Collecting and reporting accurate disaster mortality data are critical to informing disaster response and recovery efforts. The National Association of Medical Examiners convened an ad hoc committee to provide recommendations for the documentation and certification of disaster-related deaths. This article provides definitions for disasters and direct, indirect, and partially attributable disaster-related deaths; discusses jurisdiction for disaster-related deaths; offers recommendations for medical examiners/coroners (ME/Cs) for indicating the involvement of the disaster on the death certificate; discusses the role of the ME/C and non-ME/C in documenting and certifying disaster-related deaths; identifies existing systems for helping to identify the role of disaster on the death certificate; and describes disaster-related deaths that may require amendments of death certificates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeuropathol Appl Neurobiol
February 2022
Aims: Hippocampal findings are implicated in the pathogenesis of sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC), although some studies have identified similar findings in sudden explained death in childhood (SEDC) cases. We blindly reviewed hippocampal histology in SUDC and SEDC controls.
Methods: Hippocampal haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) slides (n = 67; 36 SUDC, 31 controls) from clinical and forensic collaborators were evaluated by nine blinded reviewers: three board-certified forensic pathologists, three neuropathologists and three dual-certified neuropathologists/forensic pathologists.
Genomics and metabolomics are widely used to explore specialized metabolite diversity. The Paired Omics Data Platform is a community initiative to systematically document links between metabolome and (meta)genome data, aiding identification of natural product biosynthetic origins and metabolite structures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe engineered a machine learning approach, MSHub, to enable auto-deconvolution of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) data. We then designed workflows to enable the community to store, process, share, annotate, compare and perform molecular networking of GC-MS data within the Global Natural Product Social (GNPS) Molecular Networking analysis platform. MSHub/GNPS performs auto-deconvolution of compound fragmentation patterns via unsupervised non-negative matrix factorization and quantifies the reproducibility of fragmentation patterns across samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: The true incidence of sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC), already the fifth leading category of death among toddlers by current US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, is potentially veiled by the varied certification processes by medicolegal investigative offices across the United States.
Objective: To evaluate the frequency of SUDC incidence, understand its epidemiology, and assess the consistency of death certification among medical examiner and coroner offices in the US death investigation system.
Design, Setting, And Participants: In this case series, 2 of 13 forensic pathologists (FPs) conducted masked reviews of 100 cases enrolled in the SUDC Registry and Research Collaborative (SUDCRRC).
Pierce's disease of grapevine and citrus huanglongbing are caused by the bacterial pathogens and Liberibacter asiaticus (Las), respectively. Both pathogens reside within the plant vascular system, occluding water and nutrient transport, leading to a decrease in productivity and fruit marketability and ultimately death of their hosts. Field observations of apparently healthy plants in disease-affected vineyards and groves led to the hypothesis that natural products from endophytes may inhibit these bacterial pathogens.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuanglongbing (HLB) is a destructive citrus disease that is lethal to all commercial citrus plants, making it the most serious citrus disease and one of the most serious plant diseases. Because of the severity of HLB and the paucity of effective control measures, we structured this study to encompass the entirety of the citrus microbiome and the chemistries associated with that microbial community. We describe the spatial niche diversity of bacteria and fungi associated with citrus roots, stems, and leaves using traditional microbial culturing integrated with culture-independent methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNatural products and their derivatives continue to be wellsprings of nascent therapeutic potential. However, many laboratories have limited resources for biological evaluation, leaving their previously isolated or synthesized compounds largely or completely untested. To address this issue, the Canvass library of natural products was assembled, in collaboration with academic and industry researchers, for quantitative high-throughput screening (qHTS) across a diverse set of cell-based and biochemical assays.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntartin (), a new zizaane-type sesquiterpene, was isolated from sp. SCO736. The chemical structure of was assigned from the interpretation of 1D and 2D NMR in addition to mass spectrometric data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: is an uncommon pathogen that may be misdiagnosed as viridans group streptococci. We review the literature of and report 2 clinical cases in which catalase-negative Gram-positive cocci resembling viridans group streptococci with elevated minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) to ceftriaxone were inconsistently identified phenotypically, with further molecular characterization and ultimate identification of .
