A report of the 2000 and 2001 paternity testing workshops of the English speaking working group of the international society for forensic genetics

During the last 10 years, the English Speaking Working Group (ESWG) of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) has once a year arranged a Paternity Testing Workshop in which blood samples as well as a questionnaire concerning laboratory strategies were distributed to the participating laboratories. In 2000 and 2001, paper challenges were included in the workshops. Here, we present the results of the 2000 and 2001 Paternity Testing Workshops. The numbers of participating laboratories were 33 (2000) and 36 (2001). A total of 36% (2000) and 31% (2001) of the laboratories submitted typing results of variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs) investigated with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and single locus probes (SLPs). A total of 91% (2000) and 86% (2001) submitted typing results of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based systems. Typing errors occurred in 0.3% of the submitted PCR-based results in 2000 and in 0.1% in 2001. The results of the paper challenges showed a high degree of variation in the formulas used for calculation of the weight of evidence of rare events such as inconsistencies or possible silent alleles. The majority of the laboratories used the same formulas for calculations of frequently occurring events.     

The Bonn Agreement to the Kyoto Protocol – Paving the Way for Ratification

This article provides a short account of the international climate negotiations that took place in Bonn from 16 to 27 July 2001. After the Sixth Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change failed in November 2000, the Parties had decided to suspend the meeting. The ministers present at the resumed session successfully adopted the "Bonn Agreement to the Kyoto Protocol", a set of political compromises for the most contentious issues left open by the Kyoto Protocol. Although many details had been transferred to the Seventh Conference of the Parties, November 2001 in Marrakesh, Morocco, the Bonn Agreement already paved the way for ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and its entry into force. The Marrakesh Accord adopted on 10 November 2001transforms, with a few exceptions, this political agreement into bindinglegal text.     

Hope, meaning, and growth following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks

Positive psychologists found the increase of seven character strengths that encompass the so-called theological virtues, including hope and spirituality, in Americans after the September 11, 2001, attacks. Little is known about how they may affect post-September 11, 2001, mental health. Using multivariate analysis, this study investigated the relationship of hope and spiritual meaning with depression and anxiety in a sample of 457 students 3 months after September 11, 2001. Both characters contributed to lower levels of symptoms. In qualitative analysis, of 313 answers to an open-ended question regarding personal change, four categories emerged. The first three were consonant with other studies on posttraumatic growth (PTG), including changes in the self or behavior, relationships, and worldviews. The fourth category unique to September 11, 2001, was changes in political views. These findings offer further credence to the study of positive aspects resulting from violence-related trauma and highlight the needs for addressing the nature of traumatic events and PTG.     

Medicaid program; Medicaid managed care. Withdrawal of final rule with comment period

This document withdraws all provisions of the final rule with comment period on Medicaid managed care that we published in the Federal Register on January 19, 2001 (66 FR 6228) with an initial effective date of April 19, 2001. This January 19, 2001 final rule, which has never taken effect, would have combined Medicaid managed care regulations in a new part 438, implemented Medicaid managed care requirements of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (Pub. L. 105-33), and imposed new requirements on entities currently regulated as "prepaid health plans' (PHPs). The regulations set forth in the final rule being withdrawn have been superseded by regulations promulgated in a subsequent rulemaking initiated on August 20, 2001 (66 FR 43613). In addition, this document addresses comments received in response to an interim final rule with comment period that we published on August 17, 2001 in the Federal Register (66 FR 43090) that further delayed, until August 16, 2002, the effective date of the January 19, 2001 final rule with comment period.     

