UNASSIGNED: Emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD) is debilitating psychiatric disorder, particularly common in female and forensic populations. However, appropriate pharmacological treatment to effectively manage symptoms of EUPD remains an unmet clinical need. Dopamine receptor partial agonists (DRPAs), such as aripiprazole, have a favourable tolerability profile and have demonstrated some benefits in targeting symptoms of emotional dysregulation, although, evidence regarding the effects of novel D2/D3 DRPA cariprazine in EUPD patients has been limited.
UNASSIGNED: To evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of cariprazine for EUPD in a case series of female forensic inpatients where the diagnosis is more prevalent.
UNASSIGNED: Demographic and clinical information of the patients were collected from patient electronic records during their admission in a specialized NHS forensic service. Treatment response was measured using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) at baseline, 3 and 6 months and Global Clinical Impression Scale (CGI-scores) at baseline and 6 months. Tolerability and BMI, ECG QTc interval and prolactin levels were recorded prior to initiation and at 6 months.
UNASSIGNED: Eight female patients with EUPD (mean age 29.8 years, SD 5.3) were treated with cariprazine (range 3-6mg). Total CGI-scores modestly improved from 5.6 baseline to 5.0 at 6 months. There was a reduction in mean total PANSS scores from baseline to 6 months (92.5, SD 8.1 to 72.4, SD 15.8), general psychopathology (56.1 SD 6.7 to 42.5, SD9.7), positive (21.9 SD 4.6 to 17.1, SD4.8) and negative PANSS scores (14.5 SD 6.3 to 12.8, SD4.6), corresponding to a 21%, 23%, 20% and 3% mean score reduction, respectively. Cariprazine demonstrated a favourable metabolic and hormonal side effect profile with no treatment discontinuation at 6 months follow up.
UNASSIGNED: This is the first case series to evaluate the effectiveness of cariprazine in EUPD. Its efficacy in improving PANSS and CGI-S scores was overall modest and highly variable, reflective of an inherently heterogenous and comorbid patient sample but the benefits on treatment perseverance and tolerability were considerable. Cariprazine may be of particular benefit in EUPD where psychotic symptoms are co-morbid, as an augmentation strategy to clozapine, or where previous antipsychotics have caused metabolic or hormonal side effects.

Abnormal shifts in global climate, leading to extreme weather, significantly threaten the safety of individuals involved in outdoor activities. Hypothermia-induced coma or death frequently occurs in clinical and forensic settings. Despite this, the precise mechanism of central nervous system injury due to hypothermia remains unclear, hindering the development of targeted clinical treatments and specific forensic diagnostic indicators. The GEO database was searched to identify datasets related to hypothermia. Post-bioinformatics analyses, DEGs, and ferroptosis-related DEGs (FerrDEGs) were intersected. GSEA was then conducted to elucidate the functions of the Ferr-related genes. Animal experiments conducted in this study demonstrated that hypothermia, compared to the control treatment, can induce significant alterations in iron death-related genes such as PPARG, SCD, ADIPOQ, SAT1, EGR1, and HMOX1 in cerebral cortex nerve cells. These changes lead to iron ion accumulation, lipid peroxidation, and marked expression of iron death-related proteins. The application of the iron death inhibitor Ferrostatin-1 (Fer-1) effectively modulates the expression of these genes, reduces lipid peroxidation, and improves the expression of iron death-related proteins. Severe hypothermia disrupts the metabolism of cerebral cortex nerve cells, causing significant alterations in ferroptosis-related genes. These genetic changes promote ferroptosis through multiple pathways.

The approach to postmortem computed tomography (CT) differs significantly from that of diagnostic CT in living patients. Elimination of artifacts such as noise and beam hardening as well as optimization of tissue contrast requires alteration of exposure parameters from protocols designed to limit radiation dose in children. Multiple scans may be performed, and detailed post-processing can be used to enhance subtle findings such as small intracranial extra axial collections and non-displaced fractures. Basics of postmortem CT technique are discussed here as well as advanced techniques in scanning and post-processing.

