Latent print quality in blind proficiency testing: Using quality metrics to examine laboratory performance.

Calls for blind proficiency testing in forensic science disciplines intensified following the 2009 National Academy of Sciences report and were echoed in the 2016 report by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Both practitioners and scholars have noted that "open" proficiency tests, in which analysts know they are being tested, allow for test-taking behavior that is not representative of behavior in routine casework. This study reports the outcomes of one laboratory's blind quality control (BQC) program.

Houston Cocktail: Driving under influence of hydrocodone, alprazolam, and carisoprodol.

Concurrent use of opioids, benzodiazepines, and skeletal muscle relaxants potentiates the drug effect and respiratory depression via interactions of μ-opioid and GABA receptors. In the early 2000s when abuse of prescription drugs began to spike, a potent combination including hydrocodone, alprazolam, and carisoprodol, aka the "Houston Cocktail" or "Holy Trinity", emerged that may give users heroin-like euphoria. This research evaluated driving while intoxicated (DWI) cases that tested positive for hydrocodone, alprazolam, and carisoprodol, between 2015 and 2019.

Trocylation of 3-quinuclidinol, a key marker for the chemical warfare agent 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, for its enhanced detection at low levels in complex soil matrices by electron ionization gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Rationale: Detection of 3-quinuclidinol (3Q), a marker for the chemical warfare agent 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, is very difficult by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS), providing low, broad signals even when analyzed in isolated form. Therefore, a method that can convert 3Q into a substrate with enhanced detectability by GC/MS would be an important tool for its analysis.

Methods: 2,2,2-Trichloroethoxycarbonyl chloride (TrocCl) was used in the derivatization of 3Q in three different soils of varying composition and total organic content (Virginia type A soil, Nebraska EPA standard soil and Ottawa sand) when present at a 10 μg g concentration in each.

Fingermark ridge drift: Influencing factors of a not-so-rare aging phenomenon.

Fingermark ridge drift is a random modification of (aged) fingermark patterns at a ridge scale. This phenomenon was previously proven to alter key elements used for identifications, such as the appearance of minutiae. Little is currently reported on the underlying factors contributing to its occurrence.

Acylation as a successful derivatization strategy for the analysis of pinacolyl alcohol in a glycerol-rich matrix by GC-MS: application during an OPCW Proficiency Test.

A derivatization protocol based on the acylation of pinacolyl alcohol (PA), an important marker for the nerve agent soman, is presented. The procedure provides a convenient means of detecting, by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), PA when present at a low concentration in a complex glycerol/alcohol-rich matrix. While there are only two reports describing the specific analysis of PA in matrices at low concentrations, the protocol described herein represents the first of its kind in the analysis of PA in a highly reactive matrix.

A method for measuring the quality of friction skin impression evidence: Method development and validation.

The forensic fingerprint community has faced increasing criticism by scientific and legal commentators, challenging the validity and reliability of fingerprint evidence due to the lack of an empirical basis to assess the quality of the friction ridge impressions. This paper presents a method, developed as a stand-alone software application, DFIQI ("Defense Fingerprint Image Quality Index"), which measures the clarity of friction ridge features (locally) and evaluates the quality of impressions (globally) across three different scales: value, complexity, and difficulty. Performance was evaluated using a variety of datasets, including datasets designed to simulate casework and a dataset derived directly from casework under operational conditions.

Medieval Super-Grandfather founder of Western Kazakh Clans from Haplogroup C2a1a2-M48.

Western Kazakhstan is populated by three clans totaling 2 million people. Since the clans are patrilineal, the Y-chromosome is the most informative genetic system for tracing their origin. We genotyped 40 Y-SNP and 17 Y-STR markers in 330 Western Kazakhs.

Revisiting the Neuropathology of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is one of the leading causes of infant mortality in the United States (US). The extent to which SIDS manifests with an underlying neuropathological mechanism is highly controversial. SIDS correlates with markers of poor prenatal and postnatal care, generally rooted in the lack of access and quality of healthcare endemic to select racial and ethnic groups, and thus can be viewed in the context of health disparities.

Repeatability and reproducibility of the color contrast technique for fingermark age estimation applications.

This research complements previous studies in which color contrast between ridges and furrows of latent fingermarks was investigated as a potential aging parameter. In this case, the robustness of the technique has been tested by including five female and five male donors who deposited sebaceous-rich latent fingermarks onto ceramic tile and polystyrene plastic as well as flat and rolled inked fingerprints on commercially available ten-print cards. Fresh latent fingermarks were visualized with either carbon black or titanium dioxide powder (TiO ) and inked fingerprints were imprinted in succession without re-charging ink.

Latent print comparison and examiner conclusions: A field analysis of case processing in one crime laboratory.

Scholarship on the latent print comparison process has expanded in recent years, responsive to the call for rigorous research by scholarly groups (e.g., National Academy of Sciences, 2009; President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2016).

Research of fatal car-to-pedestrian precrash scenarios for the testing of the active safety system in China.

