Development and validation of the Cozart DDS oral fluid collection device

The testing of oral fluid for drugs of abuse has increased significantly over recent years and is now commonplace in drug rehabilitation clinics, the workplace, prisons and custody suites. The global problem of identifying drugged drivers has also led to an increase in oral fluid testing at the roadside. The main requirements for the implementation of roadside drug testing are a rapid sample collection time, collection of a known sample volume and recovery of drugs from the collection device. We report here the development of the Cozart^® DDS oral fluid collector, an oral fluid collector that combines rapid and adequate sample collection with satisfactory drug recovery. Oral fluid was collected from drug users (n = 134) and drug-free individuals (n = 137), using the Cozart^® DDS oral fluid collector. The mean time for the completion of collection (full coloration of the sample presence indicator) was 34 s for drug-free individuals and 44 s for drug users. The average volume collected was 0.34 mL (n = 271). No chemical stimulant (to induce salivation) was used to achieve the collection times observed in either the drug-free or the drug-taking sample populations. Drugs were extracted from the collector using the Cozart^® DDS buffer and drug recovery was determined by Cozart^® enzyme immunoassays. The recovery studies showed that for amphetamine, Δ⁹THC, cocaine, methadone, methamphetamine, morphine and temazepam over 90% of the drug in the sample was eluted from the collector. The Cozart^® DDS oral fluid collector provides a reliable mechanism for the collection of oral fluid at the roadside that achieves the rapid collection times required.     

State formation in seventeenth-century Ireland: the Restoration financial settlement, 1660–62

The Irish Restoration financial settlement formed an integral part of the deal that was struck between Irish Protestants and the restored Charles II in the early 1660s. Driven by a desire to retain lands acquired in the 1650s, the Protestant-dominated Irish government crafted a set of financial bills that granted the Crown a perpetual and hereditary revenue in Ireland in return for security of tenure. Based on innovative Cromwellian reforms, the royal government retained many elements of Cromwellian fiscal policy, which transformed the Irish economy into a net contributor to the English Treasury by the 1680s. The customs and excise acts also laid the basis for the emergence of an embryonic state bureaucracy that emerged in Ireland during Charles II's reign. This article examines both the rationale behind the Irish Protestant interest's policies in the early 1660s and the political negotiating that saw them secure favourable land legislation at the expense of those Catholics who had served the monarchy in the 1640s and 1650s.     

Explaining Explanations: How Legislators Explain their Policy Positions and How Citizens React

Legislators claim that how they explain their votes matters as much as or more than the roll calls themselves. However, few studies have systematically examined legislators’ explanations and citizen attitudes in response to these explanations. We theorize that legislators strategically tailor explanations to constituents in order to compensate for policy choices that are incongruent with constituent preferences, and to reinforce policy choices that are congruent. We conduct a within‐subjects field experiment using U.S. senators as subjects to test this hypothesis. We then conduct a between‐subjects survey experiment of ordinary people to see how they react to the explanatory strategies used by senators in the field experiment. We find that most senators tailor their explanations to their audiences, and that these tailored explanations are effective at currying support—especially among people who disagree with the legislators’ roll‐call positions.     

Residential Aged Care Policy in Australia – Are We Learning from Evidence?

The residential aged care industry in Australia will expand rapidly over the next 10 years leading to substantial increases in government expenditure. Recent and future reforms are likely leading to changes in the structure of the industry with a potential impact on quality of care. The purpose of this paper is to stimulate broader public debate, based on the available evidence, about the preferred structure of this important industry. It examines the literature on the impact structure has on the quality of services and compares this with a fresh analysis of current trends. The paper argues that future policy should be evidence based and explicit about the structure of the industry that will emerge from current policy reforms.     

Investigating the Postmortem Molecular Biology of Cartilage and its Potential Forensic Applications

This study investigated the postmortem molecular changes that articular cartilage undergoes following burial. Fresh pig trotters were interred in 30‐cm‐deep graves at two distinct locations exhibiting dissimilar soil environments for up to 42 days. Extracts of the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint cartilage from trotters disinterred weekly over 6 weeks were analyzed by Western blot against the monoclonal antibody 2‐B‐6 to assess aggrecan degradation. In both soil conditions, aggrecan degradation by‐products of decreasing molecular size and complexity were observed up to 21 days postmortem. Degradation products were undetected after this time and coincided with MCP/MTP joint exposure to the soil environment. These results show that cartilage proteoglycans undergo an ordered molecular breakdown, the analysis of which may have forensic applications. This model may prove useful for use as a human model and for forensic investigations concerning crimes against animals and the mortality of endangered species.