Most Common Medico-Legal Autopsy-Related Human and Nonhuman Biological Samples for DNA Analysis

The identification and individualization of biological evidences is crucial to actual criminal investigations. In spite of the differences at the national level, all the legal processes attribute particular importance to forensic DNA analysis. However, none of the qualified results from any professional laboratory can produce substantive, valuable evidence with insufficient quality of samples and/or problems with provision of a pristine and controlled environment. The methodology and efficiency of sampling are distinct in case of living persons and in medico-legal autopsy and crime scenes. This chapter is a short overview from the basic introductory information up to ongoing research, and in accordance with constraints on the chapter size, it briefly discusses the important topics of sample collection at medico-legal autopsy for DNA analysis. The content sorts the major types of samples, reviews the common methods of sampling and the potential risk of poor sampling or contamination transfer. The corpses can be more or less degraded, which in special cases (e.g., paraffin embedded tissues, drowned, burning and/or buried cadaver) allow only for analysis of highly degraded samples. The samples can be associated with tissues of a corpse (e.g., blood, soft tissues, bone, tooth, hair) and/or additional extraneous tissues and remains, which are often mixed (e.g., blood, saliva, semen, vaginal fluid, debris of fingernails) on the corpse

Normal and abnormal development of visual functions in children

The human visual system goes through substantial changes during the first few months of postnatal life. The development of visual functions and structures occurs at different times and different rates. It has been a generally held belief that the development of visual functions and their critical period come to an end early in life. Most of the developmental data confirm this theory, although the findings sometimes are contradictory. Thus, our knowledge concerning visual development does not seem to be complete. The determination of exact timing of the different visual functions is relevant in children since a proved extended maturational timeframe can promote the trial of enhancement of visual abilities at a later age, up to puberty or beyond. There have already been suggestions for an extended developmental time span for some of the visual functions. Here we review the most relevant data with reference to the normal development of the eye, visual functions and visual pathways found in the literature and provide further evidence for the maturation and plasticity of visual functions after the age of 5 years

Forensic DNA Technological Advancements as an Emerging Perspective on Medico-Legal Autopsy: A Mini Review

The importance of biological traces and evidences related to a criminal matter has been recognized for a long time. The examination of the expression of genetic polymorphism has been an integral part of the multidisciplinary field of medico-legal autopsy for over a century. Since the initial application of blood group antigens for personalization of a putative perpetrator in a murder case, the discipline of forensic genetics has evolved as a standard of forensic sciences. The real breakthrough, the application of molecular tools and processes for the in-vitro replication of genetic substances, has increasingly allowed the exploitation of advances of molecular genetics for both forensic and criminal investigations. Although there are certainly many more applications and scientific fields in the medico-legal arena, the relatively fast progress of genetics, which has accelerated recently with state-of-art technologies, can provide ever more relevant information in relation to a corpse or the cause and manner that resulted in the corpse for autopsy. This topic concerns the currently accepted forensic DNA technology, and the last section reviews commonly used markers for nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analysis as well as ongoing research. This review also focuses on the increasingly important non-human sources of DNA, and shortly covers the main aspects of animal forensic DNA examination

Beschreibung des präoperativen kognitiven Status als Risikofaktor für die postoperative kognitive Dysfunktion in einer geriatrischen chirurgischen Kohorte

