Sensitive Method for the Confident Identification of Genetically Variant Peptides in Human Hair Keratin

Recent reports have demonstrated that genetically variant peptides derived from human hair shaft proteins can be used to differentiate individuals of different biogeographic origins. We report a method involving direct extraction of hair shaft proteins more sensitive than previously published methods regarding GVP detection. It involves one step for protein extraction and was found to provide reproducible results. A detailed proteomic analysis of this data is presented that led to the following four results: (i) A peptide spectral library was created and made available for download. It contains all identified peptides from this work, including GVPs that, when appropriately expanded with diverse hair-derived peptides, can provide a routine, reliable, and sensitive means of analyzing hair digests; (ii) an analysis of artifact peptides arising from side reactions is also made using a new method for finding unexpected modifications; (iii) detailed analysis of the gel-based method employed clearly shows the high degree of cross-linking or protein association involved in hair digestion, with major GVPs eluting over a wide range of high molecular weights while others apparently arise from distinct non-cross-linked proteins; and (v) finally, we show that some of the specific GVP identifications depend on the sample preparation method.     

Haplotype analysis for Irish ancestry

Forensic haplotype analysis of the male Y chromosome is currently used to establish the number of male donors in sexual assaults, the number of male bleeders in blood pattern analysis, and for ancestry correlation to genetic founder populations in biogeographic studies. In forensic laboratory applications, its primary use is for DNA profile generation with trace amounts of male DNA in the presence of excess female DNA (e.g. spermatozoa identification, male component of fingernail scrapings). Our study supports the potential use of the Y chromosome in a “dragnet” approach (most haplotypes are unique) similar to that described by Kayser in 2017 for solving a cold case sex assault and homicide in The Netherlands. Our study also researched the potential for the identification of an ancestral Irish genetic “footprint” linked to surname O’Brien and identified multiple founder group origins in Ireland and England as well as three samples with the Dal Riata (a Gaelic overkingdom) ancestral haplotype. This study indicates correlation to ancestral Irish ancestry by haplotype but not conclusively to the O’Brien surname.     

Zombie Law: Conjugality,Annulment, and the (Married) Living Dead

This article deploys and extends Ulrich Beck’s critique of ‘zombie categories’ (Beck in J Consum Cult 1 (2):261–277, 2001) to consider how conjugal relationships are brought into being before the law. The argument presented here is that sexual performatives relating to marriage—and especially, in this instance, consummation—continue to produce a kind of social-legal magic, even as the social flesh of their enactment is rotting. Rules concerning annulment relating to wedding ceremonies, consent, disclosure, and consummation demonstrate that certain frameworks of conjugality involve a kind of corporeal magic animating the privileged place of heterosexual marriage. Thus, rules and regulations pertaining to weddings continue to produce and protect heterogendered, sexually dimorphous bodies, even though this privileging is—or at least, is becoming—socially obsolete.     

Federalism by Waiver: MEDICAID and the Transformation of Long-term Care

In recent years, many states in the U.S. have substantiallyreinvented their Medicaid programs through the unprecedenteduse of federal waivers. This article focuses on 1915c programwaivers, which gave states the opportunity to overcome Medicaid'sinstitutional bias by offering more home and community-basedservices. The use of this tool has fueled deinstitutionalizationand other program changes. It reflects the rise of executivefederalism—the growing tendency for major program decisionsto shift from the legislative arena to the executive branchof the national and state governments. By functioning as licenses,the 1915c waivers take devolution via the administrative processto new levels. The proliferation of these waivers suggests aneed to revise prior conceptions of federal–state relations,such as picket fence federalism.     

