Daily Archives: August 6, 2021

The Indian government recently preponed the target to bring the average ethanol blending of petrol in the country to 20 percent by 2025. It plans to roll out the ethanol blended E20 petrol from April 2023. E20 fuel is 80 percent petrol mixed with 20 percent ethanol.

Around half of the petrol currently sold in in India contains 10 percent ethanol (E10). the rest being sold is unblended (E0). The first phase of the program targets country-wide E10 availability by April, 2022.

The policy push has several benefits. It is expected to reduce air pollution, being lesser polluting than petrol. The government foresees oil import savings to the tune of Rs. 30,000 crores annually.

It also promises to create a whole new industry. To give impetus to the program, the government will be channelling 6 million tons of sugar into production of ethanol every year by 2025.

Ethanol offers similar efficiency at a lower cost compared to petrol. However, to make a vehicle run on E20, there are certain updates and modifications that are needed to engines. E20 rollout will mirror the shift India took from leaded to unleaded petrol.

Let us understand what is Ethanol based fuel, and how the blended E20 petrol will be different than what most vehicles fill up from gas stations today.

What is Ethanol fuel?

Ethanol fuel is ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic drinks.

It is most commonly utilized as a motor fuel, primarily as a biofuel addition in gasoline. Biomass is commonly utilized for making ethanol, such as corn or sugarcane. India's abundance of sugarcane production is pivotal to the push towards ethanol based fuel.

How different Ethanol fuel is from petrol?

Petrol has more energy than ethanol;a tank full of ethanol contains approximately 30 percent less energy than the same quantity of petrol.

As per a Niti Aayog paper published in June 2021, using E20 fuel in 4 wheelers designed for E0 petrol and then calibrated for E10 will result in an estimated loss in fuel efficiency of 6-7 percent. For E0 two wheelers upgraded to E10, using E20 will result in a 3-4 percent decrease in efficiency.

For newer 4-wheel vehicles that are designed for E10 petrol and upgraded for E20, there will be a negligible loss of 1-2 percent in efficiency.

New flex engines

As the next step of the program, India has chosen to allow ethanol-based 'flex engines,' which use local farm produce instead of fossil fuels to power vehicles. Flex engines are those that can run at any ratio of ethanol blending from E20 to E100.

These types of engines and cars are not new. The Fiat 147, launched in 1978 in Brazil, was the first production car to run solely on ethanol.

More:
DNA Explainer: What is the Government-proposed E20 fuel? How is it different from the petrol in use now? - DNA India

San Diego officials have identified the murder suspect as a U.S. Air Force veteran, relying on a combination of advanced DNA testing and genetic genealogy to resolve the 1980 cold case murder of a local college student. ..

But for 20-year-old Michelle Wyatt and her family, John Patrick Hogan, police say he strangled a young woman on the phone line after the rape, died in 2004 from an overdose of drugs, so there is no justice. 42 years old.

On Wednesday, the San Diego County Sheriffs Office announced a major break in the 40-year-old Wyatt case.

According to a press release, Hogan, who probably didnt know Wyatt at the age of 18 at the time of the murder, used a commercial genealogy site to extract previously unknown DNA collected at the crime scene. After collation, he was identified as a suspect.

San Diego officials have identified the late John Patrick Hogan (left) as the man they say raped and killed Michelle Wyatt, 20, in October 1980.

Wyatt, a college student, was found raped and then strangled on a telephone line in an apartment in Santee, California (pictured).

It depicts a tombstone bearing Michelle Wyatts name and her date of birth and death.

The incident occurred on October 9, 1980, after a woman reported that her roommate Wyatt was dead in her living room with a telephone line wrapped around her neck in a Kerrigan Court mansion in San Diego, a suburb of Santi. Began to occur. ..

An autopsy revealed that Wyatt, who attended Grossmont College and worked as a cashier, was suffocated by strangulation after being sexually assaulted.

The attack took place early in the morning shortly after Wyatts boyfriend left her apartment and locked the front door behind him.

According to the sheriffs department, witnesses reported hearing screams from Wyatts apartment, but no one turned to 911 for help.

Investigators identified and interviewed multiple suspects and tracked all possible leads until the case cooled.

Sixteen years later, Wyatts murder was considered for additional clues and the use of new DNA technology. Nearly 90 potential suspects were screened, many of whom provided DNA samples for comparison with biological evidence collected in 1980.

Samples were sent for inspection, but no suspect was identified at that time.

