Droughts and corruption

Public Choice - Natural disasters are challenges for good governance. That conclusion follows from recent research investigating the effects of natural disasters on one important force hostile to...     

Voltammetric determination of cocaine in confiscated samples using a cobalt hexacyanoferrate film-modified electrode

In this work, a fast, non destructive voltammetric method for cocaine detection in acetonitrile medium using a platinum disk electrode chemically modified with cobalt-hexacyanoferrate (CoHCFe) film is described. The deposition of CoHCFe film at platinum disk (working electrode) was carried out in aqueous solution containing NaClO₄ at 0.1 mol L⁻¹ as supporting electrolite. Stability studies of the film and subsequent voltammetric analysis of cocaine were made in acetonitrile medium with NaClO₄ at 0.1 mol L⁻¹ as supporting electrolite. A reversible interaction between cocaine and CoHCFe at the film produces a proportional decrease of original peak current, due to the formation of a complex between cocaine and cobalt íons, with subsequent partial passivation of the film surface, being the intensity of current decrease used as analytical signal for cocaine. A linear dependence of cocaine detection was carried out in the range from 2.4 × 10⁻⁴ to 1.5 × 10⁻³ mol L⁻¹, with a linear correlation coefficient of 0.994 and a detection limit of 1.4 × 10⁻⁴ mol L⁻¹. The analysis of confiscated samples by the proposed method indicated cocaine levels from 37% to 95% (m/m) and these results were validated by comparison to HPLC technique, being obtained good correlation between both methods.     

Increased sensitivity for amplified STR alleles on capillary sequencers with BigDye XTerminator™

Free fluorescent dyes from PCR primers or amplification products can interfere with the interpretation of STR alleles in an electropherograph especially when the profiles have a low signal intensity. These artefacts can be removed by using a simple procedure based on BigDye^® XTerminator™. This procedure requires limited amounts of PCR product, allows to do several loadings on a capillary sequencer starting from the same purified PCR product and also increases the sensitivity for detection of less amplified loci.     

Study of Short- and Long-Term Storage of Teeth and Its Influence on DNA

Abstract:  DNA degradation can interfere with the resolution of forensic cases. Allelic dropout often reduces the opportunity for adequate comparisons between degraded and reference samples. This study analyzed DNA degradation in 24 extracted teeth after storage at room temperature for 0, 2, 5, and 10 years. DNA concentration, quantified by dot-blot hybridization, declined significantly for the first 2 years, but there was no significant further degradation from the second to the tenth year of storage. COfiler™ analysis was used and the allelic dropout ratio for the amelogenin locus relative to CSF1PO locus was also estimated. Statistically significant differences were found between fresh teeth and teeth from the 2- and 5-year groups but not from the 10-year group. Under our storage conditions most of the DNA degradation occurred during the first 2 years. Further research is needed to control for individual and external factors that could affect DNA.     

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND "BRIGHT-LINE" TESTS

Economists testifying in antitrust cases often encounter thedemand by attorneys and judges for "bright-line" tests –simple rules supposedly based on economic analysis. This paperargues that, although such tests can have their uses, they arevery likely to lead to error without a clear understanding ofthe purposes of the tests and the economics behind them. Issuesdiscussed include: market definition, market share, the roleof profits, and, especially, anti-competitive conduct (includingthe Areeda-Turner) test for predatory pricing. Examples aredrawn from actual court cases (mostly in the U.S.), in manyof which the author was an expert witness. The best known ofthese was the U.S. case against Microsoft, but there are manyothers.     

A fatal dichlorvos poisoning: concentrations in biological specimens

Abstract:  A 54-year-old man was found dead with a bottle containing a brownish fluid near him. A toxicological screening was carried out in blood, urine, and stomach content. Only dichlorvos (2,2 dichlorovinyl O-O dimethylphosphate or DDVP) was found. A simple and rapid method, using DDVP-D₆ as an internal standard, was developed for the determination of DDVP by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The method was linear from 1 to 10 mg/L. Intraday and interday precisions were all <15%. DDVP concentration in cardiac blood was approximately four times higher than in peripheral blood. A high concentration was found in the heart showing a cardiac tropism of DDVP, kidney and lung concentrations being much lower. No DDVP was found in liver. DDVP stomach content was 38 g. The amount presumed ingested was 82 g, c . 1000 mg/kg of body. The oral LD₅₀ for DDVP ranges between 20 and 1090 mg/kg in animals but is not known for humans.     

