The application of minisatellite variant repeat mapping by PCR (MVR-PCR) in a paternity case showing false exclusion due to STR mutation

A boy and a girl with their mother brought a paternity suit against an alleged but deceased father. We tested six conventional genetic markers, the AmpliType PM+ DQA1 and twelve STR loci the children and mother together with the alleged paternal grandparents. We also DNA typed the bloodstain found later in the alleged father's medical record. Only the result at D3S1358 in a nineplex STR system excluded the alleged father from parentage of the boy, whereas all markers were inclusive for the girl. Accordingly, we performed sequence analysis at D3S1358 to confirm the presence of a paternal exclusion or mutation. The sequence analysis indicated that the boy's allele 17 could have originated from either of the alleged father's allele 16 or 18 by a single-step mutation associated with slippage mutation in STR loci. We carried out minisatellite variant repeat mapping by PCR (MVR-PCR) at loci D1S8 (MS32) and D7S21 (MS31A) and mapped allele haplotypes of all individuals except the deceased alleged father. The MVR-PCR analysis showed that the boy has no inconsistency with the relationship between the alleged grandparents, and was very effective at increasing the paternity index (PI) value. We conclude that there is biological relationship between not only the girl but also the boy and the alleged father.     

A new perspective in the estimation of postmortem interval (PMI) based on vitreous

The relation between the potassium concentration in the vitreous humor, [K+], and the postmortem interval has been studied by several authors. Many formulae are available and they are based on a correlation test and linear regression using the PMI as the independent variable and [K+] as the dependent variable. The estimation of the confidence interval is based on this formulation. However, in forensic work, it is necessary to use [K+] as the independent variable to estimate the PMI. Although all authors have obtained the PMI by direct use of these formulae, it is, nevertheless, an inexact approach, which leads to false estimations. What is required is to change the variables, obtaining a new equation in which [K+] is considered as the independent variable and the PMI as the dependent. The regression line obtained from our data is [K+] = 5.35 + 0.22 PMI, by changing the variables we get PMI = 2.58[K+] - 9.30. When only nonhospital deaths are considered, the results are considerably improved. In this case, we get [K+] = 5.60 + 0.17 PMI and, consequently, PMI = 3.92[K+] - 19.04.     

Diagnosis of non-typical myocarditis by applying immunohistochemical method of CD68

OBJECTIVE: To make a distinction between myocarditis and the reaction to some pathological state of myocardium. METHODS: Myocardium of 26 cases with sudden cardiac death were stained and LM light microscopies with immunohistochemical method 10 cases with normal myocardium were contrasted. RESULTS: A great deal of stained positive monocyte of immunohistochemistry emerged in the parasetions of myocarditis patients with various farms and stacking(> 15). CONCLUSION: The stain of immunohistochemistry can be used as one of the indications for diagnosing non-typical myocarditis.     

有机磷农药中毒的人体血液致死浓度探讨

对 4年间 6家医院所有门急诊有关敌敌畏、甲胺磷、乐果三种有机磷农药中毒病例进行了调查分析。运用气相色谱法对其血液中的浓度进行测定。采用 Bliss法,计算其死亡率和昏迷率的加权直线回归方程,并获得其经救治后血液半数致死浓度 LC50、半数致昏迷浓度 CC50。综合文献和临床实践,认为及时的救治对中毒病例的治疗转归有较大影响,其自然的血液半数致死浓度应在经救治的半数致死浓度 LC50和半数致昏述浓度之间。综合半数致死浓度和半数致昏迷浓度,计算其自然的半数致死浓度 LCe50值。     

单核苷酸多态性及其在法医学中的应用前景

单核苷酸多态性是人类基因组中最常见、分布最广泛的DNA多态性类型。随着人类基因组计划的迅猛发展,已有越来越多的单核苷酸多态性位点被发现,使其可以广泛应用于人类遗传性和遗传相关性疾病的诊断、群体遗传学的研究、药物的开发及应用等方面,同样在法医学也具有广阔的应用前景。本文综合介绍了单核苷酸多态性的一般特性及法医学应用前景,包括其应用的可行性、存在的问题及高通量自动化的检测方法。     

Regionalisation as a Driving Force of EU Widening: Recovering from the EU ‘Carrot Crisis’ in the ‘East’

This article focuses on the ‘globalisation-cum-regionalisation’ process in the European Union that has led to the emergence of functional macro-regions. It provides first a classification of regionalisation, and describes the organisational and mental barriers of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The second part traces the shift of the ENP from the South to the East that has also activated the EU's pre-accession policy in the West Balkan region and the Eastern Partnership programme. Finally, it argues that the Baltic Strategy and the Danube Strategy as functional macro-regions are the main instruments to overcome the weaknesses of the incentive-based approach in the EU's conditionality (or, as it is described here, its ‘carrot crisis’).     

AN EXPLORATION OF WHY PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS ‘INGEST’ INNOVATIONS

Organizational change sometimes occurs as organizations ‘ingest’ innovations from without. This process represents a vital form of organizational learning and adaptation to the external environment. This study seeks to understand the factors that predict the adoption of Foreign Professional Specialty Occupation Visas, or H‐1B visas, by Texas public school districts. The use of H‐1B visas to hire foreign skilled workers is a staffing innovation that is growing in use among public and private organizations. Three sets of factors frequently used in studies of organizational innovation are considered: organizational size and slack; attitudes and dispositions of organizational leaders; and environmental influences. The findings contribute to our understanding of ingested innovations, indicating that slack resources, influences from the task and institutional environments, and the organizational leader's disposition and behaviour relating to change influence the probability of adopting this staffing innovation.     

Genetics and Racial Difference in Contemporary Brazil: Haemoglobinopathies,Whiteness and Admixture in Biomedical Literature

The historical role of biomedicine in shaping and legitimising ideas of race in Brazil has long been documented. Much less discussed, however, is how contemporary biomedicine helps recreate notions of race. In this article I explore some of the uses of race, and particularly whiteness, in current biomedical research, using as a case study articles published on the prevalence of haemoglobinopathies, including sickle cell anaemia and β‐Thalassaemia. One can only properly understand how race features in these texts by pointing to the links between ideas about admixture and purity, existing historical discourses about difference and Nation and new genetic knowledge.