Monthly Archives: May 2017

New York Post

24 Years Later, DNA Leads to Arrest in Manhattan Attack on a Girl ... New York Times The arrest in the rape of an 11-year-old girl in Upper Manhattan was the latest product of an effort by Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, to focus ... DNA links child rapist to 1993 sex attack, officials say | New York PostNew York Post Rapist's DNA links him to 1993 sex assault of girl, 11, in NYC - NY ...New York Daily News all 5 news articles »

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24 Years Later, DNA Leads to Arrest in Manhattan Attack on a Girl ... - New York Times

(NEWSCHANNEL 3) Newschannel 3s I-Team is exposing a grim reality that police, medical examiners, and families in Michigan now face.

There will be many more lonely bodies that lay in a morgue unidentified, said Kellie Yunginger.

Newschannel 3 has learned that for the foreseeable future, unidentified bodies have almost no chance of being tested for DNA.

The type of DNA work needed in these cases is highly specialized. In fact, investigators in Michigan really only have one option, shipping the bones down to a lab in Texas.

That lab just sent out a letter saying, effective immediately, they cant accept any new cases.

The bones belong to people who lived with a name but died without when. Instead of being laid to rest, they lie in labs and rest in boxes.

Having these people in this limbo is kind of the worst fate I think, said Carolyn Isaac.

Isaac is a forensic anthropologist at the Medical Examiners office in Kalamazoo. The lab there takes in bodies from nine local counties. Most of the bodies can be identified within a week through family or fingerprints, dental records or even tattoos, but there are four or five each year who get slapped with a label Isaac dreads, unidentified.

Those complicated cases are the ones they typically send off to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification.

We sent this whole vertebra to get DNA analysis, said Isaac.

UNT performs specialized sampling to upload into CODIS, the DNA database run by the FBI. The hope is to strike a match with a person whos been reported missing and solve two mysteries at once.

The National Institute of Justice has footed the bill for the past thirteen years with special grant money set aside for the voiceless victims.

Now, according to an urgent memo, the lab was recently notified that the grant would not be offered this year, or next year, so they will not be able to offer DNA testing or accept new submissions.

This is extremely crippling to law enforcement efforts, said Det. Sgt. Sarah Krebs, Michigan State Police.

Det. Krebs runs the Missing Persons Clearinghouse for Michigan State Police, working with both unidentified remains and the families of the missing.

How many cases would you anticipate this would affect in Michigan? asked Newschannel 3s Alex Jokich.

Oh, Im going to say its going to affect hundreds of cases, said Det. Krebs. It has put an absolute halt to our efforts.

UNT was told the money is being redirected to other DNA needs like backlogged rape kits, but Det. Krebs believes slashing the missing persons grant slashes whatever hope the families have left.

Its very hard to tell a family if we cant identify their loved one any other way, hey, we may not be able to do this unless this grant gets refunded, said Det. Krebs, so its caused some heartache.

Kellie Yunginger knows the heartache all too well.

We never did anything to deserve this, and neither did Rich, said Yunginger.

Yungingers cousin, Richard Hitchcock, disappeared from Allegan 26 years ago. Shes spearheaded the efforts to find him and shudders at the thought that with the current cuts, if his body is found, it could sit untested in a morgue somewhere while she keeps up a futile search.

How sad its a possibility that someone could just sit in a lab forever because no one thinks its worth it, said Yunginger.

The Medical Examiners Office in Kalamazoo showed Newschannel 3 two skulls they recently got in.

We really have no hope of identifying this individual, said Isaac.

Theyd normally send the skulls to Texas. Isaac says its the worst feeling, knowing theres probably a family out there looking for someone.

Seeing their case numbers every week, just staring back at us, that these people arent identified and maybe never will be, said Isaac.

The Center for Human Identification in Texas says theyre working with the federal government toward a resolution on this issue.

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DNA Delay - WWMT-TV

The inside story of Damn.'s showstopping second single, as told by the super producer who made it.

Last week, Mike Will Made-It (referred to as "Will" for the rest of this story) notched his second No. 1 hit on the Billboard singles chart so far this year. Humble., the three-minute riot he produced for Kendrick Lamar, follows Black Beatles, Rae Sremmurds strip-club anthem turned viral sensation, which descended the charts peak in January. One of the most continuously in-demand hitmakers of this decade, Will is a strong bet to summit again (hes a rumored collaborator on Katy Perrys fifth album, among other percolating projects hed rather not talk about), but his achievement with Lamar is a special milestone. Will produced three songs on Lamars widely acclaimed new album, Damn. two of which, Humble. and DNA., have reached the top five on Billboard in a culmination of a half-decade of missed connections with the rapper, spanning what he (only half-jokingly) estimates are over 1,000 unused beats.