HAIRVEQ 2006: evolution of laboratories' performance after different educational actions

HAIRVEQ is a proficiency testing program for hair analysis of illicit drugs organized by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Rome, Italy) and the Institut Municipal d'Investigació Mèdica (Barcelona, Spain). The aim of the three exercises performed in 2006 was the evaluation of 32 laboratories' performance when analyzing the same hair sample containing opiates, cocaine and methadone, after carrying out some specific educational interventions. In the first round, the sample was sent to be analyzed following laboratory routine methodology. In the second round, standard operating procedures (SOP) for hair testing including sample preparation, method validation and qualitative and quantitative data evaluation, and an open hair sample for SOP training were also sent together with other hair samples including the one used for performance evaluation. After the second round, a workshop was held with participant laboratories to discuss methodological issues and interpretation of obtained results. An additional amount of open samples was distributed to the laboratories for implementing the SOPs. In the third round, the same unknown sample containing opiates, cocaine and methadone was resent for the final evaluation of laboratory performance. In the first round, 11 incorrect qualitative results (10 false negative and 1 false positive) were reported by seven laboratories (22%), in the second round, a reduction in the number of incorrect results was observed (4 false negatives and 1 false positive were reported by four laboratories, 13%) and in the third round, 5 false positives and 5 false negatives were reported by seven laboratories (22%). Concerning quantitative results, the scatter was similar between the three rounds and similar to the ones reported by other proficiency tests in hair analysis. More educational actions should be addressed to a group of laboratories, which did not yet show satisfying qualitative and quantitative results.     

Characterization of lesions in hanging deaths

Hanging is a common method of committing suicide and a routine task in medico-legal autopsies. The hanging mark is the most relevant external sign and its characteristics are well known, but, for unknown reasons, there are major differences in reports on internal findings. We retrospectively studied 228 consecutive cases of hanging deaths. A complete standard autopsy was performed for every case. We investigated the association between the characteristics of the hanging mark and the frequency of bone, cartilage, soft tissue, and vascular injuries with the mode of suspension. Most cases (75.3%) presented some kind of bone or cartilage fracture, but these were unrelated to any of the variables studied. Vascular lesions are clearly more infrequent: intimal injuries were found in the carotid artery (9.1%), the jugular vein (2.2%), and ruptures of the carotid adventitial layer (21.7%). These could be partially associated with the use of a hard fixed noose and body weight.     

Legal origin and intellectual property rights: an empirical study in the prerecorded music sector

This article aims at identifying differences in copyright protection in prerecorded music markets, and more specifically the impact of the legal system on the demand for original music CDs. To this end, we use a panel of 28 OECD countries in the period 1999–2005. After testing alternative specifications, our results show that differences in legal origin lead to differences in intellectual property rights enforcement. Our results also consistent with previous studies that find that common law countries have more secure property rights.

Making sense of ‘consent’ in a constrained environment

BackgroundThis project investigates patients' and practitioners' experiences and understandings of the consent process, as it is governed by the Mental Health Act in Great Britain.AimsWe aim to illuminate our respondents' experiences of the consent process, and to explore their attempts to make sense of that process.MethodSemi-structured interviews with 5 Responsible Medical Officers, and 7 of their consenting adult patients, were conducted at a medium-secure psychiatric hospital. We approached the analysis from the perspective of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.ResultsOur analysis begins with an account of some of the common phenomenological consequences of the consent process as our participants understand them, but then moves on to discuss some of the contextual constraints which are evident from their negotiation of these understandings.ConclusionsWe conclude by outlining a number of emergent issues relevant to the current development of new Mental Health legislation. These include: mechanisms to allow collaboration with user groups; a more consultative role for users in their own treatment decisions; formal training and support for those conducting competency assessments; and more flexible and transparent legislative frameworks.