Two-year review of firearm-related DNA casework evidence: A triage process to improve quality and efficiency.

A two-year casework review of 617 firearm-related submissions representing 119 cases has provided a DNA testing triage template for prioritizing and processing touch evidence associated with firearms and firearm accessories. The evidence consisted of swabbings from various locations of a firearm or a firearm-related item, and each submission was assigned to one of the following descriptive groups: Body, Magazine, Trigger Area, Rifles, Gun Accessories, Barrel, Miscellaneous, or Revolvers. Ultimately, there were 543 submissions analyzed from DNA extraction through electrophoresis, and interpretable profiles evaluated to determine eligibility for entry into The Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

Surge and Mortality in ICUs in New York City's Public Healthcare System.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of ICU surge on mortality and to explore clinical and sociodemographic predictors of mortality.

Design: Retrospective cohort analysis.

Setting: NYC Health + Hospitals ICUs.

DNA backlog reduction strategy: Law enforcement agency partnerships for a successful biological screening laboratory.

In 2009, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Forensic Biology Unit developed an innovative DNA backlog strategy to construct and operate a centralized biological processing laboratory (BPL) within a law enforcement agency, the Boca Raton Police Services Department. The BPL became fully operational in 2012 and obtained accreditation in 2017. This coordinated, multi-agency agreement resulted in a streamlined process exemplifying several benefits such as communicating timely testing results, decreasing the case turnaround time, and decreasing the DNA case backlog.

Combined DNA Index System (CODIS)-Based analysis of untested sexual assault evidence in Palm Beach County Florida.

In August 2015, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office (PBSO) initiated a CODIS-Based Sexual Assault Evidence Testing Initiative, hereto referred to as the , as a direct result of the ongoing national inquiry about the number of untested sexual assault cases having DNA evidence stored in law enforcement agency vaults. The was designed to research sexual assault related evidence including the estimated 1800 untested sexual assault kits stored in the custody of Palm Beach County Law Enforcement Agencies to determine if probative evidence was available, conduct DNA testing on the evidence, and enter all eligible DNA profiles into the CODIS database. Between December 2015 and July 2018 more than 5500 cases were researched and evaluated resulting in evidence from 1,558 cases spanning a 43-year period being tested at a cost of $1,032,496.

Surgical Correction of Truncus Arteriosus With Unusual Origin of the Right Coronary Artery.

An 11-year-old male with a diagnosis of truncus arteriosus (common arterial trunk) with origin of the right coronary artery anteriorly from the pulmonary segment of the common trunk underwent reparative surgery. The pulmonary trunk was long, and it had a kink with stenosis that protected the distal pulmonary vascular bed from elevated pressure. Adequate flow allowed well-developed distal branch pulmonary arteries.