Purpose: The decomposition process of human bodies in marine environment is not well understood, and it is influenced by external variables related to the geographical area where the body is submerged. We report the application of two decomposition scores, the Heaton's score and the van Daalen's score, on a casuistry of human bodies recovered from the Northern Adriatic Sea. The aims of this study are to verify whether the marine environment of a Mediterranean climate area may affect the applicability of both scores and to develop a prediction model that can be applied on bodies recovered in salt water.
Methods: A retrospective study was performed on 61 human bodies recovered between 2005 and 2019 from coastal water of the Northern Adriatic Sea nearby the Italian regions Emilia-Romagna and Marche. For each of the 61 cases included, the Total Aquatic Decomposition Score (TADS) was calculated with the Heaton's score and the Van Daalen's score. The prediction model was assessed through multiple regression analyses, and the determination coefficients (r) between TADS and PMSI (expressed in days) and between TADS and Accumulate Degrees Days (ADD) were studied. The prediction model was applied to the entire case sample, to bodies recovered during the warm season and to bodies recovered during the cold season.
Results: All bodies were recovered floating, and a very poor scavenging activity was observed. The regression analyses showed a strong correlation between the TADS and the total case sample using both scores and both independent variables (PMSI and ADD). The determination coefficients were greater than 0.95 also when considering the total case sample.
Discussion: The proposed prediction models are not significantly influenced by seasonality, contrarily to what observed on bodies recovered in fresh water in the same climate area. However, the ADD model, which also consider the water temperature, should be preferred for higher decomposition stages. This study helps increase the accuracy of PMSI estimation in bodies recovered from a marine environment of the Northern Adriatic Sea.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2020.110599 | DOI Listing |
Clin Transl Med
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine and Offspring Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
Background: Numerous pathogenic variants causing human oocyte maturation arrest have been reported on the primate-specific TUBB8 gene. The main etiology is the dramatic reduction of tubulin α/β dimer, but still large numbers of variants remain unexplained.
Methods: Using microinjection mRNA and genome engineering to reintroduce the conserved pathogenic missense variants into oocytes or in generating TUBB8 variant knock-in mouse models, we investigated that the human deleterious variants alter microtubule nucleation and spindle assembly during meiosis.
J Mech Behav Biomed Mater
January 2025
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Center for Multiscale and Translational Mechanobiology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Despite the broad agreement that bone stiffness is heavily dependent on the underlying bone density, there is no consensus on a unified relationship that applies to both cancellous and cortical compartments. Bone from the two compartments is generally assessed separately, and few mechanical test data are available for samples from the transitional regions between them. In this study, we present a data-driven framework integrating experimental testing and numerical modeling of the human lumbar vertebra through an energy balance criterion, to develop a unified density-modulus relationship across the entire vertebral body, without the necessity of differentiation between trabecular and cortical regions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnal Methods
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, School of Physical and Mathematical Science, Research Centre, University of Kerala, Kariavattom Campus, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, 695581, India.
The neuronal tau peptide serves as a key biomarker for neurodegenerative diseases, specifically, Alzheimer's disease, a condition that currently has no cure or definitive diagnosis. The methodology to noninvasively detect tau levels from body fluids remains a major hurdle for a rapid and simple diagnostic approach. Thus, developing new detection methods for sensing tau protein levels is crucial.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCureus
December 2024
General Surgery, Queen's Hospital Burton, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust, Burton on Trent, GBR.
The differential diagnoses for patients presenting with right iliac fossa pain are broad, with appendicitis almost always on the top of the list. Although rare, diverticulosis of the appendix, complicated by inflammation, should be considered in these patients. We report a case of a middle-aged female with right iliac fossa pain with a high inflammatory marker.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Mater Au
January 2025
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 1-1 Sensuicho, Tobataku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 804-8550, Japan.
Ionic gels (IGs), ionic liquids (ILs) dispersed in polymers, exhibit extremely low vapor pressure, electrochemical and thermal stability, and excellent mechanical characteristics; therefore, they are used for fabricating stretchable sensors, electrochemical transistors, and energy storage devices. Although such characteristics are promising for flexible and stretchable electronics, the mechanical stress-induced ruptured covalent bonds forming polymer networks cannot recover owing to the irreversible interaction between the bonds. Physical cross-linking via noncovalent bonds enables the interaction of polymers and ILs to form supramolecular IGs (SIGs), which exhibit favorable characteristics for wearable devices that conventional IGs with noncovalent bonds cannot achieve.
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