Forensic analysis of wooden safety matches -- a case study.

In this case, an individual was suspected of attempting to burn materials potentially relating to a murder case. A number of spent and unspent matches were seized at the scene by police for forensic examination. Coincidentally, a police raid at the suspect's house revealed a number of matchboxes, all of the same brand, containing matches that had a visual similarity to those recovered at the scene. Stable Isotope Profiling (SIP) was used to assess whether matches could either be distinguished or shown to be indistinguishable by 13C and 2H isotopic composition. These results were then compared to those from the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of match heads and microscopy of the wood. SIP showed the scene matches and seized matches to be different, which was confirmed by XRD and microscopy analyses.

Effect of immunising pregnant sows with different Escherichia coli vaccines on the antibody levels in the piglet sera.

Six groups of pregnant sows were immunised with four different commercial Escherichia coli vaccines. Five groups were vaccinated parenterally while the other group was vaccinated orally and then parenterally. The colostral antibody titres to E coli O149 K91(B) K88 as measured by indirect haemagglutination were significantly higher in the vaccinated sows than in the controls. Oral priming by vaccine feeding as opposed to parenteral administration did not appear to produce an anamnestic response. Antibody levels in the piglets born to vaccinated sows were higher than in those born to control sows. Nevertheless a substantial proportion of piglets born to all sows had very low levels of passively acquired immunity.