Terrorism and guerrilla warfare theory and practice: Al‐Qaeda and Sudan's SPLA

A comparative study of how terrorist organisations differ from each other, looking at case studies of al‐Qaeda and the Sudan People's Liberation Army.     

The effects of drying the rinsed dissected heart on postmortem heart weight

Blood and blood clots should be removed from the heart chambers before being weighed. The actual method in removing blood and blood clots may vary and can include manual removal with subsequent rinsing the heart in water. It is unclear whether drying the rinsed heart affects the heart weight. The objective of this article was to investigate the effects drying the rinsed dissected heart (residual rinsing water) on postmortem heart weight. The prospective study compared 44 dissected heart weights after being rinsed and after being pat dried. An average 18–20 g of residual rinsing water (4% of heart weight) was present in the dissected heart. The amount of residual rinsing water correlates positively with heart weight. The effects of drying the rinsed dissected heart were considered clinically insignificant. Although being clinically insignificant, this study highlights the lack of standardized approach in weighing the heart and the potential implications in interpreting heart weights.     

An STR Melt Curve Genotyping Assay for Forensic Analysis Employing an Intercalating Dye Probe FRET*

Abstract: The most common markers used in forensic genetics are short tandem repeats (STRs), the alleles of which are separated and analyzed by length using capillary electrophoresis (CE). In this work, proof of concept of a unique STR genotyping approach has been demonstrated using asymmetric PCR and a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)‐based hybridization analysis that combines fluorophore‐labeled allele‐specific probes and a DNA intercalating dye (dpFRET) in a melt match/mismatch analysis format. The system was successfully tested against both a simple (TPOX) and a complex (D3S1358) loci, demonstrated a preliminary detection limit of <10 genomic equivalents with no allelic dropout and mixture identification in both laboratory‐generated and clinical samples. With additional development, this approach has the potential to contribute to advancing the use of STR loci for forensic applications and related fields.     

Proficiency Testing as a Basis for Estimating Uncertainty of Measurement: Application to Forensic Alcohol and Toxicology Quantitations

Abstract: While forensic laboratories will soon be required to estimate uncertainties of measurement for those quantitations reported to the end users of the information, the procedures for estimating this have been little discussed in the forensic literature. This article illustrates how proficiency test results provide the basis for estimating uncertainties in three instances: (i) For breath alcohol analyzers the interlaboratory precision is taken as a direct measure of uncertainty. This approach applies when the number of proficiency tests is small. (ii) For blood alcohol, the uncertainty is calculated from the differences between the laboratory’s proficiency testing results and the mean quantitations determined by the participants; this approach applies when the laboratory has participated in a large number of tests. (iii) For toxicology, either of these approaches is useful for estimating comparability between laboratories, but not for estimating absolute accuracy. It is seen that data from proficiency tests enable estimates of uncertainty that are empirical, simple, thorough, and applicable to a wide range of concentrations.     

A CALL UNHEEDED

This article discusses the obstacles to implementing education programs for divorcing parents, the goal of which is to make parents aware of the effect divorce can have on children and provide them with skills necessary to address such problems. This article attempts to differentiate between adopter and nonadopter courts, that is, courts that have adopted mandatory education programs for divorcing parents and courts that have not. The article also provides an analysis of possible justifications of why some courts have chosen not to implement such programs.     

Trends in the use of deadly force by police

Research in the area of deadly force by police has tended to focus upon or more of the following issues: (1) trends, (2) legal and/or policy implications, (3) the appropriateness of police usage, and (4) the apparent underreporting of police homicides. This paper examines police interventions relative to possible danger indicators in the working environment of police officers. It would appear for the period in question, 1964 to 1974, that police decreasingly used deadly force. A brief discussion concerning the possible reasons for this decline is provided.     

Use of prostate specific antigen in the identification of semen in postmortem cases

Over the past 20 years, the use of prostate specific antigen (PSA) as evidence of the presence of semen in forensic cases has been well established. In this study, we compared a commercially available immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) for the identification of PSA with the identification of spermatozoa in swabs obtained from the vagina of deceased females. There was agreement between the 2 methods in 67 of the 80 cases (84%), including 18 cases where both the PSA was positive and sperm were observed microscopically. The remaining cases had 1 positive result and 1 negative result. We concluded that although there was substantial agreement between the presence of sperm and a positive PSA, there were enough discrepancies between the 2 methods (16%) to justify the use of both methodologies, if possible, to make the determination of sexual activity prior to death.     

Rapid determination of ketamine in urine by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for a high throughput laboratory

In recent years, the abuse of ketamine had gained popularity in rave parties in Hong Kong. The Urinalysis Unit of the Government Laboratory of Hong Kong faced a tremendous increase in workload for ketamine analysis. The number of tests performed rose from 10 in 1999 to 15,000 in 2002. As a fully validated immunoassay test for ketamine was not available in the market, most laboratories analyzed ketamine by chromatographic techniques after liquid-liquid extraction. However, these methods reported in the literature are not suitable for high throughput laboratories. Hence, a rapid screening/confirmation method for ketamine by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) with a detection limit of 5 ng/ml was developed. After automated solid-phase extraction (SPE), the urine extract was analyzed for ketamine by a 2.5-min chromatographic run, the estimated recovery was 89% and the precision was 11% R.S.D. at 20 ng/ml. With the aid of an in-house developed computer program, the results were presented in spreadsheet format for easy checking. The method has been applied to our laboratory for routine ketamine analysis and a maximum of 200 samples per day can be achieved.