Distribution and metabolic pathway of flualprazolam in rat

Objective To probe into the distribution and metabolic pathway of flualprazolam plus its main metabolite (α – hydroxylflualprazolam) in rat. Methods 40 SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups and fasted for 12 hours, with the first group being fed of flualprazolam by gavage as per 0.45 mg/kg and having their respective blood collected from tail vein at different time and each one’s urine received every day after administration. The second group was taken as the blank control to the first one. The third group was executed at 0.25h after drug administration, having their respective blood, heart, liver, lung, kidney, brain, spleen and muscle collected and extracted with rapid solvent extraction. The fourth group was the blank control against the third one. The distributing and metabolizing flualprazolam and α-hydroxyflualprazolam were detected through HPLC-MS/MS. Results Flualprazolam was found of rapid distributing and metabolizing in rats, reaching its highest blood concentration within 0.25h, having shown its sequential distribution in various organs as follows: kidney > brain > heart > liver > spleen > muscle > muscle > lung > blood. Yet, α-hydroxyflualprazolam demonstrated its discrepant organ-specific distributing order: liver > kidney > heart > spleen > lung > muscle > blood > brain. Conclusion The experiment has showed the distribution and degradation of flualprazolam and its main metabolite in rats who were administered of flualprazolam by gavage, capable of providing scientific basis for flualprazolam to test in vivo and have its metabolic pathway analyzed. © 2021, Editorial Office of Forensic Science and Technology. All rights reserved.     

The Impact of Gender,Age and Tissues in vitro on Estimating Postmortem Interval by FTIR Spectroscopy

To investigate the influence of such individual factors as gender,age and tissues in vitro to the postmortem interval(PMI) by the Fourier transform infrared(FTIR) spectrometer in animal experiments.SD rats were classified into male and female groups,different age groups(21-day,42-day and 63-day group),and tissues in vitro and in vivo groups.The rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation,whose bodies were kept in a controlled environmental chamber set at(20±2) ℃ and 50% humidity.The liver,kidney,spleen,myocardium,brain,lung and skeletal muscle tissues were collected for measurement from time zero to 48 h postmortem.With the change of PMI,no obvious changes were found in the main FTIR absorbance peaks and their ratios at different time points.All the experimental groups showed no significant changes when compared with the controls.The gender,age and tissues in vitro were not found to be contributing factors in the estimation of PMI via FTIR spectroscopy.     

Negative Modulation of NO for Diaphragmatic Contractile Reduction Induced by Sepsis and Restraint Position

In practice of forensic medicine, potential disease can be associated with fatal asphyxia in restraint position. Research has demonstrated that nitric oxide （NO） and nitric oxide synthase （NOS） are plentifully distributed in skeletal muscle, contributing to the regulation of contractile and relaxation. In the current study, respiratory functions, indices of diaphragmatic biomechanical functions ex vivo, as well as NO levels in serum, the expressions of diaphragmatic inducible NOS （iNOS） mRNA, and the effects of LNNA on contractility of the diaphragm were observed in sepsis induced by cecal ligation and puncture （CLP） under the condition of restraint position. The results showed that in the CLP1218 h rats, respiratory dysfunctions; indices of diaphragmatic biomechanical functions （Pt, ＋dT/dtmax, dT/dtmax, CT, Po, force over the full range of the forcefrequency relationship and fatigue resistance ） declined progressively; the NO level in serum, and iNOS mRNA expression in the diaphragm increased progressively; force increased significantly at all stimulation frequencies after LNNA preincubation. Restraint position 1 h in CLP12 h rats resulted in severe respiratory dysfunctions after relative stable respiratory functions, almost all the indices of diaphragmatic biomechanical functions declined further, whereas little change took place in NO level in serum and diaphragmatic iNOS mRNA expression; and the effects of LNNA were lack of statistical significance compared with those of CLP12 h, but differed from CLP18 h group. These results suggest that restraint position and sepsis act together in a synergistic manner to aggravate the great reduction of diaphragmatic contractility via, at least in part, the negative modulation of NO, which may contribute to the pathogenesis of positional asphyxia.     

