Molecular Identification of Indian Crocodile Species: PCR‐RFLP Method for Forensic Authentication*

Abstract: South East Asian countries are known for illegal poaching and trade of crocodiles clandestinely, to be used in skin, medicinal, and cosmetic industries. Besides crocodiles being listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, India has its Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 for conservation of crocodile species. Hitherto, lack of any rapid and reliable technique for examinations of crocodile‐based crime exhibits such as skin, bones, etc. has been a major problem for an effective promulgation of law on illegal trade. DNA‐based identification of species using PCR‐RFLP technique for an apt identification of all the three Indian crocodile species namely, Crocodylus porosus, Crocodylus palustris and Gavialis gangeticus is presented here. A 628 bp segment of cytochrome b gene was amplified using novel primers followed by restriction digestion with three enzymes i.e., HaeIII, MboI, and MwoI, separately and in combination. The technique has produced a species‐specific pattern for identifying the three crocodile species individually, which fulfills the requirement for its forensic application. It is expected that the technique will prove handy in identification of all the three Indian crocodile species and strengthen conservation efforts.     

Mug Shot Exposure Effects: Does Size Matter?

This research tested whether mug book size moderates mug shot exposure effects. Witnesses to a simulated theft searched either a small, a large, or no mug book, followed by a perpetrator-absent lineup containing a critical foil from the mug book. Contrary to predictions of a transference effect, critical foil lineup identifications did not differ across conditions. To test for a commitment effect, only participants who selected the critical foil in the mug book were considered; there was evidence of a commitment effect in the large mug book condition. Finally, there were more lineup-correct rejections in the large mug book condition; this was explained in terms of the criterion for making mug book choices carrying over to lineup choices.

我国工伤保险程序存在的问题及完善

工伤保险自诞生以来就具有强大的影响力,原因之一在于其程序简便易行。然而在我国,劳动者申请工伤保险待遇却要历经多重程序,耗时之长、过程之艰难已经成为工伤保险制度优越性发挥的障碍,为此,应以法律人本主义理念改革我国的工伤保险程序。     

大型灾难事件中的DNA鉴定工作

大型灾难事件通常是由各种无法预料的因素引发,并可造成大量人员的伤亡和失踪。法医学DNA实验室首要的任务就是对这些遇难者进行身份的认定。本文通过回顾大型灾难事件以及相关研究,提出大型灾难事件中DNA鉴定的程序,包括样品的准备、收集、贮存、DNA的提取、DNA的分型、相关数据的分析和结果的解释等,并对DNA鉴定中的经验和问题进行了讨论。     

Identification and analyses of female civilian victims of the 1991 war in Croatia from the Glina and Petrinja areas

Introduction

The process of recovering and identifying human remains from individual and mass graves has proven to be the most effective method of resolving the fate of missing individuals in the former Yugoslavia. These efforts have two primary objectives: medicolegal—to identify the cause of death, and humanitarian—to bring closure to living family members, thus supporting the human rights of both the living and the deceased. From 1996 to the present, the remains of 388 individuals killed during the 1991 War in Croatia were recovered from the Glina and Petrinja areas (Sisa?ko–Moslova?ka County). The purpose of this paper is to report on the demographic and taphonomic characteristics of the recovered remains, and identify factors responsible for the discrepancy in the identification ratios.

Methods

To identify factors potentially responsible for the noted discrepancy, data were collected on the taphonomic characteristics of the recovered remains, the types of burials, as well as the factors responsible for positive identification. These factors included: forensic DNA testing, dental criteria, special signs (healed fractures, etc.), clothing and personal artifacts.

Results

The age distributions between males and females in the sample are significantly different. The mean age-at-death for males is 51.6 years, for females 67.0 years. In both sexes the majority of identifications (62.9% in females and 45.9% in males) were established through a combination of biological and non-biological features. In terms of the types of graves from which the bodies were recovered, positive identification in both sexes was lowest in mass graves (61.2% for males, and 84.2% for females). Females from mass graves were, however, better preserved than males—36.6% of males recovered from mass graves were completely skeletonized, while the same was true for only 19.3% of females (χ² = 7.06, P < 0.029). Completely skeletonized remains were identified in only 65.1% of cases, while partially skeletonized and saponified bodies were identified in 80.1% of cases.

Conclusion

Since positive identification in both sexes is strongly correlated with preservation of the bodies, the reason why female identification frequencies in the Glina and Petrinja regions are higher than male frequencies lies in the fact that females recovered from mass graves were better preserved than males recovered from mass graves. Identification of the factors responsible for this is a challenge that needs to be resolved in future studies.     

