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.     

Analysis of STR loci in Cartagena, a Caribbean city of Colombia

Allele frequencies, together with some parameters of forensic interest were estimated for nine STRs included in the AmpF/STR Profiler kit (CSF1PO, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D13S317, FGA, TH01, TPOX and vWA) in a sample of 215 unrelated individuals from Cartagena (Colombia). For all loci, no significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were observed. Comparative analysis results between our data and those from other Colombian and African population samples revealed significant differences, except with two Colombian Caribbean Coast sub-regions.     

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.     

Death of an exception or much ado about nothing

Hospitals often engage in physician recruitment in an effort to fulfill a community need for a particular medical specialty. In doing so, the hospital must comply with the regulatory requirements of the physician recruitment exception of the Stark law, which over the years has generated a great deal of discussion and perhaps confusion. The publication of the Stark II, Phase II regulations in March 2004 was supposed to provide guidance and clarity, but the new regulations have raised a number of new issues and concerns, particularly regarding the requirements imposed on recruiting arrangements involving group practices. This Article reviews the regulatory requirements of the new physician recruitment exception and addresses several of the concerns that have been raised. Specifically, it examines the new regulatory definition of the "geographic area served by the hospital," the restrictions on income guarantees when the recruited physician joins a group practice, and the prohibition on additional practice restrictions. The author concludes that, while some of these concerns are legitimate, others will have little practical implication and should not hinder the ability of hospitals to engage in reasonable, beneficial recruitment activities.     

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.     

Interrogating genomic diversity of E. coli O157:H7 using DNA tiling arrays

Here, we describe a novel microarray-based approach for investigating the genomic diversity of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in a semi-high throughput manner using a high density, oligonucleotide-based microarray. This microarray, designed to detect polymorphisms at each of 60,000 base-pair (bp) positions within an E. coli genome, is composed of overlapping 29-mer oligonucleotides specific for 60 equally spaced, 1000-bp loci of the E. coli O157:H7 strain EDL933 chromosome. By use of a novel 12-well microarray that permitted the simultaneous investigation of 12 strains, the genomes of 44 individual isolates of E. coli O157:H7 were interrogated. These analyses revealed more than 150 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and several deletions and amplifications in the test strains. Pyrosequencing was used to confirm the usefulness of the novel SNPs by determining their allelic frequency among a collection of diverse isolates of E. coli O157:H7. The tiling DNA microarray system would be useful for the tracking and identification of individual strains of E. coli O157:H7 needed for forensic investigations.