Japanese population study of a Y-linked dinucleotide repeat DNA polymorphism.

A polymorphic CA repeats (YCA II) was previously reported on the human Y chromosome. We have used a simple technique based on polymerase chain reaction amplification followed by native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to study the inheritance, the genetic stability, and the allele frequency distribution of this polymorphism in the Japanese. We found seven haplotypes which were tentatively designated as: A[(CA)19/(CA)21], B[(CA)19/(CA)22], C[(CA)19/(CA)23], D[(CA)19/(CA)19], E[(CA)21/(CA)21], F[(CA)22/(CA)22], and G[(CA)23/(CA)23]. The frequencies of these haplotypes were: A, 0.21; B, 0.29; C, 0.37; D, 0.02; E, 0.02; F, 0.07; G, 0.01. There was complete concordance with each father-son pairs. The results indicate the dinucleotide system YCA II is very useful for investigation of forensic samples, especially mixed stains in sexual offence cases.     

Centipede inflicted postmortem injury.

We here report the first case of postmortem injury caused by a centipede. An old man was found dead in his bedroom. The death was estimated to be due to intracranial hemorrhage and to have occurred two days before the police inspection. A centipede about 12 cm long emerged from a subcutaneous cavity on the victim's forearm. Obviously, the centipede had dug the cavity on the intact skin. A police inspector was bitten by the centipede, so he stepped on the centipede on the floor. The exudate from the insect was identified to be derived from the victim's blood.     

Political Consequences of Welfare Regimes: Social Assistance and Support for Presidentialism in Turkey

ABSTRACT

Tackling redistributive expansion in developing countries, this paper explores broader political consequences of social assistance programmes. Drawing from the Turkish case, where social welfare expanded since the 2000s, it examines attitudes of social assistance beneficiaries towards transition to presidentialism, which was approved in a referendum in 2017, and took effect in 2018. Using the results of an original survey, it indicates that social assistance benefits played a significant role in increasing support for presidentialism, by garnering votes from opposition voters, especially those with high-risk perceptions, in return for benefits. Given the character of Turkish presidentialism, devoid of vital checks and balances, the findings reveal that incumbents can mobilise support by using redistributive instruments in the context of democratic backsliding.     

Acute cerebellar hemorrhage in a patient with Klinefelter syndrome: XXY karyotype obtained postmortem from cells from pericardial fluid

A case of Klinefelter syndrome and a spontaneous cerebellar hemorrhage in a 12-year-old boy is presented. Autopsy revealed that the hemorrhage was due to the rupture of a dilated artery in an arteriovenous malformation in the right cerebellar hemisphere. The small, undescended testes exhibited partial atrophy of the seminiferous tubules. Postmortem chromosome analysis of cells from the pericardial fluid demonstrated a 47, XXY karyotype. He had previous surgical treatment for bilateral thumb polydactyly and patent ductus arteriosus. In juvenile cases of sudden death with overlapping morphological dysgenesis, postmortem karyotyping may provide important diagnostic information.     

A fatal case of chlorate poisoning: confirmation by ion chromatography of body fluids

A 49-year-old male chemical industry worker was admitted to intensive care with a 24-hour history of respiratory failure, vomiting, headache, stupor, arterial hypotension, and cyanosed face and limbs. He had acute haemolysis (3.9 g/L plasma haemoglobin concentration) and 30% methaemoglobinaemia. Whereas the search for alcohol, barbiturates and opiates was negative, benzodiazepines and tricyclic antidepressants were present. The patient was in fact being treated with fluvoxamine, amitryptiline, and alprazolam. As the clinical and biological signs suggested chlorate poisoning, chlorate was looked for by using an aniline color reaction. It was found in gastric content and urine. Treatment consisted in mechanical ventilation, vasoactive amines, methylene blue, plasma exchange, exchange transfusion, and haemodialysis. Despite this, the patient had several cardiac arrests and refractory metabolic acidosis. He died 12 h after his admission. Specific ion chromatography was used afterhand to assay the chlorate in various body fluids. The technique was based on a separation on an ion exchange Dionex AS 12A column coupled with conductivity detection. A quantitative estimation was carried out by using external calibration with a four-point calibration curve which was linear between 1 and 15 mg/L. The measured plasma levels of chlorate were 78 and 29 mg/L respectively before and after exchange transfusion. Gastric-lavage liquid contained 1300 mg/L of chlorate and urine 4300 mg/L. Ion chromatography, which is routinely used in environmental studies helped to confirm a massive oral intake of chlorate by measuring the corresponding blood and urine chlorate concentrations, data which had only rarely been reported previously.     

Genetic variation and relationships at five STR loci in five distinct ethnic groups in China

Five short tandem repeat (STR) systems of TH01, vWA, LPL, F13B and FES/FPS were investigated in five ethnic groups living in China (Tujia, Miao, Bai, Chaoxian and Han). All five loci did not deviate from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P>0.05). At the five loci of each ethnic group, the observed heterozygosity, the mean exclusion chance (MEC), and the power of discrimination (PD) ranged from 0.42 to 0.86, from 0.20 to 0.66 and from 0.61 to 0.95, respectively. For the five ethnic groups, the combined MEC and combined PD were >0. 9360 and >0.9998, respectively, suggesting that combinations of these five systems are feasible for DNA typing in forensic investigations such as personal identification or paternity testing. Furthermore, the allelic frequencies at the five loci suggested that these five ethnic groups were distinctly different communities. Judging from the phylogenetic tree constructed based on the genetic distance among the five ethnic groups, Han, Chaoxian and Tujia were involved in an identical cluster, and Miao and Bai in another. These findings indicate that each of the five groups examined is not only a distinct community, but also has a relationship with each of the others.