Identification of menstrual blood by real time RT-PCR: technical improvements and the practical value of negative test results

The identification of body fluids can be of crucial importance in forensic casework. Recently we have shown that the detection of cell- and tissue-specific mRNAs is a suitable technique to identify menstrual blood and semen. In this paper we present an improved method using real time-PCR and the menstrual blood marker MMP-7 which increases sensitivity and specificity. We furthermore demonstrate case examples described showing that the correct identification of samples as non-menstrual is likely to be in the focus of criminal investigations. Although negative test results may have a number of other reasons, the new technique provides quantitative results thus allowing a cut-off value for the control marker GAPDH to be defined, below which negative results for the menstrual blood marker MMP-7 allow the conclusion that the sample was indeed not menstrual blood. Using these data, it is possible to apply the molecular identification of menstrual blood to forensic casework considering both the limitations and the capabilities of the method.     

Talking Together,Thinking Alone: Relations among Co-Rumination,Peer Relationships,and Rumination

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Girls are more likely to engage in rumination, associated with the development of mental health problems, as well as report higher levels of friendship quality,...     

Observed Characteristics of Suicidal Hangings: An 11-year Retrospective Review

Many studies have been published regarding suicidal hanging deaths, and most forensic pathologists and coroners are very familiar with such causes of death. Forensic pathologists are challenged over their rulings regarding manner of death in part because the general public has a limited scope of knowledge. One such challenge centers on the question of whether a hanging can be a suicide if the individual is not fully suspended. The authors designed a retrospective study to review suspension in hangings and to analyze other criteria used to help in deciding manner of death. We examined 229 suicidal hanging deaths over an 11-year period (1997 through early 2009) using the data from two separate jurisdictions in Ohio. In conclusion, we found that the vast majority (83.4%) of people who hanged themselves were found partially suspended. Among other criteria analyzed, only the presence of petechial hemorrhages and acute neck injury was statistically significant.     

Creating Student-Scholar-Activists: Discourse Instruction and Social Justice in Political Science Classrooms

This article advocates the use of discourse instruction as a means of integrating issues of social justice into the classroom and transcending the debate over politicization in academia. The field of political science is at an uncomfortable juncture; it is faced with an obligation to ourselves and our communities to critically engage and push back against the more toxic components of the political moment, staying relevant and accurate and providing students with the tools they need to process the political world; while, also resisting the dual pressures to either stay apolitical/non-partisan, or to become a current events class, ceding class time to deciphering the day’s political events. We argue that discourse instruction can be used to teach the skills of social justice in political science classrooms. In addition, the infusion of diversity into the classroom through discourse instruction is both a means of enhancing student learning by engaging in high-impact practices of teaching and learning and political activism.     

高校师生关系现状与教师非言语亲切性研究

通过问卷调查与解释现象学分析,考察高校师生关系现状与教师非言语亲切性.合作的师生关系中少有对立,教师指导下民主的师生关系中少有课堂失控.教师非言语行为大多自然热忱、平易近人,部分教师淡漠与紧张.而教师的非言语亲切性制约着师生关系的走向,教师面带微笑与目光交流最能增进师生关系的亲密度与影响力,教师姿态的紧张对其负向影响最大.其中,以教育为信仰的教师以学术为本,行为亲切,师生关系亲密和谐;功利性的教师以学术为工具,他们的淡漠与紧张使师生关系扭曲.因此,应强化大学制度和师德建设,使教师执着信仰、亲近学生,复归亲密和谐的师生关系.