Mock juror sensitivity to forensic evidence in drug facilitated sexual assaults.

Mock jurors' reactions to variations in the quality of toxicological evidence regarding the presence of drugs in a sexual assault trial were examined. In Study 1, participants received a trial summary in which a negative test result, a negative test result plus expert testimony, or no test result was presented. The time taken by the complainant to report the alleged sexual assault was manipulated. The negative test result influenced participants' judgments, but this effect was minimized by the presence of expert testimony. The complainant's delay in reporting had little impact on judgments. In Study 2, complainant time to report was again manipulated along with the outcome of the test result (negative finding and no result). Results revealed that men were less conviction prone when the negative test result was obtained early as opposed to late. In contrast, when the test result was unavailable, men were more conviction prone when the complainant reported late as oppose to early.

Comparison of different methods for achieving hemostasis after arterial sheath removal.

BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: Randomized studies are limited on whether the use of procoagulant pads improve outcomes after arterial sheath removal in interventional cardiology patients. The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of a procoagulant pad in combination with manual compression would decrease time to hemostasis compared with our institution's manual compression alone procedure after arterial sheath removal associated with a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A convenience sample of PCI patients were randomly assigned to 3 methods for achieving hemostasis at the femoral artery site after sheath removal (manual compression alone, SyvekPatch NT plus manual compression, and D-Stat Dry plus manual compression). Outcome variables included time to hemostasis, number of pressure applications, and development of complications. Analysis of variance and χ analysis were used to test differences among the 3 groups, with P < .05 considered significant. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A total of 80 PCI patients were studied (n = 26 manual compression only; n = 26 SyvekPatch NT; n = 28 D-Stat Dry). Significant differences were found among the 3 methods for time to hemostasis (F2,77 = 4.12, P = .020), with the manual compression alone method significantly longer than either of the 2 procoagulant pad groups. Complications were rare and were not significantly different with the 3 methods.

The impact of negative forensic evidence on mock jurors' perceptions of a trial of drug-facilitated sexual assault.

Legal concerns with regard to the adverse impact of a negative toxicological screening for date-rape drugs in a case of drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) were the focus of a recent Canadian case (R. v. Alouache, 2003). To assess the impact of a negative forensic report, as well as the impact of expert testimony explaining the many factors that may contribute to a negative outcome, participants (N=171) received a written trial stimulus in which the forensic evidence (negative report, negative report plus expert testimony, no negative report and no expert testimony control) and the complainant's beverage consumption (alcohol, cola) were systematically varied. Results indicate that a negative finding in the absence of expert testimony produced greater verdict leniency and more favourable evaluations of the defendant's case. In contrast, no differences were found between the case in which the expert testified and a case in which the negative report and expert testimony were omitted.

Unique and overlapping expression patterns of Arabidopsis CYP85 genes involved in brassinosteroid C-6 oxidation.

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are steroid hormones that are essential for plant growth and development. To gain insight into potential sites of BR synthesis, we studied promoter activities of the two Arabidopsis BR C-6 oxidase genes (CYP85A1 and CYP85A2) in transgenic plants carrying promoter fusions with the GUS, GFP or LUC reporter genes. BR-dependent feedback regulation of the GUS reporter constructs indicated that their expression corresponded to those of the native genes. Both the CYP85A1 and CYP85A2 promoters showed maximum activity during the first week following germination, particularly in the vascular tissues. Compared to CYP85A2, CYP85A1 expression was weaker and confined to the early stages of seedling development. Stronger CYP85A2 promoter activity was evident in both juvenile and adult plants. Comparison of the 5'-UTR and TATA box sequences of CYP85A1 and CYP85A2 revealed high homology, indicating a relatively recent gene duplication. We also found that transgenic Arabidopsis plants harbouring the tomato DWARF promoter-GUS fusion had similarities in the expression pattern to the Arabidopsis genes suggesting common transcriptional regulation of CYP85 genes in the two species.