Toxoplasma gondii infection is associated with schizophrenia from the perspectives of seroepidemiology and serum metabolomics in Hunan Province, China.

Toxoplasma gondii (T.gondii) can influence the host's neurotransmission, central immune responses, and brain structure, potentially impacting the onset and development of various psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. We employed Electrochemiluminescence Immunoassay (ECLIA) to measure anti-Toxoplasma antibodies in 451 schizophrenic patients and 478 individuals from the general population in Hunan, China.

Pattern recognition receptor signaling and innate immune responses to schistosome infection.

Schistosomiasis remains to be a significant public health problem in tropical and subtropical regions. Despite remarkable progress that has been made in the control of the disease over the past decades, its elimination remains a daunting challenge in many countries. This disease is an inflammatory response-driven, and the positive outcome after infection depends on the regulation of immune responses that efficiently clear worms and allow protective immunity to develop.

Epitope vaccine design for Toxoplasma gondii based on a genome-wide database of membrane proteins.

Background: There is presently no effective and safe vaccine for Toxoplasma gondii for humans. The study described here was designed to search for a novel group of optimal B cell and T cell epitopes from Toxoplasma membrane proteins using genome-wide comprehensive screening.

Methods: The amino acid sequences of membrane proteins of T.

Application of Cameriere's method for dental age estimation in children in South China.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of Cameriere's European formula for age estimation in children in South China and to adapt the formula to establish a more suitable formula for these children. Moreover, the performance of dental age estimation based on Cameriere's method combining the developmental information of permanent teeth (PT) and third molar (TM) was also analysed. Orthopantomographs of 720 healthy children in Group A, and orthopantomographs of 320 children and 280 subadults in Group B were assessed.

Corrigendum: A Novel Gene of Inhibits the Parasitic Invasion and Proliferation and Attenuates Virulence via Immune Response Modulation.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.

Bioinformatics analysis of epitope-based vaccine design against the novel SARS-CoV-2.

Background: An outbreak of infection caused by SARS-CoV-2 recently has brought a great challenge to public health. Rapid identification of immune epitopes would be an efficient way to screen the candidates for vaccine development at the time of pandemic. This study aimed to predict the protective epitopes with bioinformatics methods and resources for vaccine development.

A Novel Gene of Inhibits the Parasitic Invasion and Proliferation and Attenuates Virulence via Immune Response Modulation.

() is an obligate intracellular apicomplexan protozoan that can parasitize most warm-blooded animals and cause severe diseases in immunocompromised individuals or fetal abnormalities in pregnant woman. The treatment of toxoplamosis has been limited by effective drugs. Our previous work indicated that the novel gene of may serve as a vaccine antigen candidate.

Trimethylamine in postmortem tissues as a predictor of postmortem interval estimation using the GC method.

Trimethylamine (TMA), a simple amine in volatile compounds, indicating the spoilage degree of meat, related with the late postmortem interval (PMI) during the cadaver decomposition process. In this paper, a headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC) method has been successfully built to analyze the content of TMA in postmortem rat tissues (liver, myocardial and skeletal muscle tissues), which is used for PMI estimation with the wide range of PMI (0-720 h postmortem) at 16 °C ± 1 °C. Correspondingly, three equations about the relationship between the PMI and TMA content were established, in which they showed that the TMA content in all three tissues increased from the firstly detected time to 192 h and gradually decreased after 384 h.

Rapid and sensitive detection of ketamine in blood using novel fluorescence genosensor.

In recent years, drug abuse has been considered as a most challenging social problem that aroused public attention. Ketamine has increased in unregulated use as a 'recreational drug' in teenagers. However, there is no suitable and maneuverable detection method for ketamine in situ at the moment.

Potential use of bacterial community succession for estimating post-mortem interval as revealed by high-throughput sequencing.

Decomposition is a complex process involving the interaction of both biotic and abiotic factors. Microbes play a critical role in the process of carrion decomposition. In this study, we analysed bacterial communities from live rats and rat remains decomposed under natural conditions, or excluding sarcosaphagous insect interference, in China using Illumina MiSeq sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons.

Estimation of stature from radiologic anthropometry of the lumbar vertebral dimensions in Chinese.

The recent study was to assess the relationship between the radiologic anthropometry of the lumbar vertebral dimensions and stature in Chinese and to develop regression formulae to estimate stature from these dimensions. A total of 412 normal, healthy volunteers, comprising 206 males and 206 females, were recruited. The linear regression analysis were performed to assess the correlation between the stature and lengths of various segments of the lumbar vertebral column.

Genetic polymorphism of nine non-CODIS STR loci in Hunan Province-based Chinese Han population.

Objective: To determine the allelic frequency distribution and genetic parameters of nine non-CODIS DNA index systems of the short tandem repeat (STR) loci (D2S1772, D6S1043, D7S3048, D8S1132, D11S2368, D12S391, D13S325, D18S1364, and GATA198B05).

