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Forensic Science

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Displaying 51 - 75 of 540

Cannabinoids detected in exhaled breath condensate after cannabis use

July 23, 2024
Author(s)
Jennifer Berry, Ashley Brooks-Russell, Cheryle Beuning, Sarah Limbacher, Tara Lovestead, Kavita Jeerage
Cannabinoids can be detected in breath after cannabis use, but different breath matrices need to be explored as studies to date with filter-based devices that collect breath aerosols have not demonstrated that breath-based measurements can reliably

Review of SNP assays for DVI: cost, time, and performance information for decision-makers

July 17, 2024
Author(s)
Katherine Gettings, Andreas Tillmar, Kimberly Sturk-Andreaggi, Charla Marshall
In mass disaster events, forensic DNA laboratories may be called upon to quickly pivot their operations toward identifying bodies and reuniting remains with family members. Ideally, laboratories have considered this possibility in advance and have a plan

Developmental Validation of the PowerPlex(R) 35GY System: An 8-Dye STR Multiplex for Human Identification Applications

June 22, 2024
Author(s)
Erica Graham, Michael Lauck, John Picciano, Jessica Seifarth, Jon Drobac, Megan O'Donnell, Nisha Sullivan, Lilliana Moreno, Monica Zaky, Lori Flanagan, Caroline Parker, Peter Vallone, Carolyn Steffen, Jesus Martinez, Kristy Lenz, Stephen McDaniel, Dawn Rabbach, Karthika Divakaran, Robert McLaren, Douglas Storts, Cindy Sprecher, Jonelle Thompson
The PowerPlex® 35GY System is a 35-locus, eight-dye, STR multiplex optimized for use with Spectrum CE Systems. It simultaneously amplifies all CODIS and ESS markers, along with Amelogenin and DYS391 for gender determination. Penta D, Penta E, and SE33 are

Characterization of Reference Material 8210: Hemp Plant

June 20, 2024
Author(s)
Colleen E. Bryan Sallee, Walter Brent Wilson, Charles Barber, Monique Johnson, Jenna Klingsick, Jerome Mulloor, Blaza Toman, Elena Wood, Laura Wood, Andrea Yarberry
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Reference Material (RM) 8210 Hemp Plant delivers non certified values for cannabinoids and toxic elements in a dried ground hemp plant material to help cannabis and forensic laboratories for use as

A collaborative study on the precision of the Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms used for DNA profile interpretation

June 19, 2024
Author(s)
Sarah Riman, Jo-Anne Bright, Kaitlin Huffman, Lilliana Moreno, Sicen Liu, Asmitha Sathya, Peter Vallone
Several fully continuous probabilistic genotyping software (PGS) use Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms (MCMC) to assign weights to different proposed genotype combinations at a locus. Replicate interpretations of the same profile in these software are

Inconclusive Decisions and Error Rates in Forensic Science

May 4, 2024
Author(s)
Henry Swofford, Steven Lund, Hariharan Iyer, John Butler, Johannes Soons, Robert Thompson, Vincent Desiderio, JP Jones, Robert Ramotowski
Conference Presentation based on technical paper in ERB (Control Number: N2024-0457).

Inconclusive Decisions and Error Rates in Forensic Science

May 4, 2024
Author(s)
Henry Swofford, Steven Lund, Hariharan K. Iyer, John Butler, Johannes A. Soons, Robert M. Thompson, Vincent Desiderio, JP Jones, Robert Ramotowski
In recent years, there has been discussion and controversy relating to the treatment of inconclusive decisions in forensic feature comparison disciplines when considering the reliability of examination methods and results. In this article, we offer a brief

Ultrasensitive sequencing of STR markers utilizing unique molecular identifiers and the SiMSen-Seq method

April 3, 2024
Author(s)
Maja Sidstedt, Arvid Gynna, Kevin Kiesler, Linda Jansson, Becky Steffen, Joakim Hakansson, Gustav Johansson, Yalda Bogestal, Andreas Tillmar, Peter Radstrom, Anders Stahlberg, Peter Vallone, Johannes Hedman
Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) is increasingly applied in forensic short tandem repeat (STR) analysis. The presence of stutter artefacts and other PCR or sequencing errors in the MPS-STR data partly limits the detection of low DNA amounts, e.g., in

