Identificación de sexo mediante queiloscopia en Santander, Colombia: una herramienta para la medicina forense. Estudio inicial / Sex determination by cheiloscopy in Santander, Colombia: A tool for forensic pathology. First study

Fundamento. En Colombia no existen estudios previos acerca de los patrones queiloscópicos más frecuentes en la población, lo que impide el uso de esta herramienta, que ha evidenciado grandes utilidades en la identificación personal, para la medicina forense. Método. Estudio transversal donde se tomó y analizó la impresión labial de 60 estudiantes de la Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia, 30 hombres y 30 mujeres, con edades comprendidas entre 18 y 25 años, sin diferencias étnicas o raciales de importancia. Resultados. Los patrones más prevalentes en el sexo femenino fueron: tipo v (36,6%), tipo i’ (26,6%) y tipo i (13,3%). En la población masculina, el patrón más frecuente fue el tipo i’ (40%), seguido por el tipo i en 5 casos (16,6%). La impresión labial correspondiente al tipo ii fue la que menos se encontró en el total de la población evaluada (5%), mientras que la tipo i’ fue la que más se presentó en la población total (33,3%). Conclusiones. El uso de la queiloscopia como método de identificación para determinar el sexo de un sospechoso en la escena del crimen es un método útil y que se debe implementar dentro del estudio forense. En el presente estudio se encontraron tendencias distintas en el patrón de cada sexo. Se requiere establecer las características propias de la impresión labial de cada población, por lo que se recomienda realizar más investigaciones no solo en Colombia, sino en todo lugar en el cual se desee implementar esta herramienta (AU)

Background. In Colombia no previous research has been carried out to know the lip prints patterns more prevalent on population, thereby preventing the use of this tool for forensics, which has shown great utility in personal identification. Method. At a regional level, by a cross-sectional descriptive study we studied the lip prints of 60 students of the Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia. We included 30 men and 30 women between 18 and 25 years old without significant ethnic or racial differences. Results. The prevalent patterns in the women's group were type v (36.6%), type i’ (26.6%) and type i (13.3%). In the men's group the first one was type i’ (40%), then type i (16.6%). We found that the lip print type ii was the less prevalent (5%), and type i’ was the most prevalent in Colombian population (33.3%). Conclusions. Cheiloscopy like a tool for sex determination in forensic pathology in a criminal scene it is a useful method because some differences between sexes were found. However, it is necessary to establish the features of lip prints in each population, therefore we recommend to carry out more research in Colombia and the rest of the world where this tool could be useful (AU)

Nanomotor lithography.

The rapid miniaturization of devices and machines has fuelled the evolution of advanced fabrication techniques. However, the complexity and high cost of the state-of-the-art high-resolution lithographic systems are prompting unconventional routes for nanoscale patterning. Inspired by natural nanomachines, synthetic nanomotors have recently demonstrated remarkable performance and functionality. Here we report a new nano-patterning approach, named 'nanomotor lithography', which translates the autonomous movement trajectories of nanomotors into controlled surface features. As a proof of principle, we use metallic nanowire motors as mobile nanomasks and Janus sphere motors as near-field nanolenses to manipulate light beams for generating a myriad of nanoscale features through modular nanomotor design. The complex spatially defined nanofeatures using these dynamic nanoscale optical elements can be achieved through organized assembly and remote guidance of multiple nanomotors. Such ability to transform predetermined paths of moving nanomachines to defined surface patterns provides a unique nanofabrication platform for creating diverse nanodevices.

3D Printing: Print the future of ophthalmology.

The three-dimensional (3D) printer is a new technology that creates physical objects from digital files. Recent technological advances in 3D printing have resulted in increased use of this technology in the medical field, where it is beginning to revolutionize medical and surgical possibilities. It is already providing medicine with powerful tools that facilitate education, surgical planning, and organ transplantation research. A good understanding of this technology will be beneficial to ophthalmologists. The potential applications of 3D printing in ophthalmology, both current and future, are explored in this article.

