Testing for genetic structure in different urban Argentinian populations

Fifteen autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) markers (D3S1358, HUMTH01, D21S11, D18S51, PENTA E, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820, D16S539, CSF1PO, PENTA D, HUMvWA, D8S1179, HUMTPOX, FGA) were analyzed in 1734 individuals living in urban areas of cities from six different Argentinian provinces (Buenos Aires, Neuquén, Tucumán, La Pampa, San Luis, Santa Cruz) in order to determine if a common urban database could be used in Argentina for forensic purposes. Frequencies estimates, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE), and other parameters of forensic interest were computed. Comparisons between the six populations, and with published data from one Native American population from Argentina and other urban populations from Argentina and Europe were also performed. Our results reveal evidences for population structure, both when testing for genetic differentiation and when comparing frequencies distributions between different pairs of populations. Therefore, caution should be taken when using a common pooled database with general forensic purposes in Argentina.     

Allele frequencies of 15 tetrameric short tandem repeats (STRs) in Andalusians from Huelva (Spain)

The allele frequency distribution of 15 short tandem repeat (STR) loci contained in the AmpFlSTR Identifiler PCR Amplification Kit (Applied Biosystems), was determined in 114 individuals from Andalusia (province of Huelva), in the southernmost part of the Iberian Peninsula. After Bonferroni's correction, no deviations from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were observed for all samples at the 15 STR loci. All loci are highly polymorphic. The aim of the study was to obtain accurate allele frequencies relevant for applications in forensics and population genetics. Comparative analyses between our population data and other population samples gathered from the literature are also presented.     

The genetic male legacy from El Salvador

Allele frequencies and haplotype and haplogroup analysis have been performed for 16 Y-chromosome binary markers and 8 Y-chromosome STRs (DYS19, DYS385I and II, DYS389I and II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393). Data was obtained from a general sample of 93 unrelated individuals living in metropolitan areas from El Salvador, and 67 individuals from different historical ethnic groups, Conchagua, San Alejo, Panchimalco, Izalco and finally Nueva Concepción with white people. Levels of admixture among metropolitan and rural areas were evaluated and population substructure measured. A total of 13 haplogroups and 136 different haplotypes were found. The most frequent haplogroup in the general metropolitan population was the European R1b, while in the Indigenous samples considered as a whole the most frequent was the Amerindian haplogroup Q3.     

Biomedical research with human embryos: changes in the legislation on assisted reproduction in Spain.

This study deals with issues of research with human embryos obtained through in vitro fertilization in the context of the Spanish Law. The paper focuses on Act 14/2006 on techniques of human assisted reproduction, which replaces the previous Act from 1988. The author claims that the main goals of Act 14/2006 are, on the one hand, to eliminate the restrictions affecting research with human embryos put in place by Act 45/2003 and, on the other, to pave the way for a future legislation on biomedical research. This paper argues for the need of an effective and adequate juridical protection of human embryos obtained in vitro according to responsibility and precautionary principles.     

European integration from the agency theory perspective

European integration is a process in which national governments look for higher levels of integration and promote new requests for allocations from the supranational authority while the balance between the benefits and costs of the supranational collective action becomes increasingly favourable. This process may be analyzed as an agency problem where different national governments, acting as principals, try to lead a single agent—the supranational authority—to make a decision on the level of integration. In this paper, decisions on integration of equilibrium are studied as the result of a non co-operative two-stage game, where national governments outline their political support strategies in the first stage and the supranational authority decides the level of integration in the second stage. JEL Classification D72     

Law,Fact and Narratives in Ancient Rhetoric: The Case of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">causa Curiana</Emphasis>

The present article examines the role of narratives in rhetoric and jurisprudence, trying to understand the ancient system of ‘issues’ (staseis), an essential part of the rhetorical curriculum in antiquity, with the help of some basic notions of legal semiotics. After a brief reconstruction of the doctrine, I argue that narratives are essential to classical rhetoric, that the basic types of issues correspond to particular stories in and of the trial, and finally that the system of ancient rhetorical theory is capable of giving an account of the narrativisation of the pragmatics of the trial. Then I turn to a cause célèbre of Roman law, the causa Curiana, trying to show that not only the trial itself but also subsequent (ancient and modern) debates concerning the case were shaped by some grand narratives, and that stories about the trial are likely to return to the court, where they may become part of the story of the trial.     

Institutionalizing uncertainty: the choice of electoral formulas

Taken from an infinite set of divisors methods, the D’Hondt formula is the unique rule that maximizes the minimum number of seats for parties exceeding average size but not surpassing an absolute majority of the votes. This property is also shared, in the quota set of methods, by the Droop formula. At the same time, these two methods are those most commonly observed in practice. This paper relates the property stated to the observed facts. If parties try to maximize the minimum number of seats for a given share of votes, then the D’Hondt formula should be chosen. This choice is consistent with rational parties that make institutional choices in an uncertain environment.     

Detecting Domestic Violence: Spanish External Validation of the Index of Spouse Abuse

The aims of the study were to assess the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Index of Spouse Abuse (ISA), and to validate it against external criteria of intimate partner violence. The Spanish version of the ISA was administered to 223 non-abused women and 182 victims of intimate partner violence. Internal consistency coefficients oscillated between 0.88 and 0.98. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis failed to replicate the original two-factor structure. Using Exploratory Factor Analysis, a two-factor solution was found: physical (ISA-P) and non-physical (ISA-NP), but the items included in each factor were slightly different from the original two subscales. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed an AUC value for the ISA global score of 0.99 (95% CI: 0.98–0.99), with the optimal cut-off of 12 for detecting intimate partner violence. The Spanish version of the ISA is a valid instrument for detecting intimate partner violence in a female population.