Asked and Answered: Knowledge Levels When We Will Not Take “Don't Know” for an Answer

A pivotal claim in research on citizen competence is that the typical citizen knows very little about politics. Public opinion surveys provide a considerable body of evidence in support of this position. However, survey protocols with respect to factual questions about politics violate established norms in psychometric research on educational testing in that don't know answers are encouraged rather than discouraged. Because encouraging don't know responses potentially confounds efforts to identify substantive understanding, this practice may lead to the systematic understatement of political knowledge. We explore this possibility with data drawn from three split-ballot tests: one conducted as part of a survey in the Tallahassee, Florida, metropolitan area, one conducted as part of the 1998 NES Pilot, and one conducted as part of the 2000 NES. Results reveal that the mean level of political knowledge increases by approximately 15% when knowledge questions are asked in accordance with accepted practices in educational testing.     

BAT在非离子型造影剂过敏反应中的诊断价值

目的通过测定免疫正常人、β-内酰胺类药物过敏者以及非离子型造影剂过敏者血液中CD63、肥大细胞羧肽酶A3(MC-CPA3)、人末端补体复合物SC5b-9,探讨嗜碱性粒细胞活化试验(basophil activation test,BAT)在非离子型造影剂过敏反应中的诊断价值。方法采用流式细胞术测定全血中嗜碱性粒细胞CD63表达率。采用ELISA法测定血清中MC-CPA3、血浆中SC5b-9含量。结果非离子型造影剂和β-内酰胺类药物过敏者血液中嗜碱性粒细胞CD63表达率、MC-CPA3以及SC5b-9含量均较免疫正常人升高(P0.05)。结论非离子型造影剂过敏者血液中嗜碱性粒细胞和肥大细胞发生活化,补体系统的激活也参与了非离子型造影剂过敏反应的发生。流式细胞术分析BAT可作为非离子型造影剂过敏反应的诊断方法。     

DRD5基因遗传多态性与精神状态的相关性及法医学意义

多巴胺是人类神经系统中重要的神经递质,通过与受体结合发挥生物学作用。当编码受体的基因异常时,可能导致精神疾病的发生。多巴胺受体有5种类型,分别为DRD1、DRD2、DRD3、DRD4、DRD5。DRD5是精神疾病的一个重要候选基因。DRD5受体基因上的rs7655090、rs1850744、(TC)n与精神疾病可能相关联;同时也存在矛盾的研究结果,表明精神疾病可能为多因素、多位点、多基因复制遗传疾病。DRD5基因的SNP具有较好的遗传多态性,可为法医学个人识别与亲权鉴定提供新的遗传标记及为司法精神病鉴定提供参考性遗传学指标。     

Voting for Movement Parties in Southern Europe: The Role of Protest and Digital Information

In recent years ‘movement parties’ such as Syriza in Greece, the Movimento 5 Stelle in Italy, Podemos in Spain and—to a lesser extent—Bloco de Esquerda in Portugal shook national party systems, breaking the consolidated dynamics of political competition. Despite growing interest in movement parties, there has been scant attention to the role of citizens adopting unconventional forms of action and using digital media in accounting for their electoral performance. To fill this gap, four original internet-based post-electoral surveys are employed showing that protesters and digital media users are more likely to vote for these parties, despite important country differences.     

Extending environmental justice research to religious minorities

For more than 30 years, significant research in the United States has found that racial and ethnic minorities suffer disproportionately from nearness to environmental disamenities compared with white non-Hispanics and that these results persist even controlling for poverty and “which came first,” the minorities or the disamenities. The engrained discriminatory findings of this environmental justice (EJ) research have led some to argue that we observe “systemic racism,” built into our social systems in ways that may be difficult to perceive. Yet, within the history of the United States, racial and ethnic minorities are not the only groups that have been systematically discriminated against; various religious groups also have histories of discrimination. Here we consider whether, holding constant race and ethnicity, some religious groups may also suffer from “EJ syndrome.” Since the US Census does not collect data on religion, to measure the presence of some religious groups that may be discriminated against, we use an original dataset on the presence of Jewish, Muslim, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, aka Mormon), and Roman Catholic houses of worship within California's Census tracts. Our results indicate that even controlling for race/ethnicity and income, the presence of Jewish or Muslim houses of worship in a California Census tract increases the likelihood of environmental burden as measured by the CalEnviroScreen 3.0 index of pollution and community vulnerability.     

The advocacy coalition framework in Japan: Contributions to policy process studies and the challenges involved

The advocacy coalition framework (ACF), a unified framework for understanding the policy process, has been applied in various countries and regions; however, there are few contributions from Japan, despite seemingly favorable conditions for applying it. An exploration of what hinders ACF applications in Japan is worthwhile for developing the ACF as a framework for comparative policy process studies across various social and political settings. Therefore, this study aims to systematically review previous Japanese ACF studies. Our review found that Japanese ACF studies are fewer in number, have less coverage of policy fields, and have less methodological diversity and transparency than international trends. While most of the Japanese ACF studies supported the basic hypotheses of the ACF, we found a need to refine some hypotheses and research methods of the ACF studies. We also discuss the background factors in the inactivity of ACF studies in Japan and suggest solutions for it.     

