The effect of tea catechins on the forensic identification of urine: Urine camouflage to evade drug tests.

Background: We encountered a urine sample suspected of being mixed with tea, submitted by a suspect attempting to camouflage illegal drugs. Although urine should turn reddish-pink during a urea test with p-Dimethylaminocinnamaldehyde (DAC), this suspect's sample exhibited a blue coloration when tested with DAC.

Aim: Our aim was to examine the influence and mechanism of green tea on various urine identification tests.

Examination of the usefulness of next-generation sequencing in mixed DNA samples.

The identification of individuals from mixed DNA samples is an important application of DNA typing. Although the discriminatory power of DNA profiling has improved dramatically, a limiting factor is that individuals cannot be identified via short tandem repeat (STR) analysis. We used next-generation sequencing (NGS) to examine the mixed DNA samples.

Distinct Ca2+ requirement for NO production between proteinase-activated receptor 1 and 4 (PAR1 and PAR4) in vascular endothelial cells.

Proteinase-activated receptors 1 and 4 (PAR(1) and PAR(4)) are the major receptors mediating thrombin-induced NO production in endothelial cells. The intracellular signaling following their activation still remains to be elucidated. The present study provides the first evidence for the distinct Ca(2+) requirement for the NO production between PAR(1) and PAR(4).

Involvement of Gi/o in the PAR-4-induced NO production in endothelial cells.

We investigated the involvement of G(i/o) protein in NO production following the activation of proteinase-activated receptor-4 (PAR-4) in cultured bovine aortic endothelial cells. AYPGKF-NH(2) (PAR-4 activating peptide), thrombin, and ionomycin induced a concentration-dependent NO production, with the maximal production seen at 30 microM, 0.1U/ml, and 1 microM, respectively.