Research Progress on Molecular Markers Related to Unexplained Sudden Cardiac Death and Its Forensic Application / 法医学杂志

Routine pathological examination of unexplained sudden cardiac death (USCD) lacks significant morphological characteristics. In the field of forensic medicine, molecular biology methods have been used to find the cause of death by detecting genes and research related to the mechanism of sudden cardiac death has been carried out. From the molecular pathology point of view, the application of multiple levels of biomarkers to resolve the causes of USCD has already shown potential and provides an important path for forensic identification of USCD. This article reviews the latest research progress on USCD-related genes, RNA, proteins and USCD, and summarizes forensic application.

Metabolomics Changes of Serum in Rats Dying from Untypical Electric Injury / 法医学杂志

Objective To study the differential metabolites of serum in rats dying from untypical electric injury by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance （1 NMR）-based metabolomics methods, in order to provide clues for identification of death from antemortem untypical electric injury and instant postmortem electric injury. Methods Models of rats dying from untypical electric injury, instant postmortem electric injury, mechanical asphyxia, mechanical injury, and high temperature injury were established. The rats in control group were executed without any treatment. The serums of rats from every group were detected by 1H NMR-based metabolomics technology to screen differential metabolites. Results The rats dying from untypical electric injury group was compared with those from mechanical asphyxia group, mechanical injury group, high temperature injury group, and control group, respectively. Four chemical shift points with diagnostic value, and their corresponding metabolites were screened. These chemical shift points contained many small molecules, such as alcohols, phenols, sugars, amino acids, etc. The death from untypical electric injury group was compared with those from instant postmortem electric injury group and control group, and then eight chemical shift points with diagnostic value and their corresponding metabolites were screened. These chemical shift points contained small molecules, such as sugars, amino acids, esters, nucleic acids, etc. Conclusion The 1H NMR-based metabolomics technology can identify differential metabolites of serum in rats dying from untypical electric injury, therefore it may provide a basis for the diagnosis of death from untypical electric injury and the identification of antemortem electric injury and instant postmortem electric injury.

Simultaneous determination of four constituents in Yangxin Dingji Capsules by HPLC / 中成药

AIM To establish an HPLC method for the simultaneous content determination of four constituents in Yangxin Dingji Capsules (a cardiac tonic for palpitation,containing Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma Praeparata cum Melle,Cinnamomi Ramulus,Rehmanniae Radix,etc.).METHODS The analysis of 50％ methanol extract of Yangxin Dingji Capsules was performed on a 40 ℃ thermostatic Diamonsil C1s column (250 mm × 4.6 mm,5 μm),with the mobile phase comprising of 0.1％ formic acid-acetonitrile flowing at 1.0 mL/min in a gradient elution manner,and the detection wavelength was set at 265 nm.RESULTS Liquiritin,glycyrrhizic acid,cinnamic acid and cinnamic aldehyde showed good linear relationships within the ranges of 1.00-80.24 μg/mL (r=0.999 0),2.52-100.70 μg/mL (r--0.999 7),0.50-40.40 μg/mL (r =1.000 0) and 0.66-52.96 μg/mL (r =1.000 0),whose average recoveries were 97.74％,100.97％,101.48％ and 99.49％ with the RSDs of 0.45％,1.11％,1.27％ and 1.66％,respectively.CONCLUSION This simple,accurate and reproducible method can be used for the quality control of Yangxin Dingji Capsules.

Clinical Application of the UK Working Party's Criteria for the Diagnosis of Atopic Dermatitis in the Chinese Population by Age Group / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disease with an increasingly significant prevalence. The prevalence of AD depends greatly on how its diagnosis is done. The UK Working Party's diagnostic criteria for AD are simple and easy to apply without invasive laboratory tests. This study assessed the clinical utility of these criteria in China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Data were collected from 6208 patients at 31 tertiary hospitals in 13 Chinese provinces/municipalities from March 2014 to May 2014. . The agreement between the UK diagnostic criteria and the clinical records for AD was assessed by Cohen's kappa.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The overall agreement between the UK diagnostic criteria and clinical diagnosis was fair (kappa = 0.40). A slightly better agreement was found in patients aged between 4 and 9 years (kappa = 0.48), while fair agreement was found in the group <4 years and the group ≥10 years (kappa = 0.27 and 0.39, respectively). Using the UK party's criteria as the standard, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the clinical diagnosis of AD were 62.3%, 89.2%, 38.0%, and 95.7%, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Our study indicates a modest ability among Chinese dermatologists to apply the UK Working Party's diagnostic criteria for AD, especially in patients aged <4 years and ≥10 years. Since there is no gold standard for AD diagnosis, it is important to determine how AD is identified when evaluating a diagnostic tool.</p>

Histopathological findings of primary cutaneous lichenoid and macular amyloidosis / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the histopathological findings of primary cutaneous lichenoid amyloidosis (LA) and macular amyloidosis (MA).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The pathological features of 82 patients with primary cutaneous amyloidosis (PCA) admitted from 2003 to 2008 were summarized.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were 52 cases (63%) of LA and 30 cases (37%) of MA, among which 49 cases (60%) presented with pyknotic nucleus of the basal keratinocytes above the amyloid in the upper dermis and 18 cases (22%) presented with pagetoid dyskeratosis (PD) cells among their prickle cells. More amyloid in LA and more severe incontinent of pigment in MA. The deposition level of amyloid protein was significantly higher in patients with LA and the incontinent of pigment was significantly higher in patients with MA (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The amyloid protein may be derived from the apoptotic keratinocytes.</p>