Palynological Investigation of Mummified Human Remains

Pollen analysis was applied to a mummified homicide victim in Nebraska, U.S.A., to determine the location of death. A control sample showed the normal ambient pollen in the garage crime scene. Ambient windborne types, common in the air of the region, dominated the control. Internal samples were analyzed from the sacrum, intestine, and diaphragm. Microfossils were recovered from the rehydrated intestine lumen. The intestinal sample was dominated by Brassica (broccoli). The sacrum sample was high in dietary types but with a showing of ambient types. The pollen from the diaphragm was dominated by ambient pollen similar to the control samples. The discovery of diverse pollen spectra from within a single mummy was unexpected. They show that ingested and inhaled pollen mixed in the corpse. The data linked the decedent to a specific crime scene in her Nebraska home in the southern tier of eastern counties on the border with Kansas.     

Editorial

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Identification of biological samples in a case of contamination of a cytological slide preparation

Here we report a case where a discrete section of the cytological slide preparation of a female individual was obviously contaminated with pleura liquid of a female tumor patient. Analysis of the cancerous pleura liquid and the healthy cells of the slide preparation showed different DNA profiles, indicating that the material originated from two different female individuals. The DNA profile of the cell mixture revealed a heterogenous pattern whereby the alleles could be assigned to the healthy and the tumor patient. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) was observed in four of eight short tandem repeat systems for the pleura liquid and the cell mixture. Despite the low amount of DNA on the slide preparation and the occurrence of LOH, it was possible to clarify the case and to support the assumption that a drop of cancerous pleura liquid contaminated the cytological slide.     

Die proportionale Ministerienaufteilung in deutschen Koalitionsregierungen: Akzeptierte Norm oder das Ausnutzen strategischer Vorteile?

In this paper, we corroborate Gamson’s Law for a data set including German coalition governments on the federal and Länder level. We further tackle the question of how to explain this regularity. Here, we conclude that it is not the bargaining power of parties resulting from seat distribution that could be able to explain Gamson’s Law. In fact, we identify Gamson’s Law as a behavioural norm which evolved over time in Germany. We finally confirm the conjecture that on average smaller parties profit and larger parties suffer from deviations from Gamson’s Law. However, there is also a strong party bias which is able to invert this effect for single parties as e. g. the Greens or the Party of Democratic Socialism. Further variables such as the size of the party system or the number of parties which form a coalition government can also explain some deviations from the Gamson’s Law.     

Kontrolle der ordentlichen Gerichtsbarkeit zwischen Scylla und Charybdis – eine Nachlese

Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der B-VG-Novelle zur Kontrolle der Gerichtsbarkeit durch die VA. Nach den Vorstellungen der Expertengruppe Staats- und Verwaltungsreform im Bundeskanzleramt sollte diese Funktion ein eigener Justizanwalt übernehmen, weshalb die strukturellen Unterschiede zu den Ausgangsüberlegungen analysiert werden, ferner wird der Umfang der neuen Kontrollmittel dargestellt und verfassungsrechtlich gewürdigt.     

德国城市运行管理经验

一、德国的城市环境管理与维护 (一)冬季扫雪铲冰 德国地处欧洲北部,纬度高,冬季常年平均气温在-8℃至-1℃之间,所以雪天是德国常见的天气.在德国扫雪铲冰有两个处理主体:一是国有控股的垃圾处理公司,负责城市道路、商业区等公共区域内的积雪清扫,另一个就是商户和居民,负责大门前5米或门前便道上的积雪清扫.     

Die beschr?nkte K?rperschaftsteuerbefreiung gemeinnütziger Bauvereinigungen als im europarechtlichen Sinn staatliche Beihilfe?

Der vorliegende Beitrag geht der Frage nach, inwieweit die grunds?tzliche K?rperschaftsteuerbefreiung nach dem Wohnungsgemeinnützigkeitsgesetz anerkannter gemeinnütziger Bauvereinigungen für den Kernbereich ihrer wohnungswirtschaftlichen T?tigkeiten in einem Spannungsfeld zur europ?ischen Beihilfenproblematik steht.     

Reform of forensic autopsy in the German Code of Criminal Procedure

The Federal Ministry of Justice has presented another proposal to rephrase the wording of Section 87 of the German Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO). The new version of Section 87 StPO is to be rejected as it would lead to a loss of institutional and professional standards. The bill is clearly influenced by a tendency towards privatisation for the benefit of a small group of specialists in forensic medicine mostly organised in limited liability companies and thus at the expense of institutes of legal medicine affiliated to universities or physicians working in the forensic service of regional courts. In the long run, this reform would not only jeopardize medicolegal research and teaching but also medical education and specialist medical training. For future severe negative consequences would have to be expected on the rule of law and legal certainty.     

Detection of the synthetic drug 4-fluoroamphetamine (4-FA) in serum and urine

4-Fluoroamphetamine (4-FA) was detected in the blood and urine of two individuals suspected for driving under the influence (DUI). The test for amphetamines in urine subjected to immunoassay screening using the CEDIA DAU assay proved positive. Further investigations revealed a 4-FA cross-reactivity of about 6% in the CEDIA amphetamine assay. 4-FA was qualitatively detected in a general unknown screening for drugs using GC/MS in full scan mode. No other drugs or fluorinated phenethylamines were detected. A validated GC/MS method was established in SIM mode for serum analysis of 4-FA with a limit of detection (LOD) of 1 ng/mL and a lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) of 5 ng/mL. Intra-assay precision was approx. 4% and inter-assay precision approx. 8%. Applying this method, the 4-FA serum concentrations of the two subjects were determined to be 350 ng/mL and 475 ng/mL, respectively. Given the pharmacological data of amphetamine, 4-FA psychoactive effects are to be expected at these serum levels. Both subjects exhibited sympathomimetic effects and psychostimulant-like impairment accordingly.