Hogan (left) was an 18-year-old US Air Force officer at the time of the murder. Wyatt (right) attended Grossmont College, worked as a cashier, and had a boyfriend.

Wyatts mother, Louise Wyatt, is depicted talking to ABC10 shortly after her daughters brutal murder.

In June 2000, field evidence was reexamined using modern methods, revealing two separate DNA profiles.

The rape kit recovered from Wyatt revealed that one of the DNA profiles was the boyfriend of the victim who was eliminated as a suspect and the other was from an unidentified man.

Hogan died of drug overdose in 2004 and cannot be tried. He was 42 years old.

In 2001, the DNA of an unknown suspect was entered into the Combined DNA Index System, but no match was found.

Last September, the Cold Case Team of the Sheriff County Sheriff Murder Unit in San Diego and the Sheriff Crime Institute chose to work with Wyatts murder using a research genetic diagram.

For the next nine months, with the help of the FBI, the team identified Hogan, known as Pat Hogan, as a potential suspect using genetic genealogy.

Subsequent investigations revealed that Hogan was born in Arizona in 1961 and moved to Santi in the 1970s. He attended Santana High School and may have once lived in the same apartment as Wyatt.

Hogan had friends at the Wyatt complex and visited him frequently. At the time of the murder, Hogan lived a little over a mile from the crime scene.

Hogan joined the United States Air Force in 1979 and was briefly stationed in New Mexico. He traveled back and forth between Arizona, Idaho, and California until he died of an overdose of methamphetamine in 2004. He was never identified as a suspect in Wyatts lifelong murder.

Louise Wyatt, who saw him talking to ABC10 in 2020, said he was grateful for the efforts of the authorities but was disappointed with the outcome of the incident.

Further DNA testing revealed that the unknown DNA recovered by Wyatts rape and murder system came from Hogan.

The investigation revealed substantive and compelling evidence that Hogan had sexually assaulted and killed Michelle, a sheriffs press release said.

The sheriffs murder unit used the science of genetic genealogy to track relatives with a DNA profile that matched the DNA profile of the murderers unidentified suspect.

The suspects profile was created and uploaded to a commercial genealogy site where law enforcement agencies can participate.

The Cold Case team then created a family tree. This led the detective to other potential relatives of the man. The process eventually ended by directing the researchers to closer relatives and contacting Hogans direct family members who provided the DNA samples, which confirmed the identification.

Michelles murder would probably not have been resolved without the use of the genetic genealogy of the investigation, the sheriffs office said.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Wyatts parents in their 80s thanked the murder investigators for their work in identifying their daughters murderer, but said they were disappointed with the results.

Okay, hes dead, but I wanted to be able to talk to this guy personally, said Michelles mother, Louise Wyatt. The ending is scary.

U.S. Air Force veteran identified by DNA as the murderer of a student raped and strangled in 1980

Source link U.S. Air Force veteran identified by DNA as the murderer of a student raped and strangled in 1980

Excerpt from:
US Air Force veteran identified by DNA as the murderer of a student raped and strangled in 1980 - Texasnewstoday.com

SUNBURY The DNA testing sought by a Northumberland County man would not clear him of a 1986 murder for which he claims he was wrongly convicted, the prosecution contends.

Deputy Attorney General Christopher J. Schmidt on Monday asked Superior Court to affirm a lower court decision and deny the DNA testing sought by Scott R. Schaeffer.

Schaeffer is appealing the decision of specially assigned Lycoming County Senior Judge Dudley N. Anderson denying his request for DNA testing of certain evidence related to the murder of Rickey Wolfe, 30, of Mifflinburg.

The judge ruled Schaeffer, of the Sunbury area, failed to make a prima facie showing that the DNA testing he requested would establish actual innocence.

Wolfes body was found face down in a pool of blood near his car Dec. 12, 1986, at a state Fish Commission boat ramp along the Susquehanna River north of Montandon.

He was one of five men charged (two were acquitted) with beating Wolfe while he was blindfolded, on his knees and with his hands secured behind him. Authorities cited drug debts as the motive.

Schaeffer was convicted in 1991 of first-degree murder and other charges in the beating death of Wolfe.

His conviction and that of William Lloyd Hendricks III were vacated after co-defendant Robert Eugene Hummel said he lied under pressure from state police when he testified he was present when Wolfe was killed.

