Correcting forensic DNA errors

DNA mixture interpretation can produce opposing conclusions by qualified forensic analysts, even within the same laboratory. The long-delayed publication of the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) study of 109 North American crime laboratories in this journal demonstrates this most clearly. This latest study supports earlier work that shows common methods such as the Combined Probability of Inclusion (CPI) have wrongly included innocent people as contributors to DNA mixtures. The 2016 President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology report concluded, “In summary, the interpretation of complex DNA mixtures with the CPI statistic has been an inadequately specified—and thus inappropriately subjective—method. As such, the method is clearly not foundationally valid” [7]. The adoption of probabilistic genotyping by many laboratories will certainly prevent some of these errors from occurring in the future, but the same laboratories that produced past errors can also now review old cases with their new software—without additional bench work. It is critical that laboratories adopt procedures and policies to do this.     

2016—2021年灌云县手足口病流行病学特征分析

目的 分析灌云县2016—2021年手足口病流行特征,为手足口病的防控提供参考依据。方法 采用描述性统计方法,分析灌云县手足口病的流行特征以及病原学变化等。结果 2016 —2021年灌云县手足口病 4 205例,呈现出“隔年高发”特征,年平均发病率为67.50/10万;4 —6月和10 —12月为高发期;男性占比明显高于女性;0～4岁散居儿童居多;伊山镇、侍庄街道和东王集镇发病率位居前三。2016 —2017年确诊患儿病原以EV71为主,2018—2021年以Cox A6为主。8例重症病例集中在1～5岁,确诊的重症患者以EV71感染为主。结论 灌云县手足口病疫情具有“隔年高发”和季节性“双峰流行”特征,以0～4岁散居儿童为高发人群和灌云县县城及周边镇(街)为高发区域。EV71灭活疫苗接种能有效预防EV71病毒引发的手足口病。     

Efficient polymer nanoparticle-mediated delivery of gene editing reagents into human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells

1. Download : Download high-res image (179KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

     

Tumour volume distribution can yield information on tumour growth and tumour control

BackgroundIt is shown that tumour volume distributions can yield information on two aspects of cancer research: tumour induction and tumour control.Materials and methodsFrom the hypothesis that the intrinsic distribution of breast cancer volumes follows an exponential distribution, firstly the probability density function of tumour growth time was deduced via a mathematical transformation of the probability density functions of tumour volumes. In a second step, the distribution of tumour volumes was used to model the variation of the clonogenic cell number between patients in order to determine tumour control probabilities for radiotherapy patients.ResultsDistribution of lag times, i.e. the time from the appearance of the first fully malignant cell until a clinically observable cancer, can be used to deduce the probability of tumour induction as a function of patient age. The integration of the volume variation with a Poisson-TCP model results in a logistic function which explains population-averaged survival data of radiotherapy patients.ConclusionsThe inclusion of tumour volume distributions into the TCP formalism enables a direct link to be deduced between a cohort TCP model (logistic) and a TCP model for individual patients (Poisson). The TCP model can be applied to non-uniform tumour dose distributions.     

Increased alpha suppression with age during involuntary memory retrieval

Recent work suggests that while voluntary episodic memory declines with age, involuntary episodic memory, which comes to mind spontaneously without intention, remains relatively intact. However, the neurophysiology underlying these differences has yet to be established. The current study used electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate voluntary and involuntary retrieval in older and younger adults. Participants first encoded sounds, half of which were paired with pictures, the other half unpaired. EEG was then recorded as they listened to the sounds, with participants in the involuntary group performing a sound localization cover task, and those in the voluntary group additionally attempting to recall the associated pictures. Participants later reported which sounds brought the paired picture to mind during the localization task. Reaction times on the localization task were slower for voluntary than involuntary retrieval and for paired than unpaired sounds, possibly reflecting increased attentional demands of voluntary retrieval and interference from reactivation of the associated pictures respectively. For the EEG analyses, young adults showed greater alpha event-related desynchronization (ERD) during voluntary than involuntary retrieval at frontal and occipital sites, while older adults showed pronounced alpha ERD regardless of intention. Additionally, older adults showed greater ERD for paired than unpaired sounds at occipital sites, likely reflecting visual reactivation of the associated pictures. Young adults did not show this alpha ERD memory effect. Taken together, these data suggest that involuntary memory is largely preserved with age, but this may be due to older adults' greater recruitment of top-down control even when demand for such control is limited.     

Adductor Canal Block or Local Infiltrate Analgesia for Pain Control After Total Knee Arthroplasty? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background

Total knee arthroplasty is a treatment option for debilitating arthritis. In the postoperative period, patients experience moderate to severe pain affecting the rehabilitation, hospital stay, and patient satisfaction. This study aims at utilizing current best evidence to determine whether adductor canal block (ACB) or periarticular injection (PAI) is a better modality for managing short-term postoperative pain and opioid consumption.

Why We Need Continuous Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and How to Make It Happen

We make the case for why continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing is essential, what the barriers are, and how to overcome them. To overcome them, government action is needed in terms of tax incentives or regulatory incentives that affect time.