Hair analysis: a worthless tool for therapeutic compliance monitoring

Hair analysis has been presented by some authors as a possible tool of investigation for estimating patients' compliance to long-term therapies. This paper summarises the different publications that have been devoted to this topic and highlights the available statistical data presented to support this proposition. Qualitative results of such determinations may be of some interest but due to the enormous interindividual variations of quantitative data, the idea of using hair analysis to ascertain whether a patient has taken his treatment exactly as prescribed, clearly appears to be inapplicable.     

Comparison of fingernail striation patterns in identical twins.

The fingernail ridge patterns of a pair of identical twins were compared to each other, their parents, and an unrelated subject. The patterns of the twins' nails showed regions of strong similarity but were distinguishable from one another. Fewer similarities were found when comparing the nails to those of the parents and the unrelated control. The twins were shown to be monozygotic by means of DNA profiling. This therefore represents the first demonstration of unique fingernail ridge patterns in subjects shown conclusively to be identical twins. When the fingernail ridge patterns were examined with a scanning electron microscope, the backscattered electron (BEI) images were found to have superior contrast when compared to the secondary electron (SEI) images.     

A method of choosing the extractant for the recovery of tin from the internal organs of a human cadaver

The analysis of naphthenic acid revealed that they may be used for tin detection in the cadaveric material due to their high complex-forming ability. Method of extraction-atomic absorption tin determination in human organs was developed on the basis of naphthenic acid use. Modified method which differs from the common one by higher sensitivity and selectivity is presented.     

The effect of authority and social influence on eyewitness suggestibility and person recognition

This study investigated the influence of an authority figure on eyewitness identification. Participants watched a staged crime and then were administered a photo lineup by either an authority (policeman) or non-authority figure (civilian). Participants in the authority condition were more likely to choose a lineup member than those in the non-authority condition. There was no effect of authority, however, on the accuracy of the identification decisions. The lack of a deleterious effect suggests that the presence of a police officer during identification procedures does not create an unduly suggestive situation or have undesirable effects on eyewitness identification decisions. Although witnesses' choosing behaviors did not increase the rate of identification errors, the effect of the administrator's authority on choosing was reduced when unbiased instructions (vs. biased instructions) were presented to the witnesses. Thus, support was found for the use of neutral instructions during eyewitness identification procedures.