Murepavadin promotes the killing efficacies of aminoglycoside antibiotics against Pseudomonas aeruginosa by enhancing membrane potential.

Murepavadin is a peptidomimetic that specifically targets the lipopolysaccharide transport protein LptD of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Here, we found that murepavadin enhances the bactericidal efficacies of tobramycin and amikacin. We further demonstrated that murepavadin enhances bacterial respiration activity and subsequent membrane potential, which promotes intracellular uptake of aminoglycoside antibiotics. In addition, the murepavadin-amikacin combination displayed a synergistic bactericidal effect in a murine pneumonia model.

Forensic STR and SNP Genotyping of Formalin-Fixed Skeleton Samples With Illumina's ForenSeq System.

Formalin fixatives are widely used in forensics to preserve tissues. However, extracting high-quality genomic DNA from formalin-fixed samples is challenging. Traditional short tandem repeat (STR) analysis using capillary electrophoresis (CE) for forensic DNA typing frequently results in failure. Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) can handle many samples and thousands of genetic markers, usually single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and STRs, in a single test. Thus, it is useful for assessing highly deteriorated forensic evidence. Few studies have examined the effectiveness of STRs and SNPs genotyping of formalin-fixed skeletons using MPS. In this study, 55 skeletal samples from 5 individuals that were treated under different formalin fixation times (5-75 days) were examined and sequenced using the ForenSeq DNA Signature Prep Kit on the Illumina MiSeq FGX platform. The results showed that as the duration of formalin fixation increased, the detection rates of STRs and SNPs gradually decreased. After 75 days of fixation, the average detection rates for STRs and SNPs were 4% and 10%, respectively. The cumulative discrimination power (CDP) of individual identification SNPs (iiSNPs) was >0.9999 on the 45th day. However, the CDP of STRs was 0.9930 on the 22nd day. Low detection rates were observed for six STRs (D1S1656, PentaE, D22S1045, PentaD, DX8378 and DX10103) and five SNPs (rs2920816, rs354439, rs1736442, rs338882 and rs1031825). In conclusion, DNA extracted from formalin-fixed skeletons decomposes rapidly over time, and MPS technology can be a useful tool for detecting forensic genetic markers in such samples.

Evaluation of Phenazine Derivatives from the Lichen-Associated Streptomyces flavidovirens as Potent Antineuroinflammatory Agents In Vitro and In Vivo.

Eighteen nitrogen-containing compounds (1-18) were isolated from cultures of the lichen-associated Streptomyces flavidovirens collected from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, including seven phenazine derivatives with three new ones, named subphenazines A-C (2-4), two new furan pyrrolidones (8-9), and nine known alkaloids. The structures were elucidated by spectroscopic data analysis, and absolute configurations were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and ECD calculations. The phenazine-type derivatives, in particular compound 3, exhibited significantly better antineuroinflammatory activity than other isolated compounds (8-18). Compound 3 inhibited the release of proinflammatory cytokines including IL-6, TNF-α, and PGE2, and the nuclear translocation of NF-κB; it also reduced the oxidative stress and activated the Nrf2 signaling pathway in LPS-induced BV2 microglia cells. In vivo anti-inflammatory activity in zebrafish indicated that 3 inhibited LPS-stimulated ROS generation. These findings suggested that compound 3 might be a potent antineuroinflammatory agent through the regulation of the NF-κB/Nrf2 signaling pathways.

Abietane-Type Diterpenoids from the Arils of Torreya grandis.

A chemical investigation of the arils of Torreya grandis led to the isolation of seven abietane-type diterpenoids (compounds 1-7) including three previously undescribed compounds, one unreported natural product, and three known analogs. The structures of these compounds were determined by means of spectroscopy, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and ECD spectra. An antibacterial activity assay showed that compounds 5 and 6 had significant inhibitory effects on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, with MIC values of 100 µM. Moreover, compounds 1, 3, 4, and 7 exhibited anti-neuroinflammatory activity in LPS-stimulated BV-2 microglia cells, with the IC50 values ranging from 38.4 to 67.9 µM.

Dysconnectivity of the parafascicular nucleus in Parkinson's disease: A dynamic causal modeling analysis.

