Factor B subtyping in sera and bloodstains by isoelectric focusing and immunoblotting

The polymorphism of BF was investigated in 765 unrelated Japanese individuals by isoelectric focusing and immunoblotting. Besides five common subtypes three rare variants were observed. The allele frequencies were: BF*S = 0.8078, BF*FA = 0.1797, BF*FB = 0.0105, BF*Var. = 0.0020. The above method was successfully applied to subtyping BF in stored bloodstains. The determination limits were: at 4 degrees C 8 weeks, at room temperature 2 weeks and at 37 degrees C only 2 days after storage. The BF subtyping is of practical use in medicolegal individualization of unknown bloodstains.     

Unusual intravascular hemolysis in a case of fatal hypothermia.

A 55-year-old man was discovered dead inside a deep freezer maintained at -40 degrees C. After consuming a large quantity of alcohol, the man had become trapped in the freezer approximately 11 h before his body was found. The body was still frozen at the time of autopsy, but subcutaneous dendriform vessel repletion phenomenon was observed on the upper and lower extremities. Although this intravascular hemolysis resembled that which develops during putrefaction, in this case it was thought to be due to pooling and freezing of blood in subcutaneous vessels. Contributory factors included alcohol ingestion, vasodilation following vasoconstriction, vasomotor paralysis, and red cell sludging. Hemolysis followed freezing of the blood. When such phenomena are observed in a corpse, exposure to extreme cold should be suspected.     

Sudden infant death due to asplenia syndrome

An apparently healthy 80-day-old boy died suddenly for no apparent reason. The autopsy revealed that the patient had had congenital asplenia, extensive cardiovascular anomalies, and other organ malformations, including trisegmented lungs, hypoplasia of the corpus callosum and cranial bones, a symmetrical liver, accessory hepatic tissue in the adrenal glands, malrotation of the intestine, and hypoplasia of the greater omentum.     

Lewis blood group determination in bloodstains by planimetric measurement of eluted monoclonal antibodies

Planimetric measurements were employed for reading the results of an elution test to determine Lewis blood groups in dry human bloodstains. In the absorption-elution test, two varieties of indicators were used to detect eluted Lewis antibodies. First, 64 blood-stains aged between 2 to 8 months were tested with glutaraldehyde (GLA)-treated erythrocytes (planimetric hemagglutination assay, PMHA). This method demonstrated that dry stains weighing approximately 0.4 mg (equivalent to 3 microliters of whole blood) were sufficient for detection of Lea or Leb antigen. Results were obtained within 1 h. Then, 37 of these stains were tested with Lewis substance-coated latex particles (planimetric latex agglutination assay, PMLA). The presence of Lea and Leb antigen were detected from dry stains weighing 0.1 mg (equivalent to 1 microL of whole blood) within 3 h. Both these assays are faster and simpler with accuracy than the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Latex particles coated with Lewis substance are, in particular, strongly agglutinated and show agglutination patterns more clearly than erythrocytes. The blind tests using these two methods properly classified 7 Le(a + b-) and 23 Le(a-b + ) bloodstains; whereas, 5 Le(a-b-) stains were undetermined by the criteria for these tests. These results indicate the usefulness of the PMHA and PMLA for typing Lewis blood groups from small bloodstains.     

Public Resource Allocation and Electoral Systems in the U.S. and Japan

This paper introduces alternative measures of net budgetallocation and legislative representation. They are neutral tothe size of total expenditure and tax collection as well as tochanges in the population and the size of the legislature,which makes them suitable for panel data exercises andinternational comparative studies. Regression analyses of 50U.S. states and 47 Japanese prefectures using these indiceshighlight similarities and differences in public resourceallocation between respective democracies that reflect theirpolitical and electoral systems.     

Potentiation of lethality and increase in body temperature by combined use of d-methamphetamine and morphine in mice

Lethality and change in body temperature in mice were examined after subcutaneous injection of d-methamphetamine and morphine alone or in combination. The LD50 values for methamphetamine and morphine were calculated to be 95 and 670 mg/kg body wt., respectively. When a non-lethal dose of morphine (300 mg/kg) was administered with various doses of methamphetamine, the LD50 for methamphetamine was reduced to 5 mg/kg, indicating a marked potentiation of toxicity by combined use of both drugs. Injection of 5 mg/kg of methamphetamine produced slight hyperthermia, while 300 mg/kg of morphine decreased the body temperature of mice. However, when both drugs were used concomitantly, a marked increase in body temperature was observed. Hyperthermia was also observed when the dose of morphine was reduced to 50 mg/kg. It is postulated that hyperthermia is probably one of the contributory factors in the potentiated toxicity by combined use of morphine and methamphetamine.     

Gangs as contractors: the social organization of American Taiwanese youth gangs in Southern California

This paper examines the organizational structure and operations of Taiwanese organized crime and youth gangs in Southern California. In-depth interviews were used as the principle method of research. In contrast to transnational criminal conspiracy claims and the La Cosa Nostra model of vertically integrated organizations, our findings suggest that these criminal groups consist of discrete local Taiwanese youth gangs which operate as largely independent economic units that show no substantive and operational ties to criminal organizations in Taiwan. The formation of Taiwanese criminal organizations and gangs in Southern California is primarily governed by the availability of financial opportunities. Furthermore, both the inter-gang relations and intra-gang structures exhibit a distinct form of contractor arrangement which consists of market-like weak ties that are simultaneously circumscribed by the criminal embeddedness. We argue that that these economic weak ties, which seem to render conventionally understood criminal organizational boundaries administratively less meaningful, still function as an operationally significant governance mechanism of the organizational structures of American Taiwanese youth gangs. In addition, the paper discusses the implications that the embeddedness has on the somewhat paradoxical and incoherent organizational structure.     

A newly designed apparatus for testing blood levels of fuel vapor

An apparatus for exposure of laboratory animals to fuel vapor was designed, manufactured and set up for routine experiments. Gasoline was vaporized by warming and was introduced into a series of chambers in which the concentration was regulated and stabilized, using air pumps. Concentration of the vapor in a chamber was controlled and experiments on rats showed a positive correlation between blood levels and vapor concentration at the time of exposure. A case of suicide by gasoline poisoning was briefly described.