Evaluation of Tamm‐Horsfall Protein and Uroplakin III for Forensic Identification of Urine

Abstract: In this study, Tamm‐Horsfall protein (THP), a major component of urinary protein, and uroplakin III (UPIII), a transmembrane protein widely regarded as a urothelium‐specific marker, were evaluated for forensic identification of urine by ELISA and/or immunohistochemistry. THP was detected in urine, but not in plasma, saliva, semen, vaginal fluid, or sweat by the simple ELISA method developed in this study. In addition, most aged urine stains showed positive results. The urine specificity of THP was confirmed by gene expression analysis. Therefore, as reported previously, ELISA detection of THP can be used as a presumptive test for urine identification. UPIII was specific for immunohistochemical staining of cells in centrifuged precipitate of urine. However, ELISA and RT‐PCR for UPIII were not specific for urine. UPIII may be applicable for forensic urine identification by immunohistochemistry.     

Why Are There So Many Hereditary Politicians in Japan?

As will become clear from the text below, this paper is heavily based on the author's article published in Japanese in March 2009 by Nikkei BP, titled What Breeds Hereditary Politicians? The content of this work was first presented in a lecture that the author delivered in March 2008: Inequality in the Value of Votes and the Future of Japan. The author entreats the reader to bear in mind that although a certain amount of reference information which has subsequently come to light has been added to this paper, for the sake of simplicity, the results of the general election held at the end of August 2009 have not been incorporated (for example, throughout the text the Liberal Democratic Party is cited as the ruling party, as was the case before the general election). However, where appropriate, minimal footnotes have been added regarding the results of the general election and other points judged worthy of note, based on current available information as of September 3, 2009.     

The Impact of a Disaster on Asset Dynamics in the Gobi Region of Mongolia: An Analysis of Livestock Changes

Measuring wealth levels dynamically through productive assets, the ‘asset-based approach’, allows persistent or dynamic differentiation of the transitions in household living standards and predictions concerning the people who may continue to experience low standards of living in the future. Studies using the asset-based approach have been conducted mainly in Africa. For a comparison, we conducted a similar study of herders in Mongolia. There were differences in our results compared to the studies on Africa. First, some herders transitioned chronically. Second, the recovery rate was different among herder types. Third, a hierarchical reversal among different herder types occurred after the disaster.     

日本犯罪现象的变化和刑事立法 --安全神话已经破灭了吗?

近年来在日本社会的急剧变化中,各种犯罪现象猛增,抢劫银行、药物犯罪、猎奇杀人、性犯罪、来日外国人犯罪、企业恐怖行为及奥姆真理教的沙林事件等一系列犯罪现象,引起了社会各界的关注,必须预以很好解决,方能保证日本的稳定与发展。     

Toxicological analysis of lidocaine in biological materials by using HPLC

A rapid and reliable method to analyze lidocaine in biological materials was developed using column extraction method and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Two peaks for lidocaine and procaine as an internal standard (IS) were separated clearly with no interfering peaks appearing in the chromatogram. The annual change of lidocaine caused intoxications was described. From medico-legal aspects, the method was applied to authentic samples from autopsied victims and concentrations of lidocaine in 29 cases were evaluated briefly.     

PGD phenotyping in bloodstains, organ tissues, dental pulps and hair roots by isoelectric focusing

Polymorphism of PGD was investigated in bloodstains, organ tissues, dental pulps, hair roots and semen by isoelectric focusing. This technique provided much higher resolution of PGD isoenzymes than starch gel electrophoresis. Phenotyping was possible from bloodstains for 5 weeks, from organ tissues (except pancreas) for 1-3 weeks, from dental pulps for 2 weeks and from hair roots for 2 weeks when they were stored at room temperature. The method is simple, rapid, reliable and therefore useful in medicolegal individualization of bloodstains, organ tissues, teeth and hairs.     

A quota jury: affirmative action in jury selection

It is not too naive to believe that the use of affirmative action policies in the jury selection for the Rodney King beating trial of White police officers would have prevented the uprisings that followed their acquittal. The public outrage and riots that followed the verdict demonstrated the need for affirmative inclusion of racial minorities on jury trials to preserve and restore the public’s confidence and legitimacy of verdicts in racially motivated cases. While racially mixed juries offer many benefits, current jury selection procedures fail to provide much protection to members of racial minorities in criminal trials. From the source list to the discriminatory use of peremptory challenges, the current selection procedures provide almost no protection to racial minorities. The issue of preferential treatments of racial minorities in education, employment, and business has divided the nation and even some minority communities themselves. Affirmative action in jury proceedings and trials, however, has yet to receive much deserved attention and critical scrutiny. This article empirically examines public perceptions of possible applications of affirmative action mechanisms in criminal jury proceedings, focusing on the uses of mandatory racial quotas to engineer racially integrated juries in criminal trials. Three different types of racially mixed juries—the jury “de medietate linguae,” the Hennepin jury model, and the social science model—are examined, and the public’s perceptions of affirmative mechanisms ensuring minority participation on juries are analyzed. This article argues that the affirmative mechanism to secure racially mixed juries is essential to both the appearance and substance of fairness in criminal jury proceedings, and both the Hennepin model and the social science model are overwhelmingly supported as the ideal types of affirmative jury structures in creating racially heterogeneous juries.     

Histological examination of the temporal bone in medicolegal cases of asphyxia

Histological findings of the temporal bone in 23 autopsy cases of various asphyxial fatalities were studied. The temporal bones of 12 cases who died of tumors including mammary cancer, gastric cancer, myxoma of heart and craniopharyngioma, the bones of 3 cases of heart attack and the bones of 17 cases who died of various poisoning (barbiturate, amphetamine, paraquat and alcohol) were used as controls. In drowning, the primary finding was hemorrhage in the mastoid air cells of the bilateral temporal bones. In cases of strangulation by ligature, hemorrhage and edema of the cochlear duct in the inner ear as well as hemorrhage in the mastoid air cells were demonstrated bilaterally. In contrast, congestion and edema in the mastoid air cells and inner ear were found in cases of manual strangulation but there was no hemorrhage. From these results, the histological examination of the temporal bone is useful as an adjunct procedure for diagnosing the cause of asphyxia. Differentiation between drowning, strangulation by ligature and manual strangulation may be possible by observing hemorrhages or their absence in the mastoid air cells and inner ear.     

Who is a Proper Opponent? The Tibetan Buddhist Concept of phyi rgol yang dag

This paper examines the role of a proper opponent (phyi rgol yang dag) in debate from the standpoint of the Tibetan Buddhist theory of argumentation. A proper opponent is a person who is engaged in the process of truth-seeking. He is not a debater who undertakes to refute the tenets of a proponent. But rather, he is the model debater to whom a proponent can teach truth by using a probative argument in the most effective way. A proper opponent is thus the model thinker conceived by Tibetan Buddhist scholars, especially by the dGe lugs pa exegetes, to explain the idea of “inference for others.” The term phyi rgol yang dag figures in many text books of the dGe lugs pa school. And the germ of the dGe lugs pa's idea of ``proper opponent'' is found in early Tibetan tshad ma literature, too. The present paper shows that the dGe lugs pa scholars are largely concerned with the process by which one obtains an inferential knowledge about the unknown object, and also that they, when talking about a proper opponent, emphasize the pedagogical role of dialectic conversation rather than the competitive feature of debates.