DNA-based and taxonomic identification of forensically important Sarcophagidae (Diptera) in southeastern Spain

Studying dipterans at the scene of a death can provide essential information for interpreting the evidence and help to reconstruct the events happened to a corpse in the past. Molecular tools have been employed for identification at specific levels in the cases of cryptic species or poorly conserved specimens. Identification of specimens is essential in forensic entomology since each species has a specific growth rate, which determines the calculation of the minimum post mortem interval (minPMI). In addition, phylogeographic reconstruction within a species can help to differentiate the haplotypes from a geographic area, thereby helping to clarify the possible relocation of a corpse. The morphological identification of Sarcophagidae species is often difficult, especially for the females. This is an important Diptera family since some of its species are among the first to reach a corpse, especially in warm areas. In this study, we compared the sarcophagids found in human corpses in forensic cases in Alicante (southeast of Spain) with specimens collected from baited traps in the same area and surrounding provinces. In total, 189 specimens were collected, comprising 72 from forensic cases and 117 from baited traps. Molecular identification was conducted by sequencing the cox1 mitochondrial gene and analyzing the sequences using ABGD, GMYC, and BIN species delimitation methods. The median joining algorithm in the PopART program was used to construct phylogeographic networks. Eight species in the family Sarcophagidae were identified. The most widely collected species were Sarcophaga argyrostoma and Sarcophaga tibialis. The haplotype networks obtained for these species did not indicate a clear geographic distribution of haplotypes. The S. argyrostoma samples from Alcoy were clearly isolated. The results demonstrated that this method is useful for identifying Sarcophagidae samples in forensic investigations and it can be employed for minPMI estimation.     

Evaluating Transformational Leaders: The Challenging Case of Eric Shinseki and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Evaluating less than fully successful transformational leaders is difficult. One common method of assessing leadership is to focus on a single temporal narrative. A second approach uses a particular theory, such as transformational leadership, to frame the analysis. The latter, less common strategy is used with the example of Eric Shinseki, who served as both chief of staff of the U.S. Army and as secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The analytic framework used here has six major elements that are specified by 22 factors. Using those factors to evaluate Shinseki's tenure at the VA, he is found to be very poor in only 2 factors but poor in 11, adequate in 6, good in 1, and excellent in only 2. While using a list of factors does not eliminate subjectivity or the challenges of reaching a single assessment, it does clarify the elements of judgment and weighting.     

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.     

Consent in escrow

Disasters such as flash flooding, mass shootings, and train and airplane accidents involving large numbers of victims produce significant opportunity for research in the biosciences. This opportunity exists in the extreme tails of life events, however, during which decisions about life and death, valuing and foregoing, speed and patience, trust and distrust, are tested simultaneously and abundantly. The press and urgency of these scenarios may also challenge the ability of researchers to comprehensively deliver information about the purposes of a study, risks, benefits, and alternatives. Under these circumstances, we argue that acquiring consent for the immediate use of data that are not time sensitive represents a gap in the protection of human study participants. In response, we offer a two-tiered model of consent that allows for data collected in real-time to be held in escrow until the acute post-disaster window has closed. Such a model not only respects the fundamental tenet of consent in research, but also enables such research to take place in an ethically defensible manner.     

Evaluation of a Visualization Assay for Blood on Forensic Evidence

In forensics, bloodstains on dark fabrics might be invisible for the naked eye. Although several visualization, presumptive, and confirmatory blood tests have been developed, all have one or more disadvantages, especially on DNA analysis. We report here the use of a visualization assay that can visually detect blood drops up to 1/20 dilution. In this assay, the fabric is placed between two wet filter papers and covered by glass surfaces on both sides. Pressure is applied on the glass surfaces in which bloodstains transfer onto the filter papers through capillary forces. Detected stains can be tested with other more sensitive presumptive blood tests performed on the filter paper. Even more, DNA analysis can be performed on the transferred bloodstains. The presented visualization assay is easy to perform, extremely cheap, requires little hands on time, and does not affect bloodstain pattern analysis.     

The Application of Flow Cytometry as a Rapid and Sensitive Screening Method to Detect Contamination of Vitreous Humor Samples and Avoid Miscalculation of the Postmortem Interval

Research into maximizing the speed, precision, and reliability of estimating the postmortem interval (PMI) has been a recurring object of investigation and methodologies based on the vitreous humor (VH) have provided good results. However, contamination from causes not readily apparent, such as blood, can occur, and thus lead not only to an erroneous estimation of PMI, but also interfere with the correct identification of other substances in the VH. We have developed a flow cytometry method which quantifies blood contamination and is able to detect erythrocytes in 1:750,000 dilution of contaminated VH which affects the results of hypoxanthine. It is an improvement on the previous more complex mass spectrometry method, being faster, more sensitive, and readily available. As such, it could be proposed for the rapid screening of appropriate samples by detecting and eliminating blood contaminated samples from PMI estimation.