: A genetic database was established with the aim of documenting the genetic diversity of Cannabis sativa in Australia for future utilization in forensic investigations. The database consisted of ...genotypes at 10 validated short tandem repeat loci for 510 plants representing drug seizures from across Australia and 57 fiber samples. A total of 106 alleles and 314 different genotypes were detected. All fiber samples exhibited unique genotypes while 55% of the drug samples shared a genotype with one or more samples. Shared genotypes were mostly found within seizures; however, some genotypes were found among seizures. Statistical analysis indicated that genotype sharing was a consequence of clonal propagation rather than a lack of genetic resolution. Thus, the finding of shared genotypes among seizures is likely due to either a common supplier, or direct links among seizures. Notwithstanding the potential intelligence information provided by genetic analysis of C. sativa, our database analysis also reveals some present limitations.
Travelers' descriptions of colonial and tropical towns were frequently dismissive. Asking how residents in such towns understood the streets they knew offers alternative perspectives. The contrasts ...between European expectations and local practices were particularly abrupt in Jamaica, where its English conquerors had reused the former Spanish capital. Alongside their familiarity with creole architecture, residents oriented themselves by where streets led to and the people who lived on them. Recognizing inhabitants' mental maps offers a counterbalance to the outsiders' “tourist gaze” that continues to shape discussions of cities in poor countries.
What is an economy REALLY? Robertson, James
Civil Engineering : Magazine of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering,
07/2011, Letnik:
19, Številka:
6
Journal Article, Trade Publication Article
The lack of awareness of this statistic is a major problem in most economies, and in particular in South Africa today. Where politics and other actions alienate those who know how to create wealth ...and those who know how to assist them to create wealth such that those people leave, as has been happening in South Africa for some time now, the economy starts to decline. The decline may not be visible to those who are not aware of the finer details of how an economy works, but they are visible nonetheless.
The changing nature of war in relation to global terrorism, foreign terrorist fighters and length of conflict has resulted in a transformation of the strategic environment from previous conventional ...warfare. Coalition forces faced a threat environment in Iraq and Syria of nonconventional warfare that could include improvised, hybrid (a combination of improvised and conventional) and asymmetrical threats. The United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2396 (2017) and 2322 (2016) obligates the Member States to investigate foreign terrorist fighters and requires a closer alignment between military operations and law enforcement investigations. This has called for forensic science to be employed beyond its traditional support to law enforcement investigations and for the criminal justice system to support military operations. However, there is no unified approach to forensic science support to meet national security objectives. In this review, we discuss the systems approach to the integration of military operations and law enforcement investigations as a unified forensic intelligence model.
This article is categorized under:
Forensic Medicine > Historical Perspectives
Jurisprudence and Regulatory Oversight > Interdisciplinary Collaboration
In the unified forensic intelligence model foreign military exploitation seamlessly supports national security and rule of law objectives by providing material collected and examined in a forensically sound manner, which can be used to support law enforcement investigations or presented as evidence to support criminal prosecutions, if required.
The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a powerful model system to study contemporary biological problems. This system would be even more useful if we had mutations in all the genes of this ...multicellular metazoan. The combined efforts of the C. elegans Deletion Mutant Consortium and individuals within the worm community are moving us ever closer to this goal. At present, of the 20,377 protein-coding genes in this organism, 6764 genes with associated molecular lesions are either deletions or null mutations (WormBase WS220). Our three laboratories have contributed the majority of mutated genes, 6841 mutations in 6013 genes. The principal method we used to detect deletion mutations in the nematode utilizes polymerase chain reaction (PCR). More recently, we have used array comparative genome hybridization (aCGH) to detect deletions across the entire coding part of the genome and massively parallel short-read sequencing to identify nonsense, splicing, and missense defects in open reading frames. As deletion strains can be frozen and then thawed when needed, these strains will be an enduring community resource. Our combined molecular screening strategies have improved the overall throughput of our gene-knockout facilities and have broadened the types of mutations that we and others can identify. These multiple strategies should enable us to eventually identify a mutation in every gene in this multicellular organism. This knowledge will usher in a new age of metazoan genetics in which the contribution to any biological process can be assessed for all genes.
The synthesis and dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitory activity of glycine- and alaninenitrile dipeptides are reported.
A series of seco-prolinenitrile-containing dipeptides were synthesized and ...assayed as inhibitors of the N-terminal sequence-specific serine protease dipeptidyl peptidase IV, a promising new target for treatment of type 2 diabetes. The inhibitors described herein assess the minimum structural requirements at P1 for this enzyme, resulting in the identification of inhibitors with low nM potency.
The dominant conception of forensic science as a patchwork of disciplines primarily assisting the criminal justice system (i.e. forensics) is in crisis or at least shows a series of anomalies and ...serious limitations. In recent years, symptoms of the crisis have been discussed in a number of reports by various commentators, without a doubt epitomized by the 2009 report by the US National Academies of Sciences (NAS 2009 Strengthening forensic science in the United States: a path forward). Although needed, but viewed as the solution to these drawbacks, the almost generalized adoption of stricter business models in forensic science casework compounded with everincreasing normative and compliance processes not only place additional pressures on a discipline that already appears in difficulty, but also induce more fragmentation of the different forensic science tasks, a tenet many times denounced by the same NAS report and other similar reviews. One may ask whether these issues are not simply the result of an unfit paradigm. If this is the case, the current problems faced by forensic science may indicate future significant changes for the discipline. To facilitate broader discussion this presentation focuses on trace evidence, an area that is seminal to forensic science both for epistemological and historical reasons. There is, however, little doubt that this area is currently under siege worldwide. Current and future challenges faced by trace evidence are discussed along with some possible answers. The current situation ultimately presents some significant opportunities to re-invent not only trace evidence but also forensic science. Ultimately, a distinctive, more robust and more reliable science may emerge through rethinking the forensics paradigm built on specialisms, revisiting fundamental forensic science principles and adapting them to the twenty-first century.
: A developmental validation study based on recommendations of the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM) was conducted on a multiplex system of 10 Cannabis sativa short tandem ...repeat loci. Amplification of the loci in four multiplex reactions was tested across DNA from dried root, stem, and leaf sources, and DNA from fresh, frozen, and dried leaf tissue with a template DNA range of 10.0–0.01 ng. The loci were amplified and scored consistently for all DNA sources when DNA template was in the range of 10.0–1.0 ng. Some allelic dropout and PCR failure occurred in reactions with lower template DNA amounts. Overall, amplification was best using 10.0 ng of template DNA from dried leaf tissue indicating that this is the optimal source material. Cross species amplification was observed in Humulus lupulus for three loci but there was no allelic overlap. This is the first study following SWGDAM validation guidelines to validate short tandem repeat markers for forensic use in plants.
PDF
