Gene and genotype frequencies for HLA-DQA1 in Caucasians and Mulattoes in Brazil.

Gene and genotype frequencies of the HLA-DQA1 locus were determined in a sample of 197 unrelated individuals (144 Caucasians and 53 Mulattoes), living in the city of S?o Paulo, Brazil. The Mulatto group consisted of mixed individuals who presented at least one negroid physical characteristic or declared themselves to be of mixed ancestry. A total of six different alleles were identified with frequencies ranging from 0.087 to 0.316 in the Caucasian population and from 0.066 to 0.330 in the Mulatto population. We observed an increased frequency of allele 1.2 among Mulattoes in relation to Caucasians. The sample heterozygote frequency was 0.722 among Caucasians and 0.736 among Mullatoes. No significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were found either in the Caucasian or in the Brazilian Mullato population samples.     

Socialist racism: Ethnic cleansing and racial exclusion in the USSR and Israel

During the 1970s, both the Crimean Tatars and Meskhetian Turks in Soviet Central Asia compared their plight to that of the Palestinians. The Stalin regime deported both the Crimean Tatars and Meskhetian Turks from their homelands to dispersed settlements in Central Asia. The similarities between the Soviet policies of expelling and permanently excluding the Crimean Tatars and Meskhetian Turks from their homelands and similar Israeli policies towards the Palestinians are not entirely coincidental. The Zionists based their mass expulsion of Palestinians in 1948 and subsequent prohibition on allowing them to return to their homes in part on the Soviet model. The similarities between the two instances of ethnic cleansing are due in large part to this conscious emulation of Stalin's methods by the Zionists.     

Brazilian population data on the polymerase chain reaction-based loci LDLR,GYPA, HBGG,D7S8, and Gc

Gene and genotype frequencies in relation to the low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), glycophorin A (GYPA), hemoglobin G gammaglobin (HBGG), D7S8, and group specific component (Gc) loci were determined in a sample of 344 unrelated individuals (250 whites and 94 mulattoes) living in the city of S?o Paulo, Brazil. DNA was extracted from 5 mL of peripheral blood obtained from each of the 344 volunteers by the salting-out procedure. Polymerase chain reaction and reverse dot-blot analysis were performed with the Amplitype PM PCR Amplification and Typing Kit (Polymarker Multiplex; Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) under conditions recommended by the manufacturer. Estimated allele frequencies in the white sample were in the usual range of that of other United States and European population groups. In any case, genotype distributions for these loci did not deviate significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium proportions. Only 1 marginally significant (0.01 < P < 0.05) association, between loci HBGG and Gc, was detected in our mulatto sample out of a total of 20 possible pairwise comparisons of the 5 loci for both data sets. Allele frequencies were significantly different (P < 0.001) at the HBGG and Gc loci when the white and mulatto samples were compared. Biologic relationship exclusion probabilities (test powers) were calculated for the data. A Brazilian database has thus been established for the loci LDLR, GYPA, HBGG, D7S8, and Gc, 5 polymerase chain reaction-based loci systems that have been shown to be a useful tool for biologic relationship identification and exclusion.     

PC_Eyewitness and the Sequential Superiority Effect: Computer-Based Lineup Administration

Computer technology has become an increasingly important tool for conducting eyewitness identifications. In the area of lineup identifications, computerized administration offers several advantages for researchers and law enforcement. PC_Eyewitness is designed specifically to administer lineups. To assess this new lineup technology, two studies were conducted in order to replicate the results of previous studies comparing simultaneous and sequential lineups. One hundred twenty university students participated in each experiment. Experiment 1 used traditional paper-and-pencil lineup administration methods to compare simultaneous to sequential lineups. Experiment 2 used PC_Eyewitness to administer simultaneous and sequential lineups. The results of these studies were compared to the meta-analytic results reported by N. Steblay, J. Dysart, S. Fulero, and R. C. L. Lindsay (2001). No differences were found between paper-and-pencil and PC_Eyewitness lineup administration methods. The core findings of the N. Steblay et al. (2001) meta-analysis were replicated by both administration procedures. These results show that computerized lineup administration using PC_Eyewitness is an effective means for gathering eyewitness identification data.     

Age assessment of ivory by analysis of 14C and 90Sr to determine whether there is an antique on hand

This report describes the histological changes observed in the heart a young methamphetamine abuser who died of heart failure. Most of the microscopic changes in the heart have previously been described in experimental animals, but never clearly illustrated in man. Gross examination of the heart revealed concentric myocardial hypertrophy (heart weight 470 g versus median predicted weight of 312 g). Areas of old myocardial infarction were also evident, along with enzymatic evidence indicating that a new infarct had occurred. Myocardial remodeling was extensive with perivascular and interstitial fibrosis, cellular vacuolization, and ongoing myocyte destruction with proliferation of fibromyocytes in the intestitum. Of note were the widespread, bizarre looking, distorted, cell nuclei. They were reminiscent of those seen in viral-induced dilated congestive cardiomyopathy. Clinical chemical measurements also showed unequivocal evidence of both evolving infarction and profound heart failure, with a BNP > 5000. This pattern has not previously been reported in humans, probably because forensic pathologists rarely examine the hearts of methamphetamine abusers microscopically. If the pattern observed here is typical for methamphetamine-induced cardiotoxicity, it could well explain increasing reports of heart failure in methamphetamine abusers. It might also be diagnostic for the disorder.     

International Law,Social Change and Resistance: A Conversation Between Professor Anna Grear (Cardiff) and Professorial Fellow Dianne Otto (Melbourne)

This conversation between two scholars of international law focuses on the contemporary realities of feminist analysis of international law and on current and future spaces of resistance. It notes that feminism has moved from the margin towards the centre, but that this has also come at a cost. As the language of women’s rights and gender equality has travelled into the international policy worlds of crisis management and peace and security, feminist scholars need to become more careful in their analysis and find new ways of resistance. While noting that we live in dangerous times, this is also a hopeful discussion.     

Do Higher Minimum Wages Benefit Health? Evidence From the UK

This study examines the link between minimum wages and health outcomes by using the introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) in the United Kingdom in 1999 as an exogenous variation of earned income. A test for health effects by using longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Survey for a period of ten years was conducted. It was found that the NMW significantly improved several measures of health, including self‐reported health status and the presence of health conditions. When examining potential mechanisms, it was shown that changes in health behaviors, leisure expenditures, and financial stress can explain the observed improvements in health.