2004-2010年浙江省及其周边地区PRRSV GP5基因的分子进化与变异分析

用RT-PCR方法对分离自浙江省及其周边地区部分猪场的50个猪繁殖与呼吸综合征病毒(PRRSV)毒株和3个疫苗毒株的GP5基因进行了扩增、克隆和序列分析,并与国内外的代表性毒株进行了序列比对。结果表明,2004-2010年检测的PRRSV毒株均属于美洲型,大部分毒株属于亚群1,各毒株间的核苷酸和氨基酸同源性分别在81.6%～100%和72.1%～99.5%之间,浙江省及其周边地区亚群1毒株与我国最早分离到的美洲型毒株CH-1a的核苷酸和氨基酸同源性分别为84.5%～95.7%和78.6%～95.0%,与疫苗株的核苷酸和氨基酸的同源性分别为88.1%～99.2%和85.4%～99.0%。糖基化位点以及抗原表位都有一定程度上的变异。     

Development and validation of the AmpFℓSTR® Identifiler® Direct PCR Amplification Kit: a multiplex assay for the direct amplification of single-source samples

Abstract: The AmpF?STR^® Identifiler^® Direct PCR Amplification Kit is a new short tandem repeat multiplex assay optimized to allow the direct amplification of single‐source blood and buccal samples on FTA^® card without the need for sample purification and quantification. This multiplex assay has been validated according to the FBI/National Standards and SWGDAM guidelines. Validation results revealed that slight variations in primer concentration, master mix component concentration, and thermal cycling parameters did not affect the performance of the chemistry. The assay’s sensitivity was demonstrated by amplifying known amounts of white blood cells spotted onto FTA^® cards, and the assay’s specificity was verified by establishing minimal cross‐reactivity with nonhuman DNA. No effect on the age of the sample stored on the FTA^® substrate was observed and full concordance was established in the population study. These findings of the validation study support the use of the Identifiler^® Direct Kit for forensic standards and database samples genotyping.     

Lipidic compounds found in soils surrounding human decomposing bodies and its use in forensic investigations – A narrative review

Following decomposition of a human body, a variety of decomposition products, such as lipids, are released into the surrounding environment, e.g. soils. The long-lasting preservation in soils and their high diagnostic potential have been neglected in forensic research. Furthermore, little is known about the preservation, chemical transformation, or degradation of those human derived lipids in soils. To date, several studies identified various lipids such as long-chain free fatty acids and steroids in soils that contained decomposition fluids. Those lipids are preserved in soils over time and could serve as markers of human decomposition in forensic investigations, e.g. for estimating the post-mortem interval or identifying the burial location of a human body. Therefore, this review focuses on the current literature regarding fatty acid and steroid that have been detected in soils and associated with human body decomposition. After a short introduction about human decomposition processes, this review summarises fatty acid and steroid analysis applied in current case studies and studies related to taphonomic research. This review provides an overview of the available studies that have used fatty acids and steroids as identifiers of human decomposition fluid in soils in a forensic context and discusses the potential for developing this innovative field of research with direct application in a forensic context.     

Informing regional taphonomy research using retrospective forensic anthropology cases in the Western Cape,South Africa

The post-mortem interval (PMI) is important in death investigations as it can assist in reconstructing the context of the case and the identification of the unknown individual. However, in some instances the PMI is challenging to estimate due to the absence of regional taphonomy standards. To conduct accurate and locally relevant forensic taphonomy research, investigators require insight into the regional hotspot recovery areas. Thus, forensic cases examined by the Forensic Anthropology Cape Town (FACT) in the Western Cape (WC) province of South Africa between 2006 and 2018 (n = 172 cases; n = 174 individuals) were retrospectively reviewed. In our study, a considerable number of individuals did not have the PMI estimations (31 %; 54/174) and the ability to estimate a PMI was significantly associated with skeletal completeness, unburnt remains, absence of clothing and the absence of entomological evidence (p < 0.05 for each). Significantly fewer cases had the PMI estimated after FACT was formalised in 2014 (p < 0.0001). One third of cases with PMI estimations were made with large open-ended ranges, making them less informative. Factors significantly associated with these broad PMI ranges were fragmented remains, absence of clothing and absence of entomological evidence (p < 0.05 for each). Most decedents (51 %; 87/174) were discovered in police precincts from high crime areas, yet a considerable number (47 %; 81/174) were also found in low crime and sparsely populated areas regularly used for recreational activities. Common sites of body discovery were vegetated areas (23 %; 40/174), followed by the roadside (15 %; 29/174), aquatic environments (11 %; 20/174) and farms (11 %; 19/174). Decedents were discovered exposed (35 %; 62/174), covered with items such as bedding or shrubs (14 %; 25/174) or buried (10 %; 17/174). Our data highlight gaps in forensic taphonomy studies and clearly informs what regional research is needed. Overall, our study demonstrates how forensic case information can inform regional forensic taphonomy studies to locate common areas and contexts for the discovery of decomposed bodies and encourages similar studies in other areas of the world.