Will, born Mike Williams, 28, first met Lamar in 2011 through the latters label-mate Schoolboy Q. He sent beats while the rising star was working on his first two groundbreaking albums, 2012s Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City and 2015s To Pimp a Butterfly, but struck out on both occasions.

I never got discouraged or asked him, Why didnt I make your album? or Why this and that? Will told BuzzFeed News. After hearing those projects, I could see why my beats didnt really match.

In late 2015, though, the stars finally aligned. Will who had accumulated hits for Future, Jay Z, Kanye West, Beyonc, Perry, and Miley Cyrus connected with Lamar in Atlanta toward the end of the To Pimp a Butterfly tour, as the rapper was beginning sessions for what would become Damn. He spoke to BuzzFeed News previously about one product of their collaboration the polemical, U2-featuring XXX. Below, taken from the same conversation, are two short stories about the volcanic second single DNA., which illuminate Wills particular gifts as a song whisperer, and reveal the friendly rivalry (and Rick James concert DVD) that produced one of the years breakout hits.

The first story is a story of creative overabundance. It concerns the first of the two distinct sections on DNA. (I got I got I got loyalty got royalty inside my DNA) and starts late last year, after production on the song had wrapped. Will was frantically searching his laptop for the hazy, two-and-a-half-second guitar sample that loops throughout this section and gives it a psychedelic backbone. He needed to tell Lamars team the origin of the sample, so they could contact the songwriter and clear its usage a prerequisite for including the song on the album. But Wills memory was failing him.

Will is a walking font of far-flung sonic ideas and musical non sequiturs: He told BuzzFeed News that hed made between four and six other beats the night he produced DNA. The first part of the song took him only about 10 minutes while jamming with Rae Sremmurd who are signed to his Ear Drummer Records label in the basement of the sibling duos sprawling house in Encino, California.

Something about the instrumental made Will think of Lamar. He likes to think he could produce music for anyone, like a musical MacGyver with the right song for any job (his dream is to work with Adele), and he reserves a certain phylum of beat for the artist he refers to as Dot (a reference to K. Dot, Lamars first stage name).

I try to send him beats that I think could stand on their own, because I know when Dot gets on them hell take them even further, Will said. A lot of people use beats as a crutch and try to hide behind them, but he takes them to the next level.

Searching for the guitar sample on an old computer, Will eventually discovered the answer: There was no guitar sample. On a hot streak at Rae Sremmurd's house, he'd recorded it himself and simply forgot. I kept thinking, did I really play this? he laughed, still amused at the goose chase. I dont know what kind of vibe I was on that night.

The second story is about creative competition. While still recording DNA., Lamar summoned Will to his studio in Los Angeles to build the second section of the song, based on a breathlessly intense a capella in which he raps as if the roof is caving and he wants it to fall. He asked Will to add drums under the vocal track: It dont have to be like a full beat or anything, Will recalled Lamar saying. I just want you to make it knock.

But Will heard the verses ferocity as a challenge (I can't let him just outdo the beat like that, he remembers thinking) and started cooking up an equally formidable instrumental as Lamar looked on. I wanted it to sound like a horse race, Will said.

After adding some drums snarling 808s, some triangle, and a clap he searched a folder full of vocal samples on his laptop and pulled out a snippet of Rick James shouting Gimme some ganja! before a performance of Mary Jane from the documentary Rick James Super Freak Live 1982. He peppered the command over Lamars raps, sporadically hammering on the word Gimme like a machine gun.

I just felt like what Kendrick was rapping was like some ganja, like some piff, Will said, using another synonym for weed. I wanted it to sound like somebody's right there standing next to him, in his ear just screaming at him, like, Gimme some ganja! Gimme some more bars! Go harder!'

When he was finished with the track, he asked Lamar what he thought of the horse race, half wondering whether hed overstepped his bounds. But the rapper was charmed. According to Will, he said so in a characteristically understated fashion. I like that shit.