Methods: Two clinical strains (from 2 obese women; 1 with a prosthetic hip infection and the other with bacteremia) were analyzed with standard identification methods, followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, 16S recombinant ribonucleic acid (rRNA), and polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) is a natural polyphenol with a broad spectrum of pharmacological properties. However, its usefulness is hindered by the lack of understanding of its pharmacological and toxicological pathways. Previously we showed that oxidative cyclisation of NDGA at physiological pH forms a dibenzocyclooctadiene that may have therapeutic benefits whilst oxidation to an ortho-quinone likely mediates toxicological properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe fastidious phytopathogenic bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa, poses a substantial threat to many economically important crops, causing devastating diseases including Pierce's Disease of grapevine. Grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.) planted in an area under Pierce's Disease pressure often display differences in disease severity and symptom expression, with apparently healthy vines growing alongside the dying ones, despite the fact that all the vines are genetic clones of one another.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSweet potato proteins have been shown to possess antioxidant and antidiabetic properties in vivo. The ability of a protein to exhibit systemic effects is somewhat unusual as proteins are typically susceptible to digestive enzymes. This study was undertaken to better understand how digestive enzymes affect sweet potato proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Proteins isolated from sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) have been shown to possess antidiabetic, antioxidant, and antiproliferative properties. The objective of this study was to chemically optimize a process for extracting proteins from sweet potato peel. The extraction procedure involved mixing peel with saline solvent to dissolve proteins and then precipitating with CaCl(2).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHypertensive disease (HD) during pregnancy includes chronic hypertension (HTN), gestational hypertension (GH), and preeclampsia/eclampsia (PEC). Differences between types of HD have not been well studied. Clinicopathologic features were compared between the HD groups and controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThree new depsipeptides, fijimycins A-C (1-3), together with the known etamycin A (4), were isolated and identified from the fermentation broth of strain CNS-575, a Streptomyces sp. cultured from a marine sediment sample collected off Nasese, Fiji. The planar structures of the new fijimycins were assigned by combined interpretation of NMR and MS/MS spectroscopic data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBacteria of the genus Frankia are mycelium-forming actinomycetes that are found as nitrogen-fixing facultative symbionts of actinorhizal plants. Although soil-dwelling actinomycetes are well-known producers of bioactive compounds, the genus Frankia has largely gone uninvestigated for this potential. Bioinformatic analysis of the genome sequences of Frankia strains ACN14a, CcI3, and EAN1pec revealed an unexpected number of secondary metabolic biosynthesis gene clusters.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInhibitors of quinone reductase-2 (NQO2; QR-2) can have antimalarial activity and antitumor activities or can function as chemoprevention agents by preventing the metabolic activation of toxic quinones such as menadione. To expedite the search for new natural product inhibitors of QR-2, we developed a screening assay based on ultrafiltration liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry that is compatible with complex samples such as bacterial or botanical extracts. Human QR-2 was prepared recombinantly, and the known QR-2 inhibitor, resveratrol, was used as a positive control and as a competitive ligand to eliminate false positives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe alarming rise of hospital- and community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (HA- and CA-MRSA) infections has prompted a desperate search for novel antibiotics. We discovered the streptogramin etamycin produced by an actinomycete species isolated from the coast of Fiji, the first time this antibiotic has been identified from a marine microbe. Etamycin was extracted and purified from this strain (CNS-575) and identified as a three-rotamer species by 2D NMR spectroscopy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChemical examination of the secondary metabolites of a marine Saccharomonospora sp., isolated from marine sediments collected at the mouth of the La Jolla Submarine Canyon, yielded the unprecedented alkaloid lodopyridone (1). The low proton-to-carbon ratio of 1 precluded structure elucidation by NMR spectroscopic methods, thus the structure was defined by X-ray crystallography.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioassay-guided fractionation of Physocarpus capitatus yielded two new cucurbitacins (3 and 4) along with the known cucurbitacin F (1) and dihydrocucurbitacin F (2). Preliminary mechanism of action studies indicate that the cucurbitacins cause actin aggregates and inhibit cell division.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough androgen receptor (AR)-mediated signaling is central to prostate cancer, the ability to modulate AR signaling states is limited. Here we establish a chemical genomic approach for discovery and target prediction of modulators of cancer phenotypes, as exemplified by AR signaling. We first identify AR activation inhibitors, including a group of structurally related compounds comprising celastrol, gedunin, and derivatives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhaeosphaeride A, a nitrogen-containing bicyclic compound produced by an endophytic fungus, inhibits signaling by the transcription factor STAT3.
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