Criminal Cases Gone Paperless : Hanging With the Wrong Crowd

This article explores issues concerning electronic discovery (e-discovery), its association with ESI, and how it impacts criminal litigation

Zambia: structural adjustment or downward spiral?

SUMMARY From the early 1970s Zambia experienced one of the most disastrous declines in real income per head of any African state. A very large part of these difficulties are explicable by international events. In 1981, the World Bank estimated that prior to 1980 these explained two?thirds of the fall in Zambia's per capita income. Yet from 1964 to 1970 Zambia experienced boom conditions, there were massive infrastructural and productive investments, and large rises in living standards for parts of the population. Why, therefore, was Zambia not better equipped to withstand the subsequent shocks? And what is now being done to encourage a revival of the economy? SOMMAIRE Depuis le début des années 70, la Zambia a souffert l'un des plus désastreux déclin du revenu réel par personne de tous les Etats africains. Une grande partie de ces difficultés peuvent s'expliquer par les événements internationaux. En 1981, la Banque mondiale estimait qu'avant 1980, ces événements expliquaient les deux tiers de la chute du revenue par personne en Zambie. Pourtant de 1964 à 1970, la Zambie a profité d'une période de prospérité, il y avant d'énormes investissements dans l'infrastructure et la production, et d'importantes augmentations dans le niveau de vie d'une partie de la population. Pourquoi donc la Zambia n'était?elle pas mieux équipée pour supporter les chocs qui suivirent? Et que fait?on maintenant pour encourager une renaissance de l'économie? RESUMEN Desde comienzos de los años 70 Zambia experimentó una de las bajas más desastrosas en ingreso real per capita de cualquier estado africano. Gran parte de esas dificultades se explica en términos de acontecimientos internacionales. En 1981. el Banco Mundial estimó que con anterioridad a 1980 éstos explicaban las dos terceras partes de la caída del ingreso per capita de la población de Zambia. Sin embargo desde 1964 hasta 1970 Zambia experimentó condiciones de boom, se realizaron masivas inversiones infraestructurales y productivas y, también, aumentos importantes en los niveles de vida de sectores de la población. Por qué este país, entonces, no estaba mejor equipado para soportar las crisis subsiguientes? Qué se está haciendo actualmente para estimular una reactivación de su economía

The effect of spatial frequency on peripheral collinear facilitation

The detection of a Gabor patch (target) can be decreased or improved by the presence of co-oriented Gabor patches (flankers) having the same spatial frequency as the target. These phenomena are thought to be mediated by lateral interactions. Depending on the distance between target and flankers, commonly defined as a multiple of the wavelength (λ) of the carrier, flankers can increase or decrease a target's detectability. Studies with foveal presentation showed that for target-to-flankers distances 3λ contrast thresholds decrease. Earlier studies on collinear facilitation at the near-periphery of the visual field (4° of eccentricity) showed inconsistent facilitation (Shani & Sagi, 2005, Vision Research, 45, 2009-2024) whereas more recent studies showed consistent facilitation for larger separations (7-8λ) (Maniglia et al., 2011, PLoS ONE, 6, e25568; Lev & Polat, 2011, Vision Research, 51, 2488-2498). However, all of these studies used medium-to-high spatial frequencies (3-8cpd). In this study we tested lower spatial frequencies (1, 2, and 3cpd) with different target-to-flankers distances. The rationale was that near-peripheral vision is tuned for lower spatial frequencies and this could be reflected in collinear facilitation. Results show consistent collinear facilitation at 8λ for all the spatial frequencies tested, but also show collinear facilitation at shorter target-to-flanker distance (6λ) for the lowest spatial frequencies tested (1cpd). Additionally, collinear facilitation decreases as spatial frequency increases; opposite to the findings of Polat (2009, Spatial Vision, 22, 179-193) in the fovea, indicating a different spatial frequency tuning between foveal and peripheral lateral interactions

EM-mosaic detects mosaic point mutations that contribute to congenital heart disease.