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The Making Of DNA., Kendrick Lamar And Mike Will Made-It's Militant Masterpiece - BuzzFeed News

News & Observer (blog)

I found a Minuteman, a shoemaker and an indentured servant in my DNA Shaffer News & Observer (blog) This week, I discovered that I have a second cousin named Kermit who lives in New Mexico a retired crane operator and complete stranger who shares some of my Norwegian-Irish DNA. It all started with a container of my spit. For $99, I paid ancestry ...

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I found a Minuteman, a shoemaker and an indentured servant in my DNA Shaffer - News & Observer (blog)

It was the shortest day we've seen so far but packed with a ton of evidence. One piece disconnecting a Yoder while connecting Conley to the fatal drug.

Microscopic strands of evidence, may carry a very large role. DNA experts taking the witness stand today explaining how the anonymously submitted letters and the evidence connected to the fatal dosage of colchicine do not add up and Adam Yoder's finger prints- not found.

"Adam Yoder is excluded as a DNA contributor obtained from the vial"- and how about William Yoder? "The mixture DNA of obtained from the vial is at least 115 times more likely if it originated from three unknown unrelated individuals than if it orig anted from William Yoder and two unrelated individuals this likelihood ratio is inconclusive result based on labs--therefore no conclusion that be determined if William Yoder is a contributor in DNA obtained."

The annalist who spent hours going through those letters walking the court through the process of learning their true author.

"The partial DNA profile from the stamp from the coroners office matched the DNA profile consistent with the DNA profile of Kaitlyn Conley." "Is there a stat that goes along with that?" "Yes I did generate a stat to the match to the evidence item and the probability of matching the partial profile was one in 395 million."

And that DNA on the stamp isn't the only tie to the defendant. Her DNA found on another piece of crucial evidence. The wrapper holding the colchicine in Adam Yoder's jeep

"There again was a major contributor on the outside of the cardboard wrapper-someone that I could pick out of every location and the major contributor was Kaitlyn Conley."

Court is back again tomorrow. Judge Dwyer telling us it'll be a long day.

Reporter Nicole Todd will be tweeting again live updates from the courtroom at @NicoleTodd_WUTR

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DNA Experts Take the Stand: Conley Trial - Story | CNYHomepage - WUTR WFXV CNYhomepage

Western spotted skunks striped skunks' smaller cousins that stand on their "hands" to blast their smelly defensive spray are helping scientists piece together a picture of how ancient climate change shaped animal populations millions of years ago, and could provide clues for how present climate change may affect animals alive today.

These endearing and widely distributed skunks have been around for about 1 million years and live in a range of habitats across western North America. But even thoughthe skunksall belong to one species,Spilogale gracilis, genetic differences divide them into three distinct groups that are known as clades, and scientists have puzzled over what might have driven these changes in the skunks' DNA. [The 12 Weirdest Animal Discoveries]

Researchers investigating these adorable little stinkers recently discovered the likely scenario that led to these genetic divisions ancient climate change duringthe Pleistocene ice age, as glaciers divided skunk populations into habitats isolated from each other.

Unlike the bold bandsof white furlining the black backs of striped skunks, western spotted skunks' markings curve and twine like the walls of a maze, with a single large spot marking the center of their heads. They are the smallest of the North American skunks, with males measuring about 16 inches in length and weighing about 22 ounces, according toa species descriptionby the Montana Natural Heritage Program and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Because their distribution is so broad from British Columbia to northern Mexico, and from California to the central Great Plains groups of skunks could potentially be separated from each other by manynatural geographical barriers, such are rivers and mountain ranges. Scientists wanted to know whether geography could explain how skunk populations separated from each other and evolved unique genetic signatures, or if other land-shaping factors might have played a part, study lead author Adam Ferguson, collection manager of mammals at the Field Museum of Natural History, told Live Science.

"We were interested in whether we would see if genetic breaks are associated with older events major biogeographic events, like the Sierra, the Rockies, the Rio Grande or withclimate change," Ferguson explained.

In general, skunks aren't well-studied, probably because working with them comes with an odious olfactory price "even their tissues stink," Ferguson said. In fact, during each season of fieldwork, he puts aside what will be "the skunk clothes," an outfit that sometimes must be permanently retired when the season ends, he said.

Study lead author Adam Fergusun wearing impromptu Kleenex nose plugs not to block the smell of his study subject, but because he had a cold.

