Vitreous Fluid and/or Urine Glucose Concentrations in 1335 Civil Aviation Accident Pilot Fatalities*

Abstract: During aviation accident investigations, vitreous fluid and urine samples from pilot fatalities are analyzed for glucose and blood for hemoglobin A_1c (HbA_1c) to monitor diabetic pilots and to discover other pilots with undiagnosed/unreported diabetes. The prevalence of elevated glucose concentrations in fatally injured pilots was evaluated by searching the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute’s Toxicology Database for the period 1998–2005. Out of 1335 pilots involving 363 vitreous fluid, 365 urine, and 607 vitreous fluid and urine analyses, 43 pilots had elevated glucose in vitreous fluid (>125 mg/dL) and/or in urine (>100 mg/dL). Of the 20 pilots whose blood samples were analyzed, nine had >6% HbA_1c—four were known diabetics, and five were unknown diabetics. Urinary glucose levels were elevated in all 13 known hyperglycemic pilots. A considerable number of pilots (30 of 43) had elevated glucose and HbA_1c (5 of 20), suggesting undiagnosed/unreported diabetic conditions.     

Development of a Nomenclature System for a Canine STR Multiplex Reagent Kit*†

Abstract: Despite the popularity of dogs in US households, canine DNA evidence remains largely untapped in forensic investigations partially because of the absence of well‐defined forensic short tandem repeats (STRs), lack of standardized and validated PCR protocols, STR reagent kits, and poorly developed nomenclature. A nomenclature system was established based on internationally recognized recommendations for human forensic STRs for a recently developed canine STR reagent kit. Representative alleles were sequenced from each of the 18 STRs and the sex‐typing marker included in the kit. This study also reflects on the impact of point mutations, insertions, and deletions within and outside the STR core repeat structures. An understanding of the STRs’ sequence and repeat structures will enable development of a robust and reliable allele nomenclature and improve the accuracy and precision of allele fragment sizing in canine forensic profiling. The expected allele sizes have been calculated, and their repeat stuctures defined based on sequence information.     

The Three Major Components of Behavior Used for Assessing Pain: Problems Faced When There Is Discordance Among the Three

The present article discusses the three major components of behavior that are used for assessing pain—self-report, overt behavior/function, and physical indices. Issues concerning the reliable operational definitions of these three behavioral referents of pain are reviewed, as well as the fact that a high degree of concordance or precise overlap among the three cannot be automatically assumed. The best biopsychosocial assessment approved to be used when discordance occurs—a stepwise approach to assessment—is then presented. Finally, in addition to the often complex interactions among the three behavioral referents of pain, what makes this assessment area even more complicated is that there may also be complex interactions among the construct of pain and the two related constructs of impairment and disability. These potential complexities are also discussed.     

Do government incentives attract and retain international investment? A study of foreign-owned firms in North Carolina

Policy Sciences - In an era of strong global competition, national, state, and localgovernments are vying to attract and retain investment by international firmsby increasing the range and value of...     

Measuring the effectiveness of competition in defense procurement: A survey of the empirical literature

This article surveys the empirical literature that has attempted to measure the effects of competition in defense procurement. Its focus is on the conceptual underpinnings of the empirical models rather than on the technical aspects of the estimation procedures. While the empirical studies provide some valuable insight, the studies are flawed because they assume an implicit model of the procurement environment that is inconsistent with reasonable economic behavior on the part of defense contractors and seems to be contradicted by the evidence. In general, the predictive power of the empirical models is also limited by a program-by-program estimation approach in which only a handful of data points are available to estimate two or more parameters. These empirical models could be improved by the use of structural models that assume reasonable economic behavior and provide a theoretical basis for cross-program analyses.     

Intergovernmental grants and successful tax limitation referenda

Analyses of fiscal limitation referenda have typically ignored the role of institutional structure in referenda outcomes. This article demonstrates the importance of such structure through the investigation of intergovernmental grants in a model of federal tax rate determination. Tax limitation referenda are shown to depend upon both the use of tax rates as a grant disbursement criterion as well as the size of the proposed tax cut.