Mathematical Models for Teenager’s Living Age Evaluation Based on CT Image of Medial Clavicular Epiphysis

Objective To explore the correlation between volume rendering(VR) statistics of medial clavicular epiphysis and living age,and establish the mathematical models for living age evaluation using the CT image of medial clavicular epiphysis based on the growth rules of osteoepiphysis of medial clavicle.Methods The CT images of the medial clavicles from 795 teenagers aged 15-25,387 males and 408 females,were collected in East and South China.VR 3D images were reconstructed from 0.60 mm-thick slice CT images.The epiphyseal diameter,sternal end diameter,and their respective diameter ratio(the left: x 1;the right: x 3);epiphyseal area,sternal end area,and their respective area ratio(the left: x 2;the right: x 4),were measured and calculated.All these observations were analyzed using SPSS 19.0 statistical software.The statistical differences in gender and age were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test.The mathematical models were established using least square.Sixty trained subjects,30 males and 30 females,were tested to verify the accuracy of the established mathematical models.Results In the group of same age,x 1 showed significant difference in gender;the same results were observed in x 2,x 3,and x 4,which suggested that the growth rules of osteoepiphysis of medial clavicle were highly correlated with living age.The accuracy of these mathematical models were all above 67.6%(±1.0 year) and 78.5%(±1.5 year).Conclusion The mathematical models with reasonable accuracy could be manageable in practice to confirm the conclusion of the atlas method.The current study can contribute to the single skeletal age evaluation.     

Relative Expression of Indicators for Wound Age Estimation in Forensic Pathology

Objective In order to understand which kind of function genes play an important role for estimating wound age, the variation of difference genes' mRNA expression were compared after injury.Methods The mRNA expression levels of seven candidate genes(ICAM-1, NF-κB, MX2, MT1, MT2,s TnI, and Cox6c) were analyzed in contused rat skeletal muscle at different time points using real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR(RT-qP CR). The raw Ct values were normalized relative to that of RPL32 mRNA, and converted to standard Ct values. At each time point after injury, the standard deviations(SD) of the standard Ct values were calculated by SPSS. Results The expression trends of the seven genes were all found to be related to wound age, but there were lower variation coefficients and greater reliability of s TnI and Cox6c when compared with other genes. Conclusion The genes encoding structural proteins or proteins that perform basic functions can be suitable for wound age estimation.     

The expression of cultural and religious practice： A constitutional test

Various conventions and national constitutions are differently worded and the interpretation of national constitutions, in particular, reflects different approaches to the concepts of equality and non-discrimination. Different approaches adopted in the different national jurisdictions arise not only from different textual provisions and from different historical circumstances, but also from different jurisprudential and philosophical understanding of equality. The jurisprudence of courts makes clear that the proper reach of the equality right must be determined by reference to the society＇s history and the underlying values of the Constitution. It has been observed that a major constitutional object is the creation of a non-racial and non-sexist egalitarian society underpinned by human dignity, the rule of law, a democratic ethos and human rights. From there emerges a concept of equality that goes beyond mere formal equality and mere non-discrimination which requires identical treatment, whatever the starting point or impact. The question is, how does the state, in limiting religious freedom, conform to the standards of an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom？ The hope is that the conclusion of this paper will then be able to be extended to more controversial cases, in particular, involving limits on the right to freedom of expression, culture and belief.     

Casualisation and international labour standards： The role of trade unions in Nigeria

Casualisation is a new form of work arrangement occasioned by globalisation and trade liberalisation. This development was facilitated by the technological improvements in communication and information technology. Scholars have attributed the shift from standard work arrangements to nonstandard work arrangements to the fact that employers use it to avoid the mandates and costs associated with labour laws which are designed to protect permanent employees. Casualisation became a feature of Nigerian labour market in the late 1980＇s and is traceable to the adoption of the Structural Adjustment Programme in line with the neoliberal policies prescribed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. One of the effects of this policy was the retrenchment of workers in the public sector which created large scale unemployment. However, the private sector which was to be strengthened by government policies to absorb these workers could not absorb all the retrenched workers from the public sector. Therefore, many of them were employed as casual and contract workers with low remuneration, limited benefits and lack of right to organise. This development led to a ＇race to the bottom＇ of labour standards. This paper seeks to examine the adequacy of labour laws governing trade unionism in Nigeria in ensuring the right of nonstandard workers to freedom of association, as well as their conformity to international labour standards. It is argued that Nigerian labour laws are inadequate and need to be reformed in order to give protection to casual and contract workers in many sectors of the economy and to guarantee their right to unionise in order to enable them improve their rights at works.     

