沙门菌PCR快速检测试剂盒的研制与应用

为建立一种简单、快速、灵敏、准确的沙门菌检测方法,根据沙门菌fimY保守基因序列设计合成了1对引物,建立了快速检测沙门菌的PCR方法,并对反应条件进行优化,组装成快速检测试剂盒。结果显示,所有沙门菌均扩增出526 bp的特异性条带,而非沙门菌均未扩增出任何条带。检测灵敏度达93 CFU,还可检出含3 CFU的样品用BP预增菌的菌液或用MM增菌后的菌液,而且稳定性良好,冷冻至少能保存12个月。采用直接菌体加入法、热裂解法、反复冻融法、CTAB碱裂解法和柱式试剂盒提取法分别提取核酸模板,结果CTAB法效果最好,但操作烦琐,而直接菌体加入法和热裂解法可以达到和柱式试剂盒提取法相同的效果,且操作简便、快速、经济、效果好。通过对临床样品的检测,证实该试剂盒具有操作简便、快速、灵敏度高、特异性强、重复性好、稳定性高等优点,值得推广应用。     

结核分枝杆菌与牛分枝杆菌PCR快速鉴别检测方法的建立

根据结核分枝杆菌与牛分枝杆菌基因组的比对分析结果,针对结核分枝杆菌与牛分枝杆菌153bp、RD10和TbD1的3处差异缺失区域设计引物,分别建立了结核分枝杆菌与牛分枝杆菌PCR快速鉴别检测方法.应用建立的3种方法分别对84株结核分枝杆菌、3株牛分枝杆菌、51株非结核分枝杆菌及9种其他常见菌株进行了检测.结果显示,用针对153 bp缺失片段建立的PCR方法分别在结核分枝杆菌及牛分枝杆菌中扩增出645 bp及492 bp的目的条带;用针对RD10、TbD1建立的PCR方法分别在结核分枝杆菌及牛分枝杆菌中扩增出478 bp及361 bp的目的条带、358 bp及524 bp的目的条带.这3种PCR检测方法的准确率和特异性均为100%.敏感性试验结果显示,这些检测方法对结核分枝杆菌和牛分枝杆菌基因组DNA的检测极限均为10 pg.表明,此方法可用于牛源或人源结核分枝杆菌及牛分枝杆菌的快速鉴别检测.     

A Comparison of Four Presumptive Tests for the Detection of Blood on Dark Materials

Detection of blood on dark materials is difficult for crime scene examiners so presumptive tests are used to assist. This study compared the ability of luminol, leuko crystal violet, tetramethylbenzidine, and Combur Test®E to detect whole, diluted blood (1:100) and a key‐shaped blood transfer stain (1:10), on dark cotton sheeting, tea towel, socks, synthetic carpet, and car mats. Powdered bleach was used to evaluate specificity of the blood detection tests. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and overall misclassification rate (OMR) assessed the quality of the blood tests. Luminol was the preferred test for diluted blood having the highest sensitivity (79%–96%), NPV (66%–93%), and the lowest OMR (3%–15%). Luminol was also found to be most efficient with a testing time on 25 items of 2 h 50 min compared with up to 8 h. Overall, luminol was the most effective method, also providing information on bloodstain patterns.     

Perceived infallibility of detection dog evidence: implications for juror decision-making

This study focuses on the trust that potential jurors have in unsubstantiated evidence and the implications of such trust for legal decision-making. We examined whether participants’ motivation to think deeply (‘need for cognition,’ NC) and belief in science moderated their trust in potentially fallible detection dog evidence when selecting a verdict in a trial scenario. A detection dog twice indicated the presence of drugs in the scenario, yet no drugs were actually found. Those who chose a guilty verdict without drugs present featured stronger beliefs in detection dog evidence. They were also more confident that a dog alert indicated the presence of drugs, even though the scientific literature actually shows that detection dog evidence is subject to biases and other challenges to reliability. Our findings indicate that an unsubstantiated belief and trust in detection dog evidence may negatively influence juror decision-making, which may, in turn, pose consequences for fairness and justice. Participants believed that detection dogs provide powerful and reliable evidence, and these beliefs were clearly associated with stronger beliefs in science. These findings, therefore, raise serious concerns about jurors’ indiscriminate trust in forensic evidence, be it detection dog evidence or other lines of evidence presented in court.     

