STR-typing of human DNA from human fecal matter using the QIAGEN QIAamp stool mini kit

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the QIAGEN QIAamp Stool Mini Kit against a standard phenolchloroform procedure for the extraction, quantitation, and STR-typing of human nuclear DNA from human feces. Stools from six subjects were sampled by swabbing and excision. Samples extracted with the QIAamp kit gave a wide range of DNA yields, whereas those extracted by the organic method yielded no DNA. DNA was not recovered from one subject's stools by either procedure. The QIAamp extracts were amplified with the Profiler Plus and COfiler kits, and PCR inhibition was observed with DNA extracts that were further concentrated. Substitution of water or TE-4 for the QIAamp elution buffer eliminated most, if not all, of the inhibition. A modified QIAamp procedure was used to extract thirty samples, which were subjected to one of five environmental conditions. DNA was recovered from all of these samples, and typing results were obtained on 93% of the samples.     

Some problems of research on the association between blood types and suicide mortality: comment on Lester (2004)

This is a comment on the ecological finding of a negative association of national suicide rate and national proportion of people with Type O blood (Lester, 2004). Current knowledge on this topic is reviewed and several problems, limitations, and discrepancies within this research line are noted. Specifically, it is suggested that (1) this association appears to have been subject to attenuation recently; (2) available ecological evidence on this association is contradictory to both individual-level findings on the same topic and similar ecological-level findings pertaining to personality-related risk factors and antecedents of suicide; (3) a negative association of one of the four ABO phenotypes with suicide mortality does not help single out phenotypes with possibly increased suicide risk; and (4) genetic suicide risk factors may well be associated with other ABO phenotypes than Type O and may further coincide with other blood polymorphisms than the ABO system.     

Production of intoxication states by actors--acoustic and temporal characteristics

This paper is the second of a series; the first has been published (J Forensic Sci, 1998;43:1153-62). The goal in the initial pair of experiments was to determine if speakers (actors) could effectively mimic the speech of intoxicated individuals and also volitionally reduce the degradation to their speech that resulted from severe inebriation. To this end, two highly controlled experiments involving 12 actor-speakers were carried out. It was found that, even when sober, nearly all of them were judged drunker (when pretending) than when they actually were severely intoxicated. In the second experiment, they tried to sound sober when highly intoxicated; here most were judged less inebriated than they were. The goal of this second paper is to identify some of the speech characteristics that allowed the subjects to achieve the cited illusions. The focus here is on four paralinguistic factors: fundamental frequency (F0), speaking rate, vocal intensity, and nonfluency level. For the simulation of intoxication study, it was found that F0 was raised along with increased intoxication but raised even more when this state was feigned. A slowing of speaking rate was associated with increasing intoxication, but this shift also was greater when the speaker simulated intoxication. The most striking contrast was found for the nonfluencies; they were doubled for actual intoxication, but quadrupled when intoxication was simulated. On the other hand, the shifts exhibited by the subjects when they attempted to sound sober were not as clear cut. Indeed, no systematic relationships were found here for either F0 or vocal intensity. Both speaking rate and the number of nonfluencies shifted appropriately, but these changes were not statistically significant. In sum, discernable suprasegmental relationships occurred for both studies (but especially the first); further, it is predicted that useful cues also will be found embedded in the segmentals (the sounds of speech).     

When Are People Persuaded By DNA Match Statistics?

The way in which statistical DNA evidence is presented to legal decision makers can have a profound impact on the persuasiveness of that evidence. Evidence that is presented one way may convince most people that the suspect is almost certainly the source of DNA evidence recovered from a crime scene. However, when the evidence is presented another way, a sizable minority of people equally convinced that the suspect is almost certainly not the source of the evidence. Three experiments are presented within the context of a theory (exemplar cueing theory) for when people will find statistical match evidence to be more and less persuasive. The theory holds that the perceived probative value of statistical match evidence depends on the cognitive availability of coincidental match exemplars. When legal decision makers find it hard to imagine others who might match by chance, the evidence will seem compelling. When match exemplars are readily available, the evidence will seem less compelling. Experiments 1 and 2 show that DNA match statistics that target the individual suspect and that are framed as probabilities (i.e., The probability that the suspect would match the blood drops if he were not their source is 0.1%) are more persuasive than mathematically equivalent presentations that target a broader reference group and that are framed as frequencies (One in 1,000 people in Houston would also match the blood drops). Experiment 3 shows that the observed effects are less likely to occur at extremely small incidence rates. Implications for the strategic use of presentation effects at trial are considered.     