Time-dependent Appearances of Myofibroblasts during the Re-pair of Contused Skeletal Muscle in Rat and Its Application for Wound Age Determination

Objective To research the relation between the time-dependent appearances of myofibroblasts during the repair of contused skeletal muscle in rat and wound age determination. Methods A total of 35 SD male rats were divided into the control and six injured groups according to wound age as follows: 12 h, 1 d, 5 d, 7 d, 10 d and 14 d after injury. The appearances of myofibroblasts were detected by HE staining, immunohistochemistry and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Masson’s trichrome staining was utilized to examine collagen accumulation in the contused areas. Results Immunohistochemical staining showed that α-SMA+myofibroblasts were initially observed at 5 d post-injury. The average ratio of myofibroblasts was highest at 14 d post-injury, with all samples, ratios more than 50%. In the other five groups, the average of α-SMA positive ratios were less than 50%. The collagen stained areas in the contused zones, concomitant with myofibroblast appearance, were increasingly augmented along with advances of posttraumatic interval. Conclusion The immunohistochemical detection of myofibroblasts can be applied to wound age determination. The myofibroblasts might be involved in collagen deposition during the repair of contused skeletal muscle in rat.     

Foster children＇s right to family： A description and analysis of the legislative approach in Sweden

This paper emphasizes the foster children＇s right to family life and investigates whether change of custody and guardianship to foster parents is a successful option to achieve this right. Using CRC as the base for my definition of the right to family I will include the right to continuity, well-being and a family environment in the understanding of the term ＂right to family＂ in this article. These rights may, primarily, be fulfilled by the child＇s parents, and, if necessary for the best interest of the child, be complemented or substituted by foster or adoption parents. The analysis of different solutions concerning state interventions will base on Swedish law. In Sweden, a child in need of help or assistance as a result of abuse, neglect, or other inappropriate behavior in the home setting may be helped by the Social Welfare Committee-voluntarily or by a court order-in the child＇s home or a foster home. Other alternatives contain judicial involvement by changing custody and guardianship or making a decision for adoption. Since many years ago, the most commonly used alternative for children needing long term placements outside their homes in Sweden has become foster care. This development of many long-term placements has been criticized for not fulfilling the needs of the children, especially their needs for family continuity, stability and well-being. As a consequence, an amendment to the Social Services Act 200l was enacted in 2003 which states that the Social Services Committee shall consider the ＂permanence＂ of foster care by changing custody and guardianship to the foster parents three years later since a child starts in foster care, and every six months thereafter, as long as the child remains in the foster parents＇ care. Assuming that the foster parents are fit and willing to become custodians and guardians, and the child views the foster home as his or her home, the District Court can decide to change the custody and the guardianship to the foster parents. The assessment is to be based solely on the best interest of the child, and not on the fitness or wishes of the original custodian. However, can changing the custody and guardianship assist foster children＇s right to family？ This paper elaborates on this question by describing a legal reform in Sweden.     

