The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United States. It is equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries. The department is headed by the U.S. Attorney General, who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the president's Cabinet. The current attorney general is Merrick Garland, who was sworn in on March 11, 2021.The modern incarnation of the department was formed in 1870 during the Ulysses S. Grant presidency. The department is composed of federal law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The primary actions of the DOJ are investigating instances of white collar crime, representing the U.S. government in legal matters (such as in cases before the Supreme Court), and running the federal prison system. The department is also responsible for reviewing the conduct of local law enforcement as directed by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.S.S.S.S.S.
The integration experiences and vulnerabilities of migrants in host states are a critical area of study. This qualitative research, grounded in a human rights and social justice framework, investigates the systemic injustices and integration challenges faced by Zimbabwean migrants in Johannesburg, South Africa. Through in-depth interviews with 16 participants and six key informants, the study employs thematic analysis to uncover the socio-cultural, economic, and political barriers that impede successful integration. The findings reveal pervasive issues such as prejudice, discrimination, xenophobia, and language barriers, which exacerbate the migrants’ vulnerabilities and make it difficult to support their families. They, at times, fail to buy food and pay school fees for their children. Despite these challenges, the resilience and creativity of Zimbabwean migrants are evident. The study’s unique contribution lies in its widening of the genealogy of theories of migration by incorporating African-centred migration perspectives, which are grounded in social justice perspectives. This critiques the Global North-dominated narratives that have historically sidelined the lived experiences of migrants from the Global South. The study offers a comprehensive examination of the interplay between systemic barriers and migrant resilience, offering new insights into how migration involves and affects families. This research calls for the development and implementation of rights-based integration frameworks to address systemic issues and enhance the well-being of migrants so that they can better support their families and kinsmen.
Novel analogs of the psychedelic lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) have emerged on the gray market in recent years, typically containing substitutions to the ergoline scaffold on the indole (N1) nitrogen or at the diethylamide moiety. In these studies, we screened 4 N1-substituted drugs (1A-LSD, 1P-LSD, 1B-LSD, and 1CP-LSD) and 1 diethylamide-substituted drug (LSZ) in assays of serotonin receptor binding, LSD-like discriminative stimulus effects, and disposition in rat blood after systemic injection. As compared with LSD, we found that all of the N1-substituted drugs exhibited worse affinity for and/or weaker efficacy at 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)1A, 5-HT2A, 5-HT2B, and 5-HT2C receptors, while LSZ displayed an LSD-like binding profile at these sites. Despite their impaired receptor affinities and efficacies, the N1-substituted compounds all fully substituted for LSD in the rat, as did the diethylamide-substituted LSZ. Following systemic injection of the N1-substituted drugs at doses producing full substitution for LSD, we detected similar high blood levels of LSD at time points relevant to the behavioral assay, suggesting that these compounds are converted to LSD in vivo. In contrast, LSZ was the only species detected after its administration, which, combined with its high-affinity binding and intrinsic efficacy at psychedelic-relevant receptors, implies that it is biologically active on its own. These studies highlighted the role of pharmacokinetics and analytical chemistry in connecting seemingly disparate in vitro and in vivo drug profiles and strongly implied that variability in human metabolism of these compounds may result in dramatically different pharmacologic effects across individuals. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Four N1-substituted lysergamides (1A-lysergic acid diethylamide [LSD], 1P-LSD, 1B-LSD, and 1CP-LSD) and 1 diethylamide-substituted drug were screened for serotonin receptor binding, LSD-like discriminative stimulus effects, and disposition in rat blood. Despite their generally impaired receptor binding profiles compared with LSD, all the N1-substituted lysergamides were LSD-like in vivo, most likely through metabolic conversion to LSD. In contrast, the diethylamide-substituted drug exhibited LSD-like affinities and efficacy at 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors, was not metabolically converted to LSD, and elicited potent LSD-like interoceptive effects.
Some patients prescribed opioid pills fail to properly dispose of their unused pills, posing a risk for others. We report results from a pre-registered field experiment testing whether behaviorally informed reminder cards increase participation in a financial incentive program for returning unused opioid pills among U.S. Veterans. The cards incorporate principles from behavioral economics, including timely reminders, implementation intention prompts, and loss framing. Relative to a cash incentive alone, the reminder cards increase both the likelihood that patients return unused pills (the extensive margin) and the number of pills returned (the intensive margin). The intervention also improves cost-effectiveness, reducing both the cost per pill returned and the cost per participant who returns pills. These findings show that low-cost behavioral messaging can meaningfully enhance the effectiveness of existing financial incentive programs for safe opioid disposal.
The probabilistic analysis performed in DNA kinship cases is affected by factors such as the number of loci analyzed, the STR allelic relative frequency dataset, and the population genetic characteristics of the individuals involved in the analysis. The Lebanese population shows high rates of endogamy and consanguinity, which challenges the power of discrimination of DNA profiles and is a potential source of misleading conclusions. The present study aims to evaluate the probability of false positives in relationship testing, especially siblingship, avuncular, and grandparent-grandchildren relationships, when cases are subject to different constraints, including DNA profile sizes (15 vs. 23 STR loci) and inbreeding coefficients (F ST). A total of 126 794 kinship comparisons were performed for each type of kinship test using a Lebanese database of 505 unrelated healthy individuals. To do so, DNA analysis results were assessed under a pair of propositions involving the stated relationship link between the two individuals vs. unrelatedness, offering quantification through the likelihood ratio (LR), a widely accepted metric to assess the value of scientific results. Among the simulated cases, false associations for full siblingship relationships were observed in 1 995 (1.6%) instances using a DNA profile size of 15 STRs (LR > 1, or log(LR) > 0). False associations decreased to 340 (0.3%) cases when the DNA profile size was increased to 23 STRs, and to 299 (0.2%) and 91 (0.07%) cases using the co-ancestry coefficient for the Lebanese population (0.002) and that recommended by the National Research Committee (0.02), respectively. Simulations of half siblingships (representing half-siblingship, avuncular, and grandparent-grandchildren relationships) showed similar results. Conversely, 41 full biological siblingship cases, 24 true full-siblingship laboratory cases, and 124 true half-siblingship laboratory cases were used as controls to assess the effects of implementing the conditions applied in the simulations (profile size and co-ancestry coefficient (F ST) values) to lower false associations. Results for the positive controls showed that the implementation of the National Research Committee-recommended F ST value of 0.02 decreased the LR by an average of 102 for 15-STR DNA profiles, and by an average of 104 for 23-STR DNA profiles, which did not lead to misleading results. However, the use of a DNA profile size of 23 STRs with the Lebanese co-ancestry coefficient showed the most meaningful results. This study could help to set national recommendations for the interpretation of kinship testing in the Lebanese population.
