An examination of the putative glucose tolerance factor activity of amino acid and peptide fractions isolated from brewer's yeast : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Chemistry at Massey University

The first report of the possible existance of a glucose tolerance factor (GTF) was made by Mertz and Schwarz (1955) who noticed that a dietary additive, termed factor 3, isolated from an enzymatic casein hydrolysate (Schwarz (1952)), maintained normal glucose removal rates in diabetic­ like rats. These rats were the subject of a study on the development of dietary necrotic liver degeneration. The immediate cause of death,,in these rats, could be demonstrated to be severe hypoglycaemia (Mertz and Schwarz (1955)) that initially manifested itself, during the latent period of degeneration, as impairment of excess blood glucose removal. The diet used to induce the development of necrotic liver degeneration was a semi-purified, vitamin E-free, ration of 30% Torula yeast which also represented the sole protein source. The vitamin E prevented the development of necrotic liver degeneration but did not affect the removal of excess blood glucose. In 1957, Schwarz and Mertz reported that the factor 3, in itself, was not responsible for the maintainance of normal glucose removal rates but rather that it contained an active fraction separable by fractionation procedures involving evaporation, in vacuo, of a NaCl-containing, factor 3 concentrate. The NaCl was removed by filtration and the GTF activity was found to be present in the separated salt fraction, from which it could be removed by treatment with 65% ethanol. A further claim was made that this separated substance, now termed the glucose tolerance factor (GTF), not only prevented but cured impairment of glucose removal when administered in the diet and that the initial glucose impairment observed was not a symptom of necrotic liver degeneration but a result of a dietary deficiency. GTF prepara­ tions were reported (Mertz and Schwarz (1959)) to be routinely obtained from brewer's yeast as well as acid hydrolysates of dried, defatted, pork kidney powder. [From Introduction

Use of data to inform expert evaluative opinion in the comparison of hand images—the importance of scars

Evaluation of a likelihood ratio is widely recognised as the most logical and appropriate means of assessing and expressing the weight of expert scientific evidence. This paper describes the application of such an approach to cases involving the comparison of images of hands that contain visible scars. Such evidence is frequently provided in cases of alleged child sexual abuse in which images of the perpetrator’s hand are compared with images of the suspect/accused’s hand. We illustrate how data provided from a database of hand images can be used to inform the probabilities that are an essential part of evaluating a likelihood ratio and, hence, how data have a bearing on the appraisal of the weight of evidence that can be attributed when scars are present within an image

Forensic science evidence in question

How should forensic scientists and other expert witnesses present their evidence in court? What kinds and quality of data can experts properly draw on in formulating their conclusions? In an important recent decision in R. v T1 the Court of Appeal revisited these perennial questions, with the complicating twist that the evidence in question incorporated quantified probabilities, not all of which were based on statistical data. Recalling the sceptical tenor of previous judgments addressing the role of probability in the evaluation of scientific evidence,2 the Court of Appeal in R. v T condemned the expert’s methodology and served notice that it should not be repeated in future, a ruling which rapidly reverberated around the forensic science community causing consternation, and even dismay, amongst many seasoned practitioners.3 At such moments of perceived crisis it is essential to retain a sense of perspective. There is, in fact, much to welcome in the Court of Appeal’s judgment in R. v T, starting with the court’s commendable determination to subject the quality of expert evidence adduced in criminal litigation to searching scrutiny. English courts have not consistently risen to this challenge, sometimes accepting rather too easily the validity of questionable scientific techniques.4 However, the Court of Appeal’s reasoning in R. v T is not always easy to follow, and there are certain passages in the judgment which, taken out of context, might even appear to confirm forensic scientists’ worst fears. This article offers a constructive reading of R. v T, emphasising its positive features whilst rejecting interpretations which threaten, despite the Court of Appeal’s best intentions, to diminish the integrity of scientific evidence adduced in English criminal trials and distort its probative value

Climate Impact on Groundwater Flow Processes in the Cedar Creek Watershed and Cedarburg Bog

A local-scale groundwater-flow model of the Cedar Creek Watershed and Cedarburg Bog area was constructed to determine the effects of future changes in temperature and precipitation on water resources. The Cedar Creek Watershed is a 330 km2 sub-basin of the Milwaukee River Watershed located about 30 km north of Milwaukee. The importance of this watershed lies in its location at the sub-continental divide separating the Mississippi River Basin from the Great Lakes Basin. The coupled steady-state and transient flow models incorporate interaction between surface water features and groundwater-surface water interactions. The 4 layer model simulates the influence of recharge on the local flow regime using recharge estimates using the Soil-Water-Balance Code (SWB) from the USGS. The model contains two geologic units, surficial glacial deposits and the Silurian dolomitic bedrock. The hydraulic conductivities and storage parameters were calibrated using the parameter estimation software, PEST, based on 192 head targets of the static groundwater level reported by well drillers over the past four decades. Calibrated hydraulic conductivities from a 15-year average climate result in model simulations with residual mean of 0.14 m, standard deviation of 2.68 m and RMS error of 2.69 m. Results from the simulations show that the water table remains relatively stable over years of very low recharge and very high recharge, in addition to an approximate three month lag of lowering groundwater table after a summer of significant low recharge

