Testing the performance of mtSNP minisequencing in forensic samples

There is a growing interest among forensic geneticists in developing efficient protocols for genotyping coding region mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) SNPs (mtSNPs). Minisequencing is becoming a popular method for SNP genotyping, but it is still used by few forensic laboratories. In part, this is due to the lack of studies testing its efficiency and reproducibility when applied to real and complex forensic samples. Here we tested a minisequencing design that consists of 71 mtSNPs (in three multiplexes) that are diagnostic of known branches of the R0 phylogeny, in real forensic samples, including degraded bones and teeth, hair shafts, and serial dilutions. The fact that amplicons are short coupled with the natural efficiency of the minisequencing technique allow these assays to perform well with all the samples tested either degraded and/or those containing low DNA amount. We did not observe phylogenetic inconsistencies in the 71 mtSNP haplotypes generated, indicating that the technique is robust against potential artefacts that could arise from unintended contamination and/or spurious amplification of nuclear mtDNA pseudogenes (NUMTs).     

安徽几种香茶菜属植物显微鉴别研究

目的 研究安徽几种香茶菜属植物叶表面的毛茸和气孔的显微特征差异。方法 应用表面制片法对4种香茶菜属植物香茶菜、歧伞香茶菜、大萼香茶菜、显脉香茶菜的叶表面特征进行显微观察。结果 4种香茶菜属植物叶表面特征有显著差异：香茶菜具有长短两种腺毛,歧伞香茶菜和大萼香茶菜仅具短腺毛,显脉香茶菜仅具长腺毛且腺头较大;歧伞香茶菜的非腺毛最长,细胞数最多;大萼香茶菜气孔密度高且较大。结论 可从叶表面毛茸和气孔的特征鉴别4种香茶菜。     

Elizabeth von Arnim’s The Pastor’s Wife: A Reassessment

Abstract

The Pastor’s Wife (1914) may seem at first reading simply another depiction of a woman struggling for liberation in the decades following the work of Thomas Hardy and Henrik Ibsen, being the story of how Ingeborg Bullivant escapes from an English patriarchal home, only to find herself trapped in another one in Germany. The novel, however, marks a turning point in Elizabeth von Arnim’s career; it is a novel that looks back to previous themes while anticipating those to come. It demonstrates, with comedy and bitterness, themes of alienation and exile; satirizes German codes and class; and provides a lyrical Romantic vision of the natural world. It also presents the married woman as a prisoner in a way that anticipates Vera (1921). The novel can also stand alone as an underrated classic that plays an important part in the history of English literature. Published at the beginning of high modernism, it shows, unlike the work of some canonized writers of the time, a fusion of realism and modernism. This essay argues that the novel is a proto-feminist work that is radical in its portrayal of women’s experience and influenced by literary naturalism in its childbirth scenes, but pessimistic about possibilities for change. The essay shows how the novel is modernist in its depiction of the alienated experience of the city; uses nineteenth-century realism in its narrative structure and comedy; and yet is forward-looking in its use of endings. A book that begins as a comedy but ends as a tragedy, The Pastor’s Wife deserves equal recognition with the work of H. G. Wells and E. M. Forster, writers with whom von Arnim was connected and by whom she was influenced.     

Effects of ACA Medicaid Expansions on Health Insurance Coverage and Labor Supply

We examined the effect of the expansion of Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act on health insurance coverage and labor supply of low‐educated and low‐income adults. We found that the Medicaid expansions were associated with large increases in Medicaid coverage, for example, 50 percent among childless adults, and corresponding decreases in the proportion uninsured. There was relatively little change in private insurance coverage, although the expansions tended to decrease such coverage slightly. In terms of labor supply, estimates indicated that the Medicaid expansions had little effect on work effort despite the substantial changes in health insurance coverage. Most estimates suggested that the expansions increased work effort, although not significantly.     

Homeowner Behavior,Health Status,and Medicaid Payment Eligibility: Evidence from the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005

This paper analyzes the effect of a change in the status of housing equity as a protected asset for Medicaid long‐term care payment eligibility. A difference‐in‐difference‐in‐differences strategy is employed to estimate the effect of the policy on the housing equity holdings of potentially treated individuals. Using a panel of unmarried homeowners, the policy induced treated individuals who were likely to require long‐term care to hold less housing equity by values of $82,000 to $193,000 relative to control individuals. This equates to relative reductions of 12 to 29 percent for treated individuals after the policy change. Similar effects are not observed when considering health measures less predictive of long‐term care services and for a sample of married households who were unlikely affected by the policy. These estimates confirm the importance of the housing asset as a shelter for Medicaid eligibility.     

