Analysis of 90 autopsy cases in medical legal dispute / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To analyze the significance of forensic autopsy in medical tangle.@*METHODS@#Ninety autopsy cases of medical legal dispute were retrospectively analyzed from the database of our department from 2001 to 2008. All cases were analyzed and classified based on age, sex, cause of death, clinic diagnosis and forensic diagnosis.@*RESULTS@#The age ranged from 1 day to 72 years, and the ratios of male to female is 1:1. The most common healthcare facilities involved were county hospitals (30 cases, 33.33%). The coincidence rate between clinical diagnoses and pathological diagnoses was 33.33%.@*CONCLUSION@#The forensic autopsy is valuable to solve or even avoid the occurrence of medical legal dispute.

Effects of curcumin on malondialdehyde and c-fos protein in hypoxia ischemia brain tissue in rats / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the effects of curcumin on the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and the expression level of c-fos protein following hypoxia ischemia brain damage (HIBD) in rats.@*METHODS@#Sprague-Dauley (SD) rats were randomly divided into four groups as the following: sham group, hypoxia ischemia brain damage group, curcumin group and solvent control group. The content of MDA in the brain was measured by colorimetry. The expression level of c-fos protein in the cortex tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry. Morphologic and structural changes of neuron cells of the cortex were observed by electron microscopy.@*RESULTS@#The content of MDA was clearly lower in curcumin group than that in the other groups at the same time after HIBD. The expression level of c-fos protein was higher in the curcumin group than that in the other groups (P<0.05). Electron microscopy showed that the morphologic and structural changes of neuron cells of cortex in the curcumin group were reduced.@*CONCLUSION@#Curcumin could significantly decrease the content of MDA, increase the expression level of c-fos protein and reduce the damage of the neuron cells.

Acute necrotizing pancreatitis and postmortem autolysis of pancreas / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To compare the pathomorphologic changes between the pancreas in acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP) and that in acute deaths of rats (within 48 hours) so as to find the distinctions.@*METHODS@#The animal models of ANP and other acute deaths (electroshock, mechanic asphyxia/strangle, and acute poisoning with tetramine) were established according to the criteria. Half-quantitative grading and image quantitative analysis methods were employed to observe the gross and microscopic changes of the pancreases.@*RESULTS@#Three features including inflammation infiltrate, fat necrosis and calcium deposit in the ANP group were considerably different from that in other acutely died rat group (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#Inflammation infiltrate, fat necrosis and calcium deposit are the most important pathologic features found in ANP by common light microscope, distinguishing ANP from postmortem pancreatic autolysis.

Application of diatom detection using knead pulp method / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#A novel technology for detection of diatom was discussed.@*METHODS@#Five grams of testing sample were taken and the organics were removed using simple mechanical knead pulp method. The homogenized samples were concentrated by centrifugation, smeared, and then examined under light microscope.@*RESULTS@#Except for a few feather's grains, the vast majority of diatom could be identified easily with clear diatom striations. The organic diatom could also be easily detected by this methodology.@*CONCLUSION@#The detection of diatom using knead pulp method is not only simple and inexpensive with a higher successful rate, but also causes nearly no harm to human and environment.

Influence of triptolide on neuronal apoptosis in rat with cerebral injury after focal ischemia reperfusion / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study effect of triptolide (TL) on neuronal apoptosis in cerebral tissue of rat after ischemia-reperfusion.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Triptolide at dose 0.2 or 0.4 mg x kg(-1) was intraperitoneally injected once a day for 4 d. The focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion model was established with thread embolism in middle artery before triptolide injection on the fourth day. Neurological deficit score of rats was evaluated; and immunohistochemical techniques were used to count positive cells of express of MPO and TUNEL in cerebraltissue.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Compared with the control group, the deficit of neural function was significantly improved, and the number of infiltrate of neutrophil and neuronal apoptosis in cerebral tissue was remarkably reduced in two TL-treated groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results suggested that TL can inhibit infiltration of neutrophil and decrease the degree of neuronal apoptosis in cerebral tissue.</p>

A primary study on the ARP-SRP gene expression profiling of brain injury by cDNA microarray / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To screen the differential expression of apoptosis-related protein and stress response protein(APR-SRP) genes after human brain injury by cDNA microrarray.@*METHODS@#The total RNAs were isolated from normal and injured brain tissues of a car-accident victim, and were purified to obtain mRNAs by Oligotex. Both mRNAs from the tissues of the injured and the normal tissue were reversely transcribed to cDNAs with the incorporation of fluorescent dUTP to prepare the hybridization probes. The probes from normal tissue was labeled with Cy3-dUTP, that from the injured tissue with Cy5-dUTP. The mixed probes were hybridized to the BioDoor Chip ARP-SRP-1.0S, a cDNA microarray which contains 77 apoptosis related protein genes and 23 stress protein related genes. After high-stringent washing, the cDNA microarray was scanned for the fluorescent signals and showed differences between two tissues.@*RESULTS@#Among the 100 target genes, Only CLN2 gene (Homo sapiens lysosomal pepstatin insensitive protease gene) showed distinct deference in expression level between the brain injury and normal tissues.@*CONCLUSION@#cDNA microarray analysis indicated that CLN2 gene, which is correlated to a fatal childhood neurodegenerative disease, might be related to the brain injury. The expression level of CLN2 gene was significantly decreased in brain injured tissue in comparison to normal tissue. Further analysis of this gene will be helpful to understand the molecular mechanism of brain injury and utilization in forensic medicine.