Voting in the House or Wooing the Voters at Home: Labour MPs and the 2001 General Election Campaign

Part of Labour's strategy for winning a second full term of government at the 2001 general election in the UK involved encouraging its MPs, especially those holding marginal seats, to spend considerable time in their constituencies in the preceding years, contacting voters and promoting the party's cause. Given the size of its majority in 1997, it was able to afford for many MPs to be absent from divisions in the House of Commons. This article looks at the voting records of Labour MPs who stood for re-election in 2001 during the two preceding parliamentary sessions. It reports that backbench MPs representing marginal constituencies were much more likely to be absent from the House during the last session prior to the election. Those absences were also apparently related to their performance at the election: the more often they absented themselves from parliamentary votes in that session (compared to the previous session) the better their performance at the 2001 election relative to national trends.     

Two-Year Reliability of the Propensity for Abusiveness Scale

The Propensity for Abusiveness Scale (PAS; Dutton [1995a] J. Fam. Violence 10[2]: 203–221) has been shown to correlate with both physical and psychological abuse in a variety of samples including gay men, assaultive males, and male and female college students (Clift, 2001; Dutton et al., 2001). For the current study, 27 male and 37 female university students completed the PAS during the 1998–1999 and the 2000–2001 school years. A 2-year test–retest reliability coefficient of r = .851 was found for women and a reliability coefficient of r = .629 was found for men. The combined sample had a reliability coefficient of r = .774. Moderate test–retest reliability coefficients were also found for each of the subscales.     

解析非法进行节育手术罪中的"医生执业资格"--以有关行政法律规范为起点

非法进行节育手术罪的主体是未取得医生执业资格的人.这里的医生执业资格是法律法规要求成为医生从事计划生育手术所必需的资格与能力.结合有关卫生法律规范,笔者认为在1997年10月1日后,2001年10月1日前,本罪中的医生执业资格="计划生育手术合格证"+"计划生育手术许可证".在2001年10月1日后,本罪中的医生执业资格=<计划生育技术服务人员合格证>+<医师执业证书>+<计划生育技术服务机构执业许可证>或<医疗机构执业许可证>.由此框定了哪些是取得医生执业资格的人,本罪的主体-未取得医生执业资格人也就呼之欲出了.     

Recent trends in suicides utilizing helium

Retrospective review of cases of suicide involving helium inhalation was undertaken at Forensic Science South Australia over a 25-year period from 1985 to 2009. No cases of helium-related suicides were identified in the first 15 years of the study, with one case between 2000 and 2004 and eight cases between 2005 and 2009. Australian data were also reviewed from 2001 to 2009 that showed 30 cases between January 2001 and June 2005, compared to 79 cases between July 2005 and December 2009, an increase of 163%. A review of Swedish data between 2001 and 2009 showed no cases between January 2001 and June 2005, compared to seven cases between July 2005 and December 2009. Thus, all three areas showed recent and striking increases in cases of suicide involving helium inhalation. Given the availability of helium and the recent promotion of this method of suicide, it is quite possible that this may represent a newly emerging trend in suicide deaths.     

Detention Short of Arrest For Questioning in England: An Update

This research sampled 163 nations of the world to determine the use and non-use of capital punishment for 1980–85. The first conclusion was that the majority of the nations do have a legal device to administer capital punishment (77% with Yes; N = 126). The 22 nations who executed averaged 4.2 executions, per year. When the other nations are factored in, the average is 1.57 “official executions” per year (N = 163). Many nations have the legal device to execute, but few do. The top nations reporting were South Africa with 111, and Mauritius with 25 (per year 1980–85).

The average age for execution for the 42 reporting nations was 18. The United States of America was the only nation reporting for less than 16 years old. The following “methods of execution” were reported:

1.

Hanging (N = 26, 57%)

2.

Shooting (N = 11, 24%)

3.

Beheading (N = 7, 15%)

Nations also excluded from the death penalty for the following reasons:

1.

Mental Illness

2.

Juveniles

3.

Pregnant Woman

Only 7 nations reported “open” or “public” executions.     

Nigeria--Judge denies woman with HIV access to courtroom

In February 2001, a judge in the Ikeja High Court in Nigeria barred an HIV-positive woman from entering her courtroom out of concern for transmission of the virus.     

