Detection of ABH blood group antigens in the saliva of Koreans and their stability according to storage of saliva samples

The purpose of the present study was to identify salivary molecules carrying the ABH blood group antigens in Koreans and to investigate the changes in these antigens according to processing and storage of saliva samples. Secretor or non-secretor phenotypes and salivary components carrying the ABH antigens were identified in 90 subjects, 30 subjects in each ABO blood group, by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting. Saliva samples were then obtained from 12 secretors-two males and two females in each ABO blood group and aliquots of both fresh saliva samples and their supernatants after centrifugation were stored at room temperature, 4, -20 and -70 degrees C. The same experiments were performed after 1, 3 and 6 months to investigate changes in the blood group antigens. In all 68 secretors, high-molecular-weight salivary mucin (MG1) was found to be the primary carrier of the ABH antigens. A salivary component of approximately 80 kDa also carried H antigen in seven saliva samples of 22 blood type O secretors. The blood group antigens were better detected in centrifuged samples. In saliva samples preserved at room temperature and 4 degrees C, the blood group antigens were either not detected or detected as degraded molecules. No change was found in the blood group antigens in saliva samples preserved at -20 and -70 degrees C for 6 months.     

德国新债法概述

一、导言 争论现已结束.有关<德国民法典>的修改准备工作于1978年既已开始,经过细致审慎的准备工作和激烈的、有时甚至都不惜人身攻击的争论[1]之后,立法者终于宣布:<德国债法现代化法>于2002年1月1日正式生效.[2]该法尤其转化了欧盟关于消费物买卖的指令,并且从根本上修改了原德国民法有关时效和给付障碍的主要内容.另外,在实践方面,整个消费者保护法还被吸纳到<德国民法典>中,其中有些内容还首次予以强调了新的内容.如果除去婚姻法方面的修改,则此次修改工作将是自<德国民法典>于1900年1月1日生效以来最广泛的一次.[3]     

STR analysis of artificially degraded DNA-results of a collaborative European exercise

Degradation of human DNA extracted from forensic stains is, in most cases, the result of a natural process due to the exposure of the stain samples to the environment. Experiences with degraded DNA from casework samples show that every sample may exhibit different properties in this respect, and that it is difficult to systematically assess the performance of routinely used typing systems for the analysis of degraded DNA samples. Using a batch of artificially degraded DNA with an average fragment size of approx. 200 bp a collaborative exercise was carried out among 38 forensic laboratories from 17 European countries. The results were assessed according to correct allele detection, peak height and balance as well as the occurrence of artefacts. A number of common problems were identified based on these results such as strong peak imbalance in heterozygous genotypes for the larger short tandem repeat (STR) fragments after increased PCR cycle numbers, artefact signals and allelic drop-out. Based on the observations, strategies are discussed to overcome these problems. The strategies include careful balancing of the amount of template DNA and the PCR cycle numbers, the reaction volume and the amount of Taq polymerase. Furthermore, a careful evaluation of the results of the fragment analysis and of automated allele calling is necessary to identify the correct alleles and avoid artefacts.     

Concurrent cross-validation of the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire: a tool for assessing violent and nonviolent recidivism and institutional adjustment on a sample of North Carolina offenders

The aim of this study was to determine whether the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ), a tool that was found to be reliable and valid for assessing violent and nonviolent recidivism and institutional adjustment for Canadian offenders, would also be valid for the same purposes with a demographically different population of North Carolina offenders. The internal consistency alphas and SAQ total and subscale scores' correlations were high. Offenders with high SAQ total scores had significantly more violent offenses, had more total number of past offenses, had higher numbers of past arrests, and had more institutional infractions than those with low SAQ scores. There were no significant differences between the responses of the African American and Caucasian offenders on the SAQ scales. These results support previous findings regarding the reliability and validity of the SAQ for assessing recidivism and institutional adjustment and suggest that the SAQ could be used with diverse populations.     

The implementation of Directive 2001/20/EC into Belgian law and the specific provisions on pediatric research

The European Clinical Trial Directive (2001/20/EC) was implemented into the Belgian legal system by the Law of 7 May 2004 concerning experiments on the human person (LEH). Apart from implementing the European Directive, this law also broadens the scope of the Directive from interventional clinical trials to all medical experiments involving human persons. This article offers an overview of the requirements for involving minors in medical experiments that are captured in the LEH, illustrates the process of protocol review by an ethics committee, and discusses the dissimilarities between the LEH and the European Directive.     

