动物线粒体遗传系统理论与应用研究进展

随着线粒体与人类疾病之间关系研究的不断深入,线粒体DNA及其编码的13个多肽的功能和进化引起了众多研究者的关注。作为有氧呼吸的后生动物主要的产能系统——线粒体电子传递系统(ETS)由线粒体和核基因组共同编码,自然选择被认为偏爱那些增强ETS功能的突变,此类突变可发生在线粒体或核编码的ETS蛋白中并引起积极的基因组间的相互作用,即"共适应"。线粒体DNA进化通常被认为遵循一种稳定的突变速率平衡中性模型,但有证据表明该假设可能并不可靠。对线粒体遗传系统研究的最新进展进行了综述,这对科学和合理地使用线粒体DNA分析技术具重要意义。     

Determination of the post mortem interval in skeletal remains by the comparative use of different physico-chemical methods: Are they reliable as an alternative to 14C?

The determination of the post-mortem interval (PMI) of skeletal remains is a challenging aspect in the forensic field. Previous studies focused their attention on different macroscopic and morphological aspects but a thorough and complete evaluation of the potential of chemical and physical analyses in this field of research has not been performed. In addition to luminol test and Oxford histology index (OHI) reported in a recent paper, widely spread and accessible methods based on physical aspect and chemical characteristics of skeletal remains have been investigated as potential alternatives to dating by determination of ¹⁴C.The investigation was performed on a total of 24 archeological and forensic bone samples with known PMI, with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES), inductively coupled plasma quadruple mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), powder X-ray diffraction analysis (XRPD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Finally, the feasibility of such alternative methods was discussed. Some results such as carbonates/phosphates ratio from FT-IR, the amounts of organic and inorganic matter by EDX, crystallite sizes with XRPD, and surface morphology obtained by SEM, showed significant trends along with PMI. Though, from a chemical point of view cut-off values and gold-standard methods still present challenges, and rather different techniques together can provide useful information toward the assessment of the PMI of skeletal remains. It is however clear that in a hypothetical flowchart those methods may be placed practically at the same level and a choice should always consider the evaluation of results by each technique, execution times and a costs/benefits relationship.     

用激光共聚焦显微镜鉴别可疑笔迹与印章

本文采用激光共聚焦显微镜鉴别可疑笔迹和印章及其它的文件。法医在鉴别可疑文件时通常都是凭经验和用普通光学显微镜,找出其中的一些物理特征。但还是有许多文件的笔迹顺序无法确定,尤其是墨水写的笔迹,为解决法医的这一问题,我们用激光共聚焦显微镜鉴别了72例不同铅笔和圆珠笔写的肉眼难于鉴别的交叉笔顺和其他的一些文字文件。在激光共激光共聚焦显微镜下大多数笔迹和印章都能发出荧光,因此很容易鉴别其笔顺和印章的特征,必要时还可以进行笔顺的三维图象构建,以帮助鉴别。结论：激光共聚焦显微镜可以更准确地鉴别可疑笔迹和印章。印章和笔迹的交叉也很容易分辨出来。     

RNA 检测技术在法医病理学中的应用研究

DNA技术广泛应用于法医学中,RNA分析技术为调查疾病和死亡原因提供依据,RNA检测可以作为法医病理学检测一个有效的工具。RNA还可以应用在损伤时间和死亡后间隔时间的检测。在法医案件分析中,体液中细胞特异mRNA的表达的分子检测已经为DNA分析的重要补充手段。本文综述了RNA检测技术在法医病理学中的研究进展及其应用。     

30例病毒性心肌炎法医病理学分析

目的:回顾性分析30例病毒性心肌炎的法医病理学特点,为病毒性心肌炎的法医学鉴定提供依据。方法:采用昆明医科大学司法鉴定中心2003年至2014年的30例病毒性心肌炎法医病理鉴定案例进行回顾性分析。结果:30例死亡原因均为病毒性心肌炎致急性心功能障碍死亡,大多为重型病毒性心肌炎,均累及心肌损害,心肌细胞水肿,基质溶解坏死;心肌肌间多量淋巴细胞浸润;局部心肌束排列紊乱,间质纤维组织增生,同时不同程度伴有肺、脑、扁桃体等器官组织的损害。结论:重型病毒性心肌炎起病急,临床症状不典型,进程快,易造成误诊误治,死亡率高,产生医疗纠纷,需要法医学鉴定。病毒性心肌炎法医学鉴定时,以心脏大体所见和组织学观察为主要依据,同时还要特别注意其他机械性损伤,辨别每个死亡原因之间的关系,必要时结合特殊检查,例如对趋化因子MCP-1的检测。     

北美法医昆虫学年会及其论文简介

北美法医昆虫学第1,2届年会于2003年8月7～9日和2004年7月21～24日分别在美国内华达州拉斯维加斯和加利福尼亚州戴维斯召开,大会论文涉及到了案例分析、分类鉴定、教学、死后间隔时间推断和死亡原因查找等诸多方面。文章介绍了北美法医昆虫学年会,并对北美法医昆虫学第1,2届年会论文的相关内容进行总结分析。     