Courtesy of Adam Fergusun

For the study, the scientists sampled genetic data from 97 skunks representing a range of habitats and climates in thesouthwestern U.S.But the genetic differences that separated them didn't map to geographic features. For example, two skunk populations divided by mountains were mostly identical on a genetic level, the study authors found.

By modeling climate conditions during theice ageglacial maximum the period when ice covered the most land mass the researchers discovered that advancing glaciers could have effectively isolated habitat "refuges" from each other, allowing genetic differences to evolve in separated animal groups.

Their findings help to fill in the picture of how ancient climate change affected not only the western spotted skunks, but possibly other animals as well large and small that shared the skunks' habitats across the southwestern U.S. And this could help scientists predict how ecosystems and their inhabitants might be affected by present-day climate change, Ferguson said.

"If we have data from rodents, bats, small carnivores, large carnivores, reptiles, birds, we can say, 'How as a whole would theSonoran Desert communityrespond potentially to climate change across the board?' You can make these general predictions of how climate change might affect an entire community not just a single species," he told Live Science.

The findings were published online May 3 in the journalEcology and Evolution.

Original article onLive Science.

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Handstanding skunks' DNA holds clues to ancient climate - CBS News - CBS News

Hide and Seek

Recent estimates by the United Nationssay as many as 36.7 million peopleworldwide are known to have HIV.Of these, roughly 1.2 million people are in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These alarming numbers actually grow every year, and adequate treatment let alone a cure still seems a long way off. One of the major reasons thats so isbecause HIV as a disease is something of a tough nut to crack: the virus is capable of hiding itself in latent reservoirs, making it extremely difficult for a permanent cure to be developed.

Theres a glimmer of hope, though: scientists atthe Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM) and the University of Pittsburgh published astudy in the journal Molecular Therapyshowing itspossible to surgically remove HIV DNA from a living animal genome. This is the first time that such a method was demonstrated to be possible, and it could increase the chances of eliminating HIV infection.

The secret is in CRISPR/Cas9, the worlds most efficient and effective gene editing tool, which made it possible to delete targeted HIV-1 fragments from the infected animal tissue genome. CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9)-mediated genome editing provides a promising cure for HIV-1/AIDS, the studys abstract notes. This research built on a proof-of-concept study that the same team of researchers conductedlast year.

Our new study is more comprehensive, LKSOMs Wenhui Hu explained. We confirmed the data from our previous work and have improved the efficiency of our gene editing strategy. We also show that the strategy is effective in two additional mouse models, one representing acute infection in mouse cells and the other representing chronic, or latent, infection in human cells.

The researchers used CRISPR/Cas9 to shut down HIV on three sets of animal models: one performed ontransgenic mice with HIV-1, another with mice acutely infected with the mouse equivalent of human HIV (ecoHIV), and a third group of mice that had human immune cells with latent HIV-1 embedded into their tissues and organs.

In all three animal models, the researchers were able to successfully render HIV inactive via gene editing, reducing the RNA expression of viral genes by up to 95 percent in the first model, and up to 96 percent in the second. For the third model, they were able to remove viral fragments from the latently infected human cells in the mouse organs after only a single CRISPR/Cas9 treatment.

Now, researchers need tomake the treatment more viable for humans:The next stage would be to repeat the study in primates, a more suitable animal model where HIV infection induces disease, in order to further demonstrate elimination of HIV-1 DNA in latently infected T cells and other sanctuary sites for HIV-1, including brain cells, said researcher Kamel Khalili. Our eventual goal is a clinical trial in human patients.

As this is the first time gene editing was demonstrated to work on HIV in animals, this method could prove to be a game changer in treating the elusive virus: its a crucial step in, eventually,creating a cure.

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Scientists Just Surgically Removed HIV DNA From Live Animals - Futurism

New York's PIX11 / WPIX-TV

Child rapist gives DNA to cops, gets nabbed in 1993 sex assault ... New York's PIX11 / WPIX-TV HAMILTON HEIGHTS, Manhattan A man who pled guilty earlier this year to raping a child has just been tied, through DNA evidence, to the 1993 knifepoint ... Decades-Old Rape of 11-Year-Old Girl Solved With DNA Evidence ...DNAinfo DNA Evidence Links Man To Unsolved Rape From 1993, Manhattan ...Gothamist DNA links NYC child rapist to young girl's 1993 cold case sexual ...Fox News all 5 news articles »

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Child rapist gives DNA to cops, gets nabbed in 1993 sex assault ... - New York's PIX11 / WPIX-TV