Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 Pneumonia in a Newborn Treated With Remdesivir and Coronavirus Disease 2019 Convalescent Plasma.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel pandemic virus. Mounting evidence supports the possibility of vertical transmission, which at the present time appears to be rare. We report a newborn with vertically acquired SARS-CoV-2 who developed acute respiratory failure and received remdesivir and coronavirus disease 2019 convalescent plasma.

An evaluation of luminol formulations and their effect on DNA profiling.

Luminol is a presumptive test reagent used for the location of latent bloodstains. Various formulations are used by different forensic practitioners and commercial products are also widely available. There is little concurrence between authors with regards to the sensitivity limits of luminol which can vary significantly depending upon the substrate.

Consideration of the probative value of single donor 15-plex STR profiles in UK populations and its presentation in UK courts.

The adoption of new 15 locus STR multiplex systems into UK forensic science would be facilitated by agreed guidelines for reporting the strength of DNA evidence using likelihood ratios. To facilitate such an agreement, we present an analysis of previously published UK allele frequencies for white Caucasian, Afro-Caribbean and Indo-Pakistani populations and investigate their effect on likelihood ratios for single donor profiles. We consider the implication of the five additional loci and suggest a procedure for reporting likelihood ratios for 15-plex STR profiles.

Deterring gun crime materially using forensic coatings.

Surface coatings that can help deter and solve gun crime are described. These nanoengineered coatings have been applied and evaluated on brass cartridge cases, where they increase associative forensic evidence through nanotag donation to the handler and the retention of handler's DNA. In future we expect this approach to be used for other surfaces and conditions.