Schaeffer and Hendricks in 2004 pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit third-degree murder and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

Each was re-sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison followed by 10 years probation.

Although Schaeffer had served the minimum he remained in jail two more years for a total of 17 before being paroled. He maintains he accepted the plea offer to get out of prison.

Schmidts brief opposing the DNA test mirrors arguments he made previously that include the request is untimely, the results would not clear Schaeffer and by pleading no contest he did not admit guilt.

He noted Schaeffer did not request DNA testing before he entered the no-contest plea in 2004 but waited until late 2018.

Further, he argues, Schaeffer would not be exonerated if testing reveals DNA of co-conspirators or accomplices were on objects found at the murder scene.

Should Superior Court affirm Anderson on the DNA testing, Schaeffer asks the case be remanded to Northumberland County for an evidentiary hearing on what he claims is new evidence.

Schmidt also opposes that, saying the assertion Wolfe was murdered by or at the behest of two men not charged in the case is not record-based.

Schaeffer had the opportunity to present this evidence at a Nov. 6, 2019, hearing but did not nor did he request an additional hearing, he said.

Schaeffers claim that sales slips purportedly show he and an ex-girlfriend were shopping in the Harrisburg area the day Wolfe was killed is not new as the defense introduced them at the 1990 trial, Schmidt noted.

More:

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More:
DNA testing will not clear man of 1986 murder for which he spent 17 years in jail, AG says - PennLive

STONY BROOK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: APDN) (Applied DNA or the Company), a leader in Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-based DNA manufacturing and nucleic acid-based technologies, today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Applied DNA Clinical Labs, LLC, (ADCL) was awarded a competitively-bid COVID-19 testing contract by the City University of New York (CUNY) Board of Trustees to facilitate the Universitys reopening in the fall (the Contract). The Contract term is 12 months, has a maximum value not to exceed $35.0 million, and contains no minimum weekly testing commitment.

The Contract specifies ADCLs deployment of safeCircle, its high-throughput, pooled COVID-19 testing program, to provide weekly asymptomatic diagnostic COVID-19 screening of on-campus unvaccinated students, staff, and faculty, and a random sampling of vaccinated individuals across the CUNY school system. ADCLs solution includes the use of subcontractor CLEARED4s health verification platform for appointments, sample tracking, and value-add services of campus access management. As prime contractor, ADCL will also provide on-site staffing and sample transport and logistics. CUNY projects weekly testing in the range of 20,000 to 65,000 tests over the period of the Contract. Testing levels are contingent on vaccination rates, the ratio of in-person versus remote attendance, and positivity rates within the CUNY population.

CUNY, the nations largest urban public university spanning 25 colleges across New York Citys five boroughs, will offer in-person and hybrid classes for the upcoming semester that will bring together a mixed population of individuals vaccinated and unvaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. For CUNY, the Contract operationalizes the CDCs Guidance for Institutions of Higher Education aimed at disease control and minimizing the risk of exposure in education settings.

Testing under the Contract will commence in early August 2021, and all sample collection sites will be fully operational before the start of the academic year on August 25. Testing will be conducted at ACDLs CLEP/CLIA-certified laboratory using the Companys Linea COVID-19 Assay Kit both in a pooled diagnostic screening modality and to perform reflex individual diagnostic testing of samples contained in a positive pool.

This award reflects execution on our strategy to position safeCircles COVID-19 testing offerings in front of high-frequency, high-volume testing opportunities in the marketplace, including those funded by Federal and State monies released since the start of the pandemic that are earmarked to fund States reopening strategies. Having spent the last calendar year putting into place the constituent components for a high-throughput clinical laboratory for COVID-19 testing, this award is a significant milestone for the Companys Diagnostics business, stated Dr. James A. Hayward, president and CEO of Applied DNA. Our goal is to help CUNY provide the safest environment for its diverse local and international population in what is possibly one of the largest testing cohorts in the nation.

Concluded Dr. Hayward, As the national educational system enters its second full year under the pandemic, the confluence of vaccine clinical successes, vaccine hesitancy, and the rise of variants sets the stage for a more complex testing environment. We believe we are uniquely positioned to address these circumstances with our high-throughput testing facility, as experts in pooled COVID-19 testing to address the needs of large groups, and with our SGS Mutation Panel and its ability to identify certain mutations that characterize emerging variants. To that end, we are pursuing other private sector, State and local government-level contract opportunities with the full breadth of our safeCircle offerings.

