Lethal mixed intoxication with propofol in a medical layman

The authors report on a drug fatality of a 21-year-old man with a propofol (2,6-di-isopropylphenol) dependency. Propofol was detected in tissues and body fluids using SPME-GC/MS methods. The postmortem concentrations of propofol were 364 ng/ml in urine, 71 ng/ml in heart blood and 79 ng/ml in femoral blood. The drug addict had only an autodidactic medical knowledge, but had inserted himself a permanent cannula for intravenous injection of propofol several times a day. The injection material was bought via online auctions from eBay. The case illustrates how job-related drug dependencies become indistinct due to the free access to information and goods via the Internet.     

Genetic polymorphism at 15 tetrameric short tandem repeat loci in four aboriginal tribal populations of Bengal

POPULATIONS: This study reports the genetic polymorphism observed at 15 short tandem repeat loci D3S1358, TH01, D21S11, D18S51, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820, D16S539, CSF1PO, vWA, D8S1179, TPOX, D2S1338, D19S433, and FGA in four aboriginal populations of Bengal. The analysis was performed to decipher the suitability of CODIS as well as six other highly polymorphic and unlinked markers in Forensic Testing. Studied populations include four tribes: Karmali, Kora, Maheli, and Lodha.     

An evaluation of matching unknown writing inks with the United States International Ink Library

Utilizing a database of standards for forensic casework is a valuable resource. Undoubtedly, as more standards (and corresponding information about the specimens) are collected, there is a greater certainty of identification when a questioned and a known item cannot be distinguished after a series of analyses. The United States Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service National Forensic Laboratory jointly maintain the largest known forensic collection of writing inks in the world, which is comprised of over 8500 ink standards collected worldwide, dating back to the 1920s. This study was conducted to evaluate the reliability of matching arbitrarily purchased pens with known inks from a database. One hundred pens were randomly obtained from a variety of sources and their respective ink compositions were compared with standards. Eighty-five of the inks were determined to be suitable for comparison utilizing optical examinations and thin-layer chromatography. Three of the inks did not match any of the specimens on record; one of these inks was similar to an ink from an identical brand of pen that was in the database, but had a modified formulation.     

A simple and inexpensive molecular method for sexing and identification of the forensic samples of elephant origin

The population of the Asian elephant is being dramatically reduced due to poaching of the ivory from the male. As poaching occurs in remote forests, it often takes weeks or longer for it to be discovered and it is therefore often very difficult to determine the sex of the decomposed body. Data suggest that in the recent past, over 2000 male elephants have been poached in South India. We have developed a technique based on molecular markers to determine that the carcass is an elephant and that it is a male. Using DNA sequence information from Genbank, we have developed two primer pairs: one for the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the other for the sex-determining region of Y chromosome (SRY) gene of the Indian elephant. After PCR amplification of known elephant DNA, we found that the mtDNA was common in both males and females, whereas the SRY-specific amplicon was observed only in the male.