Postmortem tissue distribution of morphine and its metabolites in a series of heroin related deaths

The abuse of heroin (diamorphine) and heroin deaths are growing around the world. The interpretation of the toxicological results from suspected heroin deaths is notoriously difficult especially in cases where there may be limited samples. In order to help forensic practitioners with heroin interpretation we determined the concentration of morphine (M), morphine‐3‐glucuronide (M3G) and morphine‐6‐glucuronide (M6G) in blood (femoral and cardiac), brain (thalamus), liver (deep right lobe), bone marrow (sternum), skeletal muscle (psoas) and vitreous humor in 44 heroin related deaths. The presence of 6‐monoacetylmorphine (6‐MAM) in any of the postmortem samples was used as confirmation of heroin use. Quantitation was carried out using a validated LC‐MS/MS method with solid phase extraction. We also determined the presence of papaverine, noscapine and codeine in the samples, substances often found in illicit heroin and that may help determine illicit heroin use. The results of this study show that vitreous is the best sample to detect 6‐MAM (100% of cases), and thus heroin use. The results of the M, M3G and M6G quantitation in this study allow a degree of interpretation when samples are limited. However in some cases it may not be possible to determine heroin/morphine use as in 4 cases in muscle (3 cases in bone marrow) no morphine, morphine‐3‐glucuronide or morphine‐6‐glucuronide was detected, even though they were detected in other case samples. As always postmortem cases of suspected morphine/heroin intoxication should be interpreted with care and with as much case knowledge as possible

Self-DNA Early Exposure in Cultivated and Weedy Setaria Triggers ROS Degradation Signaling Pathways and Root Growth Inhibition

The accumulation of fragmented extracellular DNA reduces conspecific seed germination and plantlet growth in a concentration-dependent manner. This self-DNA inhibition was repeatedly reported, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully clarified. We investigated the species-specificity of self-DNA inhibition in cultivated vs. weed congeneric species (respectively, Setaria italica and S. pumila) and carried out a targeted real-time qPCR analysis under the hypothesis that self-DNA elicits molecular pathways that are responsive to abiotic stressors. The results of a cross-factorial experiment on root elongation of seedlings exposed to self-DNA, congeneric DNA, and heterospecific DNA from Brassica napus and Salmon salar confirmed a significantly higher inhibition by self-DNA as compared to non-self-treatments, with the latter showing a magnitude of the effect consistent with the phylogenetic distance between the DNA source and the target species. Targeted gene expression analysis highlighted an early activation of genes involved in ROS degradation and management (FSD2, ALDH22A1, CSD3, MPK17), as well as deactivation of scaffolding molecules acting as negative regulators of stress signaling pathways (WD40-155). While being the first exploration of early response to self-DNA inhibition at molecular level on C4 model plants, our study highlights the need for further investigation of the relationships between DNA exposure and stress signaling pathways by discussing potential applications for species-specific weed control in agriculture

Targeted mutagenesis of the female-suppressor sygi gene in tetraploid kiwifruit by crispr/cas9

Kiwifruit belong to the genus Actinidia with 54 species apparently all functionally dioecious. The sex-determinants of the type XX/XY, with male heterogametic, operate independently of the ploidy level. Recently, the SyGI protein has been described as the suppressor of female development. In the present study, we exploited the CRISPR/Cas9 technology by targeting two different sites in the SyGI gene in order to induce a stable gene knock-out in two tetraploid male accessions of Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis. The two genotypes showed a regenerative efficiency of 58% and 73%, respectively. Despite not yet being able to verify the phenotypic effects on the flower structure, due to the long time required by tissue-cultured kiwifruit plants to flower, we obtained two regenerated lines showing near fixation of a unique modification in their genome, resulting in both cases in the onset of a premature stop codon, which induces the putative gene knock-out. Evaluation of gRNA1 locus for both regenerated plantlets resulted in co-amplification of a minor variant differing from the target region for a single nucleotide. A genomic duplication of the region in proximity of the Y genomic region could be postulated

The Rarita-Schwinger Particles Under de Influence of Strong Magnetic Fields

In this work, we calculate the solutions of the Rarita-Schwinger equation with the inclusion of the eletromagnetic interaction. Our gauge and coupling prescription choices lead to Dirac-type solutions. One of the consequences of our results are the Landau level occupation of particles, quite different from the usual spin 1/2 particle system occupation numbers.Comment: 12 page

Draft Genome Sequences of Eight Bacilli Isolated from an Ancient Roman Amphora

Paleomicrobiology, the study of ancient microbiological material, allows us to understand different evolutionary phenomena in bacteria. In this study, eight bacilli isolated from an ancient Roman amphora, which dates to the IV to V sec. AD, were sequenced and functionally annotated

