Comparative proteome analysis for identification of differentially abundant proteins in SIDS.

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) remains one of the most common causes of post-neonatal infant mortality in developed countries. Its pathogenesis is still poorly understood. The goal of the present study was to characterize changes in the proteome of SIDS compared to age-matched controls in heart and medulla tissues as well as in blood samples using two complementary quantitative proteomic techniques: 2D-DIGE and iTRAQ aiming to provide new insights into the mechanism of SIDS and to find diagnostic protein patterns. Our results revealed collectively 122 modulated proteins in SIDS of which 83 proteins were up-regulated. They are involved in metabolic processes, cellular processes, and localization. Gene expression patterns of selected proteins were further validated by reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR). The role of hypoxia, inflammation, and apoptosis in SIDS was demonstrated by exploring some candidate proteins especially APOA1, GAPDH, S100B, zyxin, and complement component C4A. According to the results of this study, these proteins might be used as diagnostic biomarkers for SIDS. All of them were up-regulated in SIDS except for C4A that was down-regulated.

Validation of adequate endogenous reference genes for reverse transcription-qPCR studies in human post-mortem brain tissue of SIDS cases.

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the main cause of post-neonatal infant death in most developed countries. It is still of ambiguous etiology. Gene expression studies of relevant target genes using reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) in SIDS cases, and comparing them with age-matched controls, could help in understanding the pathogenesis of SIDS. However, selecting inadequate reference genes used for normalization of the RT-qPCR gene expression data can give misleading results. The aim of the present study was to identify reference genes with the most stable expression in post-mortem brainstem samples of SIDS and control cases. Among the five candidate reference genes (GAPDH, GUSB, HMBS, SDHA, UBXN6) studied in both groups, SDHA and UBXN6 were identified as the most stable. To further demonstrate the importance of using validated genes for RT-qPCR data normalization, the expression of a potential gene of interest in SIDS, the RPS27A gene, was evaluated using validated versus non-validated reference genes for normalization. This gene encodes the ubiquitin protein that has been shown in other pathological studies to be induced in SIDS. Using the identified most stable genes for normalization of RPS27A gene expression data revealed, as expected, a statistically significant up-regulation in SIDS as compared to the controls. However, using a single unstable reference gene for normalization resulted in no significant differences in transcript abundance of RPS27A between SIDS and the controls. This emphasizes the need for validation of the suitability of reference genes used in a given tissue type under certain experimental conditions.

Assisted suicide by fentanyl intoxication due to excessive transdermal application.

Herein, we report a case of an assisted suicide committed by application of 34 matrix-based fentanyl-containing transdermal therapeutic systems (TTS) with different release rates. The TTS were supplied by the husband but administered by the deceased herself. Besides routine systematic toxicological analysis (STA), the concentrations of fentanyl and norfentanyl were determined in the blood (femoral and heart), urine, stomach content, brain, lung tissue, musculus iliopsoas, liver, kidney, bile and in some of the used TTS by LC-MS/MS. Blood levels of fentanyl were 60.6 µg/L in femoral blood and 94.1 µg/L in heart blood. These concentrations are in good concordance with levels described in cases with accidental or lethal suicidal fentanyl patch application. The organ distribution indicates an influence of post-mortem redistribution. The levels of residual fentanyl in the TTS were also determined. STA furthermore revealed supratherapeutic levels of bromazepam. Thus, the cause of death was a combination of fentanyl and bromazepam intoxication. However, considering the determined levels of fentanyl and norfentanyl in the entire set of specimens and the high toxicity in comparison to bromazepam, fentanyl was the leading toxic noxa.

A mixed alkanethiol based immunosensor for surface plasmon field-enhanced fluorescence spectroscopy in serum.

This paper describes a simple and sensitive immuno-based biosensor for interference-reduced detection of C-reactive protein (CRP) in serum. The detection was performed by using a non-competitive sandwich immunoassay in combination with surface plasmon field-enhanced fluorescence spectroscopy (SPFS). CRP is an important marker for the diagnosis of inflammatory processes and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). It is nowadays detected by high-sensitivity enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) in blood serum. CRP was used as a model analyte in this work because it is well-characterized. However, interfering effects of matrix components affect the limit of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) in general. Therefore, the availability of fast, sensitive and robust analytical methods is of major interest. A number of biosensor approaches have been described already, but only a few have demonstrated their usefulness in authentic samples such as serum. Thus our aim was to develop a simple and sensitive immunoassay-based biosensor for an interference-reduced detection of CRP in serum with surface plasmon enhanced fluorescence spectroscopy (SPFS). LODs and LOQs were experimentally determined both for CRP spiked buffer and serum. SPFS in combination with our biosensor allows sensitive analysis of CRP, achieving in buffer a LOD of 0.016 µg mL(-1) and a LOQ of 0.049 µg mL(-1). In serum the accomplished LOD was 0.026 µg mL(-1) and the LOQ was found to be 0.08 µg mL(-1). These low LODs and LOQs demonstrate the applicability of the designed biosensor for qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis of trace amounts of substances in very small sample volumes of body fluids.

Death after misuse of anabolic substances (clenbuterol, stanozolol and metandienone).

A 34-year old male was found breathless and panting at home by his girlfriend three hours after a gym workout. Minutes later, he collapsed and died. Autopsy, histological and chemical analyses were conducted. The examination of the heart showed left ventricular hypertrophy, while the right coronary artery showed only a small vascular lumen (3 mm in diameter), due to its anatomical structure. In femoral blood concentrations of approx. 1 µg/L clenbuterol, approx. 56 µg/L stanozolol and approx. 8 µg/L metandienone, with trenbolone (

Tailored antimicrobial activity and long-term cytocompatibility of plasma polymer silver nanocomposites.

The deposition of coatings enabling antibacterial properties in combination with cytocompatibility remains a challenge for biomaterial applications, such as in medical devices. Silver is one of the most utilized antibacterial surface components, due to its efficacy and extensive applicability. In this work, silver-containing plasma polymer nanocomposites (single layer and multilayers) were developed and tested, with a focus on cytotoxicity and bactericidal function, on the NIH3T3 mammalian cell line as well as Gram-negative ( Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and Gram-positive ( Staphylococcus aureus) bacterial strains. The data demonstrate that a tuneable Ag+ release is required, allowing sufficient antimicrobial activity while retaining appropriate cytocompatibility over the entire testing period of up to eight days.