Adventure Legal Medicine: a free online serious game for supplementary use in undergraduate medical education.

Serious games (computer-based learning games) are increasingly used in medical education at various levels, as user access is independent of location and time and promotes non-linear learning. In legal medicine, interactive digital media are still scarce. The freely accessible online serious game "Adventure Legal Medicine" was developed as part of the "Hamburg Open Online University".

Factors affecting dental DNA in various real post-mortem conditions.

Post-mortem DNA degradation is still the real challenge of DNA-based identification in forensic practise. It is a complicated multifactorial process occurring as a result of the combination of several different environmental effects along with the crucial effect of the elapsed post-mortem interval (PMI). The main purpose of the present study is to evaluate the effect of ante- and post-mortem factors on dental DNA in real forensic cases.

New aspects of dental implants and DNA technology in human identification.

Missing, ineligible or delayed reference data to establish conventional dental or DNA identification are common scenarios in forensic practice. Therefore, it is worthwhile to explore new avenues that facilitate human identification. Due to the recent remarkable evolution in the prosthetic dental restorations based on dental implants and the emergence of novel DNA technologies utilized to infer the biological profile, the identification process has become easier than ever before.

The use of liquid latex for detecting traces of blood following thermal exposure.

In cases of crimes involving blood, the perpetrators often attempt to remove the traces they have left behind. Setting fire to the crime scene, aside from cleaning measures, seems to achieve this goal and presents a major challenge for crime scene investigators. There is only very little published information available on the effect of fire and extreme heat on blood and the detection thereof.

Cementum as a source of DNA in challenging forensic cases.

Each forensic case is characterized by its own uniqueness. Deficient forensic cases require additional sources of human identifiers to assure the identity. We report on two different cases illustrating the role of teeth in answering challenging forensic questions.

[Reconstructive investigations and identification measures in unknown soldiers of the Second World War].

The article reports on the exhumation and identification of unknown soldiers from the Second World War. With the help of medicolegal investigation and reconstruction methods an American pilot presumably murdered by a shot to the head (lynch law) and an interned Italian soldier could be identified after about 70 years and brought back home.

[Myiasis because of neglect].

Myiasis is known as the infestation of living organisms with maggots. It is often caused by (self-) neglect. Eight cases of myiasis have been examined at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Hamburg between 2002 and 2014.

[Identification of an exhumed unknown infant through DNA analysis].

The article reports on the exhumation and subsequent DNA analysis of the skeletal remains of an unknown male newborn from 1988. Molecular biological methods confirmed the maternity of a woman who was already convicted of infanticide. Since homicide could not be clearly proven and manslaughter becomes barred by the statute of limitation after 20 years, the woman cannot be held accountable for the alleged killing of her first child.

Synthesis of the eastern portion of ajudazol a based on Stille coupling and double acetylene carbocupration.

[structure: see text] A strategy for the synthesis of ajudazol A, an unusual, pharmacologically active metabolite from myxobacteria, based on the Stille cross-coupling of a 2-stannyl-oxazole with a vinyl iodide unit is described; the vinyl halide unit containing a (Z,Z)-diene was prepared in one pot by the double acetylene carbocupration of a functionalized alkyl cuprate followed by trapping with 2,3-dibromopropene.

Intramolecular and intermolecular kinetic isotope effects (KIE) in the nitrosoarene ene reaction: experimental evidence for reversible intermediate formation.

The intramolecular and intermolecular kinetic isotope effects (KIE) have been determined for the nitrosoarene ene reaction with deuterium-stereolabeled 2,3-dimethyl-2-butenes (TME). trans-TME-d(6) (k(H)/k(D) = 3.0) and gem-TME-d(6) (k(H)/k(D) = 4.

Thionin-sensitized intrazeolite photooxygenation of trisubstituted alkenes: substituent effects on the regioselectivity as probed through isotopic labeling.

The regioselectivity for the intrazeolite photooxygenation of several trisubstituted alkenes with geminal dimethyl groups was examined. The length of the alkyl chain at the lone position was varied, and as end groups, the phenyl or the cyclohexyl functionalities were chosen. The general trend for all alkenes is a significant increase of the reactivity at the twin position compared to the photooxygenation in solution.

Ene reaction of singlet oxygen, triazolinedione, and nitrosoarene with chiral deuterium-labeled allylic alcohols: the interdependence of diastereoselectivity and regioselectivity discloses mechanistic insights into the hydroxy-group directivity.

The ene reaction of singlet oxygen ((1)O(2)), triazolinedione (TAD), and nitrosoarene, specifically 4-nitronitrosobenzene (ArNO), with the tetrasubstituted 1,3-allylically strained, chiral allylic alcohol 3,4-dimethylpent-3-en-2-ol (2) leads to the threo-configured ene products in high diastereoselectivity, a consequence of the hydroxy-group directivity. Hydrogen bonding favors formation of the threo-configured encounter complex threo-EC in the early stage of ene reaction. For the analogous twix deuterium-labeled allylic alcohol Z-2-d(3), a hitherto unrecognized dichotomy between (1)O(2) and the ArNO and TAD enophiles is disclosed in the regioselectivity of the tetrasubstituted alcohol: Whereas for ArNO and TAD, hydrogen bonding with the allylic hydroxy group dictates the regioselectivity (twix selectivity), for (1)O(2), the cis effect dominates (twin/trix selectivity).

Control of regioselectivity by the lone substituent through steric and electronic effects in the nitrosoarene ene reaction of deuterium-labeled trisubstituted alkenes.

For the ene reaction of 4-nitronitrosobenzene (ArNO) with a variety of primary and secondary lone alkyl-substituted substrates, the twix/twin regioselectivity is constant at about 85:15. In contrast, for the lone tert-butyl group and for lone aryl substituents, the twix regioisomer is obtained exclusively. These regioselectivities have been rationalized in terms of steric interactions and coordination between the enophile and the substrates in the transition states of the first reaction step.

Efficient pi-facial control in the ene reaction of nitrosoarene, triazolinedione, and singlet oxygen with tiglic amides of the bornane-derived sultam as chiral auxiliary: an economical synthesis of enantiomerically pure nitrogen- and oxygen-functionalized acrylic acid derivatives.

The ene reaction of 4-nitronitrosobenzene (ArNO), N-phenyl-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione (PTAD), and singlet oxygen (1O2) with the optically active tiglic-acid derivatives of Oppolzer's bornane-derived sultam affords the respective ene products regioselectively in excellent diastereoselectivity (de up to 99%) and in good yield (55-90%). The enophiles ArNO and PTAD give with the methyl-substituted substrate exclusively the like-configured ene adduct, while 1O2 leads to an 83:17 diastereomeric mixture. With the sterically more demanding isopropyl-substituted derivative even the smallest enophile 1O2 forms exclusively the like diastereomer.