ABSTRACT
Oxyspirura petrowi is a heteroxenous nematode that infects the harderian gland and other ocular tissues in birds. High-intensity infections often cause damage to the infected tissues. Due to the nature of the infection sites, treatment of O. petrowi in these hosts can be difficult. Fenbendazole (FBZ) is a common anthelmintic used to treat birds for helminth infections; however, little information exists as to the efficacy of the drug on O. petrowi infections. The present study aims to estimate lethal concentrations of FBZ to O. petrowi. Adult O. petrowi were maintained in vitro and exposed to doses of 5, 50, 100, and 200 µM concentrations of FBZ and included both negative and vehicle controls. Exposure lasted 7.5 days and lethality was determined for each treatment. Negative and vehicle controls did not differ, and both had 75% survival at the end of the treatment period. The percentage survivorship in ascending order of concentration, corrected for the controls, was 66.67%, 44.44%, 33.33%, and 0%. LC10, LC50, and LC90 estimates were 7.5 ± 0.26, 49.1 ± 1.69, and 163.2 ± 5.63 µM, respectively. In the context of known pharmacokinetics of FBZ in birds, a single oral dose of FBZ can achieve exposure levels that are lethal to O. petrowi, but the drug does not stay in the system long enough. Thus, treatment of O. petrowi infections will require multiple oral doses over several days.
ABSTRACT
Toolmark and Firearm examiners' opinions have fallen under scrutiny as inadmissible ballistics evidence has led to the possibility of wrongful convictions and cold cases that could have been solved with the presence of a physical bullet, casing, and/or weapon at the crime scene. This research provides a solution for subjective-based conclusions and the absence of physical evidence altogether. Analysis of bullet material using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) has distinguished bullet composition between manufacturers from a surface scratch. This provides proof of concept that, when a bullet strikes a surface, metal deposits can be extracted and analyzed to corroborate microscopy techniques that currently violate Daubert criteria. Further studies could also provide results to distinguish barrel manufacturers from fired bullets and casings. This novel method of analysis can pave the way for crime scene collection procedures in the absence of physical evidence and provide an increase in scientific value to the expert's conclusions.
ABSTRACT
This study aims at proof of concept that constant monitoring of the concentrations of metabolites in three individuals' sweat over time can differentiate one from another at any given time, providing investigators and analysts with increased ability and means to individualize this bountiful biological sample. A technique was developed to collect and extract authentic sweat samples from three female volunteers for the analysis of lactate, urea, and L-alanine levels. These samples were collected 21 times over a 40-day period and quantified using a series of bioaffinity-based enzymatic assays with UV-vis spectrophotometric detection. Sweat samples were simultaneously dried, derivatized, and analyzed by a GC-MS technique for comparison. Both UV-vis and GC-MS analysis methods provided a statistically significant MANOVA result, demonstrating that the sum of the three metabolites could differentiate each individual at any given day of the time interval. Expanding upon previous studies, this experiment aims to establish a method of metabolite monitoring as opposed to single-point analyses for application to biometric identification from the skin surface.