Toward a Gendered Social Bond/Male Peer Support Theory of University Woman Abuse

Despite many calls for integratedwoman abuse theories, few have made any suchattempts. Taking as a starting point thatgender blind and conservative theories maystill have some value, Hirschi's social bondtheory is examined with insights from feministmale peer support theory and other criticalperspectives. The goal is not a formal newtheory but rather a heuristic designed to showthe value of adding feminist insight to genderblind theory. Hirschi is turned upside downhere with an argument that attachment andinvolvement with conventional peers may in factpromulgate violence against women thecollege campuses when it is noted thatconventional institutions are patriarchal andpart of a rape culture. University groups(social fraternities, sports teams, etc.) mayenforce adherence through homophobia and grouppressure, while promoting a hypermasculineculture that encourages men to use coercion andforce to increase their count of sexualencounters.     

Transparency Mechanisms: Building Publicness into Public Services

Recent changes in patterns of public service provision, sometimes associated with the 'regulatory state', have been said to have eroded citizenship and diminished accountability. This paper responds to these challenges by outlining a toolbox of four transparency mechanisms – information, choice, representation, and voice – as alternative devices that can be built into the architecture of public service regimes, to increase responsiveness and answerability. Using insights drawn from cybernetics and transaction cost analysis, this paper looks at the consequences of different choices of combinations of mechanisms in allocating authority in line with competing administrative doctrines of fiduciary trusteeship and consumer sovereignty. Attention is drawn to differences in 'cost profiles' between different public services that can facilitate or inhibit consumer choice as a basis for understanding the suitability of different combinations of mechanisms to specific public services. A contingency model determining the suitability of particular mechanisms to particular services of different 'cost-profiles' is presented. Given the variety of public services and among different public service architectures in the regulatory state, it is argued that this differentiated approach to transparency and accountability provides a more effective response to holding public services accountable than narrower traditional notions of political accountability.     

Oral abuse of fentanyl patches (Duragesic): seven case reports

In order to increase the understanding regarding the oral abuse and potential toxicity of fentanyl patches seven cases were identified over a 3-year period where fentanyl, either alone or in combination with other factors, contributed to death following the oral abuse of Duragesic patches. The decedents comprised three females and four males with ages ranging from 20 to 51 years. Postmortem blood fentanyl concentrations were determined in all cases and ranged from 7 to 97 ng/mL. Two deaths were classified as a fentanyl overdose, three deaths were classified as a fentanyl and ethanol overdose, one death was considered a mixed drug intoxication and the remaining death was determined to be a combination of fentanyl and medical causes. These cases represent the largest reported series of deaths following the oral administration of transdermal fentanyl patches and provide detailed information on the potential for the abuse of transdermal Duragesic patches via this route. The postmortem blood fentanyl concentrations detected for each of the decedents demonstrate the potentially fatal blood concentrations that can arise after this relatively rare route of administration.     

MRI detects hemorrhages in the muscles of the back in hypothermia

Morphological findings in death due to hypothermia are variable and predominantly unspecific. Goal of this study was to check the usefulness of post-mortem cross-sectional imaging methods in the diagnosis of externally invisible findings in death due to hypothermia. Three consecutive forensic cases that died due to hypothermia were examined using post-mortem multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) prior to autopsy. MSCT excluded traumatic skeletal and fatty tissue injury. Using MRI, it was possible to detect hemorrhages within the muscles of the back in all three cases, a so far unknown finding in death due to hypothermia. MRI also allowed the detection of hemorrhages in the iliopsoas muscles. Wishnewsky spots remained radiologically undetected using the present examination techniques. In conclusion, hemorrhages of the muscles of the back might serve as a new sign of death due to hypothermia; however, additional studies on their specificity are necessary. Post-mortem MRI is considered as a good diagnosing tool for muscular hemorrhages, with a great potential for examination and documentation.