ABO genotyping by duplex amplification and oligonucleotide arrays assay

Objective

Research on the application feasibility of ABO genotyping for forensic identification by oligonucleotide arrays assay.

Methods

Oligonucleotide microarrays which detect three different SNPs in exon 6 and exon 7 for ABO genotyping were used. After hybridization wash, the arrays were scanned and fluorescence intensities were analyzed using microarray population studies on ABO was carried out in a sample of 115 unrelated Chinese Han individuals oligonucleotide arrays for genotype detection. The method was also applied to cases.

Results

Technique could identify six genotypes of ABO system and the results of GeneChip analyses confirmed by PCR–RFLP. According to the results of population studies, no significant deviations Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium could be found. The observed heterozygosity (H-obs) was 0.591. Expected heterozygosity (H-exp) was 0.616. The polymorphic information content (PIC) was the average exclusion probability in paternity testing for duos (PE (1)) was 0.188. The average exclusion probability in paternity testing for trios (PE(2)) was 0.344. The discrimination power 0.777.

Conclusion

The data and case application demonstrated that ABO typing by oligonucleotide probe arrays was a useful technique for paternity testing and individual identification.     

Case report of a homicide resolved 15 years later: The robustness of Chelex extraction

DNA typing techniques is one of the most advanced tools for human identification. During the last 10 years, a great number of methods for DNA extraction and analysis have been introduced to forensic genetic, with considerable success but also with considerable controversy. The success and validation of a criminal investigation are very closely related to the process used for obtaining and preserving biological evidence.We report the strategy that we employed to analyze evidences belonging to a homicide happened in Brescia (Italy) in 1992, not resolved at that time, with the forensic genetic analysis. After 16 years the analysis were conducted on DNA samples extracted with Chelex maintained at −80 °C, bloodstain, and biological specimens of perpetrators. Standard autosomal and Y-chromosome STR analysis identified the persons involved and victim's profiles. This case is of interest as a demonstration of a more successful application of DNA typing in well conserved DNA samples than in bloodstains kept in the Court Office.     

Policy Forum: Studying Eyewitness Investigations in the Field

This article considers methodological issues arising from recent efforts to provide field tests of eyewitness identification procedures. We focus in particular on a field study (Mecklenburg 2006) that examined the “double blind, sequential” technique, and consider the implications of an acknowledged methodological confound in the study. We explain why the confound has severe consequences for assessing the real-world implications of this study.     

Regularities in Eyewitness Identification

What do eyewitness identification experiments typically show? We address this question through a meta-analysis of 94 comparisons between target-present and target-absent lineups. The analyses showed that: (a) correct identifications and correct-nonidentifications were uncorrelated, (b) suspect identifications were more diagnostic with respect to the suspect’s guilt or innocence than any other response, (c) nonidentifications were diagnostic of the suspect’s innocence, (d) the diagnosticity of foil identifications depended on lineup composition, and (e) don’t know responses were nondiagnostic with respect to guilt or innocence. Results of diagnosticity analyses for simultaneous and sequential lineups varied for full-sample versus direct-comparison analyses. Diagnosticity patterns also varied as a function of lineup composition. Theoretical, forensic, and legal implications are discussed.     

Pig-mentation: postmortem iris color change in the eyes of Sus scrofa

Experienced forensic pathologists and examiners may be familiar with the phenomenon of postmortem iris color change; however, only Knight, Simpson's forensic medicine, Arnold, London, 1997; Ref. 1 and Saukko and Knight, Knight's forensic pathology, 3rd ed., Arnold, London, 2004; Ref. 2 have referred to it in the literature, and to date, there have been no published scientific research studies on this taphonomic artifact. A controlled experiment was conducted of postmortem changes to isolated Sus scrofa eyes. The eyes (n = 137) were separated into three groups and each sample was observed for 3-day postmortem at a different temperature. In addition, a Sus scrofa head was obtained to observe postmortem changes of eyes in situ. All isolated blue eyes in the experiment, at room temperature and higher, changed to brown/black within 48 h. The in situ blue eye, at room temperature, turned brown/black within 72 h. If iris color consistently changes postmortem in humans, then this taphonomic artifact must be incorporated into victim identification protocol, including disaster victim identification software, and autopsy reports to prevent inaccurate victim identification and inappropriate exclusion from the identification process.