Utility of the Y-STR typing systems Y-PLEX 6 and Y-PLEX 5 in forensic casework and 11 Y-STR haplotype database for three major population groups in the United States

The Y-PLEX 6 and Y-PLEX 5 systems enable analysis for 11 Y-STR loci. We present here the utility of these systems in forensic casework. A total of 188 samples, including 127 evidence samples, were analyzed using either or both of the systems. The evidence sample types included fingernail scrapings, sperm or seminal fluid, epithelial cells, blood and other tissues. The Y-STR typing systems provided useful probative results in difficult cases. A reference database for Caucasian (n = 517), African American (n = 535), and Hispanic (n = 245) population groups within the United States was generated for estimating the haplotype frequency in forensic casework. Among the individuals profiled, 311 Caucasians, 412 African Americans, and 194 Hispanics provided unique profiles in their respective population datasets. This is the first report describing the haplotype database for the set of 11 Y-STR loci recommended by the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM). Linkage analysis reveals that the frequencies from forensically important autosomal loci can be multiplied with the Y-STR haplotype frequency. The results from Y-PLEX systems have been accepted in courts in the United States.     

Fatal Cleistanthus collinus Toxicity: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Cleistanthus collinus is an extremely toxic plant poison. We report a case of suicidal ingestion of boiled water decoction of C. collinus where the patient presented with abdominal pain and giddiness. There was persistent metabolic acidosis and fluctuation in the level of serum potassium. The ECG changes indicated a probable myocardial injury with conduction abnormality. At autopsy, the viscera were found to be congested. The toxins were detected in the viscera and blood by TLC and HPLC. Cleistanthin A and B, collinusin, and diphyllin are the principal toxic constituents of the plant. Consumption of a boiled decoction of leaves is highly toxic and, medical management of patients is mainly supportive because the molecular mechanisms of toxin action are unknown. In the recent years, C. collinus has created a considerable amount of interest because of its complex metabolites and their cytotoxic activities. Through this study, the authors have tried to highlight different properties pertaining to C. collinus.     

Histopathological Profile In Fatal Yellow Phosphorous Poisoning

Yellow phosphorous (YP) is the toxic form of elemental phosphorous and the chief constituent of firecrackers and rodenticides. In India, the rodenticide paste is frequently used for the suicidal purpose. This study is an autopsy‐based observational study which describes the histopathological features of heart, lungs, liver, and kidney of fatal cases of YP poisoning. The most common autopsy features in the viscera were congestion and petechial hemorrhage. The liver histopathology findings were microvesicular steatosis (68%), hepatic necrosis (62%), macrovesicular steatosis (50%), inflammatory cells (46%), sinusoidal congestion (40%), cholestasis (32%), and toxic hepatitis (18%). Hepatic necrosis ranged from being focal to centrizonal in distribution. Congestion was the most common feature observed in the lungs and the kidney. This is the largest autopsy‐based study on YP poisoning till date. The histopathological features of liver were consistent with YP poisoning whereas the findings of heart, lungs, and kidney were nonspecific in nature.     

Who Creams? Explaining the Classroom Cream-Skimming Behavior of School Teachers from a Street-Level Bureaucracy Perspective

ABSTRACT:

Ideas as to how and why individuals resort to creaming are generated primarily by a few qualitative studies and have, to our knowledge, not been tested quantitatively. This article aims to fill this gap and explains the classroom cream-skimming behavior of school teachers in Denmark, defined as prioritizing the teaching of academically promising students. Drawing on the street-level bureaucracy literature, it tests the following propositions: (1) creaming is directly related to an inadequacy of resources, and this relationship is moderated by the breadth of parental involvement in their children’s education; (2) creaming is weakly related to the presence of bureaucratic success criteria; and (3) creaming is directly related to the level of parental involvement in and satisfaction with their children’s education. These are tested using data from a 2011 survey of Danish and mathematics teachers in public and private schools across Denmark, and a class-fixed-effects design. Overall, the findings provide varying support for these propositions.     

Policy Agendas for South Korea's Broadband Convergence Network Infrastructure Project

Broadband holds a critical position in the progress of economic and social indicators by connecting consumers, businesses, and governments. South Korea has consistently been the global leader in broadband deployment since 1999. In the last 10 years, the Korean government has pursued several strategies for its broadband policy. The purpose of this article was to explore South Korea's implementation of its Broadband Convergence Network (BcN) project with special emphasis on its objectives of achieving media convergence, ubiquitous connectivity, and coordination among network stakeholders. The study uses the theoretical framework of institutionalism to identify factors that help explain how the policy agenda for the BcN was implemented. The BcN is Korea's most recent high‐speed Internet infrastructure project and is envisioned as a conduit through which broadband services, applications, and content will flow to reflect a robust high‐speed Internet infrastructure. This broadband infrastructure project began in 2004 as a consortium that includes the government and private sector firms. This infrastructure was launched as a three‐phase project. The first phase of the BcN extended from 2004 through 2005, the second phase extended from 2006 through 2007, and the third phase extended from 2008 through 2010.     

Sudden Death as a Complication of Choriocarcinoma

We report the case of a young man with a history of sudden death. On autopsy, a large retroperitoneal mass was found along with secondaries in the liver and lungs. No testicular abnormality was detected on palpation. Based on histopathological examination, it was diagnosed to be a case of choriocarcinoma. Unfortunately, it was not definitively determined whether the retroperitoneal mass represents the primary tumor or secondary involvement with testes being the primary source. It is important that forensic pathologists are aware of this disease as a potential cause of sudden death. The main focus of the paper is the approach of a forensic pathologist to a case of a sudden death when an unexpected and undiagnosed tumor is found in the retroperitoneum and not much information is available about the clinical history of the deceased.     

Street-Level Bureaucrats as Individual Policymakers: The Relationship between Attitudes and Coping Behavior toward Vulnerable Children and Youth

Lipsky (1980) pointed out that street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) are important policymakers due to the discretion they exercise and argued from a structural perspective that these workers manifest relatively similar coping behaviors owing to their shared working conditions, characterized by chronically limited resources and non-voluntary clients. Using data from a national survey of municipal child welfare caseworkers in Denmark, we further develop Lipsky's theory from an agency perspective by focusing on variation in coping among SLBs and examining the extent to which such variation is explained by SLBs’ attitudes towards the target group, the objectives and content of their jobs, and their perceptions of the capacity of their institutions. We find that SLBs’ aversion to and tolerance of the client group, their perceptions of institutional capacity in terms of municipal resources and local political inefficacy, and their conceptual modification of job contents are all related to their use of coping.     

The effect of the election of prosecutors on criminal trials

We examine whether elections of public prosecutors influence the mix of cases taken to trial versus plea bargained. A theoretical model is constructed wherein voters use outcomes of the criminal justice system as a signal of prosecutors’ quality, leading to a distortion in the mix of cases taken to trial. Using data from North Carolina we test whether reelection pressures lead to (a) an increase in the number and proportion of convictions from jury trials and (b) a decrease in the average sanction obtained in both jury trials and pleas. Our empirical findings are consistent with our theoretical predictions.