BACKGROUND: Recent animal model studies have suggested that the parafascicular nucleus has the potential to be an effective deep brain stimulation target for Parkinson's disease. However, our knowledge on the role of the parafascicular nucleus in Parkinson's disease patients remains limited. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the functional alterations of the parafascicular nucleus projections in Parkinson's disease patients. METHODS: We enrolled 72 Parkinson's disease patients and 60 healthy controls, then utilized resting-state functional MRI and spectral dynamic causal modeling to explore the effective connectivity of the bilateral parafascicular nucleus to the dorsal putamen, nucleus accumbens, and subthalamic nucleus. The associations between the effective connectivity of the parafascicular nucleus projections and clinical features were measured with Pearson partial correlations. RESULTS: Compared with controls, the effective connectivity from the parafascicular nucleus to dorsal putamen was significantly increased, while the connectivity to the nucleus accumbens and subthalamic nucleus was significantly reduced in Parkinson's disease patients. There was a significantly positive correlation between the connectivity of parafascicular nucleus-dorsal putamen projection and motor deficits. The connectivity from the parafascicular nucleus to the subthalamic nucleus was negatively correlated with motor deficits and apathy, while the connectivity from the parafascicular nucleus to the nucleus accumbens was negatively associated with depression. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrates that the parafascicular nucleus-related projections are damaged and associated with clinical symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Our findings provide new insights into the impaired basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits and give support for the parafascicular nucleus as a potential effective neuromodulating target of the disease.

Common and unique dysconnectivity profiles of dorsal and median raphe in Parkinson's disease.

The serotonergic (5-HT) system, which undergoes degeneration in Parkinson's disease (PD), is involved in the pathogenesis of motor and nonmotor symptoms. The dorsal raphe (DR) and median raphe (MR) nuclei are the main source of 5-HT neurons, however, brain connectivity changes in these two nuclei have not been delineated in PD. Here we used resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) to characterize functional connectivity profiles of DR and MR and further examine the associations between dysconnectivity of raphe nuclei and clinical phenotypes of PD. We found that DR and MR commonly hypo-connected with the sensorimotor, temporal, and occipital cortex, limbic system, left thalamus, putamen, and cerebellum in PD. DR had unique decreased connectivity with the bilateral prefrontal and cingulate cortices, while MR had lower connectivity with the pons. Moreover, reduced connectivity of DR correlated with depression, drowsiness, and anxiety, whereas dysconnectivity of MR correlated with depression, cognitive deficits, sleep disturbances, and pain. Our findings highlight the complex roles of raphe nuclei in motor and nonmotor symptoms, providing novel insights into the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying pathogenesis of PD.

Influence of monsoon anomalies on intra-annual density fluctuations of Chinese pine in the Loess Plateau.

In the past few decades, the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) has experienced an unprecedented weakening, exacerbating drought in northern China, especially in the monsoon margin area. Improving our understanding of monsoon variability will benefit agricultural production, ecological construction, and disaster management. Tree-ring is widely used as proxy data for extending the monsoon history. However, in the East Asian monsoon margin, the tree-ring width were mostly formed before the rainy season, thus may have limited ability to indicate the monsoon variability. Intra-annual density fluctuations (IADFs) can provide higher resolution information on tree growth as well as evidence of short-term climate events. Here, we used Chinese pine (Pinus tabuliformis Carr.) samples from the eastern edge of the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), where the climate is deeply affected by monsoon, to investigate the response of tree growth and IADFs frequency to climate variation. We show that tree-ring width and IADFs record significantly different climatic signals. The former was mainly affected by moisture conditions at the end of the previous growing season and the current spring. While the latter was common in years when severe droughts occurred in June and July, especially in June. This period coincides with the onset of the EASM, so we further analyzed the relationship between IADFs frequency and the rainy season. Both correlation analysis and the GAM model suggest that the frequent occurrence of IADFs may be related to the late start of the monsoon rainy season, meaning that we have found a new indicator in tree-ring records that can capture monsoon anomalies. Our results provide further insight into drought variation in the eastern CLP, which also implicates the Asian summer monsoon dynamic.

Forensic Validation and Application Evaluation of IDentifier DNA Typing Kit (Yan-Huang34).

