Geophysical monitoring of simulated homicide burials for forensic investigations.

Finding hidden bodies, believed to have been murdered and buried, is problematic, expensive in terms of human resource and currently has low success rates for law enforcement agencies. Here we present, for the first time, ten years of multidisciplinary geophysical monitoring of simulated clandestine graves using animal analogues. Results will provide forensic search teams with crucial information on optimal detection techniques, equipment configuration and datasets for comparison to active and unsolved cold case searches.

Long-term Geophysical Monitoring of Simulated Clandestine Graves using Electrical and Ground Penetrating Radar Methods: 4-6 Years After Burial.

This ongoing monitoring study provides forensic search teams with systematic geophysical data over simulated clandestine graves for comparison to active cases. Simulated "wrapped," "naked," and "control" burials were created. Multiple geophysical surveys were collected over 6 years, here showing data from 4 to 6 years after burial.

Metabolite Profiling of Soybean Seed Extracts from Near-Isogenic Low and Normal Phytate Lines Using Orthogonal Separation Strategies.

Untargeted metabolomic profiling using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was applied to lipid-depleted methanolic extracts of soybean seeds utilizing orthogonal chromatographic separations (reversed-phase and hydrophilic interaction) in both positive and negative ionization modes. Four near-isogenic lines (NILs) differing in mutations for two genes encoding highly homologous multidrug resistant proteins (MRPs) were evaluated. The double mutant exhibited a low phytate phenotype, whereas the other three NILs, the two single mutants and the wild type, did not.

Soilwater Conductivity Analysis to Date and Locate Clandestine Graves of Homicide Victims.

In homicide investigations, it is critically important that postmortem interval and postburial interval (PBI) of buried victims are determined accurately. However, clandestine graves can be difficult to locate; and the detection rates for a variety of search methods (ranging from simple ground probing through to remote imaging and near-surface geophysics) can be very low. In this study, simulated graves of homicide victims were emplaced in three sites with contrasting soil types, bedrock, and depositional environments.

A metabolomic assessment of NAC154 transcription factor overexpression in field grown poplar stem wood.

Several xylem-associated regulatory genes have been identified that control processes associated with wood formation in poplar. Prominent among these are the NAC domain transcription factors (NACs). Here, the putative involvement of Populus NAC154, a co-ortholog of the Arabidopsis gene SND2, was evaluated as a regulator of "secondary" biosynthetic processes in stem internode tissues by interrogating aqueous methanolic extracts from control and transgenic trees.

The exo-proteome and exo-metabolome of Nostoc punctiforme (Cyanobacteria) in the presence and absence of nitrate.

The ability of nitrogen-fixing filamentous Cyanobacteria to adapt to multiple environments comes in part from assessing and responding to external stimuli, an event that is initiated in the extracellular milieu. While it is known that these organisms produce numerous extracellular substances, little work has been done to characterize both the metabolites and proteins present under standard laboratory growth conditions. We have assessed the extracellular milieu of Nostoc punctiforme when grown in liquid culture in the presence and absence of a nitrogen source (nitrate).

Geophysical monitoring of simulated clandestine graves using electrical and ground-penetrating radar methods: 0-3 years after burial.

This study provides forensic search teams with systematic geophysical monitoring data over simulated clandestine graves for comparison to active cases. Simulated "wrapped" and "naked" burials were created. Multigeophysical surveys were collected over a 3-year monitoring period.

Mass spectral analyses of corn stover prehydrolysates to assess conditioning processes.

Flow injection electrospray (FIE) and LC-tandem mass spectrometry techniques were used to characterize corn stover acid hydrolysates before and after overliming and ammonia conditioning steps. Analyses were performed on samples without fractionation (dilution only) in an effort provide an inventory of ionizable substances. Statistical evaluation of the results indicates that the ammonia-treated and crude hydrolysates were more similar to one another than any other pairing, with conditioning leading to a decrease in malate levels.

Electrical resistivity survey to search for a recent clandestine burial of a homicide victim, UK.

This case report details an electrical resistivity survey to assist the search for a suspected 1-year-old clandestine burial of a murder victim in North Wales in the UK. Conventional search techniques (victim recovery dogs and probing) proved unsuccessful, and with a significant survey area and a high clay content soil precluding GPR as a geophysical search method, a resistivity survey was instead trialled. Ten resistivity grids were collected and site detrended with user-specified, contoured anomalies being generated.