Relationship between the Change Rules of Volatile Organic Compounds in Rat Muscle and Postmortem IntervalCSCD

Objective: To explore the relationship between the change rules of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in rat muscle and postmortem interval (PMI). Methods: A total of 120 healthy rats were divided randomly into 12 groups (10 for each group). After the rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, the bodies were kept at (25±1) ℃ Rat muscle samples were separately obtained at 12 PMI points, including 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 d. The VOCs in rat muscles were collected, detected and ana-lyzed by headspace solid-phase micro extraction (HS-SPME) coupled to gas chromatography-mass spec-trometer (GC-MS). Results: In total, 15 species of VOCs were identified, including 9 aromatic compounds, 3 sulfur compounds, 2 aliphatic acids and 1 heterocyclic compound. The species of VOCs increased with PMI: no species were detected within 1 day, 3 species were detected on day 2, 9 on day 3, 11 on day 4, 14 from day 5 to 7, and 15 from day 8 to 10. Total peak area of 15 species of VOCs was significantly correlated to PMI (adjusted R2=0.15-0.96): the regression function was y=-17.05 x2+164.36x-246.36 (adjusted R2=0.96) from day 2 to 5, and y=2.24x+101.13 (adjusted R2=0.97) from day 6 to 10. Conclusion: The change rules of VOCs in rat muscle are helpful for PMI estimation. © 2017 by the Editorial Department of Journal of Forensic Medicine.     

Factors affecting women＇s participation in indigenous conflict resolution in Issa and Gurgura Clans of Somali,Eastern Ethiopia

This article tries to explore the factors affecting women＇s participation in indigenous conflict resolution among the Issa and Gurgura clans of Somali ethnic group. It also tries to explore the system of conflict resolution among the Issa and Gurgura clans and women＇s representation in the system. It assesses the role of women in the formation of social capital through marriage and blood relations between the different clans. Women are the primary agent in the formation of social capital between clans or ethnic groups. The paper focuses on some of the important elements of the socio-cultural settings of the study community that are in one way or another related to conflict and indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms. It also examines the positive aspects of marriage practices in the formation of social capital which strengthens friendship and unity instead of enmity.     

A review of developments and changes in the world＇s constitutions

The constitution is a living document, which being the case, there is a need to increase the understanding of the constitution through systematic research and teaching at various levels. This paper aims to be a catalyst that inspires creative action to claim and advance certain new constitutional rights encapsulated in various world＇s constitutions. It seeks to raise awareness of new constitutional rights. World＇s most constitutions have incorporated constitutional provisions that ensure the entrenched new fundamental human rights. The latest constitutions, including South African constitution of 1996 are advanced and have included significant number of rights which were left out in the old constitutions. The courts are given the widest possible powers to develop and forge new remedies for protection of constitutional rights and the enforcement of constitutional duties.     

The impact of mining rights on the local communities in Limpopo Province, South Africa： A comparative study

The paper aims to give an account of the substance and support the development of community based organizations in balancing their interests against the interests of the mining industries. It further examines the issue of the protection of social and economic right in the context of the globalization of the activities of multinational mining and petroleum companies, as illustrated by different instances of increasing state withdrawal and with regard to specific African countries. In Africa, economic liberalization has been accompanied by a programmed redefining of the role of the state withdrawal from certain areas： planning, production and social reform, a reorientation of state intervention from certain other areas, redistribution, regulation and mediation etc, with a view of promoting a particular type of growth strategy based on promotion of private economic interests. This process has led to the delegitimation and weakening of states which were already characterized by fiscal crises, notably in countries under structural adjustment. While the process of reconceptualisation of the role of the state is not specific to Africa, its impact has been particularly significant with regard to the possibility of implementing developmental strategies designed to protect social and economic rights.     

Gender and sexual orientation in women： The double discrimination

Nowadays, sexual orientation is a cause of discrimination with its own autonomy in laws of European Union. The Treaty of Amsterdam, which came into force on May 1, 1999, marks a significant milestone for homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual persons. In this process, the rich experience of the European Union in combating discrimination due to gender in the workplace is very important. The great opportunity created by article 13 of the Treaty of Amsterdam was the extension of protection to a much wider range of discrimination, including sexual orientation. On the other hand, if we consider the situation of lesbian, bisexual and transsexual women in the workplace, it may be very difficult to ascertain if the discrimination is due to their gender or their sexual orientation. In fact, cases of double discrimination are very common. For example, The Commission＇s 1991 Code of Practices on Sexual Harassment states that lesbian women are disproportionately at risk of sexual harassment. This is revealing the potential overlaps between gender and sexual orientation, with a great difficulty to adapt anti-discrimination protections to deal with these situations.     

