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While it is well established that a mere 2% of human DNA nucleotides are involved in protein coding, the remainder of the DNA plays a vital role in the preservation of normal cellular genetic function. A significant proportion of tandem repeats (TRs) are present in non-coding DNA. TRs - specific sequences of nucleotides that entail numerous repetitions of a given fragment. In this study, we employed our novel algorithm grounded in finite automata theory, which we refer to as Dafna, to investigate for the first time the likelihood of these nucleotide sequences forming non-canonical DNA structures (NS). Such structures include G-quadruplexes, i-motifs, hairpins, and triplexes. The tandem repeats under consideration in our research encompassed sequences containing 1 to 6 nucleotides per repeated fragment. For comparison, we employed a set of randomly generated sequences of the same length (60 nucleotides) as a benchmark. The outcomes of our research exposed a disparity between the potential for NS formation in random sequences and tandem repeats. Our findings affirm that the propensity of DNA and RNA to form NS is closely tied to various genetic disorders, including Huntington's disease, Fragile X syndrome, and Friedreich's ataxia. In the concluding discussion, we present a proposal for a new therapeutic mechanism to address these diseases. This novel approach revolves around the ability of specific nucleic acid fragments to form multiple types of NS., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The article is devoted to legal and forensic medical problems of postmortem donation. The substantive provisions of postmortem donation, as well as normative legal documents regulating the processes of organs harvesting from deceased persons for subsequent transplantation and governing the work of transplantologists and forensic medical experts have been considered. The practical examples illustrating the essence and nature of the problem of postmortem forensic medical expertise of persons with absent organs has been given and the importance of the participation of a forensic medical expert involved in the decision-making process on possibility (or impossibility) of the corpse's organs and tissues explantation without prejudice to the further expert examination has been emphasized. The authors pay particular attention to the inadequacy of the legal framework, including the lack of a clear understanding of the legal status of the person holding the position of forensic medical expert, who provides an expert opinion on the organs' explantation.

The article presents the results of analysis of doctors' practical training as well as scientific research using organs and tissues of the deceased person. The main problematic aspects preventing appropriate realization of the possibility to use the unclaimed bodies, organs and tissues of the deceased person for these purposes are highlighted based on the study of regulatory framework controlling these activities, scientific publications on defined topic, as well as the direct authors' participation in the training of resident doctors and PhD students.

The Aim of the Study: Was to selectively determine the occurrence frequency of polymorphic alleles in candidate genes of hereditary predisposition to increased thrombosis (T) in persons with mechanical trauma of musculoskeletal system (MS), who died from pulmonary artery thromboembolia (PATE). A total of 48 deaths from PATE cases of sufferers with MS trauma. The character of single nucleotide polymorphisms carriage (SNPC) in 13 candidate genes of hereditary predisposition to increased T (in genes, responsible for the synthesis of plasma proteins of the hemostatic system, platelet factors affecting tension of vessel wall and folate cycle) was determined. It has been established that the most common «mutant» alleles are found in PAI-1 -675 5G/4G, MTHFR 677 CT and MTRR 66AG genes, and in 87.8, 53.85 and 75.0% of the analysed cases, respectively. The consideration of SNP carriage character in the genes of predisposition to increased T is required for the full expert judgement on the causality between a mechanical trauma and PATE.

In the present review, numerous experimental and theoretical data describing the properties of non-canonical DNA structures (NSs) are analyzed. NSs (G-quadruplex, i-motif, hairpin, and triplex) play an important role in epigenetic processes (including the genetic variability of viruses), are prone to energetically low-cost conformational transformations and can very effectively be used in the design of nanoscale devices. Numerous experimental data have been analyzed in connection with the so-called oligonucleotides-transformers (nucleotide sequences that able to fold not only into one, but also into several NSs). These sequences were recently predicted by our calculations using automata and graph theories ("Dafna" algorithm). Possible applications of the oligonucleotides-transformers in nanoengineering and genetic editing of organisms are considered., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The aim of this study is to describe the morphological and functional characteristics of the cardiac in sudden infants death syndrome (SIDS) in children under one year of age. Twenty eight cases of SIDS were studied histologically and immunohistochemically. Histological examination of the sectional material was carried out using standard and additional stains. The study of cardiac muscle tissue with routine staining with haematoxylin-eosin revealed interstitial oedema, uneven plethora of blood vessels: dystonia and weak plethora of part of the coronary arteries, excess of red blood cells in the veins as well as microcirculatory plethora with stasis of the erythrocytes. An immunohistochemical study revealed a mild over expression of p53 in cellular elements, small-focal expression of CD68 in cardiomyocytes apoptosis intramural areas, activation of mast cells (CD117), expression of ki-67 in macrophages, proliferation of fibroblasts. Additional forensic criteria for the diagnosis of SIDS were determined in the form of atrial endocardial fibrosis and interventricular septum; the expression of CD68, CD117 in fibroblasts, mast cells and lymphocytes; apoptosis of cardiomyocytes (expression of p53), proliferation of fibroblasts and remodeling of the heart (expression of ki-67).

The study objective was to investigate soft tissue microcirculation in the area of a lower limb long bone fracture. We studied fractures of the lower limb long bones from 0 to 7 days of age in 17 males and 37 females. The mean age of patients was 57.33±2.53 years. Histological examination of soft tissues from the area of the lower limb long bone fracture and at the distance from the fracture was performed. Standard hematoxylin and eosin staining was used. The thickness and diameter of arterioles, venules, and capillaries were evaluated by morphometry of the sections made. The observed pattern reflects the response of the microcirculation of the soft tissues to the mechanical impact. The relative ratio of the artery diameter to the small-caliber vein diameter was 1.01±0.13, and the artery wall thickness to the vein wall thickness was 2.03±0.28, which can be considered a natural reaction of the microcirculation blood vessels to the mechanical impact in 1-1.5 weeks after the formed fracture of the lower limb long bone.

This paper presents a review of modern fundamental research studies investigating the age-related changes of connective, cartilage, nervous and bone tissues. A methodological and mathematical basis for the analysis of the obtained results is proposed. The conducted analysis enabled the formulation of a new scientific direction - the forensic medical determination of age in the identification of individuals in emergency situations with mass casualties. A scientifically grounded theory of digital forensic diagnostics of age, general regularities of development and some differences of age adaptation of connective, cartilage, nervous and bone tissues, including the phenomena of heterochronicity, heterotopy and heterogeneity resulted. The results of this research determine the direction of further research by improving the methods of quantitative age morphology, molecular autopsy, digital technologies and the formation of a technologically based concept for the registration of identifying biological features.

This paper provides a review of the modern literature devoted to the problem of forensic medical interpretation of the molecular genetic research of the young who died suddenly. The authors attempted to draw a parallel between the morphological markers of different variants of cardiomyopathy as the most common disease in sudden death at a young age and the association with genetic mutations in the genes responsible for the synthesis of sarcomer proteins, desmos and membrane channels. Based on the results of the analysis, further research is proposed to improve the accuracy of forensic diagnosis in cases of young deaths.