National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network Meeting Report: Managing Patients Exposed to Xylazine-Adulterated Opioids in Emergency, Hospital and Addiction Care Settings

March 16, 2024
Author(s)
Jeanmarie Perrone, Rachel Haroz, Joseph D'Orazio, Giacomo Gianotti, Jennifer Love, Matthew Salzman, Margaret Lowenstein, Ashish Thakar, Stephanie Klipp, Lisa Rae, Megan Reed, Edward Sisco, Rachel Wightman, Lewis Nelson
Used as a veterinary sedative and not approved for human use, xylazine has been increasingly linked with opioid overdose deaths in the United States. A growing number of people have been exposed to xylazine in the illicit opioid supply (especially fentanyl

Forensic Science Environmental Scan 2023

March 7, 2024
Author(s)
Henry Swofford
This environmental scan provides a broad view of the forensic science environment (as of 2023) and characterizes high-level historical and current issues and trends that might impact near and long-term decisions by forensic science research and standards

Chemical Foundations for a Cannabis Breathalyzer (Final Research Report)

March 1, 2024
Author(s)
Tara Lovestead, Jason A. Widegren, Kavita Jeerage
Our ultimate goal is to support the reliable identification of recent cannabis use by developing an infrastructure for evaluation, calibration, and quality control of cannabis breathalyzers akin to that which exists for alcohol breathalyzers. The primary

Determination of D9-THC, THCA, D8-THC, and total D9-THC in 53 Smokable Hemp Plant Products by Liquid Chromatography and Photodiode Array Detection

January 8, 2024
Author(s)
Walter Brent Wilson, Aaron Urbas, MARYAM ABDUL-RAHMAN, Arianna Romares, Ewelina Mistek-Morabito
The passage of the 2018 Farm Bill has led to an estimated value of $824M for hemp production in the United States (US) in 2021 with an approximately 76% of it focused on floral hemp that is used to produce hemp-derived finished products such as smokable

Automated interpretation of firearm mark comparison results

December 13, 2023
Author(s)
Martin Baiker-Sorensen, Ivo Alberink, Laura Granell, Leen van der Ham, Erwin J.A.T. Mattijssen, Erich Smith, Johannes A. Soons, Peter Vergeer, Xiaoyu Alan Zheng
In this article an automated approach for interpretation of firearm mark comparison results is presented. First, similarity scores are derived for marks typically encountered on primers of fired cartridge cases: aperture shear striations as well as

Developmental Validation of the VersaPlex(R) 27PY System

November 21, 2023
Author(s)
Kristy Lenz, Stephen McDaniel, Dawn Rabbach, Becky Steffen, Douglas Storts, Robert McLaren
The VersaPlex™ 27PY System is a short tandem repeat (STR) multiplex from Promega that co-amplifies 27 loci. This six-dye multiplex was designed for casework samples and includes loci that meet database requirements for the US (CODIS) and Europe (ESS). The

Demystifying Accreditation A Framework for Accreditation of Forensic Units

October 1, 2023
Author(s)
Nicole Jones, Erin Forry, Donna J. Sirk
Accreditation is a formal recognition by an independent third party/accreditation body that a forensic service provider such as a laboratory, unit, or agency,a meets standards. A standard is a requirement or guideline used to ensure that a process or

On the challenge of unambiguous identification of fentanyl analogs: exploring measurement diversity using standard reference mass spectral libraries

July 11, 2023
Author(s)
Arun Moorthy, Edward Erisman, Anthony J. Kearsley, Yuxue Liang, Edward Sisco, William E. Wallace
Fentanyl analogs are a class of designer drugs that are particularly challenging to unambiguously identify due to the mass spectral and retention time similarities of unique compounds. In this paper, we use agglomerative hierarchical clustering to explore
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