A novel method for STR-based DNA profiling using microarrays

We describe a novel method for rapidly identifying and distinguishing between different DNA sequences using short tandem repeat (STR) analysis and DNA microarrays. The method can be used to deduce identity, length, and number of STRs of the target molecule. We refer to this technique as the "variable-length probe array" method for STR profiling (VLPA). The method involves hybridization of the unknown STR target sequence to a DNA microarray displaying complementary probes that vary in length to cover the range of possible STRs. A post-hybridization enzymatic digestion of the DNA hybrids is then used to selectively remove labeled single-stranded regions of DNA from the microarray surface. The number of repeats in the unknown target is then deduced based on the pattern of target DNA that remains hybridized to the array. This DNA profiling technique is useful for performing forensic analysis to uniquely identify individual humans or other species.     

“Time to Speak Out”: The 1980s Australian Gay Press and Personal Accounts of Living with HIV

This article considers the significance of gay men’s personal accounts of living with HIV or AIDS that were published in the gay press across the 1980s. Editors utilised individuals’ accounts of living with the illness to challenge mainstream media representations of gay men’s physical and emotional demise in the “final stages” of the debilitating illness. Such accounts conveyed the message that it was possible to resume one’s life after receiving a positive diagnosis. Gay men’s personal accounts of living with HIV or AIDS evolved from anonymous anecdotes to articles accompanied by the narrator’s full name and photograph by the end of the decade. This shift is attributed to Australia’s Third National AIDS Conference in 1988, whereby people with HIV and AIDS publicly disclosed their positive statuses. This article locates gay men’s personal accounts of living with HIV in a broader transnational shift towards the visibility of people with HIV and AIDS that was underway at that time.     

Realism and Analysis Within Public Law

Allan, Loughlin and Walker represent leading theorists within the realm of public law analysis. Accordingly, when such theorists write on a similar topic, such as that of the theory of constitutionalism, it can be assumed that their analysis and evaluation of the theory represents a ‘realistic’ account. However, close examination of their writings does not reveal similarity but instead much divergence, even incompatibility. This then raises the question, how can such diversity represent reality? If all three theorists are examining the same phenomenon then surely there must be some similarity between their accounts for there to be reality? Alternatively, if all the perceptions of the theorists are indeed real, then perhaps it is the way that public lawyers represent reality that needs to be examined.     

Recent legal developments

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LAW OF TRUSTS. By Simon Gardner. [Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1990. First Edition. 250 pp. £25.00 (hardback), £11.95 (paperback).]

EXPLAINING CONSTRUCTIVE TRUSTS. By Gbolahan Elias. [Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1990. First Edition. 177 pp. £25.00 (hardback).]

CHARLESWORTH &; PERCY ON NEGLIGENCE. By R. A. Percy. [Sweet &; Maxwell. Eighth Edition. 1,232 pp. incl. index. £135.00 (hardback).]

CLARITY FOR LAWYERS. By Mark Adler. [The Law Society. 1990. First edition. 128 pp. £10.00 (paperback).]

PLANNING LAW AND PROCEDURE. By A. E. Telling. [Butterworths. Eighth edition. 385 pp. incl. index. £16.95 (paperback).]

PRACTICAL APPROACH TO PLANNING LAW. By V. Moore. [Blackstone Press Ltd. Second edition. 401 pp. incl. index &; appendices. £19.95 (paperback).]

THE EVIDENCE OF CHILDREN. By J. R. Spencer and R. Fun. [Blackstone Press. 1990. 362 pp. £19.50 (paperback).]

CROSS ON EVIDENCE. By C. Tapper. [Butterworths. 1990. Seventh edition. 757 pp. £22.95 (paperback).]

EMPLOYMENT LAW. By C. J. Carr and P. J. Kay. [M. &; E. Handbook. Pitman Publishing. 1990. Fifth edition, xxiv &; 232 pp. (inc. index). £7.99 (paperback).]

REVISION WORKBOOK: LAND LAW. By Gordon Henry.

A PARENTS’ GUIDE TO THE LAW. By Jeannie Mackie and Lesley Taylor [Penguin Books. 1990. 419 pp. (inc. index). £7.99 (paperback).]

A GUIDE TO INHERITANCE CLAIMS. By Nasreen Pearce. [Fourmat Publishing. 1989. 162 pp. £12.95 (paperback).]     

Book notes

Political Participation and Democracy in Britain by Geraint Parry, George Moyser and Neil Day. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp.xviii + 510; index, bibliography, three appendices. £60 (hardback); £17.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 521 33298 2 and 33602 3

Work and Citizenship in the New Europe edited by Harry Coenen and Peter Leisink. Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1993. Pp.254; index, bibliography. £38.50. ISBN 1 85278 739 2

Capitalist Development and Democracy by Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Evelyne Huber Stephens and John D. Stephens. Cambridge and Oxford: Polity Press, 1992. Pp.387; index, bibliography, appendices. £45 (hardback); £14.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 7456 0398 X

Minority Representation and the Quest for Voting Equality by Bernard Grofman, Lisa Handley and Richard G. Niemi. Cambridge, London and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp.174; index, bibliography. £30. ISBN 0 521 39128 8

Peace, Politics and Violence in the New South Africa edited by Norman Etherington. London: Hans Zell Publishers, 1992. Pp.352; index. £45. ISBN 1 873836 75 6

The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly by Jean‐François Bayart. London and New York: Longman, 1993. Pp.370; index. £14.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 582 06421 X

Russia in Flux: The Political and Social Consequences of Reform edited by David Lane. Aldershot: Gower, 1992. Pp.xvi + 248; index. £45 (hardback); £14.95 (paperback). ISBN 1 85278 680 9 and 713 9

Democracy and Development by Axel Hadenius. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp.xi + 218; index, bibliography, appendices. £30. ISBN 0 521 41685 X

Power and Empowerment: A Radical Theory of Participatory Democracy by Peter Bachrach and Aryeh Botwinick. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1992. Pp.ix + 211; index, bibliography. ISBN 0 87722 930 9

Democratization in Africa: African Views, African Voices edited by Sahr John Kpundeh. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1992. Pp.85. £17.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 309 04797 8

Marxism and Democracy by Joseph V. Femia. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993. Pp.204; index, bibliography. £25 (hardback). ISBN 0 19 827494 7

Dirty Politics: Deception, Distraction and Democracy by Kathleen Hall Jamieson. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp.335; index, bibliography, appendices. $25 (hardback). ISBN 0 19 597854 3

Viva ‐ Women and Popular Protest in Latin America edited by Sarah A. Radcliffe and Sallie Westwood (International Studies of Women and Place Series). London and New York: Routledge, 1993. Pp.270; index, bibliography. £40 (hardback); £12.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 415 07312 X

Dimensions of Radical Democracy edited by Chantal Mouffe. London: Verso, 1992. Pp.254; bibliography. £12.99 (paperback). ISBN 0 86091 556 5

Democracy and Discontent: India's Growing Crisis of Governability by Atul Kohli. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Pp.420; index, bibliography. £35 (hardback). ISBN 0 521 39161 X