Fiscal 2021 Third Quarter Financial Results and Investor Conference Call

The Company will report its fiscal 2021 third quarter financial results on Thursday, August 12, 2021, after market close and hold its quarterly investor conference call and webcast that same day. Additional details will be provided in a separate press release.

About safeCircle

ADCLs high throughput pooled testing program, known as safeCircle, utilizes frequent, high-sensitivity pooled testing to help prevent virus spread by quickly identifying infections within a community, school, or workplace. safeCircle provides rapid results using real-time PCR (RT-PCR) testing.

Click through to learn more about how safeCircle can help your community, school, and workplace: safeCircle

About the Linea COVID-19 Assay Kit

The Linea COVID-19 Assay Kit is a real-time RT-PCR test intended for the qualitative detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory specimens including anterior nasal swabs, self-collected at a healthcare location or collected by a healthcare worker, and nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs, mid-turbinate nasal swabs, nasopharyngeal washes/aspirates or nasal aspirates, and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens collected by a healthcare worker from individuals who are suspected of COVID-19 by their healthcare provider (HCP). The test is also intended for use with anterior nasal swab specimens that are self-collected in the presence of an HCP from individuals without symptoms or other reasons to suspect COVID-19 when tested at least weekly and with no more than 168 hours between serially collected specimens.

The scope of the Linea COVID-19 Assay Kit EUA, as amended, is expressly limited to use consistent with the Instructions for Use by authorized laboratories, certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) to perform high complexity tests. The EUA will be effective until the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of the emergency use of in vitro diagnostics for detection and/or diagnosis of COVID-19 is terminated or until the EUAs prior termination or revocation. The diagnostic kit has not been FDA cleared or approved, and the EUAs limited authorization is only for the detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2, not for any other viruses or pathogens.

About Applied DNA Sciences

Applied DNA is commercializing LinearDNA, its proprietary, large-scale polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based manufacturing platform that allows for the large-scale production of specific DNA sequences.

The LinearDNA platform has utility in the nucleic acid-based in vitro diagnostics and preclinical nucleic acid-based drug development and manufacturing market. The platform is used to manufacture DNA for customers as components of in vitro diagnostic tests and for preclinical nucleic acid-based drug development in the fields of adoptive cell therapies (CAR T and TCR therapies), DNA vaccines (anti-viral and cancer), RNA therapies, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) based therapies, and gene therapies. Applied DNA is also the manufacturer of the EUA-authorized Linea COVID-19 Assay Kit.

The LinearDNA platform also has non-biologic applications, such as supply chain security, anti-counterfeiting and anti-theft technology. Key end-markets include Gov/Mil, textiles, pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, and cannabis, among others.

Visit adnas.com for more information. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. Join our mailing list.

The Companys common stock is listed on NASDAQ under ticker symbol APDN, and its publicly traded warrants are listed on OTC under ticker symbol APPDW.

Applied DNA is a member of the Russell Microcap Index.

Forward-Looking Statements

The statements made by Applied DNA in this press release may be forward-looking in nature within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements describe Applied DNAs future plans, projections, strategies, and expectations, and are based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Applied DNA. Actual results could differ materially from those projected due to its history of net losses, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance (including for our COVID-19 diagnostic and other testing offerings), the unknown amount of revenues and profits that will result from the COVID-19 testing contract with the City University of New York (CUNY) Board of Trustees, the possibility that the Linea Assay Kit could become obsolete or have its utility diminished, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, future clinical data and analysis, including whether any of Applied DNAs or its partners diagnostic candidates will advance further in the preclinical research or clinical trial process, including receiving clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA) or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies to conduct clinical trials and whether and when, if at all, they will receive final approval from the U.S. FDA or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies, the unknown outcome of any applications or requests to U.S. FDA, equivalent foreign regulatory agencies and/or the New York State Department of Health, the unknown limited duration of any Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approval from U.S. FDA, changes in guidance promulgated by the CDC, U.S. FDA and/or CMS relating to COVID-19 testing, disruptions in the supply of raw materials and supplies, and various other factors detailed from time to time in Applied DNAs SEC reports and filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on December 17, 2020, and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed on February 11, 2021 and May 13, 2021, and other reports we file with the SEC, which are available at http://www.sec.gov. Applied DNA undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, unless otherwise required by law.

