The epidemiological and medico-legal characteristics of violent deaths and spousal homicides through a population of women autopsied within the Forensic Medicine Department of the University Hospital of Annaba.

BACKGROUND: Domestic violence is a real public health problem with considerable consequences, ranging from minor injuries to death. Our study aims to determine the epidemiological and forensic characteristics relating to the violent mortality of women, and more particularly spousal homicide. METHODS: To do this, a double survey was conducted. The first step was descriptive and retrospective, and the second survey was analytical and prospective. This latter step covered the most populous age group of murdered women in Algeria, which is eighteen-year-old and over, and subjected a number of these female victims to a medico-judicial autopsy at the level of the thanatology unit for over four years counting two years for each survey (2017-2018 and 2019-2020). Data were entered and processed using Epi-info6 software. RESULTS: During the initial period of our study, we identified 35 cases of violent deaths involving women and representing a frequency of 5.71% of the thanatological activity. During the second period, 12 spousal homicides were recorded and autopsied, representing a frequency of 1.79% of all forensic deaths in the corresponding study period. The average age of the victims was evaluated at 33 ± 12.91 years, with extremes of 19 to 56 years. The age of the perpetrators of spousal homicide was evaluated at 42 ± 10.76 years with extremes ranging from 30 to 60 years. For victims of violent death and spousal homicide, inactivity was a strongly implicated risk factor, with respective frequencies of (88.57%) and (58.33%). Two-thirds of the persecuted women were completely unknown to the healthcare environment and had never consulted a medical professional. This parameter could be one of the predictive signs of spousal homicide. The marital home was the preferred location for violent deaths and spousal homicides. These crimes occurred variably during the period of marriage and eventually after divorce. As for the modus operandi, the perpetrators use many sharp and spinous weapons, including firearms and blunt objects. CONCLUSION: Autopsy and medico-legal investigations took a decisive interest in the identification of the causes of spousal homicide; indeed, many serious traumatic lesions incompatible with life have been highlighted. We underline the crucial role that healthcare professionals must play in the process of identifying and evaluating potentially risky situations.

A high-density genetic map of hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) from the cross Chinese Spring x SQ1 and its use to compare QTLs for grain yield across a range of environments.

A population of 96 doubled haploid lines (DHLs) was prepared from F1 plants of the hexaploid wheat cross Chinese Spring x SQ1 (a high abscisic acid-expressing breeding line) and was mapped with 567 RFLP, AFLP, SSR, morphological and biochemical markers covering all 21 chromosomes, with a total map length of 3,522 cM. Although the map lengths for each genome were very similar, the D genome had only half the markers of the other two genomes. The map was used to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for yield and yield components from a combination of 24 site x treatment x year combinations, including nutrient stress, drought stress and salt stress treatments. Although yield QTLs were widely distributed around the genome, 17 clusters of yield QTLs from five or more trials were identified: two on group 1 chromosomes, one each on group 2 and group 3, five on group 4, four on group 5, one on group 6 and three on group 7. The strongest yield QTL effects were on chromosomes 7AL and 7BL, due mainly to variation in grain numbers per ear. Three of the yield QTL clusters were largely site-specific, while four clusters were largely associated with one or other of the stress treatments. Three of the yield QTL clusters were coincident with the dwarfing gene Rht-B1 on 4BS and with the vernalisation genes Vrn-A1 on 5AL and Vrn-D1 on 5DL. Yields of each DHL were calculated for trial mean yields of 6 g plant(-1) and 2 g plant(-1) (equivalent to about 8 t ha(-1) and 2.5 t ha(-1), respectively), representing optimum and moderately stressed conditions. Analyses of these yield estimates using interval mapping confirmed the group-7 effects on yield and, at 2 g plant(-1), identified two additional major yield QTLs on chromosomes 1D and 5A. Many of the yield QTL clusters corresponded with QTLs already reported in wheat and, on the basis of comparative genetics, also in rice. The implications of these results for improving wheat yield stability are discussed.

Rapid disruption of nitrogen metabolism and nitrate transport in spinach plants deprived of sulphate.

