Importance of radiological diagnosis applied to necroscopy

The authors evaluate the consequences of incomplete necroscopic examinations wherein it was impossible to apply radiological resources to locate firearm projectiles. The study includes 8185 reports from the Instituto Médico-Legal Afranio Peixoto in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, representing the totality of corpses processed from January to December 2001; of these, 3122 were gunshot victims, 309 of which were buried with unremoved projectiles, being liable to future judicial reappraisal. During the same period, there were 23 exhumation requests by police authorities, 12 of them querying the existence of projectiles. The authors looked into the formal reasons assumed by the medico legal experts to conclude their reports from incomplete examinations, and suggest that gunshot necroscopic examinations should follow specific protocols, as incomplete autopsies will require further exhumations, at unnecessary additional costs.     

Solid-phase microextraction for the determination of cocaine and cocaethylene in human hair by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A method for the simultaneous determination of cocaine (COC) and cocaethylene (CE) in human hair was developed, using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) as analytical technique to identify and quantify the drugs. Selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode was used to obtain higher sensitivity. The deuterated-labeled analogues were used as internal standards. The detector response was linear for the drugs studied over the range 0.4-15 ng/mg, with correlation coefficients higher than 0.995. The coefficients of variation oscillated between 0.65% and 14.18% and the accuracy was in the range from 0.73% to 11.20%. The limits of quantitation and detection were found to be acceptable. Finally, this method was applied to 15 hair samples from cocaine users, obtaining positive results in all cases. The mean concentrations were 5.39 ng/mg (range: 0.43-8.98 ng/mg) for cocaine and 1.11 ng/mg (range: 0.42-2.23 ng/mg) for cocaethylene.     

Genetic variation of 15 STR autosomal loci in the Maracaibo population from Venezuela

Allele frequencies for 15 short tandem repeats (STRs) autosomal loci (D8S1179, D21S11, D7S820, CSF1PO, D3S1358, TH01, D13S317, D16S539, D2S1338, D19S433, vWA, TPOX, D18S51, D5S818 and FGA, included in the AmpFLSTR Identifiler, Applied Biosystems) were studied in the city of Maracaibo, Venezuela and were compared with other published Latin-American populations for the same loci. Population and forensic parameters were estimated.     

Population genetic data for 18 STR loci in Costa Rica

Allele frequencies for 18 STR autosomal loci (D3S1358, VWA, FGA, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820, D16S539, TH01, TPOX, CSF1PO, Penta D, Penta E, D19S433, D2S1338 and SE33) were obtained from a sample of 191-500 unrelated individuals from Costa Rica, Central America.     

Searching for the origin of Romanies: Slovakian Romani, Jats of Haryana and Jat Sikhs Y-STR data in comparison with different Romani populations

Haplotype frequencies for 11 Y-STR markers (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385, DYS437, DYS438 and DYS439) in a Romani population (n=63) from Slovakia, Jats of Haryana (n=84) and Jat Sikhs (n=80) from India were determined. The Slovakian Romani, the Haryana and Sikh populations were endogamous based on their unique haplotype ratio and haplotype diversity values, although the Sikh population appeared to be more diverse. AMOVA revealed non-significant differences between the Romanies and significant differences with non-Romani populations. The Macedonian Romani population differed from all Romani populations examined. Frequent haplotypes observed in Romani populations were sporadic in northwest Indian populations. Thirteen out of 316 populations worldwide were found to share the six most frequent haplotypes of the Slovakian Romanies when the screening conditions were narrowed based on the population size to be over 40, the occurrence of the haplotypes was more than one and the sum frequencies of the most frequent haplotypes was at least 0.02. The most common haplotypes were also observed in other Romani groups. When searching with two Indian (Malbar and Malaysian Indian) most frequent haplotypes under the same conditions matches could be detected in all Romani populations except for the Macedonian Romanies. The search with the Jat Sikhs and Jats of Haryana most frequent haplotypes resulted no matches in Romani populations.     

Why education matters: school ‘choice’ and differing views on citizenship in Pakistan

This article discusses young Pakistanis' self-articulation of their relationship with the state, focusing in particular on the perceptions held by those aged between 15 and 25 and who are in education. The research used a mixed methods approach. Data were collected in 6 private, 11 philanthropic and 3 government schools as well as 2 madrassas and 5 universities in urban, semi-urban and rural areas in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. A questionnaire with qualitative and quantitative sections was distributed to class 10 students and over 1000 questionnaires were returned. The research found, on aggregate response, that there is a high sense of belonging to the nation, yet paradoxically also a high sense of alienation with regard to the state. Whilst most of those surveyed professed awareness of their rights and duties, the youth was seen by the same respondents as mostly ignorant of these. The factor that caused the greatest variation was the type of school attended where responses and attitudes regarding the state, rights, responsibilities and citizenship differed markedly. This article discusses how this school ‘choice’ is linked with particular perceptions of citizenship by looking beyond class and problematising the relationship between education and the perceptions of the state.     

Clientelism or Something Else? Squatter Politics in Montevideo

Through the in‐depth ethnographic study of one squatter neighborhood in Montevideo and its leader's political networks, this article illustrates a successful strategy through which some squatter neighborhoods have fought for their right to the city. This consists of opportunistic, face‐to‐face relationships between squatter leaders and politicians of various factions and parties as intermediaries to get state goods, such as water, building materials, electricity, roads, and ultimately land tenure. Through this mechanism, squatters have seized political opportunities at the national and municipal levels. These opportunities were particularly high between 1989 and 2004, years of great competition for the votes of the urban poor on the periphery of the city, when the national and municipal governments belonged to opposing parties. In terms of theory, the article discusses current literature on clientelism, posing problems that make it difficult to characterize the political networks observed among squatters.