Forensic civism: articulating science, DNA and kinship in contemporary Mexico and Colombia

The article will present the findings of ethnographic research into the Colombian and Mexican forensic systems, introducing the first citizen-led exhumation project made possible through the cooperation of scholars, forensic specialists and interested citizens in Mexico. The coupling, evolution and mutual re-constitution of forensic science will be explored, including new forms of citizenship and nation building projects – all approached as lived experience – in two of Latin America's most complex contexts: organised crime and mass death

Forensic civism: articulating science, DNA and kinship in contemporary Mexico and Colombia

This is the final version of the article. Available from Manchester University Press via the DOI in this record.The article will present the findings of ethnographic research into the Colombian and Mexican forensic systems, introducing the first citizen-led exhumation project made possible through the cooperation of scholars, forensic specialists and interested citizens in Mexico. The coupling evolution and mutual re-constitution of forensic science will be explored, including new forms of citizenship and nation building projects – all approached as lived experience – in two of Latin America‘s most complex contexts: organised crime and mass death.We would like to thank Gobernanza Forense Ciudadana, A.C. and its members for their invaluable help. The article arises from a scholarship granted by the Mexican Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) to Arely Cruz-Santiago and a COFUND International Junior Research Fellowship to Ernesto Schwartz-Marin at Durham University. The ESRC ‘Citizen-led Forensics’ (ES/M00063X/1) and ‘Public Engagement with Genomics and Race in Latin America’ [Leverhulme RPG- 044: directed by Peter Wade] projects allowed the authors to conduct fieldwork. Last but not least, we thank all the relatives of the disappeared in both countries and the forensic specialists who gave us their time

Agroecologia, ética e produção animal – contribuição para a construção da legislação de bem estar animal (BEA) no Brasil.

A partir de análise da legislação brasileira vinculada ao BEA e de entrevistas realizadas com pesquisadores, legisladores e técnicos do MAPA, buscamos retraçar o ambiente técnico/jurídico que alicerça o BEA no Brasil. As entrevistas foram orientadas por um questionário aberto, realizadas no primeiro semestre de 2011. Consideramos que o BEA possa tornar se um conceito que alberga princípios agroecológicos, recomendáveis na implantação de sistemas de criação e manejos animais, que expressa valores éticos, ecológicos e economicamente justos. Os dados levantados sinalizam para a necessidade de uma maior discussão sobre o tema que ainda se mostra bastante incipiente no Brasil, em especial junto a consumidores. É fundamental para o avanço de BEA no Brasil, as iniciativas do governo na construção das bases legais e a implementação de BEA na cadeia produtivo animal, a geração de tecnologias que viabilizem um custo benefício favorável às práticas de BEA e o trabalho de conscientização do consumidor realizado por Ongs e programas de educação

A Positive Theory of Legislative Intent

The debate about statutory interpretation has been affected by the introduction of social choice theory into the study of legal institutions. The positive political theory of legislative intent is examined

Colombian forensic genetics as a form of public science: The role of race, nation and common sense in the stabilization of DNA populations

This is the final version of the article. Available from SAGE Publications via the DOI in this record.This article examines the role that vernacular notions of racialized-regional difference play in the constitution and stabilization of DNA populations in Colombian forensic science, in what we frame as a process of public science. In public science, the imaginations of the scientific world and common-sense public knowledge are integral to the production and circulation of science itself. We explore the origins and circulation of a scientific object – ‘La Tabla’, published in Paredes et al. and used in genetic forensic identification procedures – among genetic research institutes, forensic genetics laboratories and courtrooms in Bogotá. We unveil the double life of this central object of forensic genetics. On the one hand, La Tabla enjoys an indisputable public place in the processing of forensic genetic evidence in Colombia (paternity cases, identification of bodies, etc.). On the other hand, the relations it establishes between ‘race’, geography and genetics are questioned among population geneticists in Colombia. Although forensic technicians are aware of the disputes among population geneticists, they use and endorse the relations established between genetics, ‘race’ and geography because these fit with common-sense notions of visible bodily difference and the regionalization of race in the Colombian nation.This article arises out of two projects: ‘Race, genomics and mestizaje (mixture) in Latin America: a comparative approach’ funded by the ESRC (grant RES-062-23-1914) and ‘Public engagement with genomic research and race in Latin America’ funded by The Leverhulme Trust (grant RPG-044)