Methods: A total of 353 blood samples were collected, extracted, amplified, and analyzed from unrelated healthy individuals of Han nationality in Hunan Province, China.

Results: One hundred and fourteen alleles were observed in the population with corresponding allelic frequencies ranged from 0.

[Stature estimation for Sichuan Han nationality female based on X-ray technology with measurement of lumbar vertebrae].

Objective: To establish the mathematical models of stature estimation for Sichuan Han female with measurement of lumbar vertebrae by X-ray to provide essential data for forensic anthropology research.

Methods: The samples, 206 Sichuan Han females, were divided into three groups including group A, B and C according to the ages. Group A (206 samples) consisted of all ages, group B (116 samples) were 20-45 years old and 90 samples over 45 years old were group C.

An investigation and pathological analysis of two fatal cases of cadmium poisoning.

Pollution associated with population growth, and with industrial and urban development has led to a serious decline in the water quality of Chinese rivers. Cadmium (Cd) is recognized as one of the most toxic metals and is strongly accumulated by organisms. Humans are exposed to cadmium originating from the environment and from industrial pollution.

Identification of forensically important sarcophagid flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) in China, based on COI and 16S rDNA gene sequences.

Insects attracted to cadavers may provide important indications of the postmortem interval (PMI). However, use of the flesh flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) for PMI estimation is limited as the species are often not morphologically distinct, especially as immatures. In this study, 23 forensically important flesh flies were collected from 13 locations in 10 Chinese provinces.

[Comparison of mtDNA extraction from different parts of sarcosaphagous insects].

Objective: To explore mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) extraction effects of different parts from sarcosaphagous insects using improved cetyltriethylammnonium bromide (CTAB) method.

Methods: Thirteen Lucilia sericata (Meigen) and 13 Nicrophorus fossor (Erichson) were collected from the corpses of rabbits placed on the outdoor lawn in Huhehot district. Four parts (head, chest muscle, legs and wings) of insect were collected, and the mtDNA of all samples were extracted using CTAB method.

[Forensic analysis of 74 tumor related medical malpractice cases].

Objective: To analyze the causes of medical malpractice in patients with tumor, to determine the medical responsibility, and to recommend the related preventions.

Methods: Seventy four medical malpractice cases, which were involved in tumor and collected from 2000 to 2009 in medicolegal expertise center of west China, were analyzed retrospectively.

Results: The medical malpractice cases in the patients with tumor showed an increasing tendency in recent years.

[The development and application of lie detection in forensic science].

Lie detection technology has been applied increasingly to investigate and solve criminal cases. This article explores the evolvement of lie detection technology in the ancient times and the application of the psychological and physiological parameters which have become more accurate with the introduction of modern polygraph. The cognitive exploration and the application of Event Related Potentials (ERPs), functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), and Event-Related functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (E-R fMRI) have made detection technology focus on the brain activities, which produce more objective results by tracing the original state of lying.

[Advances of the study of sarcosaphagous insects in forensic medicine].

The study of sarcosaphagous insects is a subspecialty in forensic medicine based on the knowledge of entomology. It could help to determine the time of death, especially the postmortem interval in decomposed cases. This paper explores its history, species and erosion process of sarcosaphagous insects.

[Stature estimation from the cervical vertebrae of living male by measuring Xray films of computer radiography].

Objective: To establish the regression equations and to evaluate the feasibility of measuring dimensions of cervical vertebrae with lateral films of computer radiography (CR).

Methods: Anterior heights and posterior heights of C3-C7 were measured in the lateral films of the cervical vertebrae in 150 adult males from Sichuan Han population in China The body height of each individual was recorded. Linear regression analysis between the height of the cervical vertebrae and body height was performed to establish the regression equations for stature estimation.

[Stature estimation from upper extremity long bones by digital radiography].

Objective: To obtain regression formula for estimation of stature in Han population in Sichuan Province from length of the upper extremity long bones by digital radiography.

Methods: The statures of 365 healthy adults and digital radiographs of their right upper extremity long bones were measured. All statistical dispositions were done in SPSS including description and regression analysis.

Phase transition of a one-dimensional Ising model with distance-dependent connections.

The critical behavior of the Ising model on a one-dimensional network, which has long-range connections at distances l>1 with the probability theta(l) approximately l(-m), is studied by using Monte Carlo simulations. Through analyzing the Ising model on networks with different m values, this paper discusses the impact of the global correlation, which decays with the increase of m, on the phase transition of the Ising model. Adding the analysis of the finite-size scaling of the order parameter [M], it is observed that in the whole range of 0 View Article and Find Full Text PDF

[Relationship between CO II gene of mtDNA of Lucilia sericata and latitude interval].

Objective: To deduce the region that the geographical species of Lucilia sericata come from and determine the scene of crime (SOC) based on the gene analysis of mtDNA CO II.

Methods: A 635 bp region for CO II of 4 Lucilia sericata (belong to 2 geographical species) were collected and sequenced, compared with the data of GenBank. A neighbour-joining tree with the Tamura and Nei model was constructed by MEGA2.