South Africa: damages awarded to woman infected by husband

In mid-2001, the High Court of South Africa issued its judgment in Patricio v Patricio, a civil case in which a woman sued her HIV-positive husband for infecting her with HIV.     

Pennsylvania's New Limit On Asbestos Liability For Successor Corporations

Pennsylvania recently enacted a law that limits the damages a successor corporation can be required to pay for asbestos liabilities. Senate Bill 216, which the Pennsylvania legislature passed in December 2001, bars any recovery against a qualifying successor corporation in excess of the adjusted fair market value of its predecessor. The act applies to all successor corporations that were incorporated in Pennsylvania prior to May 1, 2001 and that consummated a merger or consolidation with their predecessor prior to that date. Under standard choice-of-law rules, the act should protect qualifying successor corporations in many jurisdictions outside of Pennsylvania. The act survived its first constitutional challenge at the trial court level, and should survive any future challenges in the appellate courts     

Medicare program; revisions to payment policies under the physician fee schedule for calendar year 2001. Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), HHS. Final rule with comment period

This final rule with comment period makes several changes affecting Medicare Part B payment. The changes include: refinement of resource-based practice expense relative value units (RVUs); the geographic practice cost indices; resource-based malpractice RVUs; critical care RVUs; care plan oversight and physician certification and recertification for home health services; observation care codes; ocular photodynamic therapy and other ophthalmological treatments; electrical bioimpedance; antigen supply; and the implantation of ventricular assist devices. This rule also addresses the comments received on the May 3, 2000 interim final rule on the supplemental survey criteria and makes modifications to the criteria for data submitted in 2001. Based on public comments we are withdrawing our proposals related to the global period for insertion, removal, and replacement of pacemakers and cardioverter defibrillators and low intensity ultrasound. This final rule also discusses or clarifies the payment policy for incomplete medical direction, pulse oximetry services, outpatient therapy supervision, outpatient therapy caps, HCPCS "G" Codes, and the second 5-year refinement of work RVUs for services furnished beginning January 1, 2002. In addition, we are finalizing the calendar year (CY) 2000 interim physician work RVUs and are issuing interim RVUs for new and revised codes for CY 2001. We are making these changes to ensure that our payment systems are updated to reflect changes in medical practice and the relative value of services. This final rule also announces the CY 2001 Medicare physician fee schedule conversion factor under the Medicare Supplementary Medical Insurance (Part B) program as required by section 1848(d) of the Social Security Act. The 2001 Medicare physician fee schedule conversion factor is $38.2581.     

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation: The British Columbia Experience

In 2001, the province of British Columbia (BC) became the first Canadian jurisdiction to enact anti-SLAPP legislation. While this legislation proved to be short lived, the BC experience around the issue of SLAPPs is instructive for law reformers both in Canada and beyond. In this article, the authors describe the legal and political processes that set the stage for the passage of the 2001 law, and its subsequent repeal. They also provide a detailed analysis and critique of key aspects of the debate surrounding the design of the law, and consider its efficacy in identifying, dismissing and deterring SLAPP lawsuits. They conclude with some observations with respect to the current status of the SLAPP issue in BC.     

MODEL MISSPECIFICATION: WHY AGGREGATION OF OFFENSES IN FEDERAL SENTENCING EQUATIONS IS PROBLEMATIC

This paper addresses two concerns that arise from Steffensmeier and Demuth (2001) analysis of federal sentencing and their misrepresentation of my analyses of sentence severity (Albonetti, 1997). My primary concern is to alert researchers to the importance of controlling for the guidelines offense that drives the sentencing process under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. My second concern is to correct Steffensmeier and Demuth's (2001) errors in interpretation of my earlier findings of the effect of guidelines offense severity on length of imprisonment.     

The suicide mortality rates between 1997-1998 and 2000-2001 in Nantou County of Taiwan following the earthquake of September 21 in 1999.