BACKGROUND: Forensic dentistry integrates interdisciplinary scientific knowledge to produce accurate and reliable forensic statements. Anthropometry, essential since its introduction by Alphonse Bertillon in 1882, describes human body shapes and has significant forensic applications. This study focuses on sexual dimorphism, phenotypic differences between males and females, using lateral cephalometric measurements to determine sex in children aged 10-12 years from the Chengalpattu population.
METHODS: The cross-sectional study included 80 participants (40 boys and 40 girls). Lateral cephalograms were analyzed using Ceph Ninja Pro software to obtain 15 cephalometric measurements. Statistical analysis using SPSS Software (Version 22.0) involved t-tests to identify significant differences (P<0.05). Discriminant function analysis assessed the predictive power of these variables.
RESULTS: Seven variables showed significant differences between sexes. Discriminant models based on these variables determined sex with varying reliability. Ramus length was the most reliable predictor (81%), while maxillary length had the lowest reliability (62%).
CONCLUSIONS: The study\'s findings align with existing literature, indicating the robustness of ramus length for sex determination. However, the low reliability of maxillary length contrasts with studies that found it useful for sex differentiation, suggesting variability across populations and age groups. Combining multiple cephalometric variables improved accuracy, consistent with previous research.
CONCLUSIONS: Lateral cephalograms are effective for assessing sexual dimorphism in children. The study supports the forensic and clinical utility of cephalometric measurements and calls for further research with diverse populations and advanced imaging techniques to enhance method reliability and applicability.

BACKGROUND: Outcome measurement in child and adolescent forensic mental health services can support service improvement, research, and patient progress evaluation. This systematic review aimed to identify studies which validate structured instruments available for use as outcome measures in the child and adolescent forensic mental health service cohort and assess the quality of these studies.
METHODS: A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Studies were identified by searching six online databases in November 2023. The quality and risk of bias of each study meeting inclusion criteria was independently assessed by two authors using the Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool. Results were synthesised narratively.
RESULTS: A total of eight studies were identified which met inclusion criteria. These looked at six instruments which primarily focused on outcome measures in the areas of treatment motivation, level of functioning, psychiatric symptoms, care needs and response to social situations. Papers scored between 17/40 and 30/40 on the Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool. Studies were rated as low (n = 1), moderate (n = 6), high (n = 1) or very high quality (n = 0).
CONCLUSIONS: Despite the large number of structured instruments potentially available, evidence for their use as outcome measures in child and adolescent forensic mental health services is limited. Future research should aim to validate current structured instruments for use in the forensic child and adolescent setting, with consideration of whether new instruments should be developed specifically for this group. Such instruments should be developed with both young people as service users and professionals who will be utilising the instrument in mind.

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UNASSIGNED: Revealing individual characteristics is supportive for identifying individuals in forensic crime. As saliva is one of the most common biological samples used in crime scenes, it is important to make full use of the rich individual information contained in saliva. The aim of this study was to explore the application of the microbiome in forensic science by analysing differences in the salivary microbiome and metabolome of healthy individuals with different dietary habits.
UNASSIGNED: We performed 16S rDNA sequencing analysis based on oral saliva samples collected from 12 vegetarians, 12 seafood omnivores and 12 beef and lamb omnivores. Non-targeted metabolomics analyses were also performed based on saliva samples from healthy individuals.
UNASSIGNED: The results showed that the dominant flora of vegetarians was dominated by Neisseria (belonging to the phylum Proteobacteria), while seafood omnivores and beef and lamb omnivores were dominated by Streptococcus (belonging to the phylum Firmicutes). NDMS-based and cluster analyses showed that vegetarian dieters were significantly differentiated from meat dieters (seafood omnivores and beef and lamb omnivores), which may be related to the fact that high-fiber diets can create a different salivary flora structure. Variants were also detected in salivary metabolic pathways, including positive correlations with Lipid metabolism, Amino acid metabolism, Carbohydrate metabolism, and Nucleotide metabolism in vegetarians, and correlations in seafood omnivores. In order to select salivary microorganisms and metabolic markers that can distinguish different dietary profiles, a random forest classifier model was constructed in this study, and the results showed that individuals with different dietary profiles could be successfully distinguished based on the core genera and metabolites such as Streptococcus, Histidinyl-Valine.
UNASSIGNED: Our study provides a supportive basis for the application of salivary polyomics in order to reveal the dietary characteristics of individuals for forensic investigation and crime solving.