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the technical performance of IDentifier DNA typing kit (YanHuang34) and evaluate its forensic application value. METHODS: Following the Criterion of Forensic Science Human Fluorescence STR Multiplex Amplification Reagent (GB/T 37226-2018), IDentifier DNA typing kit (YanHuang34) was verified in 11 aspects of species specificity, veracity, sensibility, adaptability, inhibitor tolerance, consistency, balance, reaction condition verification, mixed samples, stability and inter batch consistency. The system efficiency of IDentifier DNA typing kit (YanHuang34) was compared with the PowerPlex® Fusion 6C System, VersaPlex® 27PY System and VeriFilerTM Plus PCR Amplification Kit. The IDentifier DNA typing kit (YanHuang34) was used to detect the swabs of biological samples in daily cases and the STR performances were observed. RESULTS: IDentifier DNA typing kit (YanHuang34) had good species specificity, veracity, adaptability, inhibitor tolerance and balance. The sensibility was up to 0.062 5 ng. It was able to detect different types of samples, degraded samples and inhibitor mixed samples. Complete DNA typing could be obtained for samples with the mixture ratio less than 4∶1. The system efficiency of IDentifier DNA typing kit (YanHuang34) was very high, with TDP up to 1-1.08×10-37, CPEtrio and CPEduo up to 1-5.47×10-14 and 1-6.43×10-9, respectively. For the touched biological samples in actual cases, the effective detection rate was 21.05%. The system efficiency of kinship, single parent and full sibling identifications was effectively improved. CONCLUSIONS: The IDentifier DNA typing kit (YanHuang34) is adaptive to the GB/T 37226-2018 requirements. It can be used for individual identification and paternity identification, and is suitable for application in the field of forensic science.

The Impact of Elsinoë ampelina Infection on Key Metabolic Properties in Vitis vinifera 'Red Globe' Berries via Multiomics Approaches.

Grape anthracnose caused by Elsinoë ampelina (Shear) is one of the most serious fungal diseases that lead to the quality reduction and yield losses of grape (Vitis vinifera 'Red Globe') berries. In the present study, metabolome and transcriptome analyses were conducted using grape berries in the field after infection with E. ampelina at 7, 10, and 13 days to identify the metabolic properties of berries. In total, 132 metabolites with significant differences and 6,877 differentially expressed genes were detected and shared by three comparisons. The analyses demonstrated that phenylpropanoid, flavonoid, stilbenoid, and nucleotide metabolisms were enriched in E. ampelina-infected grape berries but not amino acid metabolism. Phenolamide, terpene, and polyphenole contents also accumulated during E. ampelina infection. The results provided evidence of the enhancement of secondary metabolites such as resveratrol, α-viniferin, ε-viniferin, and lignins involved in plant defense. The results showed the plant defense-associated metabolic reprogramming caused by E. ampelina infection in grape berry and provided a global metabolic mechanism under E. ampelina stimulation.[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.

A new set of 20 Multi-InDel markers for forensic application.

Insertion/deletion markers (InDels) become an important marker for forensic medicine because of their compatible typing techniques with STRs and lower mutation rates. Recent years, a new kind of DNA marker named Multi-InDel was reported as characterized by two or more tightly linked InDel loci within a short length of physical position, usually 200-300 nucleotides. Many pieces of research showed that Multi-InDels had excellent application values in ancestry inference and forensic medicine. Since the identical number of insertion/deletion nucleotides of the InDel markers that composing the Multi-InDel marker, the genotypes of most reported Multi-InDels could not be directly typed by capillary electrophoresis (CE) due to the lack of length discrepancy among the composing InDel sequence. In this study, we applied a typing system of 20 Multi-InDels including 41 InDels, whose genotypes could be deduced by CE and assessed their potential applications in forensic medicine. A total of 200 unrelated Chinese Han individuals and five mother-child-father trios with proven paternity with one STR locus transmission incompatibilities from Shanxi province were genotyped by the multiplex system. The results showed that a total of 70 specific alleles were observed, more than three alleles were observed in 19 loci and seven alleles were observed in one locus. The combined probability of exclusion and the combined power of discrimination were 0.992 and 0.99999999993, respectively. This study demonstrates their potential usefulness for individual identification and paternity tests. The development of Multi-InDels provided another genetic tool inherent in higher polymorphic and lower mutation rates.

Clinical and Preclinical Neuroimaging Changes in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 12: A Study of Three Chinese Pedigrees.