Hintergrund: Frühere Studien haben bereits den Zusammenhang zwischen Bildung, beruflichem Status und prämorbidem IQ mit kognitiven Fähigkeiten im höheren Alter beschrieben. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird der Zusammenhang zwischen dem präoperativen kognitiven Status und der kognitiven Reserve (gemessen an Bildung und Beruf) in einer Kohorte geriatrischer Patienten vor einer geplanten Operation untersucht. Die Studienendpunkte Bildung, beruflicher Status und präoperative kognitive Fähigkeiten sollen definiert und ihre Assoziation beschreiben werden. Ausgehend von den Ergebnissen dieser Analyse sollen in einer nachfolgenden Publikation Bildungsstand, berufliche Tätigkeit und präoperative kognitive Leistungsfähigkeit als Prädiktoren für eine postoperative kognitive Dysfunktion (POCD) untersucht werden. Methoden: Die vorliegende Querschnittsanalyse basiert auf den Baseline Daten der Studie „Biomarker Development for Postoperative Cognitive Impairment in the Elderly“ (BioCog). Für 623 Patienten ≥65 Jahre wurden das Bildungsniveau gemäß dem Klassifikationssystem “International Standard Classification of Education” (ISCED; von 1 bis 6) erhoben, der berufliche Status als kategoriale Variable (‘angelernt/nicht-ausgebildet’, ‘ausgebildeter manueller Arbeiter’, ‘ausgebildeter nicht-manueller Arbeiter’, ‘Berufstätiger in leitender Position’, ‘Berufstätiger mit qualifizierter Ausbildung’) sowie der prämorbide IQ anhand von standardisierten Wortschatztestungen. Als primärer Endpunkt diente der allgemeine Faktor der Intelligenz ‚g‘, welcher mit einer neuropsychologischen Testbatterie aus sechs kognitiven Test ermittelt wurde. Um den Einfluss der Prädiktoren (Bildung, Beruf) auf ‚g‘ zu untersuchen wurden Kovarianzanalysen (ANCOVAs) durchgeführt. Dabei wurde in mehreren Schritten für potenzielle Einflussfaktoren adjustiert (Alter, Geschlecht, prämorbider IQ, und Depression). Ergebnisse: Ein höheres Bildungsniveau (partielles Eta2 0.076; p<0.001) und höherer beruflicher Status (partielles Eta2=0.037; p<0.001) waren mit einer signifikant höheren kognitiven Leistungsfähigkeit (‚g‘) assoziiert. Bezogen auf das Bildungsniveau zeigte sich nach Adjustierung für den prämorbiden IQ zwar ein schwächer ausgeprägter, jedoch weiterhin signifikanter Zusammenhang zu g (partielles Eta2 0.036; p<0.001), welche sich nicht weiter veränderte, wenn zusätzlich für depressive Symptome kontrolliert wurde (partielles Eta2 0.037; p<0.001). Für die Berufsgruppen bestand im Vergleich bereits nach Adjustierung für den prämorbiden IQ kein signifikanter Unterschied mehr (partielles Eta2 0.015; p=0.058), der sich nach dem Einfügen von depressiven Symptomen in das Modell ebenfalls nicht veränderte (partielles Eta2 0.011; p=0.180). In einem Modell, das sowohl Bildung als auch beruflichen Status berücksichtigte zeigte sich ausschließlich eine Assoziation von Bildung und kognitiver Leistungsfähigkeit (partielles Eta2 0.030; p<0.001; Beruf p=0.930). Zusammenfassung: In einer Kohorte geriatrischer Patienten vor elektiver Chirurgie waren geringere Bildung und weniger verantwortliche berufliche Tätigkeit mit einer niedrigeren kognitiven Leistungsfähigkeit assoziiert. Dieser Effekt zeigte sich nach Adjustierung für IQ und depressive Symptome nur noch für das Bildungsniveau, nicht jedoch für die berufliche Tätigkeit.Background: Previous studies have shown associations between education, occupation and pre morbid cognitive ability with late-life cognitive ability. This analysis describes the relationship between preoperative cognitive status and cognitive ability in a cohort of geriatric patients prior to elective surgery. Aim of this evaluation is to define education, occupation and preoperative cognitive ability as study outcomes and to describe their associations. Based on the results and definitions, education, occupation and preoperative cognitive ability will be evaluated as predictors of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) in a separate publication. Methods: The present cross-sectional analysis is based on data from the „Biomarker Development for Postoperative Cognitive Impairment in the Elderly“ (BioCog) study. For this purpose, the preoperative data of 623 participants aged ≥65 were analyzed. Education was classified based on the “International Standard Classification of Education” (ISCED; von 1 to 6), occupation as categorical variable (‘semi/unskilled’, ‘skilled manual’, ‘skilled non-manual’, ‘managerial’, ‘professional’), and pre-morbid IQ based on standardized vocabulary tests. Global ability ‚g‘ was defined as primary endpoint, which was calculated based on six individual cognitive tests of an applied neuropsychological test battery. To investigate the impact of the predictors (education, occupation) on ‚g‘, analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were performed. Results were adjusted in multiple steps for different covariates (age, sex, pre-morbid IQ, depression). Results: Higher education (partial eta2 0.076; p<0.001), as well as a higher occupational status (partial eta2=0.037; p<0.001) were associated with a significantly higher cognitive ability (‚g’). After adjusting for pre-morbid IQ, education showed an attenuated, however still significant association to g (partial eta2 0.036; p<0.001), which did not change even after adjusting additionally for depression (partial eta2 0.037; p<0.001). For occupational groups, even after adjusting for pre-morbid IQ only, association with g was not significant (partial eta2 0.015; p=0.058). Further adjustment for depression did not change these results (partial eta2 0.011; p=0.180). In a third model including both education and occupation, only education had a small, independent effect on g (partial Eta2 0.030 ; p<0.001; occupation p=0.930). Conclusion: In a cohort of geriatric patients prior to elective surgery lower education and an occupation with less responsibility were associated with lower cognitive ability. This effect - after further adjustment for IQ and depressive symptoms – was only shown for level of education, but not for occupation