Metabolic engineering of a toluene degradation pathway

A mathematical model simulating metabolic flux through the TOL plasmid pWWO meta-cleavage pathway of Pseudomonas putida mt-2 (Regan et al., 1991) has been experimentally investigated. Two of the predicted flux controlling steps in the pathway, the xylXYZ encoded benzoate dioxygenase (plasmid pQR189) and the xylI encoded oxalocrotonate decarboxylase (plasmid pQR194) have been individually co-expressed with the entire meta-cleavage pathway encoded on plasmid pQR150 in the same E.coli JM107 cell. Co-expressing pQR189 and pQR150 in the same E.coli cell during benzoate metabolism has suggested a possible role of benzoate dioxygenase in the reactivation of catechol 2,3-dioxygenase. Upon co-expression of pQR194 with pQR150, pathway metabolism was apparently shut-down in the presence of benzoate. It was predicted that this was due to an initial over-accumulation of the product of xylI, 2-hydroxypent-2, 4-dienoate. Kinetic analysis has revealed that 2-hydroxypent-2, 4-dienoate acts as a noncompetitive inhibitor of catechol 2, 3-dioxygenase, with a Ki of 1.49*10-4 M. This, together with other findings, suggests that the physical coupling of oxalocrotonate decarboxylase and the xylJ encoded 2-oxopent-4-enoate hydratase exists to prevent the accumulation of this toxic intermediate. Hybrid dioxygenases xylX:bphA1A2A3A4 (pQR191) and bphA1:xylYZ, (pQR192) have been shown to be non-functional, thus indicating that enzyme subunits displaying an amino acid sequence identity of only 27% can not be interchanged. The substrate range of the TOL plasmid meta-cleavage pathway has been broadened as a result of the co-expression of the nahA encoded naphthalene dioxygenase from P.putida G7 with the meta-cleavage pathway of the TOL plasmid. Such a dual-dioxygenase system is capable of the metabolism of naphthalene, biphenyl and benzoate as far as ring-cleavage intermediates

A Flawed Compass: A Human Rights Analysis of the Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety

On April 20th, 2007, Canada\u27s Minister of Public Safety announced the appointment of a Panel charged with the task of reviewing the operations of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). . The mandate of the Review Panel was to provide the Minister of Public Safety with advice on a broad range of complex topics that have been problematic for CSC over many years. The Review Panel presented its final report on October 31, 2007. The report entitled “A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety”, contains 109 recommendations organized around strengthening five key areas: 1) Offender Accountability; 2) Eliminating Drugs from Prison; 3) Employability / Employment; 4. Physical Infrastructure; and 5. Eliminating Statutory Release; Moving to Earned Parole. The Government officially responded to the Report in Budget 2008, investing $478.8 million over five years to initiate the implementation of a new vision and set the foundation to strengthen the federal correctional system and enable CSC to respond comprehensively to the Panel’s recommendations. Our purpose in writing this report is to subject the Roadmap’s recommendations and CSC\u27s transformation agenda to the kind of scrutiny that such far-reaching changes in the Canadian federal correctional system demands and the Canadian public deserves. Our report is intended to present a counterpoint to the Roadmap, one marked by a review of correctional and legal history, a consideration of the relevant reports of royal commissions, task forces and academic research and an analysis of the human rights standards and jurisprudence applicable to correc-tions, all of which is entirely absent from the Roadmap. On the basis of what we consider a stronger historical and legal foundation, one anchored in an unwavering commitment to human rights in prison, we will discuss the merits, limitations and the true costs for both public safety and human dignity of implementation of the Panel’s recommendations for correctional pro-grams and services. We will show that the Panel\u27s analysis reveals such fundamental misunderstandings and misinterpretation of the Canadian correctional context that both its observations and recommendations are indelibly flawed. The authors, Michael Jackson and Graham Stewart, consider the following issues in their critique of the Review Panel\u27s Roadmap: a) Faulty Premises; Human Rights and Corrections; the Panel’s proposed Amendments to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA); the Nature of Prisoners’ Rights; Conditions of Confinement; Segregation\u27 Gangs; Drugs in Prison; Earned Parole; Employment and Employability; Education; Aboriginal Offenders; Physical Infrastructure and Regional Complexes; and finally, Rhetoric and Reality. The authors conclude the Roadmap was a dangerous exercise in creating major “transformative” policy virtually overnight by a largely unqualified group under a heavy cloud of political expediency. Surely these factors alone warrant that the report be set aside as a failed experiment in public policy. That it was accepted in its entirety without any apparent internal critical review or public consultation as the future for CSC is alarming. The Roadmap seeks to move the Correctional Service of Canada away from an unequivocal commitment to respect and protect the human rights of prisoners as the centerpiece of its operations. It is a flawed moral and legal compass. It points in the wrong direction; a direction that, tragically and inevitably, will bring yet more chapters in an already overburdened history of abuse and mismanagement of correctional authority through disregard of human dignity

Finding the way forward for forensic science in the US:a commentary on the PCAST report

A recent report by the US President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) [1] has made a number of recommendations for the future development of forensic science. Whereas we all agree that there is much need for change, we find that the PCAST report recommendations are founded on serious misunderstandings. We explain the traditional forensic paradigms of match and identification and the more recent foundation of the logical approach to evidence evaluation. This forms the groundwork for exposing many sources of confusion in the PCAST report. We explain how the notion of treating the scientist as a black box and the assignment of evidential weight through error rates is overly restrictive and misconceived. Our own view sees inferential logic, the development of calibrated knowledge and understanding of scientists as the core of the advance of the profession