BACKGROUND: Spinocerebellar ataxia type 12 (SCA12) is a rare SCA subtype with unclear clinical and imaging features. Also, the radiological changes in prodromal and early stages remain unknown. METHODS: Ten symptomatic and two pre-symptomatic cases from three Chinese pedigrees received clinical assessments and imaging studies including routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI), and positron emission tomography (PET) using 18F-flurodeoxyglucose (FDG) to investigate glucose metabolism in brain and 18F-vesicle monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) to inspect the integrity of the dopaminergic neuron. Seventy-two healthy individuals were recruited as controls in the quantitative FDG-PET analysis. Imaging parameters were compared between symptomatic and presymptomatic cases with different disease durations. RESULTS: Patients displayed prominent action tremor, moderate ataxia, and subtle parkinsonism with poor levodopa-response. MRI showed extensive but heterogeneous cerebral atrophy, which was most evident in the frontoparietal lobes. Cerebellar atrophy was apparent in later stages. DKI detected impaired fibers in the cerebellar peduncles. In both symptomatic and pre-symptomatic cases, PET-CT showed an earlier FDG decline than atrophic changes in multiple regions, and the frontoparietal lobes were the earliest and most severe. However, the VMAT2 density were normal in the putamen and caudate nucleus of most cases (7/8). CONCLUSIONS: We first found that hypometabolism in the cerebral cortex, but not cerebellum, is an early and prominent change in SCA12. The integrity of presynaptic dopaminergic neurons remains largely spared during the whole disease process.

Structural and functional brain alterations in patients with idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate structural and functional alterations in patients with idiopathic rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) compared with healthy controls. METHODS: Twenty-seven patients with polysomnography-confirmed iRBD and 33 healthy subjects were recruited. All subjects underwent a 3-tesla structural and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) examination. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis was performed to assess grey matter alterations between groups. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) was calculated and then compared to measure differences in spontaneous brain activity. Correlations were performed to explore associations between imaging metrics and clinical characteristics in iRBD patients. RESULTS: Compared with healthy controls, patients with iRBD had decreased grey matter volume in the frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital cortices as well as increased grey matter volume in cerebellum posterior lobe, putamen, and thalamus. Patients with iRBD also exhibited increased ALFF values in the right parahippocampal gyrus. Olfaction correlated with ALFF value changes in occipital cortices. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with iRBD had widespread decreases of grey matter volume. Increases of grey matter volume in cerebellum, putamen, and thalamus may suggest a compensatory effect, while the altered ALFF values in parahippocampal gyrus and occipital cortices may play a role in the underlying process of neurodegeneration in this disorder.

Transcriptome Analysis of the Grape-Elsinoë ampelina Pathosystem Reveals Novel Effectors and a Robust Defense Response.

Elsinoë ampelina is an ascomycetous fungus that causes grape anthracnose, a potentially devastating disease worldwide. In this study, a dual RNA-seq analysis was used to simultaneously monitor the fungal genes related to pathogenesis and grape genes related to defense during the interaction at 2, 3, 4, and 5 days postinoculation. Consistent with their potential roles in pathogenicity, genes for carbohydrate-active enzymes, secondary metabolite synthesis, pathogen-host interaction, and those encoding secreted proteins are upregulated during infection. Based on Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transient assays in Nicotiana benthamiana, we further showed that eight and nine candidate effectors, respectively, suppressed BAX- and INF1-mediated programmed cell death. The host response was characterized by the induction of multiple defense systems against E. ampelina, including synthesis of phenylpropanoids, stilbenes, and terpenoid biosynthesis, cell-wall modifications, regulation by phytohormones, and expression of defense-related genes. Together, these findings offer new insights into molecular mechanisms underlying the grape-E. ampelina interaction.[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.

Single-Cell RNA Sequencing to Dissect the Immunological Network of Autoimmune Myocarditis.