BackgroundThe contribution of somatic mosaicism, or genetic mutations arising after oocyte fertilization, to congenital heart disease (CHD) is not well understood. Further, the relationship between mosaicism in blood and cardiovascular tissue has not been determined.MethodsWe developed a new computational method, EM-mosaic (Expectation-Maximization-based detection of mosaicism), to analyze mosaicism in exome sequences derived primarily from blood DNA of 2530 CHD proband-parent trios. To optimize this method, we measured mosaic detection power as a function of sequencing depth. In parallel, we analyzed our cohort using MosaicHunter, a Bayesian genotyping algorithm-based mosaic detection tool, and compared the two methods. The accuracy of these mosaic variant detection algorithms was assessed using an independent resequencing method. We then applied both methods to detect mosaicism in cardiac tissue-derived exome sequences of 66 participants for which matched blood and heart tissue was available.ResultsEM-mosaic detected 326 mosaic mutations in blood and/or cardiac tissue DNA. Of the 309 detected in blood DNA, 85/97 (88%) tested were independently confirmed, while 7/17 (41%) candidates of 17 detected in cardiac tissue were confirmed. MosaicHunter detected an additional 64 mosaics, of which 23/46 (50%) among 58 candidates from blood and 4/6 (67%) of 6 candidates from cardiac tissue confirmed. Twenty-five mosaic variants altered CHD-risk genes, affecting 1% of our cohort. Of these 25, 22/22 candidates tested were confirmed. Variants predicted as damaging had higher variant allele fraction than benign variants, suggesting a role in CHD. The estimated true frequency of mosaic variants above 10% mosaicism was 0.14/person in blood and 0.21/person in cardiac tissue. Analysis of 66 individuals with matched cardiac tissue available revealed both tissue-specific and shared mosaicism, with shared mosaics generally having higher allele fraction.ConclusionsWe estimate that ~ 1% of CHD probands have a mosaic variant detectable in blood that could contribute to cardiac malformations, particularly those damaging variants with relatively higher allele fraction. Although blood is a readily available DNA source, cardiac tissues analyzed contributed ~ 5% of somatic mosaic variants identified, indicating the value of tissue mosaicism analyses

Systems Analysis Implicates WAVE2 Complex in the Pathogenesis of Developmental Left-Sided Obstructive Heart Defects.

Genetic variants are the primary driver of congenital heart disease (CHD) pathogenesis. However, our ability to identify causative variants is limited. To identify causal CHD genes that are associated with specific molecular functions, the study used prior knowledge to filter de novo variants from 2,881 probands with sporadic severe CHD. This approach enabled the authors to identify an association between left ventricular outflow tract obstruction lesions and genes associated with the WAVE2 complex and regulation of small GTPase-mediated signal transduction. Using CRISPR zebrafish knockdowns, the study confirmed that WAVE2 complex proteins brk1, nckap1, and wasf2 and the regulators of small GTPase signaling cul3a and racgap1 are critical to cardiac development

The Prevalence of Bacterial Infection in Patients Undergoing Elective ACDF for Degenerative Cervical Spine Conditions: A Prospective Cohort Study With Contaminant Control

Study Design: Prospective cohort study. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of bacterial infection, with the use of a contaminant control, in patients undergoing anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). Methods: After institutional review board approval, patients undergoing elective ACDF were prospectively enrolled. Samples of the longus colli muscle and disc tissue were obtained. The tissue was then homogenized, gram stained, and cultured in both aerobic and anaerobic medium. Patients were classified into 4 groups depending on culture results. Demographic, preoperative, and postoperative factors were evaluated. Results: Ninety-six patients were enrolled, 41.7% were males with an average age of 54 ± 11 years and a body mass index of 29.7 ± 5.9 kg/m2. Seventeen patients (17.7%) were considered true positives, having a negative control and positive disc culture. Otherwise, no significant differences in culture positivity was found between groups of patients. However, our results show that patients were more likely to have both control and disc negative than being a true positive (odds ratio = 6.2, 95% confidence interval = 2.5-14.6). Propionibacterium acnes was the most commonly identified bacteria. Two patients with disc positive cultures returned to the operating room secondary to pseudarthrosis; however, age, body mass index, prior spine surgery or injection, postoperative infection, and reoperations were not associated with culture results. Conclusion: In our cohort, the prevalence of subclinical bacterial infection in patients undergoing ACDF was 17.7%. While our rates exclude patients with positive contaminant control, the possibility of contamination of disc cultures could not be entirely rejected. Overall, culture results did not have any influence on postoperative outcomes