The Fractionary Schr\"{o}dinger Equation, Green Functions and Ultradistributions

In this work, we generalize previous results about the Fractionary Schr\"{o}dinger Equation within the formalism of the theory of Tempered Ultradistributions. Several examples of the use of this theory are given. In particular we evaluate the Green's function for a free particle in the general case, for an arbitrary order of the derivative index.Comment: 32 pages. No figure

Bosonic String and String Field Theory: a solution using Ultradistributions of Exponential Type

In this paper we show that Ultradistributions of Exponential Type (UET) are appropriate for the description in a consistent way string and string field theories. A new Lagrangian for the closed string is obtained and shown to be equivalent to Nambu-Goto's Lagrangian. We also show that the string field is a linear superposition of UET of compact support CUET). We evaluate the propagator for the string field, and calculate the convolution of two of them.Comment: 30 page

Web conversations about complementary and alternative medicines and cancer: Content and sentiment analysis

Background: The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among cancer patients is widespread and mostly self-administrated. Today, one of the most relevant topics is the nondisclosure of CAM use to doctors. This general lack of communication exposes patients to dangerous behaviors and to less reliable information channels, such as the Web. The Italian context scarcely differs from this trend. Today, we are able to mine and analyze systematically the unstructured information available in the Web, to get an insight of people's opinions, beliefs, and rumors concerning health topics. Objective: Our aim was to analyze Italian Web conversations about CAM, identifying the most relevant Web sources, therapies, and diseases and measure the related sentiment. Methods: Data have been collected using the Web Intelligence tool ifMONITOR. The workflow consisted of 6 phases: (1) eligibility criteria definition for the ifMONITOR search profile; (2) creation of a CAM terminology database; (3) generic Web search and automatic filtering, the results have been manually revised to refine the search profile, and stored in the ifMONITOR database; (4) automatic classification using the CAM database terms; (5) selection of the final sample and manual sentiment analysis using a 1-5 score range; (6) manual indexing of the Web sources and CAM therapies type retrieved. Descriptive univariate statistics were computed for each item: absolute frequency, percentage, central tendency (mean sentiment score [MSS]), and variability (standard variation Ò). Results: Overall, 212 Web sources, 423 Web documents, and 868 opinions have been retrieved. The overall sentiment measured tends to a good score (3.6 of 5). Quite a high polarization in the opinions of the conversation partaking emerged from standard variation analysis (δ≥1). In total, 126 of 212 (59.4%) Web sources retrieved were nonhealth-related. Facebook (89; 21%) and Yahoo Answers (41; 9.7%) were the most relevant. In total, 94 CAM therapies have been retrieved. Most belong to the "biologically based therapies or nutrition" category: 339 of 868 opinions (39.1%), showing an MSS of 3.9 (δ=0.83). Within nutrition, "diets" collected 154 opinions (18.4%) with an MSS of 3.8 (δ=0.87); "food as CAM" overall collected 112 opinions (12.8%) with a MSS of 4 (δ=0.68). Excluding diets and food, the most discussed CAM therapy is the controversial Italian "Di Bella multitherapy" with 102 opinions (11.8%) with an MSS of 3.4 (δ=1.21). Breast cancer was the most mentioned disease: 81 opinions of 868. Conclusions: Conversations about CAM and cancer are ubiquitous. There is a great concern about the biologically based therapies, perceived as harmless and useful, under-rating all risks related to dangerous interactions or malnutrition. Our results can be useful to doctors to be aware of the implications of these beliefs for the clinical practice. Web conversation exploitation could be a strategy to gain insights of people's perspective for other controversial topics

"It is her responsibility": partner involvement in prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV programmes, northern Tanzania

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Partner involvement has been deemed fundamental in prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) programmes, but is difficult to achieve. This study aimed to explore acceptability of the PMTCT programme components and to identify structural and cultural challenges to male involvement.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study was conducted during 2007-2008 in rural and urban areas of Moshi in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania. Mixed methods were used, and included focus group discussions with fathers and mothers, in-depth interviews with fathers, mothers and health personnel, and a survey of 426 mothers bringing their four-week-old infants for immunization at five reproductive and child health clinics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Routine testing for HIV of women at the antenatal clinic was highly acceptable and appreciated by men, while other programme components, notably partner testing, condom use and the infant feeding recommendations, were met with continued resistance. Very few men joined their wives for testing and thus missed out on PMTCT counselling. The main barriers reported were that women did not have the authority to request their husbands to test for HIV and that the arena for testing, the antenatal clinic, was defined as a typical female domain where men were out of place.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Deep-seated ideas about gender roles and hierarchy are major obstacles to male participation in the PMTCT programme. Empowering women remains a huge challenge. Empowering men to participate by creating a space within the PMTCT programme that is male friendly should be feasible and should be highly prioritized for the PMTCT programme to achieve its potential.</p