Sensitivity and specificity of NT-proBNP to detect heart failure at post mortem examination

NT-proBNP, a marker of cardiac failure, has been shown to be stable in post mortem samples. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of NT-proBNP to detect heart failure in the forensic setting. One hundred sixty-eight consecutive autopsies were included in the study. NT-proBNP blood concentrations were measured using a chemiluminescent immunoassay kit. Cardiac failure was assessed by three independent forensic experts using macro- and microscopic findings complemented by information about the circumstances of body discovery and the known medical story. Area under the receiving operator curve was of 65.4% (CI 95%, from 57.1 to 73.7). Using a standard cut-off value of >220 pg/mL for NT-proBNP blood concentration, heart failure was detected with a sensitivity of 50.7% and a specificity of 72.6%. NT-proBNP vitreous humor values were well correlated to the ones measured in blood (r2 = 0.658). Our results showed that NT-proBNP can corroborate the pathological findings in cases of natural death related to heart failure, thus, keeping its diagnostic properties passing from the ante mortem to the post mortem setting. Therefore, biologically inactive polypeptides like NT-proBNP seem to be stable enough to be used in forensic medicine as markers of cardiac failure, taking into account the sensitivity and specificity of the test

Emperipolesis of lymphoid cells in vagal efferent neurons following an intraneural injection of ricin into the vagus nerve in rats

10.1016/S0304-3940(99)00490-5Neuroscience Letters2703153-156NELE

Glocalization and Transnationalization in (neo)-Mayanization Processes: Ethnographic Case Studies from Mexico and Guatemala

In this article, the author focuses on the field of neo-Mayanity and its current transformations. She analyzes these transformations using a historico-ethnographic approach, which includes two phases. The first one consists in reconstructing the historical development of the “Mayan” category in two different social contexts. The second one focuses on current narrative and imageries produced around this category, stemming from ethnographic fieldwork in Mexico and Guatemala. Since the “2012 phenomenon”, in both countries, the accelerating transnationalization of the religious leaders has triggered a resignification of contents through various logics of rearrangement, innovation, cohabitation and glocalization. Finally, she demonstrates that the variations in the different ethnographies are linked with the religious leaders’ biographies and the modes of signification of the “Mayan” category—influenced by the socio-historical contexts of production