Biorecuperation, the epidemic of violence and COVID-19 in Mexico

This is the final version. Available on open access from Manchester University Press via the DOI in this recordCOVID-19 has reinstated the sovereign enclosures of corpse management that mothers of the disappeared had so successfully challenged in the past decade. To explore how moral duties toward the dead are being renegotiated due to COVID-19, this article puts forward the notion of biorecuperation, understood as an individualised form of forensic care for the dead made possible by the recovery of biological material. Public health imperatives that forbid direct contact with corpses due to the pandemic, interrupt the logics of biorecuperation. Our analysis is based on ten years of experience working with families of the disappeared in Mexico, ethnographic research within Mexico’s forensic science system and online interviews conducted with medics and forensic scientists working at the forefront of Mexico City’s pandemic. In the face of increasing risks of viral contagion and death, this article analyses old and new techniques designed to bypass the prohibitions imposed by the state and its monopoly over corpse management and identificationEconomic and Social Research Council (ESRC

GESTÃO DA INFORMAÇÃO SOBRE ESPORTE RECREATIVO E LAZER: BALANÇO DA REDE CEDES

Ficha Catalográfica elaborada pela STATI Biblioteca da UNESP - Campus de Rio Claro/SP Gestão da informação sobre esporte recreativo e lazer: balanço da Rede CEDES / Gisele Maria Schwartz ... [et al.]. – Várzea Paulista : Fontoura Editora, 2010. 192 p. : il., gráfs., tabs. ISBN 9788587114761 1. Recreação. 2. Políticas públicas. 3. Contextualização histórica. 4. Repositório. 5. Política Nacional. 6. Pesquisa. I. Schwartz, Gisele Maria. II. Santiago, Danilo Roberto Pereira. III. Kawaguti, Cristiane Naomi. IV. Tavares, Giselle Helena. V. Figueiredo, Juliana de Paula. VI.Título.Seja bem-vindo à leitura do “Balanço da produção da Rede CEDES”. Essa rede de pesquisa é coordenada pelo Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia do Esporte, da Secretaria Nacional de Desenvol- vimento de Esporte e de Lazer, do nosso Ministério. A partir da realização do balanço dessa produção, que vai da criação da Rede em 2004 a este ano de 2010, esperamos poder me- lhor entender a construção de argumentos científicos e pedagógicos produzidos para subsidiar tomadas de decisão em nossas políticas de esporte recreativo e de lazer. Esta produção foi calcada no conhe- cimento da realidade e fundamentação teórico-prática das Ciências Sociais e Humanas, visando contribuir com o processo de formação de gestores, a implementação e a avaliação de políticas públicas, seus programas e projetos.Rede CEDE

Monitoring of phenylalanine levels in patients with phenylketonuria using dried blood spots : a comparison of two methods

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is caused by deficient activity of phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH), responsible for the conversion of phenylalanine (Phe) to tyrosine (Tyr). Monitoring of patients with PKU requires the measurement of Phe in plasma using highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or in dried blood spots (DBS) using different techniques to adjust treatment strategy. The objective of this study was to evaluate Phe levels in DBS measured by two different methods and compare them with Phe levels measured in plasma by HPLC. We analyzed 89 blood samples from 47 PKU patients by two different methods: fluorometric method developed in-house (method A) and the commercially available PerkinElmer® Neonatal Phenylalanine Kit (method B) and in plasma by HPLC. The mean Phe levels by method A, method B, and HPLC were 430.4±39.9μmol/L, 439.3±35.4μmol/L, and 442.2±41.6μmol/L, respectively. The correlation values between HPLC and methods A and B were 0.990 and 0.974, respectively (p<0.001 for both). Our data suggest that methods A and B are useful alternatives for monitoring Phe levels in patients with PKU, with method A being in closer agreement with the reference standard (HPLC)

The antiviral factor APOBEC3G improves CTL recognition of cultured HIV-infected T cells

The cytidine deaminase APOBEC3G (A3G) enzyme exerts an intrinsic anti–human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) defense by introducing lethal G-to-A hypermutations in the viral genome. The HIV-1 viral infectivity factor (Vif) protein triggers degradation of A3G and counteracts this antiviral effect. The impact of A3G on the adaptive cellular immune response has not been characterized. We examined whether A3G-edited defective viruses, which are known to express truncated or misfolded viral proteins, activate HIV-1–specific (HS) CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). To this end, we compared the immunogenicity of cells infected with wild-type or Vif-deleted viruses in the presence or absence of the cytidine deaminase. The inhibitory effect of A3G on HIV replication was associated with a strong activation of cocultivated HS-CTLs. CTL activation was particularly marked with Vif-deleted HIV and with viruses harboring A3G. Enzymatically inactive A3G mutants failed to enhance CTL activation. We also engineered proviruses bearing premature stop codons in their genome as scars of A3G editing. These viruses were not infectious but potently activated HS-CTLs. Therefore, the pool of defective viruses generated by A3G represents an underestimated source of viral antigens. Our results reveal a novel function for A3G, acting not only as an intrinsic antiviral factor but also as an inducer of the adaptive immune system