Relative studies between hair index, hair area, and medullary index with age and sex in Thai scalp hair.

Human scalp hair is one of the most common trace materials found at violent crime scenes. Accordingly, scalp hair is critical evidential material in forensic investigations for identifying relations and persons, which could result in solving cases. Knowledge about micro-morphological variations of scalp hair in the Thai population, however, is scarce, and information on age changes and sex differences with respect to these traits is limited.

The Stability of Prostate-Specific Antigen in Semen Under Various Temperatures.

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is most commonly used for identifying semen, especially in the absence of sperm. However, PSA concentration varies according to storage temperature and duration, and little is known about its stability in semen. This study was therefore aimed to determine the stability under five different temperatures: -80, -20, 4, 25, and 37°C; and nine different durations: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 14, 30, 90, and 180 days.

Sensitive detection of Pneumocystis jirovecii DNA in gastric wash using nested polymerase chain reaction.

One hundred and five samples of gastric washes were obtained from 52 pediatric patients. Eleven of the 105 samples (10%) gave positive results using immunofluorescence antibody test (IFA) for Pneumocystis jirovecii. Single-step polymerase chain reaction (PCR) produced 13% (14 samples), whereas detection by nested PCR was increased to 65 samples (62%).

Bacterial contamination in the environment of food factories processing ready-to-eat fresh vegetables.

A total of 196 samples were collected from equipment for trimming, washing, slicing, soaking, dehydrating, blending, and packaging and from the floor and air of operation rooms before and after operation in two food factories processing ready-to-eat fresh vegetables located in the suburbs of Tokyo. Heavy contamination determined by an aerobic plate count of >5.0 log CFU/cm2 or ml was observed after operation in most of the samples examined, as were samples taken before operation on the interior surfaces of equipment for washing, slicing, dehydrating, and blending, the surfaces of blades for slicing, and the floor surfaces of operation rooms.