Curriculum Reform in The Common Core Era: Evaluating Elementary Math Textbooks Across Six U.S. States

Can a school or district improve student achievement simply by switching to a higher-quality textbook or curriculum? We conducted the first multi-textbook, multi-state effort to estimate textbook efficacy following widespread adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and associated changes in the textbook market. Pooling textbook adoption and student test score data across six geographically and demographically diverse U.S. states, we found little evidence of differences in average achievement gains for schools using different math textbooks. We found some evidence of greater variation in achievement gains among schools using pre-CCSS editions, which may have been more varied in their content than post-CCSS editions because they were written for a broader set of standards. We also found greater variation among schools that had more exposure to a given text. However, these differences were small. Despite considerable interest and attention to textbooks as a low-cost, “silver bullet” intervention for improving student outcomes, we conclude that the adoption of a new textbook or set of curriculum materials, on its own, is unlikely to achieve this goal.     

The Unexpected Effects of No Pass,No Drive Policies on High School Education

Since 1988, 27 states have introduced No Pass, No Drive laws, which tie a teenager's ability to receive and maintain a driver's license to various school-related outcomes—most commonly, enrollment and attendance. Enrollment-Based No Pass, No Drive policies, in 21 states, target both enrollment and attendance, and have negligible effects on dropout rates. However, these policies decrease the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR) by between 1 and 1.7 percentage points. This lower graduation rate stems from students delaying their dropout decision by up to two years. As a result, these students are retained in the ninth and tenth grades, increasing 9th-grade enrollment by 3.6 percent relative to 8th-grade enrollment the year prior; this causes an artificial reduction in the graduation rate, rather than a reduction in the true likelihood that a student will graduate. Truancy-Based No Pass, No Drive policies, in five states, target only attendance—teens that fail to meet a minimum attendance requirement lose their driver's license. However, these policies allow students to drop out of school without facing this penalty. These policies increase the annual dropout rate by between 23 and 34 percent (1 to 1.6 percentage points).     

Richtlinienkonforme Auslegung und unmittelbare Wirkung von EG-Richtlinien in der Rechtsprechung der österreichischen Höchstgerichte

Die unmittelbare Wirkung von EG-Richtlinien sowie die Auslegung nationalen Rechts in ihrem Licht sind Instrumente zur Herstellung von Gemeinschaftsrechtskonformit?t, die in der Rechtsprechung der ?sterreichischen H?chstgerichte sehr h?ufig zur Anwendung kommen. Der vorliegende Beitrag soll einerseits den, mancherorts immer noch bestrittenen, "Vorrang" der richtlinienkonformen Auslegung argumentativ untermauern sowie zur Kl?rung offener Fragen zu Zul?ssigkeit und Durchführung richtlinienkonformer Rechtsfortbildung beitragen. Weiters soll gezeigt werden, dass die H?chstgerichte sowohl in der methodisch notwendigen Abgrenzung der beiden Instrumente als auch der konkreten Anwendung richtlinienkonformer Auslegung nicht sehr einheitlich und nur wenig transparent urteilen.     

Kontrolle der ordentlichen Gerichtsbarkeit zwischen Scylla und Charybdis – eine Nachlese

Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der B-VG-Novelle zur Kontrolle der Gerichtsbarkeit durch die VA. Nach den Vorstellungen der Expertengruppe Staats- und Verwaltungsreform im Bundeskanzleramt sollte diese Funktion ein eigener Justizanwalt übernehmen, weshalb die strukturellen Unterschiede zu den Ausgangsüberlegungen analysiert werden, ferner wird der Umfang der neuen Kontrollmittel dargestellt und verfassungsrechtlich gewürdigt.     

A型H1N1及H3N2亚型流感病毒实时荧光RT-PCR检测方法的建立

根据A型H1N1亚型流感病毒2009年北美变异株和H3N2亚型流行株的基因序列,设计了3套特异性引物、TaqMan探针,分别用不同的荧光基团标记,以构建的A型流感病毒及H1N1和H3N2亚型流感病毒基因重组质粒作为阳性对照,经反应条件优化,特异性、敏感性和重复性试验,筛选出3套不同的反应体系及同一个反应参数,建立了可同时检测A型流感病毒、H1N1和H3N2亚型流感病毒的实时荧光RT-PCR方法。结果表明,该方法可特异地检测H1N1(人源、猪源)、H3N2(猪源),禽流感病毒H5、H9等A型流感病毒,且与新城疫病毒、减蛋综合征病毒等其他病毒不发生交叉反应,具有特异、敏感、重复性好、快速、费用低廉等优点,试验耗时仅3h。表明,建立的方法,一次试验即可完成A型流感病毒的初筛和H1N1、H3N2亚型流感病毒的初步确认定型。