REFLECTIONS ON THE WAIF

The term ‘thinspiration’ is used within the pro-anorexia (pro-ana) community to classify images of slenderness that represent aspects of anorexic experience and/or idealise extreme to emaciated slender bodies. This paper discusses thinspiration via an analysis of 1990s grunge culture and its stylisation of subjective crisis. By reflecting on some of the meanings associated with British fashion's figure of ‘the waif’, it argues that images of extremely slender bodies presented in pro-ana thinspiration menus can be located within a discursive field where distress is a problematic signifier of subjective agency and power. It suggests that although some strategies of the pro-ana community are aligned with the feminist challenge to the dominant gaze and its demand for slender femininities, some images of anorexic distress, such as those found in the category of ‘real girl’ thinspiration, have the potential to reproduce oppressive representational strategies and sustain a view in which damage to women's bodies is promoted as a source of identity. As thinspiration is produced largely online and by women themselves, this paper calls for a renewed focus on the debate about the impact of slender ideals not only on women as consumers but also as producers of images.     

Emotional Distress Among LGBT Youth: The Influence of Perceived Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation

The authors evaluated emotional distress among 9th–12th grade students, and examined whether the association between being lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgendered (i.e., “LGBT”) and emotional distress was mediated by perceptions of having been treated badly or discriminated against because others thought they were gay or lesbian. Data come from a school-based survey in Boston, Massachusetts (n = 1,032); 10% were LGBT, 58% were female, and ages ranged from 13 to 19 years. About 45% were Black, 31% were Hispanic, and 14% were White. LGBT youth scored significantly higher on the scale of depressive symptomatology. They were also more likely than heterosexual, non-transgendered youth to report suicidal ideation (30% vs. 6%, p < 0.0001) and self-harm (21% vs. 6%, p < 0.0001). Mediation analyses showed that perceived discrimination accounted for increased depressive symptomatology among LGBT males and females, and accounted for an elevated risk of self-harm and suicidal ideation among LGBT males. Perceived discrimination is a likely contributor to emotional distress among LGBT youth.     

Encouraging Residential Moves to Opportunity Neighborhoods: An Experiment Testing Incentives Offered to Housing Voucher Recipients

Substantial benefits can accrue from living in low-poverty neighborhoods, yet approximately 80% of the 2.2 million Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) recipients rent homes in moderate- or high-poverty census tracts. The Chicago Regional Housing Choice Initiative tested several ways to promote opportunity moves. It included the first experiment that tests whether two types of light-touch incentives induce opportunity moves for HCV recipients who had requested a moving voucher. Based on the 2,005 HCV recipients in the study, we found that neither the offer of a $500 grant nor the offer of a $500 grant coupled with free mobility counseling induced opportunity moves. The receipt of mobility counseling also did not boost opportunity moves. Regardless of the type of offer, 11%–12% of participants moved to opportunity neighborhoods. Despite requesting a moving voucher, half of the study participants remained in place, indicating significant barriers to moving. We offer potential reasons for the results and conclude with two recommended pilots to increase opportunity moves.     

Documenting Disparity in Minority Contracting: Legal Requirements and Recommendations for Policy Makers

The challenge of advancing policy goals and public administration is compounded when legal compliance rests on data and complex analysis. This is true of disparity studies that support local government‐sponsored minority contracting programs. How can local governments prepare to work with such programs in this complex environment? The authors analyze several court cases challenging minority contracting programs and illustrate the difficulty of administering public programs at the juncture of public policy goals, subtle changes in law, and demands for quality statistical analysis. Many public agencies, especially at the local level, are not prepared to address the data requirements demanded by these programs. To help with this challenge, the authors develop a set of guiding principles to help practitioners satisfy the legal requirements and meet the policy goals of minority contracting and similar programs. This includes a new emphasis on continuous gathering of valid, local‐level data.     

Continuity and Change in Executive Leadership: Insights from the Perspectives of State Administrators

Executive leadership in state government is examined at two levels, both from the perspectives of the heads of state administrative agencies responding to mail question surveys in 1994, 1998, and 2004. At one level, the status and strength of the governor in controlling and leading the executive branch are assessed. At the second (agency) level, state executives (and their agencies) are assessed on four criteria that are connected, directly or indirectly, with the aims of the Winter Commission: leadership, responsiveness, reforms (at the agency level), and performance (through contracting). State administration generally reflects a balance between continuity and change, with more of the former at the gubernatorial (and legislative) level, and more of the latter at the state agency level.