Preliminary soilwater conductivity analysis to date clandestine burials of homicide victims.

This study reports on a new geoscientific method to estimate the post-burial interval (PBI) and potential post-mortem interval (PMI) date of homicide victims in clandestine graves by measuring decomposition fluid conductivities. Establishing PBI/PMI dates may be critical for forensic investigators to establish time-lines to link or indeed rule out suspects to a crime. Regular in situ soilwater analysis from a simulated clandestine grave (which contained a domestic buried pig carcass) in a semi-rural environment had significantly elevated conductivity measurements when compared to background values.

Time-lapse resistivity surveys over simulated clandestine graves.

The aim of this study was to develop a better understanding of how electrical resistivity surveys can be used to locate clandestine graves. Resistivity surveys were conducted regularly over three simulated clandestine graves containing a pig cadaver, no cadaver and a pig cadaver wrapped in tarpaulin, respectively. Additionally, soil and groundwater samples were collected from two more simulated graves outside the survey area.

Time-lapse geophysical investigations over a simulated urban clandestine grave.

A simulated clandestine shallow grave was created within a heterogeneous, made-ground, urban environment where a clothed, plastic resin, human skeleton, animal products, and physiological saline were placed in anatomically correct positions and re-covered to ground level. A series of repeat (time-lapse), near-surface geophysical surveys were undertaken: (1) prior to burial (to act as control), (2) 1 month, and (3) 3 months post-burial. A range of different geophysical techniques was employed including: bulk ground resistivity and conductivity, fluxgate gradiometry and high-frequency ground penetrating radar (GPR), soil magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), and self potential (SP).

Transcriptional response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to desiccation and rehydration.

A transcriptional analysis of the response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain BY4743 to controlled air-drying (desiccation) and subsequent rehydration under minimal glucose conditions was performed. Expression of genes involved in fatty acid oxidation and the glyoxylate cycle was observed to increase during drying and remained in this state during the rehydration phase. When the BY4743 expression profile for the dried sample was compared to that of a commercially prepared dry active yeast, strikingly similar expression changes were observed.

UV irradiation and desiccation modulate the three-dimensional extracellular matrix of Nostoc commune (Cyanobacteria).

Cyanobacterium Nostoc commune can tolerate the simultaneous stresses of desiccation, UV irradiation, and oxidation. Acidic WspA, of approximately 33.6 kDa, is secreted to the three-dimensional extracellular matrix and accounts for greater than 70% of the total soluble protein.

Long term metabolic arrest and recovery of HEK293 spheroids involves NF-kappaB signaling and sustained JNK activation.

Understanding how cells withstand a depletion of intracellular water is relevant to the study of longevity, aging, and quiescence because one consequence of air-drying is metabolic arrest. After removal of medium, HEK293 spheroids with intracellular water content of approximately 65% survived partial vacuum, with antistatic control, for weeks in the dark at 25 degrees C. In contrast, only a limited exposure of monolayers to air was lethal; the mitochondrion being a target of this stress.

Use of methanolysis for the determination of total ellagic and gallic acid contents of wood and food products.

Anhydrous methanolic HCl has been found to be an excellent reagent for releasing ellagic acid and gallic acid (as methyl gallate) from biomass substrates. Optimization of both the reaction conditions and the gradient HPLC analysis has led to the development of a new protocol. The method provides ellagic acid yields significantly higher than those obtained previously, indicating total ellagic acid contents of several substrates have previously been underestimated.

The effect of overliming on the toxicity of dilute acid pretreated lignocellulosics: the role of inorganics, uronic acids and ether-soluble organics.

Although the treatment of dilute acid pretreated lignocellulosics with calcium hydroxide or carbonate (overliming) is known to improve the fermentability of carbohydrate-rich hydrolyzate streams, a firm understanding of the chemistry behind the process is lacking. Quantitative evaluation of inorganics, uronic acids, and non-polar organics indicates that only a portion of the improvement can be ascribed to these materials. Upon overliming the concentrations of inorganics either increase (Ca, Mg), decrease (Fe, P, Zn, K) or remain relatively the same (Al, Na).