BACKGROUND: Myocarditis can develop into dilated cardiomyopathy, which may require heart transplantation. The immunological network of myocarditis phases remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the immunological network during the transition from myocarditis to cardiomyopathy and to identify the genes contributing to the inflammatory response to myocarditis. METHODS: Mice were treated with myosin heavy chain-α peptides to generate an experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM) model. We performed single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of Cd45+ cells extracted from mouse hearts during different EAM phases, including normal control, acute inflammatory, subacute inflammatory, and myopathy phases. Human heart tissues were collected from the surgically removed hearts of patients who had undergone heart transplantation. RESULTS: We identified 26 cell subtypes among 34 665 cells. Macrophages constituted the main immune cell population at all disease phases (>60%), and an inflammation-associated macrophage cluster was identified in which the expression of Hif1a-regulated genes was upregulated. The neutrophil population was increased after the induction of EAM, and neutrophils then released Il-1 to participate in the EAM process. T cells were observed at the highest percentage at the subacute inflammatory phase. T-helper 17 cells, in which the expression of Hif1a-regulated genes was upregulated, constituted the main T-cell population detected at the acute inflammatory phase, whereas regulatory T cells were the main T-cell population detected at the subacute inflammatory phase, and γδ T cells releasing Il-17 were the main T-cell population observed at the myopathy phase. Moreover, the Hif1a expression level correlated with the extent of inflammation. In addition, PX-478 could alleviate the inflammatory responses of the different EAM phases. Last, HIF1A was expressed at higher levels in patients with acute autoimmune myocarditis than in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and healthy control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: We present here a comprehensive single-cell landscape of the cardiac immune cells in different EAM phases. In addition, we elucidate the contribution of Hif1a to the inflammatory response through the regulation of immune cell activity, particularly of macrophage cluster 2 and T-helper 17 cells. Moreover, an Hif1a inhibitor alleviated inflammatory cell infiltration of the EAM model and may serve as a potential therapeutic target in the clinic.

Long non-coding RNA HCG18 promotes M1 macrophage polarization through regulating the miR-146a/TRAF6 axis, facilitating the progression of diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is one of the most important complications in diabetes mellitus (DM), which has been reported to be modulated by long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). The purpose of the current study is to explore the regulatory mechanism of lncRNA HCG18 on DPN in vitro. The expression of lncRNA HCG18, miR-146a, TRAF6, CD11c, and iNOS was detected by qRT-PCR. Through Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the levels of inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6) were determined. M1 macrophage polarization was measured by flow cytometry analysis. The interactions between miR-146a and HCG18/TRAF6 were predicted by Starbase/Targetscan software and verified by the dual luciferase reporter assay. Western blot assay was performed to determine the protein expression of TRAF6. LncRNA HCG18 was highly expressed in DPN model and HG-induced macrophages. The levels of inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6) were elevated in DPN model. The expression of M1 markers (CD11c and iNOS) was visibly up-regulated in DPN model and was positively correlated with HCG18 expression. LncRNA HCG18 facilitated M1 macrophage polarization. In addition, miR-146a was identified as a target of lncRNA HCG18. Overexpression of miR-146a reversed the promoting effect of HCG18 on M1 macrophage polarization. Simultaneously, TRAF6 was a target gene of miR-146a TRAF6 expression was positively modulated by HCG18 and was negatively modulated by miR-146a. Down-regulation of TRAF6 reversed the promoting effect of HCG18 on M1 macrophage polarization. LncRNA HCG18 promotes M1 macrophage polarization via regulating the miR-146a/TRAF6 axis, facilitating the progression of DPN. This study provides a possible therapeutic strategy for DPN.

Genome Sequence Resource for Elsinoë ampelina, the Causal Organism of Grapevine Anthracnose.

Elsinoë ampelina is an ascomycetous fungus that causes grape anthracnose, a potentially devastating disease worldwide. Here, we report a 28.29 Mb high-quality genome sequence of E. ampelina YL-1 that encodes 8,057 predicted protein-coding genes and represents the first sequenced genome assembly of E. ampelina. This study adds to the current genomic resources for the genus Elsinoë and paves the way for research on comparative genomic studies, E. ampelina-grape interactions, and improvement of management strategies.

CircSMYD4 regulates proliferation, migration and apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by sponging miR-584-5p.

