An Alu-based, MGB Eclipse real-time PCR method for quantitation of human DNA in forensic samples

The forensic community needs quick, reliable methods to quantitate human DNA in crime scene samples to replace the laborious and imprecise slot blot method. A real-time PCR based method has the possibility of allowing development of a faster and more quantitative assay. Alu sequences are primate-specific and are found in many copies in the human genome, making these sequences an excellent target or marker for human DNA. This paper describes the development of a real-time Alu sequence-based assay using MGB Eclipse primers and probes. The advantages of this assay are simplicity, speed, less hands-on-time and automated quantitation, as well as a large dynamic range (128 ng/microL to 0.5 pg/microL).     

Feminist legal theory and practice: rethinking the relationship

This article aims to contribute to the question of how to conceptualise the relationship between theory and practice in feminist scholarship in law. It looks in detail at the implications of different issues raised in a recent debate between Anne Bottomley and Ngaire Naffine on the existence of a “legal feminist orthodoxy”. I critique the dominance of ethics over politics and join Bottomley in her attack upon “the ethics of respect for the other”, albeit from a different position. I then look at the ways in which the problem of “essentialism” is being rethought from a feminist perspective.     

Grassroots Citizenship at Multiple Scales: Rethinking Immigrant Civic Participation

Given the finding that the marginalized are less politically engaged, we examine those who are arguably the most marginalized—the undocumented—and ask: what underwrites recent cases where the undocumented have been politically engaged in meaningful and substantive ways? Additionally, how does this compare with the existing literature on the practice of citizenship for those with formal rights? And what are the implications for our understanding of political participation in the contemporary USA? We seek to address these questions by examining cases where undocumented immigrants act like citizens even though they lack formal political rights. Our cases deviate from previous literature which argues that more marginalized people participate less and that those without formal rights engage in contentious politics in lieu of “normal,” institutional politics. Our analysis of the DREAMers and of immigrant worker centers helps us rethink this traditional distinction between “normal” and contentious politics. Moving beyond a focus on the specific actions that fall into each category, we instead emphasize how the context for these actions is crucial to understanding the foundations of political participation. In particular, we argue that the same “normal” political actions taken by citizens versus noncitizens reveals different foundations underneath; for those without formal rights, what underwrites participation in “normal” and contentious politics alike is what we call grassroots citizenship. We examine how the political participation of undocumented workers and DREAMers takes place within immigrant organizations and how it relies on three pillars: solidarity, critical analysis, and collective action. While previous literature has emphasized the urban and local nature of active, alternative citizenships, our cases operate at multiple scales, demonstrating how grassroot citizenship can be leveraged and “scaled up” to state and national levels. Additionally, through an analysis of grassroots citizenship, we get some purchase on the question of why politicians sometimes listen to people who cannot vote.     

The determination of drugs of abuse in whole blood by means of FPIA and EMIT-dau immunoassays--a comparative study

Six groups of common drugs of abuse (cannabinoids, benzoylecgonine, opiates, barbiturates, benzodiazepines and amphetamines) were determined in whole blood after acetone precipitation, using enzyme multiplied immunoassay (EMIT dau) and fluorescence polarisation immunoassay (FPIA--Abbott TDx and ADx) methods. Both methods, designed primarily for urine, allowed the determination of all above mentioned class of drugs but amphetamine. Only 1 ml of a pre- or postmortem blood sample was needed. The sensitivity of cannabinoids determination was higher by FPIA. The FPIA method gave more precise results, particularly in the case of autopsy blood. The method was applied for drug screening in autopsy and police blood samples. The results (both positive and negative) were in agreement with those obtained with chromatographic methods.     

The Role of Immigration: Race/Ethnicity and San Diego Homicides Since 1970

Objectives

The temporal variation in homicide is examined by studying trends in race/ethnic specific killings (e.g. Blacks, Latinos and Whites). Two substantively important issues are also addressed—a closer examination of the role community heterogeneity plays in homicide levels and the treatment of immigration as an endogenous social process.

Methods

Data are reported homicides in the city of San Diego, California over the period 1960–2010. The address of each killing is geocoded into 341 census tracts.

Results

We find that neighborhoods experiencing increases in the foreign-born population tend to be less violent. White and Latino homicide victimization was reduced significantly as a product of increases in the neighborhood concentration of foreign-born individuals. Supplementary analyses did not find empirical evidence that the influx of foreign-born individuals could (or should) be considered a disruptive social process. Over the past five decennial census periods, the exponential increase in immigration in this border city is not associated with an increase in homicide victimization.

Conclusions

When examined through a wider temporal lens than is typically employed, and accounting for the endogeneity of immigrant residential settlement, we find no support for the claims that immigration is a crime generating social process.