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The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) levels in matched samples of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and subcutaneous fat from a large Australian cohort were studied to examine treatment, clinical, and demographic association with mtDNA depletion. The results confirm a tissue- and drug-specific association between nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) exposure and mtDNA levels and there was no effect of the duration of therapy, suggesting that mtDNA depletion occurs rapidly when NRTIs are commenced.

Research has been conducted on dideoxynucleoside analogues used in HIV treatment. The correlation of the tissue mitochondrial DNA quantification in HIV-infected patients with the exposure to nucleoside analog has been studied and the results are reported.

'Make me comfortable' were the last words of Sergeant First Class Randy Johnson of the United States 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. The investigation into his murder would take seven years, span three countries, and involve forensic and technical exploitation analysis in the United States and the United Kingdom. The purpose of this case study is to discuss the unique aspects of battlefield forensic science and key factors that can lead to the prosecution of foreign terrorist fighters to meet obligations under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2396 (2017) and 2322 (2016) for member states to investigate foreign terrorist fighters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacillus anthracis and Yersinia pestis are biological agents that pose an increasing concern to national security if deliberately disseminated. Hoax agents, including suspicious white powders and environmental bacterial species, can also cause disruption. In either scenario it is of high importance to rapidly and accurately identify any suspicious powder as hazardous or hoax. Protein profiling, using microfluidic capillary electrophoresis, provides a rapid (less than 40 minutes), reliable and field-based screening method. Two commonly encountered hoax agents, three Bacillus species (including B. anthracis Sterne strain), two Yersinia species and E. coli were profiled on the Experion™ System (Bio-Rad). Peak detection algorithms were developed for the identification of protein peaks in electropherograms. Boolean logic paths were then employed to predict the electrophoretic pattern of samples. Parameters assessed included variation within and between Experion™ Pro260 chips and the ability to discriminate between samples over time intervals, between operators and between field and laboratory analyses. Classification with optimal Boolean logic paths reported no misclassification with an accuracy of 100% for B. anthracis Sterne strain, B. thuringiensis (powder and culture-based), B. cereus and plain wheat flour. Overall there was 75% correct identification for the eight sample types tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species identification is an important facet of forensic investigation. In this study, human and non-human species (cow, chicken, pig, sheep, cat, dog, rabbit, fox, kangaroo and wombat) were assayed on the ViiA 7 Real-Time PCR System (Thermo Fisher Scientific) to rapidly screen for their species of origin using the high resolution melt (HRM) analysis targeting the 16S rRNA gene. Classification of HRM difference profiles using the onboard ViiA 7 software resulted in a classification accuracy of <20%. Derivative profiles (temperature versus negative first derivative of fluorescence, -dF/dT) were classified using random forest algorithms supplemented by bagging and boosting, with either a randomly partitioned test set or a variety of folds of cross-classification, in addition to a range of trees and variables. Random forest classification with bagging conditions (constructed over 500 trees) was found to considerably outperform the ViiA 7 software for species differentiation with 100% classification accuracy for biological material from humans, domestic pets (cat and dog) and consumable meats (chicken and sheep) with an average classification accuracy of 70% across all species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]