INTRODUCTIONThis study aimed to investigate the determinants of sexual intercourse initiation among incarcerated adolescents aged 12-19 years in Malaysia.

METHODSThis was a sequential mixed-method research project that was conducted in two phases. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used in the first and second phases, respectively. Data was collected via a survey using self-reported questionnaires from 1,082 adolescents, and from in-depth interviews and the written essays of 29 participants. The participants were recruited from 22 welfare institutions in peninsular Malaysia.

RESULTSAmong the study participants, 483 were male and 599 were female. Overall, 62.3% of the incarcerated adolescents had initiated sexual intercourse at least once. The mean age at first sexual intercourse for both genders was 14.0 years. Individual factors found to be associated with previous sexual intercourse were the female gender (odds ratio [OR] 1.75; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11-2.74), previous alcohol use (OR 1.80; 95% CI 1.10-2.94), previous illicit drug use (OR 1.85; 95% CI 1.07-3.22), permissive attitude toward premarital sex (OR 4.34; 95% CI 2.17-8.70), and sexual abuse during childhood (OR 5.41; 95% CI 3.52-8.32). Qualitative findings revealed that the reasons for initiation of sexual intercourse among these adolescents were partner influence, inability to control sex drive, family issues, and the perception of sex as an expression of love.

CONCLUSIONThe determinants of sexual intercourse initiation among incarcerated Malaysian adolescents are comparable to those of developed countries. However, in Malaysia, sexual and reproductive health programmes for such adolescents should be tailored to address their specific needs.

Adolescent ; Adolescent Behavior ; Alcohol Drinking ; Child ; Data Collection ; Female ; Humans ; Malaysia ; Male ; Odds Ratio ; Prisoners ; statistics & numerical data ; Prisons ; Risk-Taking ; Sexual Behavior ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the characteristics in the incarcerated inmate's death, investigate the main cause of death of the incarcerated inmate and provide some information for forensic investigation. METHODS: The cases from the forensic medical center of Shanxi Medical University from 2005 to 2013 were selected. The statistical analysis was performed by using the incarcerated inmate's gender, age, cause of death, manner of death, and disease as the markers. RESULTS: There were 100 men, 5 women in the 105 incarcerated inmates; the age range was from 16 to 65 years; Inmates were mostly died of natural diseases, mainly in the respiratory and cardiovascular diseases; the main unnatural death was suicide with a rate of 54.5%. CONCLUSION At present, most incarcerated inmate's death are due to natural diseases. The prison should improve incarcerated inmate's lives, work and health care conditions, and strengthen supervision of law enforcement.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Cardiovascular Diseases/mortality* ; Cause of Death ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prisoners/statistics & numerical data* ; Prisons ; Respiratory Tract Diseases/mortality* ; Suicide ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVEThe forensic DNA databases are very important for individual identification. In order to evaluate the genetic markers used for a forensic DNA databases and the compatibility between the manual DNA typing system and the automatic DNA typing system, a testing DNA database should be constructed. Also, constructing a testing DNA database can increase our understanding of the issue for forensic DNA databases.

METHODSA total of 1000 specimens, including samples of blood, blood stains, salvia stains, semen stains, mixture stains and muscle tissues, were collected from the public security bureau of Chengdu. The DNA of each specimen was extracted by Chelex method and analyzed using Amp-FLP technique. A total of 8 STR loci, including D3S1358, D9S1118, vWA, D5S818, D16S539, D8S1179, CSF1PO and D20S161 were chosen and employed for DNA typing. Each STR locus was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction PCR and the PCR products were typed with the polyacryamide gel electrophoresis. Typing DNA was carried out by comparing with a human allele ladder. A total of 8 human allele ladders for D3S1358, D9S1118, vWA, D5S818, D16S539, D8S1179, CSF1PO and D20S161 were made in-house. Managing software of the testing DNA database was designed using Microsoft Access.

RESULTSThe results of DNA typing in 1000 specimens showed that the total discrimination power of 8 STR loci was over 0.99999999.

CONCLUSIONThis study show that a forensic DNA database should be useful for search purpose. The total discrimination power over 0.99999999 imply that in principle there is no identical genotype at whole 8 STR loci between two persons from a population with 10000000 individuals. This means that 8 STR loci used in this study are suitable to construct forensic DNA databases in Chengdu of China. The result of DNA typing can be repeated and the data have compatibility between the manual DNA typing system and the automatic DNA typing system. The data search in our testing DNA database can be carried out using only some loci of the set of 8 STR markers. Also, the volume of our testing DNA databases could be enlarged easily. The implication from this study is that the legislation should not be negligent before establishing a forensic DNA database. This DNA database provides a model for establishing the forensic DNA databases in China.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Alleles ; Crime ; DNA ; chemistry ; genetics ; Databases as Topic ; Female ; Forensic Medicine ; statistics & numerical data ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Male ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Middle Aged ; Prisoners ; statistics & numerical data ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Tandem Repeat Sequences ; genetics