Analysis of STR loci in Cartagena, a Caribbean city of Colombia

Allele frequencies, together with some parameters of forensic interest were estimated for nine STRs included in the AmpF/STR Profiler kit (CSF1PO, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D13S317, FGA, TH01, TPOX and vWA) in a sample of 215 unrelated individuals from Cartagena (Colombia). For all loci, no significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were observed. Comparative analysis results between our data and those from other Colombian and African population samples revealed significant differences, except with two Colombian Caribbean Coast sub-regions.     

Issue Voting as a Constrained Choice Problem

Prevalent models of issue voting view vote choice as a choice among party policies. Choice sets are implicitly assumed to be the same for all voters, and their composition is left to researchers' discretion. This article aims to relax such assumptions by presenting a model with a varying probability of inclusion in the choice set. We apply the “constrained choice conditional logistic regression” to survey data from the 1989 parliamentary election in Norway to examine the effects of party identification of voters and electoral viability and policy extremity of parties on individual voters' choice set compositions. Further, we look into the effect of parties' policy positions on their electoral fates under alternative assumptions about the composition of voters' choice sets. We find that voters' choice set composition conditions both the effects of their policy considerations on vote choice and those of parties' policy offerings on their electoral fates.     

Genetic variability of 16 Y-chromosome STRs in a sample from Equatorial Guinea (Central Africa)

Nine Y-STR loci from the "minimal haplotype" included in Y-STR Haplotype Reference Databases (YHRD) together with eight additional Y-STRs (DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS460, DYS461, GATA C4, GATA H4 and GATA A10) were analyzed in a sample of 101 males from Equatorial Guinea living in Madrid. Haplotype and allelic frequencies were calculated and genetic diversities were estimated for each genetic system as well as for the whole haplotype. An unexpected high frequency (6%) of intermediate alleles (13.2 and 14.2) was found in DYS385. For DYS19, two alleles were found in one sample. Another sample failed to amplify with DYS393 primers using either PowerPlex Y System (Promega Corporation) or the Y-PLEXtrade mark 12 (Reliagene, New Orleans, LA) commercial kits. Comparison between Equatorial Guinea and another African population (Mozambique; South East Coast) revealed a significant pairwise Phi(st) value between them (Phi(st)=0.03309; P=0.00000).     

Y-chromosomal STR haplotypes in three ethnic groups and one cosmopolitan population from Tunisia

The 11 Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) included in the Promega Corporation PowerPlex Y System (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385, DYS437, DYS438 and DYS439) were typed in three ethnic groups ("Andalusians", Berber and Arab) and one cosmopolitan population (Tunis) from Tunisia, summing up 247 individuals, and 139 different haplotypes. Focusing the analysis on the seven Y-STRs of the YHRD Minimal Haplotype Core (DYS385 excepted), "Andalusians" showed no differences from the Cosmopolitan and the Arab samples previously published (our Arab sample presented an extremely low haplotype diversity), but were different from the Berbers. The Berbers from Tunisia were not different from those from Morocco.     

STR analysis of artificially degraded DNA-results of a collaborative European exercise

Degradation of human DNA extracted from forensic stains is, in most cases, the result of a natural process due to the exposure of the stain samples to the environment. Experiences with degraded DNA from casework samples show that every sample may exhibit different properties in this respect, and that it is difficult to systematically assess the performance of routinely used typing systems for the analysis of degraded DNA samples. Using a batch of artificially degraded DNA with an average fragment size of approx. 200 bp a collaborative exercise was carried out among 38 forensic laboratories from 17 European countries. The results were assessed according to correct allele detection, peak height and balance as well as the occurrence of artefacts. A number of common problems were identified based on these results such as strong peak imbalance in heterozygous genotypes for the larger short tandem repeat (STR) fragments after increased PCR cycle numbers, artefact signals and allelic drop-out. Based on the observations, strategies are discussed to overcome these problems. The strategies include careful balancing of the amount of template DNA and the PCR cycle numbers, the reaction volume and the amount of Taq polymerase. Furthermore, a careful evaluation of the results of the fragment analysis and of automated allele calling is necessary to identify the correct alleles and avoid artefacts.     

Tissue concentrations of MDMA and its metabolite MDA in three fatal cases of overdose

The recreational use of amphetamine derivatives has become increasingly popular in our country in past recent years. Their use is especially common among young people participating in dance parties known as "raves." As a direct consequence of their increased use, the number of fatal cases in which these compounds have been involved have increased dramatically since the second half of the last decade. In our laboratory, we have registered 25 cases related to amphetamine derivatives use since 1996. Three of them were deeply studied and the results obtained are presented in this paper. This information may be useful for the interpretation of the results obtained in toxicological analysis in the cases in which death may be attributed to MDMA use.     

Analysis of STR loci in Cartagena, a Caribbean city of Colombia

Allele frequencies, together with some parameters of forensic interest were estimated for nine STRs included in the AmpF/STR Profiler kit (CSF1PO, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D13S317, FGA, TH01, TPOX and vWA) in a sample of 215 unrelated individuals from Cartagena (Colombia). For all loci, no significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were observed. Comparative analysis results between our data and those from other Colombian and African population samples revealed significant differences, except with two Colombian Caribbean Coast sub-regions.     

Chimpanzee homologous of human Y specific STRs. A comparative study and a proposal for nomenclature

Eleven Y specific microsatellites, previously studied in humans, were typed for fragment length and sequenced in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).The primers described by Ayub et al. (Nucleic Acids Res. 28, 2000, 2) for amplifying DYS434, DYS435, DYS436, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439 and those described by White et al. (Genomics, 57, 1999, 433) for GATA A10, A7.1, A7.2, C4, and H4, were used to amplify DNA samples from chimpanzees.Primers described for Y GATA A4 were found to amplify the same region as reported for DYS439. Moreover, the GATA A4 forward primer only matches the repeat flanking region in 14 of the 28bp, being responsible for a very weak amplification. Therefore, this system was not included in this study.The analysis of the repeat and sequence structure observed in chimpanzee and human Y chromosomes allowed evolutionary comparisons as well as the basis for improving Y STR nomenclature and therefore, a unified nomenclature for these novel STRs is proposed to the scientific community following ISFG recommendations.     

Towards more digital cities? Change in technology use and perceptions across small and medium-sized US cities

ABSTRACT

There is continuous pressure on public managers to adopt information and communication technologies (ICTs) to transform the way cities work. E-government research provides insights on the institutional, organisational, and individual factors that shape technology adoption and use. Yet most studies on small and medium sized cities use cross-sectional data or rely on small samples. We lack a systematic understanding of how technology use in smaller cities has changed over time and where these cities are lagging. Drawing from a multi-year, multi-method national study of city government technology use, we describe advancements and gaps in the enactment of a range of technologies, from social media to open data portals, and explore variation across city population, department type, and manager age. Our findings show that smaller cities still lag in the adoption of key features while local government managers are more inclined to adopt and positively perceive social media than traditional ICTs.     

Circulación de modelos y centralidad de los códigos civiles en el derecho privado latinoamericano

This work presupposes the existence of a family of laws which can be situated in the extensive system of codified laws based on the Roman tradition, and within it a Latin American group, and seeks to organize the material within the context in which it has been produced, with the aim of achieving greater comprehension of the formation of the private law in Latin America, highlighting the models and influences used, the intervention of jurists and the significance it took on for the different societies, the characteristics of the mentioned process and the causes for its early or tardy consolidation.