Inherent Fluorescence Detection of Latent Fingermarks by Homemade Shortwave Ultraviolet Laser

Detection of latent fingermarks on various substrates is critical in crime investigations. Conventional chemical methods using reagents could contaminate or even destruct biological information of samples. Here, an optical method and successful case application of detecting latent fingermarks through long‐wave ultraviolet (UV) fluorescence (300–400 nm) by shortwave UV laser excitation is reported. Experimental results indicate that the recovery rate of the latent fingermarks on various paper items is in the range of 70–80% without chemical treatments. Moreover, the optical method allows for the preservation of samples for further examination, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. The technique has also been successfully applied to a criminal case in identifying the suspect, which, to the best of our knowledge, has never been reported in real crime investigations. Therefore, such a method as UV‐excited UV fluorescence in detecting latent fingermarks may be better for examination in cases where biological information of samples is needed for consequent testing.     

Feasibility of Canine Detection of Mass Storage Devices: A Study of Volatile Organic Compounds Emanating from Electronic Devices Using Solid Phase Microextraction

Detection of canines are well‐known to be valuable in the location of contraband, such as explosives or narcotics. More recently, canines have been trained and utilized in the detection of concealed mass storage devices that might contain evidence of illegal activity such as child pornography. To lay the analytical foundation for this detection work, research was carried out to determine the volatile organic compounds associated with mass storage devices (MSD) that could be used by trained canines for detection. Headspace analysis of a variety of electronic devices was performed using solid phase microextraction (SPME) with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Analyses found several volatile compounds common to SIM and SD cards, as well as USB drives, including 2‐propenenitrile, styrene, isophorone, hydroxycyclohexyl phenyl ketone, and 2‐furanmethanol, tetrahydro. Results indicated that mass storage devices do have a characteristic odor profile making detection with minimal false alerts feasible for trained canines.     

The Verifiability Approach to detection of malingered physical symptoms

Inspired by recent research showing that liars are reluctant to include verifiable details in their accounts, we explored in two studies (N?=?125; N?=?105) whether participants who report fabricated symptoms (‘malingerers’) present fewer verifiable details than participants who report genuine ill-health symptoms. In Study 1, participants were instructed to describe a typical day on which they had experienced a genuine or malingered symptom. Truth tellers’ statements included significantly higher proportions of verifiable details concerning the reported symptoms than malingerers’ statements. Compared with truth tellers, malingerers generated longer statements with more unverifiable details. In Study 2, we informed participants that their statements may be assessed for verifiable or checkable details. Malingerers often mentioned ‘false’ witnesses to provide checkable information and differences between malingerers and truth tellers in statement length, and checkable and uncheckable details were no longer significant. The utility and implications of the Verifiability Approach to detection of malingering are discussed.     

The effect of the presence and seating position of an interpreter on eliciting information and cues to deceit

The present experiment examined how the seating position of an interpreter during investigative interviews affects information elicitation and cues to deceit. A total of 60 native English speakers were interviewed in English and 200 non-native English speakers were interviewed in English (a non-native language) or through an interpreter who either sat next to the interviewer, behind the interviewee or interpreted via the telephone. Interviewees either lied or told the truth about a mock security meeting they watched. Interviewees who spoke in their native language provided more detail than interviewees who spoke in their native language through an interpreter or in a non-native language (English) without an interpreter. The latter groups did not differ. Additionally, the amount of detail differentiated truth tellers from liars in all conditions and interviewees found the presence of an interpreter to be a largely positive experience. The interpreter’s seating position had no effect on the findings.     

Graph clustering and anomaly detection of access control log for forensic purposes

Attacks on operating system access control have become a significant and increasingly common problem. This type of security threat is recorded in a forensic artifact such as an authentication log. Forensic investigators will generally examine the log to analyze such incidents. An anomaly is highly correlated to an attacker's attempts to compromise the system. In this paper, we propose a novel method to automatically detect an anomaly in the access control log of an operating system. The logs will be first preprocessed and then clustered using an improved MajorClust algorithm to get a better cluster. This technique provides parameter-free clustering so that it automatically can produce an analysis report for the forensic investigators. The clustering results will be checked for anomalies based on a score that considers some factors such as the total members in a cluster, the frequency of the events in the log file, and the inter-arrival time of a specific activity. We also provide a graph-based visualization of logs to assist the investigators with easy analysis. Experimental results compiled on an open dataset of a Linux authentication log show that the proposed method achieved the accuracy of 83.14% in the authentication log dataset.