Allele frequencies of 19 STR loci in a Philippine population generated using AmpFlSTR multiplex and ALF singleplex systems

Allele frequencies for the 19 short tandem repeat (STR) loci CSF1PO, D2S1338, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S306, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D19S433, D21S11, DHFRP2 (FOLP23), F13A01, FES/FPS, FGA, TH01, TPOX, and vWA were obtained from a sample of 106 unrelated Filipinos from different regions of the Philippine archipelago.     

Quantitative analysis of multiple illicit drugs in preserved oral fluid by solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

We present a validated method for the simultaneous analysis of basic drugs which comprises a sample clean-up step, using mixed-mode solid-phase extraction (SPE), followed by LC-MS/MS analysis. Deuterated analogues for all of the analytes of interest were used for quantitation. The applied HPLC gradient ensured the elution of all the drugs examined within 14 min and produced chromatographic peaks of acceptable symmetry. Selectivity of the method was achieved by a combination of retention time, and two precursor-product ion transitions for the non-deuterated analogues. Oral fluid was collected with the Intercept, a FDA approved sampling device that is used on a large scale in the US for workplace drug testing. However, this collection system contains some ingredients (stabilizers and preservatives) that can cause substantial interferences, e.g. ion suppression or enhancement during LC-MS/MS analysis, in the absence of suitable sample pre-treatment. The use of the SPE was demonstrated to be highly effective and led to significant decreases in the interferences. Extraction was found to be both reproducible and efficient with recoveries >76% for all of the analytes. Furthermore, the processed samples were demonstrated to be stable for 48 h, except for cocaine and benzoylecgonine, where a slight negative trend was observed, but did not compromise the quantitation. In all cases the method was linear over the range investigated (2-200 microg/L) with an excellent intra-assay and inter-assay precision (coefficients of variation <10% in most cases) for QC samples spiked at a concentration of 4, 12 and 100 microg/L. Limits of quantitation were estimated to be at 2 microg/L with limits of detection ranging from 0.2 to 0.5 microg/L, which meets the requirements of SAMHSA for oral fluid testing in the workplace. The method was subsequently applied to the analysis of Intercept samples collected at the roadside by the police, and to determine MDMA and MDA levels in oral fluid samples from a controlled study.     

Rates and predictors of sexual aggression among students and non-students

The authors compared rates and predictors of sexual aggression for women attending college with those of women from the same population who were not attending college. Because it has been suggested that less parental monitoring at college may be associated with risky behaviors that contribute to sexual aggression, they also compared rates and predictors of sexual aggression for those living with parents versus not living with parents. The results showed that women living away from parents reported significantly higher rates of sexual aggression than women living with parents, regardless of student status. Logistic regression analyses showed that for student and non-student women, heavy episodic drinking and number of sex partners predicted past-year rape and/or attempted rape. The current results do not provide evidence that college is a uniquely risky environment for experiencing sexual aggression. Rather, the behaviors in which young women engage are associated with sexual aggression during this time period.     

Whistleblower protection: is Africa ready?

The article critically examines propositions driving the exportation of western whistleblower concepts into the developing world. 1

1 The full definition used in the article is that whistleblowing is an act of ethical reporting by concerned citizen, totally or predominantly motivated by the public interest, who initiate of their own free will an open disclosure about significant wrongdoing to a person or agency capable of investigating the disclosure, and who suffers accordingly. This definition was developed in the course of the Queensland Whistleblower Study, Australia's largest inquiry into whistleblowers. Whistleblowing is a different reporting mode to that used by informants, hot line users, witnesses, public interest denunciators, and disclosures in confidence (De Maria, 1994; De Maria & Jan, 1994; De Maria, 1999, pp. 24–35). Africa, throughout the article means sub‐Saharan Africa. Abridged versions of this paper were presented to the 4th National Business Ethics Conference, Zanzibar, 1 September 2004 and a staff seminar in the School of Sociology, University of Johannesburg, 25 August 2004.

Specifically it attacks the prevailing view that public interest disclosure is somehow a culture‐free, or at least a culture‐muted phenomenon, governed by a set of rules and conventions detached from local histories and practices. The article concludes that this exportation is in the spirit of neo‐colonialism and issues a note of warning about the dangers of dispersing western conceived forms of corruption reporting to Africa. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Political Competition and Policy Adoption: Market Reforms in Latin American Public Utilities

This article shows that political competition generates incentives that affect the pace of adoption of market reforms in the context of policy convergence. Previous work shows the effect of financial and technological pressures in promoting policy convergence and the impact of institutional constraints on shaping the pace of policymaking. Controlling for these effects, this article demonstrates the policy effects of political competition and ideological polarization even at a time when ideological policy differences seem to be fading due to policy convergence. This article studies policy adoption using duration analysis for the 18 countries of Latin America during the 1985–2000 period when most of the market reforms in public utilities were adopted.     

Who Delivers? Partisan Clients in the Argentine Electoral Market

Why do some parties fail to benefit from patronage in pork‐ridden political systems? This article analyzes the interaction between patronage and partisanship to explain why some incumbents are more likely to benefit from pork politics than others. We explain such differences by focusing on political parties' access to resources (supply side) and voters' dependence on fiscal largesse (demand side). We show how these differences affect the patron's choice of public sector wages and employment. We use subnational level data to show different electoral returns from patronage for the two major political coalitions in Argentina—Peronism and the UCR‐Alianza—and their effect on preferences over public sector wages and employment.     

Fatal parvovirus B19 myocarditis in an 8-year-old boy

A report is given on an 8-year-old boy who suddenly and unexpected died. Autopsy findings point to acute heart failure. Microscopic examination of the heart showed increased interstitial and perivasal fibrosis and myocarditis with macrophage infiltration. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis for parvovirus B19 was positive in heart samples and in the spleen. Immunostaining for parvoviral surface antigens was negative. Although the virus does not appear to have infected the cardiomyocytes, we speculate that myocarditis arose from immunological cross-reaction to epitopes shared between the virus and the myocardium.     

Isolation of DNA from saliva of betel quid chewers using treated cards

Betel quid (BQ) chewing, a common tradition in tropical areas, often poses a problem during collection and DNA analysis of buccal samples from many indigenous communities for population genetic studies and in forensic analysis of chewed BQ residues. This study evaluated the use of FTA card, a chemically treated filter paper, in collecting buccal samples from long-term BQ users and subsequent PCR-based analysis using nine STR markers. A low overall success rate of amplification was observed in the samples extracted using a standard organic extraction procedure (7%) as compared with those prepared using the FTA card (89%). The presence of inhibitors in liquid DNA samples was verified when control DNA failed to amplify in the presence of an equal volume of liquid BQ samples. The use of the FTA card is more practical during field sampling than handling tubes containing buccal swabs.     

Una aproximació bourdieuana a tres plataformes de difusió de poesia a Mallorca (1974–1990)

Abstract

En aquest article em propòs analitzar tres plataformes de difusió de poesia sorgides en el context mallorquí dels anys 70, 80, i 90, aprofitant l’aportació del sociòleg francès Pierre Bourdieu al voltant de la teoria del camp literari. La pretensió és establir un diàleg amb aquesta proposta teòrica i il·lustrar-la amb casos com el dels quaderns de poesia Domini Fosc (1974–1975), la revista L’Ombra Vessada (1979–1981), i les Edicions Atàviques (1985–1990), tenint en compte, per una banda, que els productes literaris que examinaré s’inscriuen en una línia experimentalista i, per l’altra, que la literatura catalana és institucionalment deficitària – a diferència de la francesa, en la qual es basa Bourdieu.