Hydroponically grown spinach plants were deprived of an external source of sulphate after an initial period when the S-supply was sufficient. The time-course of events following this treatment was monitored. The first responses were found in the uptake and translocation of NO(3)(-) and the uptake of SO(4)(2-). The former declined by approximately 50%, the effect being most significant at higher [NO(3)(-)](ext.) while the latter increased 6-fold over a 4 d period. Growth in the absence of external SO(4)(2-) resulted in exhaustion of internal SO(4)(2-) pools, the effect being seen first in roots, then in young leaves and, after a marked delay, in mature leaves. In young leaves, there were dramatic increases in the [NO(3)(-)] and the content of arginine in the first 2 d of S-deprivation. The concentration of glutamine, the most abundant amino acid in S-sufficient conditions, also more than doubled in S-deficient young leaves. The changes in arginine levels were also found in older leaves, but the change in glutamine level was not seen. Assays of nitrate reductase activity (NRA) and nitrate reductase (NR) mRNA from young leaves of S-replete and S-deprived plants revealed a divergence in activity and content only late in the experiments (between days 4 and 8) when results were expressed on a unit leaf basis. However, there were also time-dependent changes in the protein content that kept the specific activities (NRA:protein and RNA:protein) more or less unchanged. The results imply that the impact of S-deficiency on N-utilization are more sensitively monitored by simple measurements of the chemical composition of young leaves than by measurements of NRA or NR transcript abundance. They also suggest that protein synthesis in young leaves is strongly dependent on a continuous supply of SO(4)(2-) from outside the plant.

Epidemiological data of treated end-stage renal failure in the European Union (EU) during the year 1995: report of the European Renal Association Registry and the National Registries.

BACKGROUND: The new Centre Questionnaire, mainly based on the collection of epidemiological data, was launched in 1996 and the overall response rate of centres for the 15 countries constituting the European Union (EU) reached 82.2% (66-100%) for 1995. RESULTS: We could derive the following information for a general population of 372.6 million. In 1995, the incidence of new end-stage renal failure (ESRF) patients (Ni/P) was 120 p.m.p. (per million population) with a clear north to south/west gradient (69 in Ireland, 131 in Italy and 163 in Germany). The incidence of ESRF deaths (No/P) was 67 p.m.p. (from 35 in Ireland to 89 in Germany). The net increase of patients was therefore 53 p.m.p. (from 13 in Greece to 74 in Germany). The point prevalence of treated ESRF patients (Ns/P) alive on 31 December 1995 was 644 p.m.p. (from 444 in Finland to 773 in Italy). The mean increase in the stock of ESRF patients was +8.2% (4.6 to 13.0) as a linear rate and +0.085 as a fractional rate (exponential). The first treatment of new patients (Ni) was haemodialysis (HD; 81%), peritoneal dialysis (PD; 18%) and pre-emptive renal transplantation (Tx; 1%). The latest treatment for patients still alive was HD (58.5%), PD (9%) or functional Tx (32.5%). The number of Tx was 30 p.m.p. (from 14 in Greece to 45 in Spain). The death rate was 10.4% for all those with ESRF, with 14.4% for those dialysed and 2.2% for transplanted patients. In 1995, 6.5% of dialysed patients received a graft and 4.0% of transplant patients returned to dialysis. The linear expansion rate of the dialysis pool and the transplant pool was respectively 8.3% and 7.9%. CONCLUSIONS: This data shows considerable disparities among countries of the EU which merit further evaluation. Also this analysis by the ERA Registry provides data of value for health and economic purposes.

Sulphate deprivation depresses the transport of nitrogen to the xylem and the hydraulic conductivity of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) roots.

