Paternity Testing Commission of the International Society of Forensic Genetics: recommendations on genetic investigations in paternity cases

The International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) has established a Paternity Testing Commission (PTC) with the purpose of formulating international recommendations concerning genetic investigations in paternity testing. The PTC recommends that paternity testing be performed in accordance with the ISO 17025 standards. The ISO 17025 standards are general standards for testing laboratories and the PTC offers explanations and recommendations concerning selected areas of special importance to paternity testing.     

“It’s Like Standing on a Beach,Holding Your Children’s Hands,and Having a Tsunami Just Coming Towards You”: Intimate Partner Violence and “Expert” Assessments in Australian Family Law

The ways in which postseparation parenting disputes are managed has undergone significant change in Australia since the Family Law Act (Cth) was first enacted in 1975. The best interests of children have always been paramount in children’s cases and over the last 20 years, this concept has been legislatively shaped to include ongoing beneficial post separation parental relationships and protection from harm. A critical piece of evidence to inform a Family Court’s decision making in such matters is a family report, which is an expert assessment compiled by a social science professional. The authors report findings from an Australian based qualitative study exploring the experiences of family report assessment practice from the perspective of victim mothers who have separated from men who perpetrate intimate partner violence. The authors conclude that reforms are necessary to improve the practice and procedure of family report writing in Australia. Such reforms should ensure that the lived experience of victims of intimate partner violence is validated, assessment processes have victim efficacy, and the outcomes of such reports do not put women and their children at ongoing risk of harm.     

Age Estimation Based on DNA Methylation Using Blood Samples From Deceased Individuals

Age estimation using DNA methylation levels has been widely investigated in recent years because of its potential application in forensic genetics. The main aim of this study was to develop an age predictor model (APM) for blood samples of deceased individuals based in five age-correlated genes. Fifty-one samples were analyzed through the bisulfite polymerase chain reaction (PCR) sequencing method for DNA methylation evaluation in genes ELOVL2, FHL2, EDARADD, PDE4C, and C1orf132. Linear regression was used to analyze relationships between methylation levels and age. The model using the highest age-correlated CpG from each locus revealed a correlation coefficient of 0.888, explaining 76.3% of age variation, with a mean absolute deviation from the chronological age (MAD) of 6.08 years. The model was validated in an independent test set of 19 samples producing a MAD of 8.84 years. The developed APM seems to be informative and could have potential application in forensic analysis.     

Opting out for Getting in: Existential Mobility in European Graduates’ Migration to Asia

Abstract

This article examines young Europeans’ emigration from Europe. Qualitative interviews with mostly white Europeans in Singapore and Tokyo reveal how these young migrants’ motility, or “potential to move”, enables them to migrate through largely overlooked channels. Fear of immobility in Europe triggers these highly-educated Europeans’ existential and physical mobility to Asia where they compete with host-country nationals and non-white migrants for jobs. Categorization into three types of access to employment unpacks the complexity behind graduates’ mobility trajectories out of the European labor market and demonstrates their rising precariousness in post-Lehman shock Europe and their changing bargaining power in the world.     

Challenges to Decentralization of Disaster Management in Turkey: The Role of Political-Administrative Context

Global disaster policy frameworks promote decentralization as a prerequisite of good disaster governance. Using 44 interviews, this study contributes to the literature that focuses on disasters and decentralization by investigating three systemic mechanisms that seemingly challenge decentralization of disaster management in Turkey: introduction of oversight systems, resource-allocation failure, and central–local collaboration. The results indicate that these mechanisms are enabled by a combination of political-administrative system characteristics and disaster-induced processes. To better understand how to secure the benefits of decentralization, we should engage with a wide range of disaster management actor perspectives, and integrate research on political-administrative systems and collaborative governance.     

The murderer is the bed: an unusual case of death by traumatic asphyxia in a hotel folding bunk bed

This paper presents the first referenced case on a death by traumatic asphyxia in a folding bunk bed. A middle-aged man was found dead in a hotel room trapped into a lower folding bunk bed where he had been sleeping after a party. The autopsy showed signs of asphyxia and excluded signs of struggle and sexual intercourse. Toxicological analyses revealed alcohol intoxication. A differential diagnosis of the manner of death including a technical study of the bed which contributed to understand the circumstances of death was made. The medico-legal investigation of the case strongly supported the hypothesis of an accidental death by traumatic asphyxia.     

Automation of the Differential Digestion Process of Sexual Assault Evidence,

Sexual assault evidence samples require the use of a specific process known as a differential digestion to separate sperm from nonsperm cells prior to DNA extraction. An automated differential digestion process was developed using a selective degradation technique, which uses DNase I to digest the remaining nonsperm DNA in the sperm fraction. The use of DNase on pristine samples, as well as aged and degraded samples, was assessed to ensure that the quantity and quality of the sperm DNA were not compromised or adversely affected. Samples processed using the selective degradation technique yielded comparable DNA yield and DNA typing data to the conventional differential digestion process. The automated process utilized 96‐well plates for high throughput and incorporated microscope slide preparations for confirmation of sperm. It reduced processing time by about sixfold and was paramount in the elimination of the Oakland Police Department Criminalistics Laboratory's sexual assault kit backlog.     

Reliability and validity of eight dental age estimation methods for adults

This paper evaluates the reliability and validity of eight published dental age estimation methods for adults that may aid in victim identification. Age was calculated on 20 Caucasian teeth of known age according to the methods of Kvaal (for in situ and extracted teeth), Solheim (for in situ and sectioned teeth), Lamendin (for extracted teeth), Johanson (for sectioned teeth) and Bang (for extracted and sectioned teeth) by one independent observer. For each method, mean age error and standard error were assessed as the measures of accuracy and precision. In addition, method simplicity, requirements for tooth preparation and the equipment necessary were assessed and recommendations given for forensic use in various situations. Methods for sectioned teeth gave more reliable results when compared to methods for intact teeth.     

Results of the GEP-ISFG collaborative study on the Y chromosome STRs GATA A10, GATA C4, GATA H4, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS460 and DYS461: population data

The Spanish and Portuguese ISFG Working Group (GEP-ISFG) carried out a collaborative exercise in order to asses the performance of two Y chromosome STR tetraplexes, which include the loci DYS461, GATA C4, DYS437 and DYS438 (GEPY I), and DYS460, GATA A10, GATA H4 and DYS439 (GEPY II). The groups that reported correct results in all the systems were also asked to analyse a population sample in order to evaluate the informative content of these STRs in different populations. A total of 1020 males out of 13 population samples from Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Macao, Mozambique, Portugal and Spain were analysed for all the loci included in the present study. Haplotype and allele frequencies of these eight Y-STRs were estimated in all samples. The lowest haplotype diversity was found in the Lara (Argentina) population (95.44%) and the highest (99.90%) in Macao (China). Pairwise haplotype analysis showed the relative homogeneity of the Iberian origin samples, in accordance with what was previously found in the European populations for other Y-STR haplotypes (http://www.ystr.org). As expected, the four non-Caucasian samples, Macao (Chinese), Mozambique (Africans), Costa Rica (Africans) and Argentina (Lara, Amerindians), show highly significant Phist values in the pairwise comparisons with all the Caucasian samples.