The 2000-2001 GEP-ISFG Collaborative Exercise on mtDNA: assessing the cause of unsuccessful mtDNA PCR amplification of hair shaft samples

We report the results of Spanish and Portuguese working group (GEP) of International Society of Forensic Genetics (ISFG) Collaborative Exercise 2001-2002 on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis. 64 laboratories from Spain, Portugal and several Latin-American countries participated in this quality control exercise. Five samples were sent to the participating laboratories, four blood stains (M1-M4) and a sample (M5) consisting of two hair shaft fragments. M4 was non-human (Felis catus) in origin; therefore, the capacity of the labs to identify the biological source of this sample was an integral part of the exercise. Some labs detected the non-human origin of M4 by carrying out immuno-diffussion techniques using antihuman serum, whereas others identified the specific animal origin by testing the sample against a set of animal antibodies or by means of the analysis of mtDNA regions (Cyt-b, 12S, and 16S genes). The results of the other three human blood stains (M1-M3) improved in relation to the last Collaborative Exercises but those related to hairs yielded a low rate of success which clearly contrasts with previous results. As a consequence of this, some labs performed additional analysis showing that the origin of this low efficiency was not the presence of inhibitors, but the low quantity of DNA present in these specific hair samples and the degradation.As a general conclusion the results emphasize the need of external proficiency testing as part of the accreditation procedure for the labs performing mtDNA analysis in forensic casework.     

Automatic cost-of-living adjustments and the structural federal budget deficit

The mounting budget deficit is both economically and politically in supportable Projections of the unified federal budget deficit and the structural unified federal budget deficit and the structural deficit and the structural deficit converge in the next few years, indicating that nearly all of the deficit is the result of policy choices.

Efforts to significantly reduce the deficit must focus on the largest componenet of federal spending, entitlements such as social security, federal retirements, and medicare. Entitlements account for 45 percent of federal spending. About two-thirds of the growth in these programs arises from automatic cost of living adjustments (COLAs). Each one percent COLA increase adds $23 billion to the deficit over the next two decades.

It is debated whether COLA restraint should be included in deficit reduction efforts. Advocatesargue that COLAs are a major cause of deficits , tha trestraint is fair after a decade in which benefits grewfaster than in flation and wages, and that restraint improves the solvency of major programs. COLA restraint also reduces the deficit quickly, spread s the burden of deficit reduction over a very large group, and allows nominal benefits to remain at current levels, or even to grow, albeit more slowly. Opponents of restraint argue that COLAs are a fundamental program feature, that COLAs are needed to maintain beneficiaries purchasing power, and that recipients would experience economic hardship if COLAS were reduced.

Common approaches to restrain COLAs emphasize either short-term budget savings or long-term program reform. Past successful efforts to restrain COLAs have been related to ensuring program solvency or ensuring equal treatment of individuals in different programs.Proposals to slow COLA growth to achieve budgetary savings haven ot been successful.

Three types of COLA options seem viable under current economic and political conditions: A one-year COLA freeze, a cap on the COLA at two-thirds the rate of

inflation, and a cap on the COLA at two percentage points less than the rate of inflation. The one-year COLA freeze reduces the deficit most quickly, but produces less savings in the long-run than the other options.

A major attraction of formula reductions in the COLA is that the concept may be extended to other areas of the federal budget and greatly reduce the federal deficit. A plan to limit growth to two percentage points less than in flation on COLAs, other entitlements,national defense, discretionary domestic programs, and income tax indexing would reduce the deficit by one-half by 1990. An overall budget reduction plan based on CCLA restraint may be the only approach left for policy-makers who have exhausted other approaches to reducing the deficit.     

M13 Bioprints: non-isotopic detection of individual-specific human DNA fingerprints with biotinylated M13 bacteriophage

M13 bacteriophage was labelled by primer extension with biotin-11-dUTP and was successfully used as probe to study human hypervariable minisatellites (DNA fingerprints) in Southern blots. The method, which we called M13 Bioprints, presents two advantages over conventional DNA fingerprinting. First, it is easily accessible, since it utilizes the widely available M13 phage as a probe. Second, it makes use of biotin, which is safer, simpler and more economical than isotopic labels.     

Separation and divorce in Mexico: a demographic perspective

Data from the 1976 Mexican Fertility Survey are analyzed to determine the extent of legitimization of children born out of wedlock. The socioeconomic characteristics of women in consensual and legal unions are compared. The frequency and timing of legalization of consensual unions is analyzed, and the number of consensual unions and the frequency of legalization in rural and urban areas are compared. The role of pregnancy in forcing legalization and the stability of legal unions with and without prior cohabitation are studied. (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Evaluating and comparing entrepreneurial ecosystems using SMAA and SMAA-S

The Journal of Technology Transfer - This paper focuses on the entrepreneurial ecosystem as a set of interdependent and coordinated factors in a territory enabling entrepreneurship. To date,...     

“There Is Something in That Water”: Race,Nationalism, and Legal Violence

This article analyzes the issue of water contamination in Kashechewan, Ontario, Canada. Through an inquiry into the way in which water contamination in one Aboriginal community was handled by the local and federal governments, this article examines processes of ongoing colonialism in Canada. Drawing on an array of sources, this article explores three features pertinent to this water crisis: historical forms of legal violence, symbolic forms of representation concerning the relationship between nationalism and the governance of race in liberal democracies, and the importance of the case study approach when examining legalized forms of violence. By examining connections between race, nationalism, and legal violence, this article explores the ways in which biopolitical forms of racial governance require an analysis that links legal violence and structural violence to historical and symbolic forms of representation.     

Two “Wrongs” Make a Right to Coverage: When Waiver or Estoppel Precludes an Insurer's Breach of Cooperation Defense

Liability insurance policies almost always contain a provision requiring the policyholder to cooperate with the insurance company in various ways. An insured's failure to comply with such a condition may preclude coverage. When an insurer asserts a breach of the cooperation provision defense to a claim for coverage, however, the insured may counter that the insurer either waived, or is estopped from relying on, the cooperation provision. This article provides a brief outline of waiver/estoppel issues to be considered in evaluating an insurer's conduct when it asserts a non-cooperation defense.

“When you point your finger at someone, three fingers are pointing back at you.”

—Anonymous     

Substitution of human for horse urine disproves an accusation of doping*

In order to detect switching and/or manipulation of samples, the owner of a stallion asked our lab to perform a DNA test on a positive doping urine sample. The objective was to compare the urine DNA profile versus blood and hair DNA profiles from the same stallion. At first, 10 microsatellite markers were investigated to determine the horse identity. No results were obtained when horse specific markers were typed in the urine sample. In order to confirm the species origin of this sample we analyzed the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. This analysis from blood and hair samples produced reproducible and clear PCR-RFLP patterns and DNA sequence match with those expected for horse, while the urine sample results were coincident with human. These results allowed us to exclude the urine sample from the questioned stallion and determine its human species origin, confirming the manipulation of urine sample.