Genetika és bűnüldözés – Az igazságügyi célú DNS-vizsgálatok első negyedszázada Magyarországon I.

DNA profiling has become one of the most important and significant tools of criminal investigation. By proper use critical and decisive information can be provided about a perpetrator. Usage of DNA test results for forensic purposes began the 1990’s in Hungary. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of this eventful period. Due to its extent the paper is published in two parts. This first part presents the most important cases and the development of the technology.A kriminalisztikai célú DNS-vizsgálat mára a bűnüldözés egyik legfontosabb eszköze lett. Szakszerű alkalmazásával fontos információkat szolgáltathat a bűncselekmény elkövetőjéről. Hazánkban az 1990-es években kezdődött meg a forenzikus DNS-vizsgálat. A közlemény célja ennek az eseménydús időszaknak a bemutatása. A tanulmány terjedelmi okokból két részben jelenik meg. Az első rész a legfontosabb ügyeket, a technológiai fejlődést mutatja be

Synthesis of C3-Symmetric Cinchona-Based Organocatalysts and Their Applications in Asymmetric Michael and Friedel–Crafts Reactions

In this work, anchoring of cinchona derivatives to trifunctional cores (hub approach) was demonstrated to obtain size-enlarged organocatalysts. By modifying the cinchona skeleton in different positions, we prepared four C3-symmetric size-enlarged cinchona derivatives (hub-cinchonas), which were tested as organocatalysts and their catalytic activities were compared with the parent cinchona (hydroquinine) catalyst. We showed that in the hydroxyalkylation reaction of indole, hydroquinine provides good enantioselectivities (up to 73% ee), while the four new size-enlarged derivatives resulted in significantly lower values (up to 29% ee) in this reaction. Anchoring cinchonas to trifunctional cores was found to facilitate nanofiltration-supported catalyst recovery using the PolarClean alternative solvent. The C3-symmetric size-enlarged organocatalysts were completely rejected by all the applied membranes, whereas the separation of hydroquinine was found to be insufficient when using organic solvent nanofiltration. Furthermore, the asymmetric catalysis was successfully demonstrated in the case of the Michael reaction of 1,3-diketones and trans-β-nitrostyrene using Hub3-cinchona (up to 96% ee) as a result of the positive effect of the C3-symmetric structure using a bulkier substrate. This equates to an increased selectivity of the catalyst in comparison to hydroquinine in the latter Michael reaction