Assessing the strengths and limitations of quantitative micromorphometry for the forensic examination of small arms propellant towards brand identification.

Smalls arms propellants (SAP) also known as canister powders are readily accessible and cost-effective materials that firearms enthusiasts can acquire for the legitimate assembly of ammunition. These attributes also make SAPs advantageous for the construction of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Thus, there is a need to develop robust metrics for the characterization of propellants to provide investigative leads as well as for comparisons between known and recovered residues.

Death by paint thinner.

A 38-year-old Caucasian male, reportedly missing for four days, was found dead 40 feet down a steep ravine, apparently after jumping down the cliff. Two rectangular cans of paint thinner, 1-qt and 1-gal sizes, were found in his vehicle at the top of the cliff. The autopsy report indicated that the decedent was normal except for the heart and myocardium, the lung parenchyma, and the gastric and esophageal mucosa.

Epidemic and endemic seroprevalence of antibodies to Cryptosporidium and Giardia in residents of three communities with different drinking water supplies.

This study was carried out to compare cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis seroprevalence rates in residents of three communities. Community (Com 1) uses drinking water from deep wells, community 2 (Com 2) uses surface water from a protected watershed, and community 3 (Com 3) uses surface water frequently containing Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts. Unfiltered drinking water from each community was collected at the tap and tested for Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts during the 12 months in which sera were collected for testing.

Studies of Giardia spp. and Cryptosporidium spp. in two adjacent watersheds.

Two adjacent British Columbia, Canada, watersheds with similar topographical features were studied. Both the Black Mountain Irrigation District (BMID) and the Vernon Irrigation District (VID) serve rural agricultural communities which are active in cattle ranching. The present study was carried out in five phases, during which a total of 249 surface water samples were tested in the study watersheds.

Longitudinal studies of Giardia contamination in two community drinking water supplies: cyst levels, parasite viability, and health impact.

Giardia cyst concentrations were determined in an inventory of 153 raw and 91 chlorinated drinking water samples collected at 86 sites from throughout the western Canadian province of British Columbia. Sixty-four percent of raw water samples were cyst positive (69% of sites). Cyst concentrations were lower in chlorinated than in raw water.

Lactate dehydrogenase activity and isozyme patterns in tissues and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from rats treated with monocrotaline pyrrole.

Monocrotaline pyrrole (MCTP), a putative, toxic metabolite of monocrotaline, induces delayed and progressive lung injury, vascular remodeling, and pulmonary hypertension in rats. The lung injury is characterized by increased wet lung-to-body weight ratio followed by increases in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity and protein concentration in the cell-free bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and increased cellularity of BALF. We evaluated total LDH activity and isozyme patterns in the tissues, cell lysates, sera and cell-free BALF of rats after treatment with MCTP to determine the source of increased LDH activity.

Giardiasis outbreak from a chlorinated community water supply.

A giardiasis outbreak from a chlorinated, unfiltered surface water supply in Penticton, British Columbia (pop. 25,000) from June to August 1986 resulted in 362 laboratory-confirmed cases. A telephone survey estimated an attack rate of over 12%.

Assessment of the feasibility of determination of cholesterol and other blood constituents by near-infrared reflectance analysis.

Near-infrared reflectance spectrometry of blood serum can yield values for serum cholesterol that correlate reasonably well (r = 0.96) with those from common reference analytical methods. However, the variability of serum can cause ostensibly validated calibrations to fail on new samples.

An alternative method for assaying cerebrospinal fluid protein in the presence of methotrexate.

Therapeutic concentrations of methotrexate can cause significant positive interference in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) protein values when assayed in the Du Pont aca. Conversely, our modified turbidimetric method, in which trichloroacetic acid (TCA) plus a sample blank containing dilute hydrochloric acid is used in place of TCA, exhibits little or no interference from methotrexate. This was verified by assaying solutions that contained a constant amount of protein (approximately 430 mg/L) and various amounts of methotrexate (0.

Inhibition of cholesterol oxidase in a patient with Cushing's syndrome.

Serum from a patient with Cushing's syndrome who was being treated with mitotane contained components that interfered with determination of cholesterol in the Du Pont aca. A measured concentration of cholesterol of 4.19 g/L in the undiluted serum increased to a calculated concentration of 9.

Exercise-induced changes in common laboratory tests.

Examination of 19 serum biochemical and hematologic parameters in a group of white male runners, ranging in age from 23 to 47 years, just prior to and immediately after a 13-mile "mini-marathon," demonstrated a significant increase, by paired Student t-test, in mean values of: K+, BUN, creatinine, CK, LDH, AST (SGOT), alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin, uric acid and leukocyte counts. Prevailing environmental conditions were such as to produce no significant hemoconcentration. Using this group's statistics and this hospital laboratory's upper limits of normal, the percentage of values above two SDs are, for the resting state: K+ 7%, BUN 7%, creatinine 0%, CK 21%, LDH 21%, AST 0%, alkaline phosphatase 0%, bilirubin 7%, uric acid 7%, and leukocyte count 0%.

Delay in diagnosis and long-term survival in breast cancer.

The records of all 1591 women with a histologically confirmed primary breast neoplasm who received their primary treatment at the main referral centre in British Columbia and were diagnosed in the years 1945, 1950, 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, or 1975 were reviewed. The interval from appearance of the first symptom to diagnosis decreased from 1945 to 1960, but no change was seen from 1960 to 1975. An analysis of survival from the date of first symptom showed that long-term survival was greater in patients with a shorter delay between the appearance of symptoms and diagnosis.