Dream it, design it, print it in 3-D: what can 3-D printing do for you?

So maybe we are not all driving to work in a flying car or are being beamed up by a transporter yet, but we should be clearing out a space in the lab and perhaps in the office for a replicator. Sure, they may not work the same as the replicators on Star Trek that instantaneously pop out hot, full-course meals to suit any crew member's whim, but they can generate three-dimensional (3-D) objects to match your computer design.

A horizon scan of global conservation issues for 2013.

This paper presents the findings of our fourth annual horizon-scanning exercise, which aims to identify topics that increasingly may affect conservation of biological diversity. The 15 issues were identified via an iterative, transferable process by a team of professional horizon scanners, researchers, practitioners, and a journalist. The 15 topics include the commercial use of antimicrobial peptides, thorium-fuelled nuclear power, and undersea oil production.

Polymer nanostructures made by scanning probe lithography: recent progress in material applications.

Scanning probe lithography (SPL) is a series of techniques that utilizes a scanning probe or an array of probes for surface patterning. Recent developments of new material systems and patterning approaches have made SPL a promising, low-cost, bench-top, and versatile tool for fabricating various polymer nanostructures, with extraordinary importance in physical sciences, life sciences and nanotechnology. This feature article highlights the recent progress in four material applications: polymer resists, polymeric carriers for patterning functional materials, electronically active polymers and polymer brushes for tailoring surface morphology and functionality. An overview of future possibilities, with regard to challenges and opportunities in this field, is given at the end of the paper.

Does print size matter for reading? A review of findings from vision science and typography.

The size and shape of printed symbols determine the legibility of text. In this paper, we focus on print size because of its crucial role in understanding reading performance and its significance in the history and contemporary practice of typography. We present evidence supporting the hypothesis that the distribution of print sizes in historical and contemporary publications falls within the psychophysically defined range of fluent print size--the range over which text can be read at maximum speed. The fluent range extends over a factor of 10 in angular print size (x-height) from approximately 0.2° to 2°. Assuming a standard reading distance of 40 cm (16 inches), the corresponding physical x-heights are 1.4 mm (4 points) and 14 mm (40 points). We provide new data on the distributions of print sizes in published books and newspapers and in typefounders' specimens, and consider factors influencing these distributions. We discuss theoretical concepts from vision science concerning visual size coding that help inform our understanding of historical and modern typographical practices. While economic, social, technological, and artistic factors influence type design and selection, we conclude that properties of human visual processing play a dominant role in constraining the distribution of print sizes in common use.

How can the English-language scientific literature be made more accessible to non-native speakers? Journals should allow greater use of referenced direct quotations in 'component-oriented' scientific writing.

In scientific writing, although clarity and precision of language are vital to effective communication, it seems undeniable that content is more important than form. Potentially valuable knowledge should not be excluded from the scientific literature merely because the researchers lack advanced language skills. Given that global scientific literature is overwhelmingly in the English-language, this presents a problem for non-native speakers. My proposal is that scientists should be permitted to construct papers using a substantial number of direct quotations from the already-published scientific literature. Quotations would need to be explicitly referenced so that the original author and publication should be given full credit for creating such a useful and valid description. At the extreme, this might result in a paper consisting mainly of a 'mosaic' of quotations from the already existing scientific literature, which are linked and extended by relatively few sentences comprising new data or ideas. This model bears some conceptual relationship to the recent trend in computing science for component-based or component-oriented software engineering - in which new programs are constructed by reusing programme components, which may be available in libraries. A new functionality is constructed by linking-together many pre-existing chunks of software. I suggest that journal editors should, in their instructions to authors, explicitly allow this 'component-oriented' method of constructing scientific articles; and carefully describe how it can be accomplished in such a way that proper referencing is enforced, and full credit is allocated to the authors of the reused linguistic components.