The environmental contamination by extremophile Aspergillus species, i.e., Aflatoxin B1, is hardly controllable in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, which lack handling resources and controlled storage facilities. Acute aflatoxicosis poisoning from aflatoxin-prone dietary staples could cause acute hepatic necrosis, acute liver failure, and death. Here, as the cheaper, more straightforward, and facile on-site diagnostic kit is needed, we report an ultraviolet-excitable optical aptasensor based on a fluorinated ethylene propylene film strip. Molecular dynamics on the aptamer.AFB1 complex revealed that the AFB1 to the aptamer increases the overall structural stability, suggesting that the aptamer design is suitable for the intended application. Under various influencing factors, the proposed label-free strategy offers a fast 20-min on-site fabrication simplicity and 19-day shelf-life. The one-pot incubation provides an alternative to catalytic detection and exhibited 4 times reusability. The recovery of crude brown sugar, processed peanuts, and long-grain rice were 102.74 ± 0.41 (n = 3), 86.90 ± 3.38 (n = 3), and 98.50 ± 0.42 (n = 3), comparable to High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Photodiode Array Detector results. This study is novel owing to the peculiar UV-active spectrum fingerprint and the convenient use of hydrophobic film strips that could promote breakthrough innovations and new frontiers for on-site/forensic detection of environmental pollutants.

Estimating the post-mortem interval (PMI) is an essential step in forensic investigations, particularly those involving homicides and unwitnessed deaths. However, traditional methods occasionally yield inconsistent estimates. Histological and molecular techniques are considered crucial in forensic pathology and are frequently employed to estimate the time interval of death. The gingiva is an oral mucosal tissue used to estimate PMI. This review aimed to examine the potential of histological methods to determine PMI using oral mucosal tissue, namely the gingiva, and to investigate changes that occur in oral mucosal tissue at different time intervals when compared with those in normal tissues. The oral mucosa comprises layers of stratified squamous epithelium and connective tissue. Similar to other body tissues, changes are known to occur in the gingiva after death, and these cellular and tissue changes should also be considered. Alterations in the gingiva include homogenisation, karyorrhexis, pyknosis, karyolysis, chromatin clumping, eosinophilia, collagen fibre degradation, and the loss of tissue architecture. Reviews collating the results of original trials have consistently reported how the oral mucosa is altered by autolysis and how such changes can be observed in histological tissue morphology after death. Histology is an acceptably accurate technique for estimating PMIs.

Printed documents are a common form of evidence in forensic document examination. The integration of spectroscopy with chemometrics have evolved evidential analytical interpretation of printing inks. However, we report the first ever study that explores the examination of both black and colored printed documents combined with explorative Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and supervised techniques viz. Soft independent modelling of class analogy (SIMCA) and Partial Least Square- Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA). The study investigated 74 (40 Ink-based and 34 Toner- based) colored printed document samples using ATR-FTIR to discriminate and determine the source of origin of an unknown printed document using a non-destructive approach. Qualitative analysis by ATR- FTIR indicated the presence of polystyrene, bisphenol A and acrylates as the common binder polymers in the samples. The study was also able to obtain pigment information like presence of PR 57 and PR 146 in magenta, Carbon black in black, Copper Phthalocyanine and PB 15 in Cyan and PY 74 in yellow colored printed samples. Further, PCA has been used as an explorative technique that showed a variance of 97 % in the dataset and indicating that the color Cyan contributes to the maximum classification accuracy. SIMCA has been used as a supervised method to classify the known and test samples to their respective defined classes. However, SIMCA could only classify Toner-based samples in their respective class and inconclusive results were obtained in case of Ink-based samples. Finally, PLS-DA was also used to classify the two class of samples which resulted in a discrimination accuracy of 98.6 %. The derived model was also used for validation study on blind test samples which provided 100 % classification results.