Continue reading here:
Applied DNA Awarded The City University of New York (CUNY) COVID-19 Testing Contract - Business Wire

Growing up, Brandon Tong longed for a brother or sister. Raised by a devoted single mother, Dung (known as Donna) working two jobs to keep the family afloat, he struggled to make friends.

[Mum] worked very hard to support me, Brandon, now 26 and from San Diego, told The Mirror. She owned a dollar store and also worked repairing watches. She juggled so much.

But as an only child, Brandon sometimes felt isolated.

He said: I was unbelievably lonely when I was a child. A brother or sister was pretty much all I wanted. But mum wasnt really dating or anything so another child never came.

I thought it would be really cool to have a brother.

And when he was at school, Brandons loneliness was even more acute.

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I was a bit lacking in social skills. I didnt really know how to make friends and I was the kid who got picked on, he recalled.

Being raised by a strong woman, Brandon never knew much about his dad. He had a few photos of his father holding him as a baby, and received birthday cards for a few years. But the cards stopped around the time he was in primary school.

Luckily, he slowly came out of his shell as he reached adolescence. But even with some friends by his side, Brandon still struggled at school.

School never went well for me. I had a big social anxiety problem and never got my high school diploma, he said.

Brandon decided to drop out of school at 17, before working part time in retail and as a sushi chef. In time, he went back to college, hoping things would be different. But when he was put on academic probation, he knew this path wasnt for him.

Thats when I joined the army, he said. My lifes been a lot better since.

And from there, things finally started to fall into place. While stationed in Korea, Brandon met his now-wife, Viktoria. The pair married in 2018 and moved across the country to San Diego, where she is from.

Happy with his lot, Brandon was never particularly interested in tracking down his biological father.

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My wife was always bothered by it but I wasnt very curious, he said.

But one day, the pair saw a TV advert for a home DNA test kit and had an idea.

I was interested to find out more about the scientific side of things, like which diseases I might be susceptible to and my ethnicity. So me and my wife got a package deal and bought two kits at the same time.

The kits arrived and Brandon and Viktoria did their swabs. When the results came back, Brandon wasnt particularly surprised.

It told me I was mostly Vietnamese with some Chinese heritage but I pretty much expected that, he said.

It wasnt until Brandon logged onto his account on the 23&Me website to fill in details about health conditions that he discovered something incredible.

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When he clicked on his profile, Brandon had a relative listed, who had also taken a home DNA test - his half brother, who shared a biological father.

I was so shocked. I didnt know if it was real. I did remember my Mum saying something about my dad starting a new life but it never crossed my mind that it would be possible to meet any siblings, he said.

After the initial shock wore off, Brandon started having doubts

I was hesitant to reach out to him. I didnt feel like it was natural and I didnt think it would be something he wanted to do, he said.

Meanwhile, he and Viktoria took a belated honeymoon trip to Europe, travelling across the continent. But when he landed in Barcelona, he got another surprise.

My brother actually messaged me. I got it right as I turned on my phone when we got off the flight. I was like, Oh my God, he wants to talk to me.

His name was Ben, he was 16 and living on the other side of the country in Massachusetts, where Brandon had lived when he was very young.

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We were talking online for a long time. He didnt know much about his family either. He was excited about turning 18 so he could start doing his own thing, Brandon said.

When Brandon told his mum about the wonderful news, she was over the moon.

I think she was more excited than me, he joked.

Do you have a long lost family story? Did you discover a family member late in life? Send your stories to jessica.taylor@reachplc.com

With the coronavirus pandemic scuppering plans around the world, and while they waited for Ben to turn 18, the half brothers had to put their plans to meet on hold.

But just last week, Ben was travelling through San Diego with some friends and arranged to meet Brandon and Viktoria for the day.

Finally meeting his half brother for the first time, Brandon admitted it was a bit strange.

He said: Initially it was a little awkward but when we sat down to brunch, we realised we had plenty to talk about and catch up on.

We hung out for the entire day and Viktoria and I showed him the sights and drove him around.

Sadly, Ben was just passing through and could only stay for the day, but now the pair have met, theyre not letting each other go again.

Were definitely staying in touch. Its just a case of figuring out who travels to see the other one, Brandon said.

After the whirlwind of the last few years, Brandon still cant quite believe he met his brother through an online DNA kit.

Its like something out of a movie. I cant believe its real, he joked.

When Ben gets older, well have a bit more freedom to meet up, but were definitely going to see each other again.

Read the original here:
'I bought home DNA kit and discovered family secret that changed my life forever' - The Mirror