《生物信息学》课程教学模式探讨

在教学实践的基础上,结合生物信息学课程的学科特点,以及现代教育技术,就开设生物信息学课程的必要性及构建最合适的复合型教育模式展开了初步的探讨,为我国生物信息学课程的教学实施提供指导。随着时代的不断进步和发展,生物信息学的内涵也在不断扩大,包括生物信息学所涉及到的计算机基础知识、生物学基础知识、生物信息学研究领域、生物信息学应用领域等等。在生物信息学的教学实施过程中,将多个基础学科交叉融合是必备的,这不仅有助于增强学生对生物信息学科的了解,也对于学生在后续的生物信息学研究中起到了基石的作用。因此,如何将这些涉及范围广、涉及内容深的生物信息学基础课程恰当的传授给学生是教师们最需要考虑的问题,从而形成一套独特的教学体系,使生物信息学的教学工作更顺利,完整的进行下去。     

生物信息学

即将到来的21世纪,人类将全面进入生命科学时代和信息时代。生物信息学(Ｂｉｏｉｎｆｏｒｍａｔｉｃｓ)正成为当今备受关注的新型产业的支撑点。生物信息学是以生物大分子(ＤＮＡ和蛋白质)为分析对象,运用数理方法对其进行分析,来理解生物大分子的生物学意义。从国外近年研究进展来看,它已成为崭新的生物工程、医药产业和高科技农业的巨大推动力。有科学家预言,现今的生物科学在信息学的结合和推动下,将会发生一场革....     

EMBOSS和EMBnet

笔者撰写的“EMBOSS软件包序列分析程序实例”一文,已经在《生物信息学》期刊2021年第19卷第1期发表。此文介绍欧洲分子生物学开放软件包(European Molecular Biology Open Software Suite, EMBOSS)。EMBOSS是欧洲分子生物学网络组织(European Molecular Biology Network, EMBnet)于上世纪九十年代末启动的以欧洲国家为主的国际合作项目,是生物信息学领域中较早投入使用的大型开源软件包。本文基于笔者亲身经历,回顾EMBOSS项目的来龙去脉,讲述EMBnet三十多年来的发展历程,及其对生物信息开发、服务和教育培训等方面的贡献,从某个侧面为读者特别是年轻读者展示生物信息学发展早期的一段历史。     

中国艾滋病特征及其在法医学鉴定中的现状及对策

本文对艾滋病在中国的流行趋势、主要传播途径和我国艾滋病预防和控制工作等问题进行探讨,阐明了法医学尸体检验与鉴定工作中应该特别注意的一些问题。     

A step on the path in the discovery of new latent fingerprint development reagents: substituted Ruhemann’s purples and implications for the law

Energies corresponding to optimum geometries of ninhydrin, some of its analogs, the corresponding Ruhemann’s Purple analogs and some of the intermediates of the reaction between ninhydrin analogs and amino acids are calculated at Hartree–Fock/6-31G** level of theory. Such a study is significant from a forensic science point of view because of the strong interest in the forensic chemistry and law enforcement communities in developing alternatives to the current generation of ninhydrin-like chemicals for the detection and development of latent fingerprints. In examining our new predictions for the net energetics of the reactions in the formation of substituted Ruhemann’s Purples, we find that a fluorine-containing analog is the most thermodynamically feasible reaction. In light of this finding, we suggest further experimental studies to determine the kinetic feasibility of synthesizing the fluorine-containing analog, as well as other similar molecules and to determine their spectroscopic properties.     

Identification of forensically relevant body fluids using a panel of differentially expressed microRNAs

The serology-based methods routinely used in forensic casework for the identification of biological fluids are costly in terms of time and sample and have varying degrees of sensitivity and specificity. Recently, the use of a molecular genetics-based approach using messenger RNA (mRNA) profiling has been proposed to supplant conventional methods for body fluid identification. However, the size of the amplification products used in these mRNA assays (∼ 200-300 nt) might not be ideal for use with degraded or compromised samples frequently encountered in forensic casework. Recently, there has been an explosion of interest in a novel class of small noncoding RNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs, ∼20-25 bases in length), with numerous published studies reporting that some miRNAs are expressed in a tissue-specific manner. In this article, we provide the first comprehensive evaluation of miRNA expression in dried, forensically relevant biological fluids—blood, semen, saliva, vaginal secretions, and menstrual blood—in an attempt to identify putative body fluid-specific miRNAs. Most of the 452 human miRNAs tested (∼67% of the known miRNAome) were either expressed in multiple body fluids or not expressed at all. Nevertheless, we have identified a panel of nine miRNAs—miR451, miR16, miR135b, miR10b, miR658, miR205, miR124a, miR372, and miR412—that are differentially expressed to such a degree as to permit the identification of the body fluid origin of forensic biological stains using as little as 50 pg of total RNA. The miRNA-based body fluid identification assays were highly specific because the miRNA expression profile for each body fluid was different from that obtained from 21 human tissues. The results of this study provide an initial indication that miRNA profiling may provide a promising alternative approach to body fluid identification for forensic casework.