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Neurobiol Dis 2022 Jun 21:105798. Epub 2022 Jun 21.

Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Straße 11, 97080 Würzburg, Germany. Electronic address:

The pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) is closely interwoven with the process of aging. Moreover, increasing evidence from human postmortem studies and from animal models for PD point towards inflammation as an additional factor in disease development. We here assessed the impact of aging and inflammation on dopaminergic neurodegeneration in the hmα-SYN-39 mouse model of PD that carries the human, A30P/A53T double-mutated α-synuclein gene. Read More

Genes (Basel) 2022 May 27;13(6). Epub 2022 May 27.

Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.

Background: The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is a key brain structure mediating the rewarding effect of alcohol and drug abuse. Chronic alcohol consumption may alter RNA methylome (or epitranscriptome) in the NAc, leading to altered gene expression and thus behavioral neuroadaptation to alcohol.

Methods: This pilot study profiled the epitranscriptomes of mRNAs, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), and microRNAs (miRNAs) in postmortem NAc of three male Caucasian subjects with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and three matched male Caucasian control subjects using Arraystar's m6A-mRNA&lncRNA Epitranscriptomic Microarray assay. Read More

Hum Cell 2022 Jun 23. Epub 2022 Jun 23.

Department of Legal Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka Metropolitan University, 1-4-3 Asahi-machi, Abeno, Osaka, 545-8585, Japan.

Intake of central nervous system (CNS) stimulants causes hypoxia and brain edema, which results in nerve cell death. However, no study has yet investigated the direct and continuous effects on nerve cells of CNS stimulants under hypoxia. Thus, based on autopsy cases, the effects of CNS stimulant drugs on the CNS were examined. Read More

Neuroimage 2022 Jun 19;258:119402. Epub 2022 Jun 19.

Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, National Center for Magnetic Resonance in Wuhan, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences-Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Wuhan 430071, China; Institute of Neuroscience and Brain Diseases, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang, Hubei, China. Electronic address:

A mammalian brain contains numerous neurons with distinct cell types for complex neural circuits. Virus-based circuit tracing tools are powerful in tracking the interaction among the different brain regions. However, detecting brain-wide neural networks in vivo remains challenging since most viral tracing systems rely on postmortem optical imaging. Read More

Mol Cell Biochem 2022 Jun 22. Epub 2022 Jun 22.

Department of Physiology, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY, 40202, USA.

The ongoing pandemic (also known as coronavirus disease-19; COVID-19) by a constantly emerging viral agent commonly referred as the severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 or SARS-CoV-2 has revealed unique pathological findings from infected human beings, and the postmortem observations. The list of disease symptoms, and postmortem observations is too long to mention; however, SARS-CoV-2 has brought with it a whole new clinical syndrome in "long haulers" including dyspnea, chest pain, tachycardia, brain fog, exercise intolerance, and extreme fatigue. We opine that further improvement in delivering effective treatment, and preventive strategies would be benefited from validated animal disease models. Read More

Fa Yi Xue Za Zhi 2022 Feb;38(1):82-85

Marine Branch of Guangzhou Public Security Bureau, Guangzhou 510235, China.

Objectives: To study the relationship between water temperature and floating time of aquatic cadavers, providing a reference for more precise positioning and searching for floating corpses.

Methods: The floating model of guinea pig after drowning at 17-30 ℃ was established, and the floating times of carcasses were recorded. The collected data of 32 floating corpse cases in the Pearl River were sorted out and analyzed according to the floating time of corpses corresponding to each degree of water temperature. Read More

Fa Yi Xue Za Zhi 2022 Feb;38(1):59-66

Center of Medico-legal Investigation, School of Forensic Medicine, China Medical University, Shenyang 110122, China.

Objectives: The metabolomics technique of LC-MS/MS combined with data analysis was used to detect changes and differences in metabolic profiles in the vitreous humor of early rat carcasses found in water, and to explore the feasibility of its use for early postmortem submersion interval (PMSI) estimation and the cause of death determination.

