Homicide-suicide by stabbing study over 10 years in the toulouse region.

The authors conducted a retrospective study of 70 cases of homicide and suicide in the Toulouse region to identify the variables that enable us to determine whether a death is a homicide or a suicide. This work showed that the following characteristics-a female victim, numerous wounds, and the presence of 1 or more vertical chest wounds-suggest homicide. It also highlights the importance of inspecting clothing, in particular the position of clothing and the presence or absence of slashes.

First Report of the White Pine Blister Rust Fungus (Cronartium ribicola) Infecting Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis) and Ribes spp. in the Jarbidge Mountains of Northeastern Nevada.

The Jarbidge Mountains are a remote and little-visited desert mountain range at the northern edge of the Great Basin in Elko County, NV, 110 km north of Elko and 115 km southwest of Twin Falls, ID. The forest is dominated by subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) at lower elevations and whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) at higher elevations; limber pine (P. flexilis) occurs along streams in canyons at lower elevations (2). P. albicaulis and P. flexilis are hosts for the blister rust fungus, Cronartium ribicola. In the late 1990s, a survey across the Intermountain West reported no evidence of C. ribicola in the Jarbidge Mountains or elsewhere in the central Great Basin (3). However, unpublished observations by D. A. Charlet in 1988 and 2001 indicate that blister rust has been present in the Jarbidge Mountains for at least 16 years. In September 2002, D. R. Vogler visited the Jarbidge Mountains over a 2-week period, examining whitebark pines along the unpaved route through the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest connecting Highway 225 and Jarbidge, NV. Blister rust-infected whitebark were found in two locations: (i) Coon Creek Summit (2,575 m elevation), atop the divide between the Great Basin to the south and the Columbia Plateau to the north, and (ii) Bear Creek drainage (2,315 to 2,405 m elevation), 6.7 km northeast of Coon Creek Summit. At Coon Creek Summit, three whitebark pines ranging in diameter from 10 to 30 cm at breast height (dbh) were infected (evidenced by spindle-shaped branch swellings, aecia, and aeciospores), with the oldest infection occurring on wood produced in 1975. Assuming a mean needle retention of 10 years, the first pine infection likely occurred between 1975 and 1984. Ribes montigenum and an unknown Ribes sp. were common at Coon Creek Summit but were not infected. In the Bear Creek drainage north of the divide, 27 whitebark pines ranging in size from under 0.3 m high to 12 cm dbh were found infected, with the oldest infection on 1976 wood indicating an origin between 1976 and 1985. Most pines there, however, appeared to have been infected between 1994 and 1998. At Bear Creek, infection on Ribes spp. was common, with R. cereum the most frequently infected species. Voucher specimens of R. cereum (KPK-948 and KPK-949) are archived in the fungal herbarium at the Institute of Forest Genetics, Placerville, CA. On pine, fresh spermatia and aeciospores were abundant even though it was late in the season. Late sporulation has also been observed above 2,500 m on western white (P. monticola) and whitebark pine northeast of Lake Tahoe in Nevada (4). To our knowledge, our report marks the first recorded intrusion by C. ribicola into the north-central Great Basin. Recently, the first report of C. ribicola on Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine (P. aristata) was documented in southern Colorado (1). Now, Great Basin bristlecone (P. longaeva), which is restricted in Nevada to higher elevations in the eastern and southern parts of the state (2), may also be at risk; the northernmost occurrence of this last whitepine holdout from blister rust is in the Ruby Mountains, 135 km south of our findings in the Jarbidge Mountains. References: (1) J. T. Blodgett and K. F. Sullivan. Plant Dis. 88:311, 2004. (2) D. A. Charlet. Atlas of Nevada Conifers. University of Nevada Press, Reno, 1996. (3) J. P. Smith and J. T. Hoffman. Western North American Naturalist 60:165, 2000. (4) J. P. Smith et al. Plant Dis. 84:594. 2000.

New observations on the secondary chemistry of world Ephedra (Ephedraceae).

For several millennia, stem extracts of Ephedra (Ephedraceae, Gnetales) have been used as folk medicines in both the Old and New World. Some species were used in treatments of questionable efficacy for venereal disease in North America during the last century. Many Eurasian species produce phenylethylamine alkaloids, mostly ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, that interact with adrenergic receptors in the mammalian sympathetic nervous system. Asian Ephedra have been used recently in the clandestine manufacture of a street drug, methamphetamine. Although ephedrine alkaloids are not detectable in New World species of Ephedra, together with Asian species they contain other nitrogen-containing secondary metabolites with known neuropharmacological activity. Many mesic and particularly xeric species worldwide accumulate substantial amounts of quinoline-2-carboxylic acids, or kynurenates, in their aerial parts. Many species of Ephedra accumulate cyclopropyl amino acid analogues of glutamate and proline in their stems and roots, and particularly in the seed endosperm. Mesic species synthesize substantial amounts of three L-2-(carboxycyclopropyl)glycine stereomers rarely seen in nature. A cyclopropyl analogue of proline with known antimicrobial activity, cis-3,4-methanoproline, is found in large amounts in the stems and seeds of many Ephedra species. The ability to synthesize cyclopropyl amino acids may be an ancestral feature in the taxon. The natural function in the taxon of these three groups of secondary compounds remains to be established.

Cytokine production consequent to T cell--microglia interaction: the PMA/IFN gamma-treated U937 cells display similarities to human microglia.

Cognate interactions between human adult microglia and activated T lymphocytes induce the production of inflammatory cytokines. Since this interaction can occur in a non-antigen-dependent manner, it is relevant to a variety of CNS diseases where activated T cells, regardless of specificities, come into contact with microglia; these disorders include multiple sclerosis, trauma, stroke and Alzheimer's disease. A model cell line would facilitate studies of the engagement between T cells and human adult microglia, since the latter are difficult to obtain in substantial quantity or frequency. This study shows that the PMA/IFN gamma-treated U937 cell line shows similarities to microglia in its interaction with activated T lymphocytes, in that the production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-4, IL-10 and IL-12 is induced. Morphological features and mechanisms of cytokine production resemble those observed in microglia--T cell co-cultures since CTLA-4 and CD40--CD40L blockades reduce TNF-alpha and IL-10 levels, while anti-CD23 inhibits IL-10 only in U937--T cell interactions. We propose that PMA/IFN gamma-treated U937 cells can serve as a model of human adult microglia to study cytokine generation in response to interactions with activated T cells.