New alleles and mutational events at 14 STR loci from different German populations

The molecular origin of DNA mutations and the mutation rates were analyzed at 14 short tandem repeat (STR) loci with samples from trio cases derived from 10 different German population samples. STR loci comprised of D2S1360, D3S1744, D4S2366, D5S2500, D6S474, D7S1517, D8S1132, D10S2325, D12S391, D18S51, D19S246, D20S480, D21S226, and D22S689. In a total of 488 meioses, 16 isolated genetic inconsistencies in 8 different STRs were observed, whereas no mutations were found at the other loci. The data of five mutations suggested the presence of silent or null alleles due to sequence variation in primer binding site. This could be confirmed for four suspected cases by the use of alternative primer sets and by DNA sequence analyses. Furthermore, this study revealed nine new allelic variants at five different loci.     

Defense planning in the fog of peace: the transatlantic currency conversion conundrum

ABSTRACT

Resource allocation to and within defense budgets is grand strategy. NATO and the EU coordinate defense planning and encourage fair burden-sharing among their members. We analyze the effect of agreed planning processes, namely the “NATO Defense Planning Process (NDPP)” on the conversion of political will to resources and then to capabilities development across the transatlantic security community. In a “fog of peace” featuring diverse threats, and in which allies may disagree on strategic rivals and sources of risk, national and regional political economies shape strategy, not the other way around.     

Medical liability and health care reform

We examine the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on medical liability and the controversy over whether federal medical reform including a damages cap could make a useful contribution to health care reform. By providing guaranteed access to health care insurance at community rates, the ACA could reduce the problem of under-compensation resulting from damages caps. However, it may also exacerbate the problem of under-claiming in the malpractice system, thereby reducing incentives to invest in loss prevention activities. Shifting losses from liability insurers to health insurers could further undermine the already weak deterrent effect of the medical liability system. Republicans in Congress and physician groups both pushed for the adoption of a federal damages cap as part of health care reform. Physician support for damages caps could be explained by concerns about the insurance cycle and the consequent instability of the market. Our own study presented here suggests that there is greater insurance market stability in states with caps on non-economic damages. Republicans in Congress argued that the enactment of damages caps would reduce aggregate health care costs. The Congressional Budget Office included savings from reduced health care utilization in its estimates of cost savings that would result from the enactment of a federal damages cap. But notwithstanding recent opinions offered by the CBO, it is not clear that caps will significantly reduce health care costs or that any savings will be passed on to consumers. The ACA included funding for state level demonstration projects for promising reforms such as offer and disclosure and health courts, but at this time the benefits of these reforms are also uncertain. There is a need for further studies on these issues.     

An assessment of the repeatability of pubic and ischial measurements

Forensic anthropologists frequently use measurements of the human skeleton to determine sex and ancestry. Since the establishment of the Daubert criteria of admissibility of scientific evidence to court, methodologies used by anthropologists came under severe scrutiny. It is therefore important to ensure that the osteometric standards that are used in skeletal analyses are clearly explained, repeatable and reliable. Adams and Byrd (2002) found that measurements of the pelvis that originated from a point inside the acetabulum could not be repeated accurately. The purpose of this paper was to use three different sets of pubic and ischial measurements to establish whether they can be repeated with high precision between four different observers, and also by the observers themselves. Generally, high levels of repeatability were obtained, with intra-class correlations (ICC) above 0.8. Pubic and ischial measurements using a point in the acetabulum as origin performed the worst (ICC values of 0.82 and 0.79 respectively for inter-observer repeatability), whereas other methods performed better with ICC values above 0.9. It is advised that pubic and ischial measurements should be taken using the origin of the iliac blade as landmark.     

MOR1 receptor mRNA expression in human brains of drug-related fatalities-a real-time PCR quantification

The expression of the human micro-opiate receptor (MOR1) in post mortem human brain tissue was examined using real-time PCR technology. Tissue samples from 11 fatalities due to opiate overdose and five normal subjects with different causes of death were analysed in order to elucidate whether chronic opiate abuse is followed by a regulation of MOR1 expression. In each case nine selected brain regions (thalamus, caudate nucleus, hypothalamus, ventral tegmentum, hippocampus, amygdala, frontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, putamen) were evaluated. The MOR1-mRNA level was determined relative to the housekeeping gene beta2-microglobulin. While in most regions the MOR mRNA levels in the brain of addicts were not different from the control group-with varying levels between 0 and 15% of housekeeping gene level-in the brains of three drug-related fatalities an enormous increase was encountered in the thalamus where the MOR-mRNA level amounted for up to 10,000% of the measured housekeeping gene level. The results obtained by toxicological hair analysis in the group of drug-related fatalities indicate that the enormous thalamic MOR1-expression is primarily found in individuals who died from acute heroin overdose but did not show signs of a substantial chronic administration of the drug. Further studies have to be performed to evaluate if the observed MOR1-mRNA up-regulation in the thalamus in a subpopulation of acute lethal intoxications mirrors a state of functional hypersensitivity associated with the occurrence of death.     

Analysis of LSD in human body fluids and hair samples applying ImmunElute columns

Immunoaffinity extraction units (LSD ImmunElute) are commercially available for the analysis of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in urine. The ImmunElute resin contains immobilized monoclonal antibodies to LSD. We applied the ImmunElute procedure to serum and also to human hair samples. For hair analysis the samples were first extracted with methanol under sonication. The extracts were then purified using the ImmunElute resin. LSD analysis was carried out with HPLC and fluorescence detection. The immunoaffinity extraction provides highly purified extracts for chromatographic analysis. The limit of detection (signal-to-noise ratio = 3) has been determined to be < 50 pg regardless of which sample material was used. The procedure was applied to authentic hair samples from drug abusers (n = 11). One of these samples tested positive with an amount of 110 pg LSD in 112 mg extracted hair corresponding to a concentration of 1 pg/mg.