Impact of the popular legal participation on forced confessions and wrongful convictions in Japan＇s bureaucratic courtroom： A cross-national analysis in the U.S. and Japan

The interrogation and lengthy detention of the accused by Japan＇s police and prosecutors without access to legal counsel has generated many forced confessions in Japan＇s criminal court. As results, past research estimated that a large number of innocent people have been falsely convicted, and some of them were even executed for crimes they have not committed. Since almost all of indicted cases result in convictions in Japan＇s criminal court, allegations of wrongful convictions have raised serious human rights issues, and the use of forced confessions in criminal proceedings has long been criticized by families of the accused, their attorneys, legal scholars, citizen activists, and international human rights groups. This paper examines whether or not the 2009 introduction of the Saiban-in Saiban （the quasi-jury trial）, where ordinary citizens deliberate together with Japan＇s bureaucratic judges, helps prevent instances of wrongful convictions. As Japan＇s high conviction rate has substantiated that the Japanese court may be another bureaucratic system that is more interested in preserving its own authority and maintaining the status quo, the infusion of non-bureaucratic legal participants into the traditional judicial process may create the potential to alter the nature of trial processes, the quality of deliberations, and thus ultimate outcomes of criminal trials. Based on interviews and survey responses from Japan＇s grand jury （i.e., Kensatsu Shinsa-kai, or prosecutorial review commission （PRC）） participants and American citizens who served in jury trials, the paper explores the ways in which civic participation in criminal processes may affect the quality of legal decision making in Japan＇s criminal court.     

Presentation of acoustic characteristics with network models for dialect identification

Objective To explore the presentation of acoustic characteristics with network models for dialect identification so as to screen out the optimal singular model for automatic dialect classifier. Methods Four selected typical neural network models for acoustic feature extraction, SOM (self-organizing feature Map), RNN (recurrent neural network), LSTM (long short-term memory network) and CNN (convolutional neural network), were individually simulated through python. With the dataset containing typical dialects (6036 samples of 105 persons’ spoken voices) from 13 cities in Jiangsu province, three aggregates were respectively built up for purpose of training, verification and test at the division ratio of 6:2:2. The test aggregate was then edited into sub-aggregates of 3 and 10 seconds, having each further added of white noise to form the sub-aggregates owning signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 3 and 10 dB. Thus, 4 test aggregates were thereby produced, with each containing 1207 samples. The appropriate classifiers were chosen to evaluate the performance of four above-selected models into their operations of training, verification and test. For the dialect identification, every selected network model was verified of its ability to extract features from the test aggregates owning different SNR and duration. Results With the previously-normalized data and network parameters, the confusion matrices of models were obtained from the output data of 4 neural network models processing into 4 test aggregates, having resulted in the Macro-F1 and Micro-F1 scores that are useful and eligible for evaluation of multi-classification problem. The results showed that LSTM and CNN are significantly better of performance than SOM and RNN. SOM is obviously more sensitive to the SNR of test samples, though having poor identification accuracy with the 3dB test aggregate. RNN has the improved accuracy for dialect identification, yet having the insufficient representation ability to key information of long-term samples. LSTM achieves the optimal evaluation scores of 93.1% (Macro-F1)/92.7% (Micro-F1) with 10dB/10s test aggregate, excelling in overcoming the bug of RNN with its characteristic structural unit. CNN is stable of identification accuracy, not easily affected with the length of speech fragments, thereby having better performance in noise-resistibility for substandard recordings. Owning the nonlinear transformation operations of convolution and pooling, CNN model is of good nonlinear expression ability to demonstrate nice fitting performance for information representation in dialect classification although it is incompetent in real-time presentation with the identified material. Conclusions LSTM+CNN framework is of better acoustic characteristics performance and robustness, capable of meeting the further updating development and application of automatic dialect identification. Besides, the audio sample duration and SNR are still the key for a model (singular or coalesced from two or more) to improve its identification accuracy. © 2021, Editorial Office of Forensic Science and Technology. All rights reserved.