Woess,C.; Unterberger,S.H.; Roider,C.; Ritsch-Marte,M.; Pemberger,N.; Cemper-Kiesslich,J.; Hatzer-Grubwieser,P.; Parson,W.; Pallua,J.D.; Due to the influence of many environmental processes, a precise determination of the post-mortem interval (PMI) of skeletal remains is known to be very complicated. Although methods for the investigation of the PMI exist, there still remains much room for improvement. In this study the applicability of infrared (IR) microscopic imaging techniques such as reflection-, ATR- and Raman- microscopic imaging for the estimation of the PMI of human skeletal remains was tested. [Read More]

Oberguggenberger,A.; Meraner,V.; Sztankay,M.; Beer,B.; Weigel,G.; Oberacher,H.; Kemmler,G.; Czech,T.; Holzner,B.; Wildt,L.; Sperner-Unterweger,B.; Daniaux,M.; Hubalek,M.; BACKGROUND: BMI has been suggested to impact on estrogenic activity in patients receiving anastrozole resulting in a reduced treatment efficacy in obese women. Current evidence in this regard is controversially discussed. Since estradiol is inversely correlated with gonadotropins it can be assumed that an impact of BMI is also reflected by gonadotropin plasma concentrations. We aim at investigating the impact of BMI on the hormonal state of breast cancer (BC) patients receiving anastrozole indicated by LH, FSH and SHBG as well as estradiol. [Read More]

Rathbun,M.M.; McElhoe,J.A.; Parson,W.; Holland,M.M.; Resolution of mitochondrial (mt) DNA heteroplasmy is now possible when applying a massively parallel sequencing (MPS) approach, including minor components down to 1%. However, reporting thresholds and interpretation criteria will need to be established for calling heteroplasmic variants that address a number of important topics, one of which is DNA damage. We assessed the impact of increasing amounts of DNA damage on the interpretation of minor component sequence variants in the mtDNA control region, including low-level mixed sites. [Read More]

Tillmar,A.O.; Kling,D.; Butler,J.M.; Parson,W.; Prinz,M.; Schneider,P.M.; Egeland,T.; Gusmao,L.; Forensic genetic laboratories perform an increasing amount of genetic analyses of the X chromosome, in particular to solve complex cases of kinship analysis. For some biological relationships X-chromosomal markers can be more informative than autosomal markers, and there are a large number of markers, methods and databases that have been described for forensic use. Due to their particular mode of inheritance, and their physical location on a single chromosome, some specific considerations are required when estimating the weight of evidence for X-chromosomal marker DNA data. [Read More]

Jochum,M.; Oeding,J.; Lackner,D.; Lienhart,H.; This case presents the clinical treatment of a patient with severe MDMA intoxication. The history of stimulating psychotropic substances is presented as well as the modes of action of current party drugs. Data from the Austrian Drug Report indicate a tendency away from “hard drugs” towards the consumption of cannabis and amphetamine derivates. The lethal outcome in our case demonstrates the risk potential of these substances and underlines the necessity of aggressive resuscitation efforts. [Read More]