Methods: The experimental model was established in natural lake water with 100 SD rats were randomly divided into a drowning group (=50) and a postmortem (CO suffocation) immediately submersion group (=50). Vitreous humor was extracted from 10 rats in each group at 0, 6, 12, 18 and 24 h postmortem for metabolomics analyses, of which 8 were used as the training set to build the model, and 2 were used as test set. Read More

Fa Yi Xue Za Zhi 2022 Feb;38(1):1-2

Guangzhou Forensic Science Institute & Key Laboratory of Forensic Pathology, Ministry of Public Security, Guangzhou 510442, China.

Vet Pathol 2022 Jun 20:3009858221105058. Epub 2022 Jun 20.

UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Davis, CA.

Hepatic lipidosis is a common disease of captive bearded dragons (). Diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of this condition are challenging, as there is minimal information in the literature. Our study determined the prevalence and epidemiological risk factors associated with the grade and severity of hepatic lipid changes in bearded dragons submitted for necropsy in 2 North American institutions. Read More

J Anim Sci 2022 Jun 17. Epub 2022 Jun 17.

College of Animal Science and Technology; Key Laboratory of Animal Origin Food Production and Safety Guarantee of Jiangsu Province; Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Meat Production and Processing, Quality and Safety Control, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, People's Republic of China.

This study investigated the effects of acute stress on breast meat quality, redox status and mitochondrial function in pectoralis major (PM) muscle of broilers. A total of 168 broiler chickens (42-day-old, Ross 308) were randomly divided into control (CON) and pre-slaughter transport (T) treatments. A broiler was an experimental unit. Read More

Sci Rep 2022 Jun 16;12(1):10122. Epub 2022 Jun 16.

Section Palaeontology, Institute of Geosciences, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn, 53115, Bonn, Germany.

The preservation of soft tissue in the fossil record is mostly due to the replacement of organic structures by minerals (e.g. calcite, aragonite or apatite) called pseudomorphs. Read More

Neurology 2022 Jun 15. Epub 2022 Jun 15.

Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA

Background And Objectives: Age is the largest risk factor for dementia. However, dementia is not universal, even among the oldest-old age groups. Following contemporary neuropathologic guidelines, our objectives were to describe the key neuropathologic lesions and their associations with antemortem cognition in oldest-old individuals. Read More

Porcine Health Manag 2022 Jun 16;8(1):28. Epub 2022 Jun 16.

Department of Animal Pathology, Reproductive and Obstetric Area, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Agroalimentary Institute of Aragon-IA2, Universidad de Zaragoza-CITA, Zaragoza, Spain.

Background: Early onset of a gilt´s puberty is needed for adequate economic performance in farms, because it indicates her reproductive performance and longevity. Therefore, an effective diagnosis is needed. Our purpose was to compare different procedures (external characteristics, blood progesterone analysis and ultrasonography diagnosis) to detect puberty in 70 gilts (Topigs TN70; 240 days old) on farm conditions. Read More

PNAS Nexus 2022 May 3;1(2):pgac050. Epub 2022 May 3.

Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032 USA.

Exposure to the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) has been associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a disease also associated with hyperphosphorylated tau (p-tau) protein aggregation. We investigated whether exposure to DDT can exacerbate tau protein toxicity in using a transgenic strain that expresses human tau protein prone to aggregation by measuring changes in size, swim behavior, respiration, lifespan, learning, and metabolism. In addition, we examined the association between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) p-tau protein-as a marker of postmortem tau burden-and global metabolism in both a human population study and in , using the same p-tau transgenic strain. Read More

J Autism Dev Disord 2022 Jun 15. Epub 2022 Jun 15.

Graduate Program in Neuroengineering, Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience, Santos Dumont Institute, Macaíba, RN, 59280-000, Brazil.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is manifested by abnormal cell numbers and patches of gene expression disruption in higher-order brain regions. Here, we investigated whether layer-specific changes in glia/neuron ratios (GNR) characterize patches in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DL-PFC) of children with ASD. We analyzed high-resolution digital images of postmortem human brains from 11 ASD and 11 non-ASD children obtained from the Autism Study of the Allen Human Brain Atlas. Read More

Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2022 Jun 13. Epub 2022 Jun 13.

Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry.

Aim: The association between psychiatric symptoms in Lewy body disease (LBD) and the noradrenergic and serotonergic systems is still controversial. This study investigated the quantitative relationships of depression and delusion with these systems.

Methods: We studied 24 postmortem tissues from individuals with a pathological diagnosis of LBD with sufficient clinical history. Read More

Front Integr Neurosci 2022 25;16:896400. Epub 2022 May 25.

Department of Medicine, University of Washington Medicine Diabetes Institute, Seattle, WA, United States.

Perineuronal nets (PNNs) are chondroitin-sulfate glycosaminoglycan (CS-GAG) containing extracellular matrix structures that assemble around neurons involved in learning, memory, and cognition. Owing to the unique patterning of negative charges stemming from sulfate modifications to the attached CS-GAGs, these matrices play key roles in mediating glycan-protein binding, signaling interactions, and charged ion buffering of the underlying circuitry. Histochemical loss of PNN matrices has been reported for a range of neurocognitive and neurodegenerative diseases, implying that PNNs might be a key player in the pathogenesis of neurological disorders. Read More

Front Nutr 2022 25;9:859702. Epub 2022 May 25.

Department of Surgery, MacKay Memorial Hospital and Mackay Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan.

The aging thyroid is associated with a plethora of morphological and functional changes. Limited studies have addressed the gene expression signature in the aging thyroid, except for sporadic reports using data from postmortem samples in the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project. In this investigation, we analyzed the RNA sequencing data of 58 samples of normal-appearing counterpart thyroid tissues from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Read More

STAR Protoc 2022 Jun 7;3(2):101446. Epub 2022 Jun 7.

Department of Neurology, Center for Advanced Research on Diagnostic Assays, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS), New York, NY, USA.

Concomitant profiling of transcriptome and chromatin accessibility in isolated nuclei can reveal gene regulatory control mechanisms in health and disease. We report a single nucleus multi-omics analysis protocol optimized for frozen archived postmortem human pituitaries that is also effective for frozen ovine and murine pituitaries and human skeletal muscle biopsies. Its main advantages are that (1) it is not limited to fresh tissue, (2) it avoids tissue dissociation-induced transcriptional changes, and (3) it includes a novel, automated quality control pipeline. Read More

J Proteomics 2022 Jun 7;265:104637. Epub 2022 Jun 7.

Department of Animal and Food Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA. Electronic address:

Mitochondria remain active in postmortem muscles and can influence meat color via oxygen consumption. Previous studies have shown that dark-cutting compared with normal-pH beef has greater mitochondrial protein and DNA content per gram of muscle tissue. However, the mechanism regulating mitochondrial content in dark-cutting vs. Read More

Front Neurol 2022 24;13:894565. Epub 2022 May 24.

Office of Chief Medical Examiner, New York, NY, United States.

Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, there are few published accounts of postmortem SARS-CoV-2 pathology in children. We report 8 such cases (4 infants aged 7-36 weeks, 4 children aged 5-15 years). Four underwent magnetic resonance neuroimaging, to assist in identification of subtle lesions related to vascular compromise. Read More

Animals (Basel) 2022 Jun 3;12(11). Epub 2022 Jun 3.

California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System (CAHFS), University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.

A presumptive postmortem diagnosis of oleander () poisoning is made based on the histological observation of cardiomyocyte degeneration and necrosis, which is considered to be a reliable diagnostic marker, and can be confirmed via the detection of oleandrin in tissues or fluids. However, cardiac lesions may not be present in every case, and autolysis can often preclude the identification of subtle changes in the cardiomyocytes. Several studies of experimental oleander poisoning have noted the presence of renal lesions in multiple mammalian species, and case studies of accidental exposure have found similar, although more variably severe, renal abnormalities. Read More

NPJ Parkinsons Dis 2022 Jun 7;8(1):72. Epub 2022 Jun 7.

Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is marked by a loss of dopamine neurons, decreased dopamine transporter (DAT) and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) expression. However, this validation approach cannot be used for diagnostic, drug effectiveness or investigational purposes in human patients because midbrain tissue is accessible postmortem. PD pathology affects both the central nervous and peripheral immune systems. Read More

Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2022 Jun 7. Epub 2022 Jun 7.

Massachusetts General Hospital, 2348, James Homer Wright Pathology Laboratories, Department of Pathology, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

Rationale The leading cause of death in coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) is severe pneumonia, with many patients developing acute respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS) and diffuse alveolar damage(DAD). Whether DAD in fatal COVID-19 is distinct from other causes of DAD remains unknown. Objective To compare lung parenchymal and vascular alterations between patients with fatal COVID-19 pneumonia and other DAD-causing etiologies using a multidimensional approach. Read More

Neurobiol Dis 2022 Jun 3;171:105781. Epub 2022 Jun 3.

University of Kansas Alzheimer's Disease Center, Kansas City, KS, USA; Department of Neurology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA. Electronic address:

Introduction: Mitochondrial dysfunction is observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the relationship between functional mitochondrial deficits and AD pathologies is not well established in human subjects.

Methods: Post-mortem human brain tissue from 11 non-demented (ND) and 12 AD subjects was used to examine mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) function. Read More

Fish Shellfish Immunol 2022 Jun 3;127:1-12. Epub 2022 Jun 3.

Fish Diseases Department, Alexandria Provincial Lab, Animal Health Research Institute (AHRI), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Egypt.

Fish diseases have a "stress-related" nature, whereas fish exposure to stressors will increase their susceptibility to infections. It was also noted that fish exposure to biotic and abiotic stressors would exaggerate the disease signs, elicit high mortalities, and cause severe economic losses. Motile aeromonad septicemia (MAS) is a major bacterial disease affecting a variety of finfish species throughout the globe and is caused by Aeromonas hydrophila. Read More

Acta Trop 2022 Jun 2;233:106546. Epub 2022 Jun 2.

Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Fannia pusio (Wiedemann) is originally from tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, where it has repeatedly been collected from both animal carrion and human cadavers. This species is expanding its distributional range, and it has been introduced to Africa, Asia, Australia, Oceania, and Europe. Newly introduced species may be confused with native species of local arthropod necrophagous assemblages, which from a forensic entomology perspective may impact the accuracy of post-mortem interval (PMI) estimations based on insect evidence. Read More

Neuropeptides 2022 May 20;94:102258. Epub 2022 May 20.

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA. Electronic address:

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a neurodegenerative disease that results as a complication of dysregulated glucose metabolism, or diabetes. The signaling of insulin is lost or dampened in diabetes, but this hormone has also been shown to be an important neurotrophic factor which supports neurons of the brain. The role of local insulin synthesis and secretion in the retina, however, is unclear. Read More

Biomed Res Int 2022 18;2022:5816986. Epub 2022 May 18.

Shandong Vocational Animal Sciences and Veterinary College, Weifang 261061, China.

causes tuberculosis in dairy and wild animals. Presence of tuberculosis in animals poses a threat not only to their herd mates but also for public. No reports are available about the clinical, pathological, and molecular investigation of naturally occurring tuberculosis (TB) due to in one-horned rhinoceros. Read More

J Med Entomol 2022 May 31. Epub 2022 May 31.

Laboratório de Entomologia Médica e Forense (LEMEF), Instituto Oswaldo Cruz - Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (IOC/FIOCRUZ), Pavilhão Herman Lent, Avenida Brasil, 4365, Manguinhos, CEP: 21040-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

Species belonging to the Muscidae family are important in the medical-sanitary and forensic fields due to their biology. The intrapuparial stage of Hydrotaea aenescens (Wiedemann, 1830), which represents about 50% of the immature development cycle in muscoid Diptera, has not yet been studied in detail. This study identifies and describes the main temporal morphological changes that occur in the pupal body of H. Read More