During the first 4 d after the removal of SO 4 (2-) from cultures of young barley plants, the net uptake of (15)N-nitrate and the transport of labelled N to the shoot both decline. This occurred during a period in which there was no measurable change in plant growth rate and where the incorporation of [(3)H]leucine into membrane and soluble proteins was unaffected. Reduced N translocation was associated with six- to eightfold increases in the level of asparagine and two- to fourfold increases in glutamine in root tissue; during the first 4 d of SO 4 (2-) deprivation there were no corresponding increases in amides in leaf tissue. The provision of 1 mol · m(-3) methionine halted, and to some extent reversed the decline in NO 3 (-) uptake and N translocation which occurred during continued SO 4 (2-) deprivation. This treatment had relatively little effect in lowering amide levels in roots. Experiments with excised root systems indicated that SO 4 (2-) deprivation progressively lowered the hydraulic conductivity, Lp, of roots; after 4 d the Lp of SO 4 (2-) -deprived excised roots was only 20% of that of +S controls. In the expanding leaves of intact plants, SO 4 (2-) deprivation for 5 d was found to lower stomatal conductance, transpiration and photosynthesis, in the order given, to 33%, 37% and 18% of control values. The accumulation of amides in roots is probably explained by a failure to export either the products of root nitrate assimilation or phloem-delivered amino-N. This may be correlated with the lowered hydraulic conductivity. Enhanced glutamine and-or asparagine levels probably repressed net uptake of NO 3 (-) and (13)NO 3 (-) influx reported earlier (Clarkson et al. 1989, J. Exp. Bot. 40, 953-963). Attention is drawn to the similar hydraulic signals occurring in the early stages of several different types of mineral-nutrient stresses.

Sulphate influx in wheat and barley roots becomes more sensitive to specific protein-binding reagents when plants are sulphate-deficient.

When young wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) or barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) plants were deprived of an external sulphate supply (-S plants), the capacity of their roots to absorb sulphate, but not phosphate or potassium, increased rapidly (derepression) so that after 3-5 d it was more than tenfold that of sulphate-sufficient plants (+S plants). This increased capacity was lost rapidly (repression) over a 24-h period when the sulphate supply was restored. There was little effect on the uptake of L-methionine during de-repression of the sulphate-transport system, but S input from methionine during a 24-h pretreatment repressed sulphate influx in both+S and-S plants.Sulphate influx of both+S and-S plants was inhibited by pretreating roots for 1 h with 4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulphonic acid (DIDS) at concentrations > 0.1 mol · m(-3). This inhibition was substantially reversed by washing for 1 h in DIDS-free medium before measuring influx. Longer-term pretreatment of roots with 0.1 mol·m(-3) DIDS delayed de-repression of the sulphatetransport system in-S plants but had no influence on+S plants in 3 d.The sulphydryl-binding reagent, n-ethylmaleimide, was a very potent inhibitor of sulphate influx in-S roots, but was much less inhibitory in +S roots. Its effects were essentially irreversible and were proportionately the same at all sulphate concentrations within the range of operation of the high-affinity sulphate-transport system. Inhibition of influx was 85-96% by 300 s pretreatment by 0.3 mol·m(-3) n-ethylmaleimide. No protection of the transport system could be observed by including up to 50 mol·m(-3) sulphate in the n-ethylmaleimide pre-treatment solution. A similar differential sensitivity of-S and+S plants was seen with p-chloromercuriphenyl sulphonic acid.The arginyl-binding reagent, phenylglyoxal, supplied to roots at 0.25 or 1 mol·m(-3) strongly inhibited influx in-S wheat plants (by up to 95%) but reduced influx by only one-half in+S plants. The inhibition of sulphate influx in-S plants was much greater than that of phosphate influx and could not be prevented by relatively high (100 mol·m(-3) sulphate concentrations accompanying phenylglyoxal treatment. Effects of phenylglyoxal pretreatment were unchanged for at least 30 min after its removal from the solution but thereafter the capacity for sulphate influx was restored. The amount of 'new' carrier appearing in-S roots was far greater than in+S roots over a 24-h period.The results indicate that, in the de-repressed state, the sulphate transporter is more sensitive to reagents binding sulphydryl and arginyl residues. This suggests a number of strategies for identifying the proteins involved in sulphate transport.

Stimulation of ethylene production and gas-space (aerenchyma) formation in adventitious roots of Zea mays L. by small partial pressures of oxygen.

