remove the items that had collapsed over her body. The scarcity of space between the collapsed objects and the woman, as well as the absence of external or internal signs of violent asphyxiation, or other causes of death, allowed us to establish that the death resulted from a combined mechanism of both the traumatic and the confined space asphyxiation
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