Trace element determination can be applied in forensic medicine to diagnose the cause of death. Drowning is the second leading cause of death from unintentional injury. Despite the many diagnostic methods used, the post-mortem diagnosis of drowning continues to be one of the most difficult in forensic pathology. Strontium is a highly sensitive marker of water aspiration in a liquid medium rich in this metal. The aims of this study were to confirm the diagnostic value of strontium in cases of drowning compared with other causes of death, to analyse factors that could affect its concentration and to ascertain the sensitivity and specificity of strontium in right and left ventricles and peripheral serum for the post-mortem diagnosis of drowning. We studied 120 cadavers selected from medico-legal autopsies with different causes of death. Strontium (Sr) levels were measured in the serum (left and right ventricles and peripheral vein) of all cadavers and, in the case of drowning, in the water medium itself, by using Zeeman AAS. Our results confirm the usefulness of blood Sr levels for diagnosing seawater and freshwater drowning, although great care should be exercised in the latter case.

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In our region patients with WD are diagnosed at a younger age, and in most cases for hepatic disease. Patients with neurological disease or liver cirrhosis had a high level of free copper not associated to ceruloplasmin and cupruria. The disease had a favorable evolution in all patients but those diagnosed with hepatic disease or advanced neurological disease.

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Metabolic dysfunction arising from missing or impaired enzymes comprising the branched chain amino acid (BCAA) degradation pathway, especially those involving leucine, can result in the accumulation of toxic metabolic intermediates and cause severe metabolic disease. Removal of dietary BCAAs via their degradation by engineered microbes could be a viable approach to prevent BCAA-mediated disease sequelae. In this article, we describe the design and construction of an engineered leucine degrading strain of E. coli Nissle, the improvement of the degradation pathway through high throughput screening, and the demonstration of strain activity in animal models monitored by disease and strain-specific biomarkers. This work provides a path for the development of engineered probiotic bacterial strains as a treatment for BCAA-related metabolic disorders in humans.