Adventitious roots of two to four-weekold intact plants of Zea mays L. (cv. LG11) were shorter but less dense after extending into stagnant, non-aerated nutrient solution than into solution continuously aerated with air. Dissolved oxygen in the non-aerated solutions decreased from 21 kPa to 3-9 kPa within 24 h. When oxygen partial pressures similar to those found in non-aerated solutions (3, 5 and 12 kPa) were applied for 7 d to root systems growing in vigorously bubbled solutions, the volume of gas-space in the cortex (aerenchyma) was increased several fold. This stimulation of aerenchyma was associated with faster ethylene production by 45-mm-long apical root segments. When ethylene production by roots exposed to 5 kPa oxygen was inhibited by aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) dissolved in the nutrient solution, aerenchyma formation was also retarded. The effect of AVG was reversible by concomitant applications of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid, an immediate precursor of ethylene. Addition of silver nitrate, an inhibitor of ethylene action, to the nutrient solution also prevented the development of aerenchyma in roots given 5 kPa oxygen. Treating roots with only 1 kPa oxygen stimulated ethylene production but failed to promote gas-space formation. These severely oxygen-deficient roots seemed insensitive to the ethylene produced since a supplement of exogeneous ethylene that promoted aerenchyma development in nutrient solution aerated with air (21 kPa oxygen) failed to do so in nutrient solution supplied with 1 kPa oxygen. Both ethylene production and aerenchyma formation were almost completely halted when roots were exposed to nutrient solutions devoid of oxygen. Thus both processes require oxygen and are stimulated by oxygen-deficient surroundings in the 3-to 12-kPa range of oxygen partial pressures when compared with rates observed in air (21 kPa oxygen).

Changes in the kinetics of phosphate and potassium absorption in nutrient-deficient barley roots measured by a solution-depletion technique.

From measurements of the rates of depletion of labelled ions from solution in the low concentration range, we described the phosphate and potassium uptake characteristics of the roots of intact barley plants in terms of the kinetic parameters, K m and I max (the maximum rate of uptake). In relatively young (13 d) and older (42 d) plants, cessation of phosphate supply for 4 d or more caused a marked increase in I max (up to four times), without concomitant change in K m, which remained between 5 and 7 µM. By contrast, 1 d of potassium starvation with 14-d plants caused a decline in the K m (i.e. an increased apparent affinity for potassium) from 53 µM to 11 µM, without alteration to I max. After longer periods of potassium starvation, I max increased (about two times) while the K m remained at the same low value. Growth of shoots and roots were unaffected by these treatments, so that concentrations of ions in the tissues declined after 1 d or more of nutrient starvation, but we could not identify a characteristic endogenous concentration for either nutrient at which changes in kinetic parameters were invariably induced. The possible mechanisms regulating carriermediated transport, and the importance of changes induced in kinetic parameters in ion uptake from solution and soil are discussed.

Uptake and long-distance transport of phosphate, potassium and chloride in relation to internal ion concentrations in barley: evidence of non-allosteric regulation.

The extent to which uptake and transport of either phosphate, potassium or chloride are controlled by the concentration of these ions within the root, perhaps through an allosteric mechanism, was investigated with young barley plants in nutrient solution culture. Plants were grown with their roots divided between two containers, such that a single seminal root was continuously supplied with all the required nutrient ions, while the remaining four or five seminal roots were either supplied with the same solution (controls) or, temporarily, a solution lacking a particular nutrient ion (nutrient-deficient treatment). Compared with controls, there was a marked stimulation of uptake and transport of labelled ions by the single root following 24 h or more of nutrient dificiency to the remainder of the root system. This stimulation, which comprised an increased transport to the shoot and, for all ions except Cl(-), increased transport to the remainder of the root system, took place without appreciable change in the concentration of particular ions within the single root. However, nutrient deficiency quickly caused a lower concentration of ions in the shoot and the remaining roots. The results are discussed in relation to various mechanisms, proposed in the literature, by which the coordination of ion uptake and transport may be maintained within the plant. We suggest that under our conditions any putative allosteric control of uptake and transport by root cortical cells was masked by an alternative mechanism, in which ion influx appears to be regulated by ion efflux to the xylem, perhaps controlled by the concentration of particular ions recycled in the phloem to the root from the shoot.