Establishing the rDNA IGS structure of Cannabis sativa

The rDNA intergenic spacer (IGS) structure of Cannabis sativa was established and can be used for classification and identification of this species. In this study, DNA fragments of rDNA IGS were amplified by PCR from Cannabis sativa plant extracts and a 1387 bp fragment was obtained. DNA sequence analysis revealed six different repeat motifs. In the middle of the IGS sequence, there were three sequence motifs, and the same three sections of DNA were then repeated with minor variation in sequence. The terminal region of the IGS was composed of another three different repeat units; multiple copies of these terminal repeat motifs were present in no discernible order. Within six repeat motifs, point variations were observed in five. The DNA sequence of the locus was compared with all the plant sequences registered in GenBank by the Fasta program of GCG software with the result that this DNA fragment was significantly different from any other DNA sequence recorded to date. The most similar sequence was that of Hops (Humulus lupulus), but with a similarity of only 88.9% over 579 bp. These specific and complex variations of IGS may be related to the species and geographic distributions.     

Specificity of sibship determination using the ABI Identifiler multiplex system

Fifty known siblings and fifty unrelated pairs were genotyped using the ABI Identifiler STR system and sibship indices computed for each pair. Combined sibship indices (CSIs) for the known siblings ranged from less than 10 to greater than 1 billion. CSIs for the unrelated pairs ranged from 4.5 x 10(-8) to 0.12. In the known sibling group the percentage of loci where both alleles matched was approximately 40%, while the percentage of loci where neither matched was approximately 10%. In the non-sibling group, the percentage of loci where both alleles matched was approximately 6%, while the percentage of loci where neither matched was approximately 45%. Interestingly, the percentage of loci where a single allele matched was the same in both the known siblings and unrelated pairs, approximately 50%.     

An EMTALA primer: the impact of changes in the emergency medicine landscape on EMTALA compliance and enforcement

Tiana Lee's article provides an overview and update on the latest in the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). Reviewing the history of the statute, explaining some of the relevant regulations, and exploring government enforcements efforts to date, Ms. Lee highlights the benefits and drawbacks of the statute and recommends ways to ameliorate EMTALA's weaknesses.     

Mental competence and end-of-life decision making: death row volunteering and euthanasia

This article reports on a qualitative study of defense attorneys' perceptions of the mental competence or rationality of death row inmates' decisions to waive habeas appeals and proceed directly to execution. Interviews were conducted with twenty attorneys who have either directly represented or been closely involved with would-be volunteers. Through analytic comparison with another end-of-life decision, euthanasia, this article reports on four themes from the interviews: (a) attorneys' perceptions of the legal standard of competence, (b) their perceptions of the competency evaluation process, (c) implications of competing interpretive frames (i.e., volunteering vs. suicide), and (d) the rationality of decisions to waive appeals. Implications of research findings, particularly in terms of recent restructured models of competence, are also discussed.     

Evidence for bias in hair testing and procedures to correct bias

A number of in vitro experiments show that different hair samples incorporate differing amounts of drugs under identical conditions. Incorporation of cocaine and morphine tends to be correlated with race, in that the hair of African American females incorporates higher concentrations of cocaine than does the hair of Caucasian males or females. Extrapolation of these data into populations has been fraught with difficulties because the dosages of drugs and their use patterns are unknown. Cosmetic treatments and hygiene alter drug binding, which must be considered in comparing populations because cosmetic treatments are often group dependent. Four reasons are proposed that account for the uptake and retention of drugs by hair and that may differ among groups: (1) permeability and other characteristics of the hair due to genetic influences, (2) cosmetic hair treatments and hair care habits (which may be culturally influenced), (3) drug removal during personal hygiene, and (4) manner and route of drug administration which can affect passive exposure to residual drugs in the environment. The data supporting bias in hair testing are reviewed and methods are proposed that use either the uptake of dyes or the incorporation of drug homologs to reduce bias.     

Motherless case in paternity testing

In paternity test using the DNA evidence, the analysis of the deficient case that the DNA profiles of mother or alleged father are not available is different from that of the trio case analyzed routinely. However, the motherless case that the genotypes of mother is not available has been requested and analyzed like the trio case. In this paper, we compared the motherless case and the trio case through the mean exclusion chance describing the probability of exclusion for a genetic marker system and the distribution of the probability of paternity calculated using the three current methods. We have also shown a case which can be falsely discriminated if it were requested in the analysis of the motherless case, and conclude that the analysis of the motherless case should be carefully conducted and the level for the discrimination should be different from that of the trio case.