Road safety remains a challenge with numerous Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) suffering from injuries and death every year. Pedestrian protection using active safety systems, such as Automated Emergency Braking (AEB), is an effective measure to combat the situation. Furthermore, the perception of precrash scenarios plays an important role in active safety research.

Evaluation of latent fingermark color contrast as aging parameter under different environmental conditions: A preliminary study.

This research expands previous studies in which color contrast between ridges and furrows of powder-enhanced latent fingermarks was explored as a possible aging parameter. The main goal is to test the sensitivity of the technique across a predetermined set of factors. In this case, experiment factors have included two donors who deposited sebaceous- and eccrine-rich fingermarks onto ceramic tile and polystyrene plastic.

The medieval Mongolian roots of Y-chromosomal lineages from South Kazakhstan.

Background: The majority of the Kazakhs from South Kazakhstan belongs to the 12 clans of the Senior Zhuz. According to traditional genealogy, nine of these clans have a common ancestor and constitute the Uissun tribe. There are three main hypotheses of the clans' origin, namely, origin from early Wusuns, from Niru'un Mongols, or from Darligin Mongols.

Assessing Single-Source Reproducibility of Human Head Hair Peptide Profiling from Different Regions of the Scalp.

Neither microscopical hair comparisons nor mitochondrial DNA sequencing alone, or together, constitutes a basis for personal identification. Due to these limitations, a complementary technique to compare questioned and known hair shafts was investigated. Recently, scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Forensic Science Center and other collaborators developed a peptide profiling technique, which can infer non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) preserved in hair shaft proteins as single amino acid polymorphisms (SAPs).

Everything Is Bigger in Texas: Alcohol Impaired Driving in Houston (2014-2018).

Driving while intoxicated (DWI) or driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) poses a continued public safety risk in Texas, which has one of the highest alcohol impaired traffic fatality rates. This study aimed to identify alcohol and drug use trends seen in DWI/DUID cases in the city of Houston from 2014 to 2018 to better understand the populations at risk. Blood samples submitted to the Houston Forensic Science Center (HFSC) were evaluated for blood alcohol concentration (BAC), drug concentrations and demographics.

Pharmaceutical inhibition of AXL suppresses tumor growth and invasion of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a common type of cancer in a number of regions of the world, including East Asia, South Africa and Iran. It is often associated with poor prognosis rates. Tyrosine-protein kinase receptor UFO (AXL) is overexpressed in a subset of ESCC tumors, therefore the present study aimed to determine the effect of R428, a selective inhibitor of AXL, on ESCC tumor cells.

Forensic characteristics and phylogenetic analyses of one branch of Tai-Kadai language-speaking Hainan Hlai (Ha Hlai) via 23 autosomal STRs included in the Huaxia Platinum System.

Background: Hainan Island, located in the South China Sea and separated from the Leizhou Peninsula by Qiongzhou Strait, is the second largest island after Taiwan in China. With the expansion of Han Chinese and the gradual formation of "South Hlai and North Han", nowadays, Hainan Hlai is the second largest population after Han Chinese in Hainan Island. Ha Hlai, distributed in southwest and southern Hainan Island, is the dominant branch of Hlai and speaks Ha localism.

Fentanyl and Driving Impairment.

The incidence of fentanyl in forensic toxicology analyses in the USA has dramatically increased over the past several years. The increase in death cases has been well studied; however, little has been reported on the impact to drug impaired driving. Fentanyl driving while under the influence of drugs (DUID) case data from 2014 to 2019 is presented.

Driving Impairment Cases Involving Etizolam and Flubromazolam.

This study describes 12 cases of drivers stopped for impaired driving, where a designer benzodiazepine was detected, specifically etizolam or flubromazolam. Etizolam was detected in three cases, with blood concentrations ranging from 40 to 330 ng/mL. Two of these cases had low concentrations of methamphetamine and/or amphetamine, and in the third case tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was detected.

A review of likelihood ratios in forensic science based on a critique of Stiffelman "No longer the Gold standard: Probabilistic genotyping is changing the nature of DNA evidence in criminal trials".

Stiffelman [1] gives a broad critique of the application of likelihood ratios (LRs) in forensic science, in particular their use in probabilistic genotyping (PG) software. These are discussed in this review. LRs do not infringe on the ultimate issue.

Developing and Validating a Fast and Accurate Method to Quantify 18 Antidepressants in Oral Fluid Samples Using SPE and LC-MS-MS.

Antidepressant drugs are one of the most widely used medicines for treating major depressive disorders for long time periods. Oral fluid (OF) testing offers an easy and non-invasive sample collection. Detection of antidepressants in OF is important in clinical and forensic settings, such as therapeutic drug monitoring and roadside testing for driving under influence.

Comparison of three similarity scores for bullet LEA matching.

Recent advances in microscopy have made it possible to collect 3D topographic data, enabling more precise virtual comparisons based on the collected 3D data as a supplement to traditional comparison microscopy and 2D photography. Automatic comparison algorithms have been introduced for various scenarios, such as matching cartridge cases [1,2] or matching bullet striae [3-5]. One key aspect of validating these automatic comparison algorithms is to evaluate the performance of the algorithm on external tests, that is, using data which were not used to train the algorithm.