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that circSMYD4 is differentially expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but its mechanism of action remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the role of circSMYD4 in the occurrence and development of HCC and its specific molecular mechanism. METHODS: The expressions of related genes and proteins in the development of HCC were detected by real-time quantitative-PCR and Western blot. HCC cells treated with RNase R and Actinomycin D were used to examine the stability of circSMYD4. Bioinformatics analysis, RNA pull-down assay, luciferase assay and Spearman correlation analysis were performed to evaluate the interaction between circSMYD4 and miRNA. Cell Counting Kit-8, clone formation assay, wound healing assay, Transwell, flow cytometry, nude tumor formation experiment, and immunohistochemistry were employed to analyze the function of circSMYD4 in HCC. A rescue experiment was conducted to analyze the effect of miR-584-5p on the physiological functions of cells. RESULTS: CircSMYD4 was down-regulated in HCC tissues and cells, and was not easily affected by RNase R and Actinomycin D. The abundances of circSMYD4 and SMYD4 in the cytoplasm were significantly higher than in the nucleus. Up-regulation of circSMYD4 inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration and promoted the apoptosis of HCC cells in vitro, while it inhibited tumor growth, promoted apoptosis-related proteins, and suppressed alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels in vivo. CircSMYD4 could be used as a miRNA sponge to target miR-584-5p. In addition, miR-584-5p overexpression partially reversed the regulatory effect of circSMYD4 on HCC. CONCLUSION: CircSMYD4 prevents the development of HCC through regulating multiple signaling pathways such as metastasis and apoptosis by sponging miR-584-5p.

Quantitative evaluation of iron content in idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder.

BACKGROUND: Idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder is an early sign of neurodegenerative disease. This study aimed to quantitatively evaluate iron content in idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder patients using quantitative susceptibility mapping and to examine the potential of this technique to identify the prodromal stage of α-synucleinopathies. METHODS: Twenty-five idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder patients, 32 Parkinson's disease patients, and 50 healthy controls underwent quantitative susceptibility mapping. The mean magnetic susceptibility values within the bilateral substantia nigra, globus pallidus, red nucleus, head of the caudate nucleus, and putamen were calculated and compared among groups. The relationships between the values and the clinical features of idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder and Parkinson's disease were measured using correlation analysis. RESULTS: Idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder patients had elevated iron in the bilateral substantia nigra compared with healthy controls. Parkinson's disease patients had increased iron in the bilateral substantia nigra, globus pallidus, and left red nucleus compared with healthy controls and had elevated iron levels in the bilateral substantia nigra compared with idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder patients. Mean magnetic susceptibility values were positively correlated with disease duration in the left substantia nigra in idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder patients. CONCLUSIONS: Quantitative susceptibility mapping can detect increased iron in the substantia nigra in idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, which becomes more significant as the disorder progresses. This technique has the potential to be an early objective neuroimaging marker for detecting α-synucleinopathies. © 2019 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

DNA typing from skeletal remains: a comparison between capillary electrophoresis and massively parallel sequencing platforms.

Skeletal remains encountered frequently in forensic applications are a challenging specimen, since their DNA is usually degraded due to harsh conditions, limiting the utilization of skeletal DNA. Forensic scientists have tried various methods to extract DNA from skeletal remains of low quantity and poor quality or improve detecting technology for more information from compromised DNA. Compared with traditional capillary electrophoresis (CE), massively parallel sequencing (MPS) is more sensitive to shorter fragments, able to detect allele sequences for variations from core motif or flanking regions, and able to detect more markers with a higher discrimination power. In this study, short tandem repeats (STR) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) from 35 human skeletons were genotyped by MPS platform, and CE method was also used to perform STR genotyping. The results indicated that the detection rates reached 100.00% in 16 of 35 samples with MPS method, while the same 100.00% was reached in only 9 samples with CE. The success rates of MPS were also higher than that of CE method in shared 21 loci (excluding Y-indel, DYS391, and SE33), especially in loci detected by MPS method only. Besides, all SNPs (124 and 90 SNPs in males and females) were detected in 18 samples of 35 samples by MPS method. Some intra-allelic sequence variants were observed in eight loci (D21S11, D8S1179, D5S2800, D3S1358, vWA, D2S1338, D1S1656, D12S391) using MPS technology. Interestingly, there is a sample showing genotyping disagreement in FGA locus. The clone sequencing verified that a "T" deletion discovered in flanking sequence of FGA led to wrong genotyping on Ampliseq Converge. Our results indicated that MPS could be adopted in qualified labs as a supplementary when the DNA of skeletal remains are hard to identify.

Correction to: DNA typing from skeletal remains: a comparison between capillary electrophoresis and massively parallel sequencing platforms.

The name of an author was misspelled. The correct spelling is "Linlin Gao" instead of Linin Gao.