Results of the 2003-2004 GEP-ISFG collaborative study on mitochondrial DNA: focus on the mtDNA profile of a mixed semen-saliva stain

We report here a review of the seventh mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) exercise undertaken by the Spanish and Portuguese working group (GEP) of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) corresponding to the period 2003-2004. Five reference bloodstains from five donors (M1-M5), a mixed stain of saliva and semen (M6), and a hair sample (M7) were submitted to each participating laboratory for nuclear DNA (nDNA; autosomal STR and Y-STR) and mtDNA analysis. Laboratories were asked to investigate the contributors of samples M6 and M7 among the reference donors (M1-M5). A total of 34 laboratories reported total or partial mtDNA sequence data from both, the reference bloodstains (M1-M5) and the hair sample (M7) concluding a match between mtDNA profiles of M5 and M7. Autosomal STR and Y-STR profiling was the preferred strategy to investigate the contributors of the semen/saliva mixture (M6). Nuclear DNA profiles were consistent with a mixture of saliva from the donor (female) of M4 and semen from donor M5, being the semen (XY) profile the dominant component of the mixture. Strikingly, and in contradiction to the nuclear DNA analysis, mtDNA sequencing results yield a more simple result: only the saliva contribution (M4) was detected, either after preferential lysis or after complete DNA digestion. Some labs provided with several explanations for this finding and carried out additional experiments to explain this apparent contradictory result. The results pointed to the existence of different relative amounts of nuclear and mtDNAs in saliva and semen. We conclude that this circumstance could strongly influence the interpretation of the mtDNA evidence in unbalanced mixtures and in consequence lead to false exclusions. During the GEP-ISFG annual conference a validation study was planned to progress in the interpretation of mtDNA from different mixtures.     

STR data for nine Y-chromosomal loci in Guinea Equatorial (central Africa)

Allele and haplotype frequencies for nine Y-specific STR loci (DYS19, DYS389-I, DYS389-II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS393, DYS434, DYS437, and DYS439) were obtained from a sample of 57 males from Guinea Equatorial.     

Institutional contexts of environmental management: Water pollution control in Guangzhou,China

In the past decade, Guangzhou (Canton), China, has produced mixed results in water pollution control: it has been successful in limiting pollution from industrial sources than from domestic ones. This article examines the case by reference to a growing body of literature in institutional analysis. The central arguments are that institutions affect the governance and management of natural resources by allocating decision-making authorities among different individuals, agencies and levels of governments, by affecting whether rules and regulations can be effectively enforced and by creating different incentive structures. These arguments help to explain the divergent governmental efforts and outcomes in the two types of water pollution control in Guangzhou. The article concludes by discussing the case's theoretical and practical implications.     

Populism and the politics of the extraordinary in Latin America

Building on past and current experiences of populism in Latin America, this article makes four arguments. First, whereas populist movements seeking power promise to democratize society by challenging the legitimacy of exclusionary institutions, populist governments often include the excluded at the cost of disfiguring democracy. Second, during populist events the meanings of the ambiguous term ‘the people’ are disputed. When social movements are weak, and when the institutions of liberal democracy are discredited, a populist leader could attempt to become the embodiment of the will of the people. Third, even though the concept of the people is central to populism, it could be constructed differently. It could be imagined as heterogeneous and plural, or as the people-as-one, as an entity that shares one identity and interest that could be embodied in a leader. Fourth, populism shares with fascism an imaginary construction of the people-as-one. Yet differently from fascism, which staged extraordinary politics as war against internal and external enemies, populists staged their extraordinariness as winning popular elections and did not establish dictatorships.     

Populist polarization and the slow death of democracy in Ecuador

This article analyses how the interactions between a strong populist government in Ecuador and a weak, divided, and inefficient internal opposition in a context of weak liberal institutions could lead to what Guillermo O'Donnell termed “the slow death of democracy”. Rafael Correa was elected with a substantive project of democratization understood as economic redistribution and social justice. His administration got rid of neoliberal policies and decaying traditional political parties, while simultaneously co-opting social movements, regulating civil society, and colonizing the public sphere. Because the judiciary was subordinated to Correa, social movement activists, journalists, and media owners could not use the legal system to resist Correa's crack down of civil society and regulation of the privately owned media. They took their grievances to supranational organizations like the Organization of American States. When these organizations stepped in to challenge Correa, his government denounced imperialist intervention in his nation's internal affairs, and advocated for the creation of new supranational institutions without US presence.     

Determination of Inorganic Ion Profiles of Illicit Drugs by Capillary Electrophoresis

A portable capillary electrophoresis instrument with dual capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C⁴D) was used to determine the inorganic ionic profiles of three pharmaceutical samples and precursors of two illicit drugs (contemporary samples of methylone and para‐methoxymethamphetamine). The LODs ranged from 0.10 μmol/L to 1.25 μmol/L for the 10 selected cations, and from 0.13 μmol/L to 1.03 μmol/L for the eight selected anions. All separations were performed in less than 6 min with migration times and peak area RSD values ranging from 2 to 7%. The results demonstrate the potential of the analysis of inorganic ionic species to aid in the identification and/or differentiation of unknown tablets, and real samples found in illicit drug manufacture scenarios. From the resulting ionic fingerprint, the unknown tablets and samples can be further classified.     

Towards Efficiency in Attributing Criminal Liability to Corporations: Canadian and Brazilian Regimes Compared

This article compares Canadian treatment of corporate criminal liability with that in Brazil, examining whether there are ways in which one system can learn from the other. It is argued that the Canadian model could provide a starting point for revision of Brazilian legal principles in this area that, would encourage the public to recognize that crimes committed by corporations should be taken seriously. However, because criminal liability requires a high burden of proof and is therefore difficult to secure, the Brazilian regime of strict liability may ultimately be useful in encouraging compliance by corporations, assuming sanctions are severe enough and detection of violations by law enforcers is enhanced. The solution may therefore consist in the use of both these regimes, as is currently the case with anticorruption law in the UK.