Case report: Etizolam and its major metabolites in two unnatural death cases

A simultaneous analytical method for etizolam and its main metabolites (alpha-hydroxyetizolam and 8-hydroxyetizolam) in whole blood was developed using solid-phase extraction, TMS derivatization and ion trap gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Separation of etizolam, TMS derivatives of alpha-hydroxyetizolam and 8-hydroxyetizolam and fludiazepam as internal standard was performed within about 17 min. The inter-day precision evaluated at the concentration of 50 ng/mL etizolam, alpha-hydroxyetizolam and 8-hydroxyetizolam was evaluated 8.6, 6.4 and 8.0% respectively. Linearity occurred over the range in 5-50 ng/mL. This method is satisfactory for clinical and forensic purposes. This method was applied to two unnatural death cases suspected to involve etizolam. Etizolam and its two metabolites were detected in these cases.     

Criminal recidivism in sexual homicide perpetrators

Forensic psychiatric reports on 166 sexual homicide perpetrators in Germany were retrospectively analyzed for criminal risk factors. Follow-up information about release and reconvictions from federal criminal records was available for 139 offenders; 90 (64.7%) had been released. The estimated recidivism rate (Kaplan-Meier analyses) for 20 years at risk was 23.1% for sexual and 18.3% for nonsexual violent reoffences. Three men (3.3%) were reconvicted for attempted or completed homicide. Only young age at the time of sexual homicide resulted in higher sexual recidivism, whereas increased nonsexual violent recidivism was related to previous sexual and nonsexual delinquency, psychopathic symptoms, and higher scores in risk assessment instruments. Increased recidivism with any violent reoffence was associated with age-related factors: young age at first sexual offence, at homicide, and at release and duration of detention. The impacts of the results for risk assessment, relapse prevention, and supervision are discussed.     

Fatal intoxication due to tramadol alone: case report and review of the literature

Poisoning may also lead to both coma and multiple organ failure, also in youngsters without a known major medical history. As not all toxic agents are routinely screened when a poisoning is suspected, it is useful to consider less frequently encountered poisons in certain cases. We describe the occurrence of asystole and multiple organ failure which occurred in a young man after a suspected tramadol overdose. The tramadol concentration on admission in the ICU was indeed 8 microg/ml (mg/l), far above the therapeutic range. Subsequently, the patient developed severe acute liver failure, finally leading to death. Post-mortem toxicology did not reveal any other poison responsible for this unfavourable course as only very high serum and tissue tramadol and desmethyltramadol concentrations were found. Only a few fatal poisonings attributable to tramadol alone, as observed in our case, have been reported. An overview of these cases is presented.     

Yield and turnover of illicit indoor cannabis (Cannabis spp.) plantations in Belgium

In prosecution, Belgian judiciary currently uses outdated yield figures (28.1g per plant, sold at € 3/g at grower level) for fining illicit indoor cannabis plantations. Using state-of-the-art cultivation techniques, our growth experiments showed that yield is better expressed in g/m(2) cultivated surface area rather than in g per plant, and that yield varies significantly between different cannabis strains. It was found that the lower-bound of the one-sided 95% confidence interval of the yield of an indoor cannabis plantation can be set at 575 g/m(2). Prices and pricing mechanisms were investigated using interviews with respondents selected through snowball sampling. Results reveal that (i) the Belgian cannabis market chain is highly complex; (ii) unit prices are predominantly determined by transaction sizes; but also (iii) a set of product- and socially-related price-fixing mechanisms have an equally important role. At grower level, respondents reported prices for 1 g of dry cannabis buds to range € 3.00-4.25.     

Clinical and forensic examinations of glycemic marker 1,5-anhydroglucitol by means of high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Postmortem diagnosis of diabetes and a diabetic coma can be difficult because of the lack of characteristic morphological findings. 1,5-Anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG), the 1-deoxy form of glucose, competes with glucose for reabsorption in the kidneys. Therefore, diabetics with a permanent hyperglycemia show significantly lower serum concentrations of 1,5-AG than non-diabetics. A liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric method for the determination of 1,5-AG in serum and postmortem blood was developed and validated according to international guidelines. Linearity was given between 1μg/ml and 50μg/ml. Recovery rates ranged between 70.8% and 89.8%, the limit of quantification of the procedure was 0.20μg/ml, limit of quantification was 0.55μg/ml. Serum of 199 diabetics and 116 non-diabetics and femoral blood of 31 diabetic and 27 non-diabetic deceased was measured. Average concentrations were significantly (p<0.001) higher in non-diabetics compared to diabetics ante and postmortem. Seven of the diabetics may have died because of a hyperglycemic coma indicated by a sum formula of Traub>450mg/dl. 1,5-AG average concentrations in these deceased were not significantly different to diabetics which did not die because of a diabetic coma. Concentrations of 1,5-AG give a hint for not well controlled diabetes antemortem and postmortem and can be assumed as an additional and alternative information postmortem to the measurement of HbA1c or fructosamine.