Chimpanzee homologous of human Y specific STRs. A comparative study and a proposal for nomenclature

Eleven Y specific microsatellites, previously studied in humans, were typed for fragment length and sequenced in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).The primers described by Ayub et al. (Nucleic Acids Res. 28, 2000, 2) for amplifying DYS434, DYS435, DYS436, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439 and those described by White et al. (Genomics, 57, 1999, 433) for GATA A10, A7.1, A7.2, C4, and H4, were used to amplify DNA samples from chimpanzees.Primers described for Y GATA A4 were found to amplify the same region as reported for DYS439. Moreover, the GATA A4 forward primer only matches the repeat flanking region in 14 of the 28bp, being responsible for a very weak amplification. Therefore, this system was not included in this study.The analysis of the repeat and sequence structure observed in chimpanzee and human Y chromosomes allowed evolutionary comparisons as well as the basis for improving Y STR nomenclature and therefore, a unified nomenclature for these novel STRs is proposed to the scientific community following ISFG recommendations.     

Development Context and the Political Behavior of Remittance Recipients in Latin America and the Caribbean

Political Behavior - Remittances have become a chief source of family income in developing countries. As such, these revenue streams have the potential to impact recipients’ political...     

Sex-symmetric effects of coercive behaviors on mental health? Not exactly

The present study tested a section of the model of coercion in intimate partner violence (IPV) by investigating the relationships among coercion, IPV and mental health symptoms. The study's sample consisted of 573 culturally diverse university students (age M = 21.4) who completed a survey that measured past IPV victimization, coercive behaviors, and mental health symptoms. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that coercion was a stronger predictor of adverse mental health symptoms than was IPV victimization. In addition, the study found that the adverse effect of coercive behaviors on mental health symptoms was stronger among female victims of IPV than among male IPV victims. The results have implications for theory building, future research, and mental health professionals who work with female and male victims of IPV.     

Uncertainty and the use of force among Venezuelan police officers

Literature often emphasizes the use of force as a distinctive feature of police work, while risky encounters and uncertainty are conditions under which such work is carried out daily. Conditions leading to the use of force by the police have been associated with the presence of menacing minorities, losing verbal control, the youth and lack of experience of officers, and critical physical proximity between officers and suspects. Additionally, defiance towards the police has often been linked to increased force used by the police. It is here proposed that uncertainty also fosters police officers’ dispositions to use force. In this study, four focus groups were conducted with officers from two Venezuelan municipal police departments in October 2003, presenting a hypothetical scenario progressing from contact with suspects towards an open confrontation involving a shooting. Officers perceived, through different phases of the scenario, an encounter of no easily predictable outcome with suspects, involving potential harm to the police and bystanders. A pattern seemed to appear among officers in which overcoming real or assumed resistance became the central issue. When physical confrontation with suspects became evident, self defence was the clearest justification for the use of force, though the use of force was also defended by officers without further elaboration on the requirements and conditions for effectively thwarting aggression. It appears that uncertainty about the outcome of a situation fosters both the disposition and the justification for using force.

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Economics of court performance: an empirical analysis

This paper proposes an empirical analysis of Spanish court performance using the economic approach. An econometric model will be estimated in order to answer two basic questions: (1) why some courts’ output it is greater than others? (2) Could courts produce a higher output using their actual resources? In addition it will be determine, by means of an analysis of variance (ANOVA), whether courts showing higher than average output have dictated resolutions with a higher reversal rate.     

A temporal analytical approach to decentralization: lessons from Brazil's health sector

This article introduces a new concept to the study of decentralization processes: policy dynamism. At its core is the notion that the sequential and temporal process of health decentralization affect the nature of intergovernmental relationships and municipal bureaucratic capacity. Examining the case of Brazil, I argue that the rush to decentralize health services to municipalities has, in the absence of sufficient financial and technical assistance from the federal and state governments, increased state-municipal conflict over the management of health policy, limiting municipalities' ability to increase bureaucratic capacity. Consequently, some states have attempted to recentralize reforms, generating further conflict between both subnational levels of government. While some municipalities have tried to overcome these problems by creating associations and working with international organizations, several bureaucratic obstacles remain. This article attributes these outcomes not to federal institutions and economic constraints (the traditional approach in the literature) but rather to the noninstitutional, temporal policy dynamics of decentralization.     

The historical understanding of female premodern possessions. Problematizing some gender assumptions in the historiography on Teresa de Ávila and Jeanne des Anges

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses how to approach the history of female possessions today. By analyzing some recent contributions applied to two well-known historical figures: Teresa de Ávila (1515–1582) and Jeanne des Anges (1602–1665), I will problematize some of the ongoing history of female possessions. I intend a reflection on two of the current conceptual frameworks that feature the way history explains the subjective experience of these premodern possessed individuals. I focus on two kinds of interpretation: one I call the ‘neurotic’ interpretation, and the other the ‘subversive’ interpretation. Both constructions underpin explanations of women’s divine and demonic possessions, involving historiographical gender prejudices and ahistorical assumptions.     

Hyperphosphatasia-osteoactasia detected during anthropological examination

Minor N.Ny., a 2-year-old girl, was examined in 1986 in a contested paternity case by an order of court. The defendant did not admit paternity and named another man, so anthropological and blood-group examinations were performed on mother, child and the two men. Giving expert opinion may prove to be difficult following anthropological examinations for developmental anomalies of either party. However, the observed disease or developmental anomaly may have clinical importance for parties examined 'by chance'. In our case morphological deviation was detected in mother.     

Human susceptibility to complex diseases. Genetic analysis in large populations]

Inherited susceptibility underlying the ethiopathogenity of complex diseases is based on the existence of a high number of genetic variants which are cooperating to generate different risk genetic profiles. We try to identify such profiles and construct wide data bases with this genetic information.