Hematophagus arthropod bloodmeals may be useful in identifying individual hosts. To examine the application of human lice as a forensic tool, that is, as evidence of physical contact between individuals, body lice from a laboratory colony and head lice, collected from the head of infested children, were studied. The DNA profile of an individual was detectable in the pooled bloodmeals of two body lice, up to 20 h postfeeding. A mixed DNA profile of two hosts was identifiable in the pooled bloodmeals of three lice, for 3 h postfeeding. By pooling the bloodmeals of three adult and three nymphal head lice, a mixed DNA profile was obtained. These results indicate that, in criminal cases where there has been close contact between assailant and victim, louse bloodmeals should not be overlooked as potentially critical evidence.
An intact condom, reputedly used during a rape, was submitted for forensic examination. Conventional biochemistry results indicated that blood found on one side of the condom may have originated from the victim. Semen from the other side of the condom was not characterizable by conventional biochemical methods. Pubic hairs recovered from the condom matched those of the victim and not those of the suspect.
Testing the blood and semen from the condom by DNA analysis gave the profile of the victim from the blood and the profile of the suspect from the semen.
Chorionic villus sampling (CVS), prior to pregnancy termination (pre-termination CVS), is suggested as a tool for forensic paternity testing. Unlike the abortion material, which consists of ruptured tissues of fetal and maternal origin, extra-embryonic membranes obtained through CVS can provide an uncontaminated source of fetal tissue for genotyping. We discuss the possibility of confined placental mosaicism (CPM) and its implications on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based analyses of short tandem repeats (STRs) and the D1S80 loci.
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