The paper aims to show the different suicide mortality rate between 1997-1998 and 2000-2001 in Nantou County of Taiwan with earthquake on September 21 (often referred to as the "9-21 earthquake") in 1999. In additional, it also identifies the preventive strategies for the high-risk suicide population. The age-standardized mortality rates for suicide in Nantou County were calculated for the years 1997-1998 and 2000-2001. The suicide standardized mortality ratio (SMR for townships in Nantou were calculated by "type of township" as the standard rate). There is a statistically significant difference in male suicide rates for the years prior to the earthquake (1997-1998) when pooled and compared to the suicide rates for the years after the earthquake (2000-2001). The rate for four age groups (under 25, 25-44, 45-64, 65 and above) all increased, yet all but one (the group of age 45-64) was not statistically significant. The male SMR has slightly increased after the 9-21 earthquake. Yet there are no statistical significances in most townships, except in Kaohsiung and Puli after the 9-21 earthquake. The Kaohsiung SMRs were 1.36 (95% CI: 0.54-2.80) before the earthquake (1997-1998) and 2.01 (95% CI: 1.04-3.52) after the earthquake (2000-2001). The SMRs before and after the earthquake in the Puli Township were 1.51 (95% CI: 0.95-2.29) to 1.56 (95% CI: 1.03-2.27). This study suggests that monitoring high-risk population, especially males or 45-64 years of age who experienced the highest statistically significant suicide rate in this study. The study provides support for providing both the psychological restoration program and, to the extent feasible, financial support for the unemployed as useful public health strategies for suicide prevention in Taiwan.     

Medicare program; improvement to the Medicare+Choice appeal and grievance procedures. Final rule with comment period

This final rule with comment period responds to comments on the January 24, 2001, proposed rule regarding improvements to the Medicare+Choice (M+C) appeal and grievance procedures. It establishes new notice and appeal procedures for enrollees when an M+C organization decides to terminate coverage of provider services. The January 24, 2001 proposed rule was published as a required element of an agreement entered into between the parties in Grijalva v. Shalala, civ. 93-711 (U.S.D.C. Az.), to settle a class action lawsuit. This rule also specifies a Medicare-participating hospital's responsibility for issuing discharge or termination notices under both the original Medicare and M+C programs, amends the Medicare provider agreement regulations with regard to beneficiary notification requirements, and amends M+C enrollee grievance procedures.     

Book reviews

Stuart M. Kaye. International Fisheries Management. Kluwer Law International, The Hague, Netherlands, 2001. 606 pp. (hard cover). $172.00

Rosalee Love. Reefscape, Joseph Henry Press, Washington D.C., 2001. 264 pp. (hard cover). $24.95

Olav Schram Stokke (ed.), Governing High Seas Fisheries: The Interplay of Global and Regional Regimes, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001. 365 pp. (hard cover). $95.00

Norman J. Vig and Michael E. Kraft (eds.). Environmental Policy: New Directions for the Twenty‐First Century. 4th ed. Congressional Quarterly Press, Washington D.C., 2000. 416 pp. (paperback). $39.95

Joseph Franke and Teresa M. Telecky. Reptiles as Pets: An Examination of the Trade in Live Reptiles in the United States. The Humane Society of the United States, Washington D.C. 2001. 146 pp. (paperback). $10     

Court dismisses constitutional challenge to ban on assisted suicide

On 6 February 2001, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed a constitutional challenge by Jim Wakeford, a Toronto man with HIV/AIDS and an advocate for access to medical marijuana, to the sections of the Criminal Code that outlaw assisted suicide in Canada.     

The Suicide Mortality Rates between 1997–1998 and 2000–2001 in Nantou County of Taiwan Following the Earthquake of September 21 in 1999

Abstract:  The paper aims to show the different suicide mortality rate between 1997–1998 and 2000–2001 in Nantou County of Taiwan with earthquake on September 21 (often referred to as the "9-21 earthquake") in 1999. In additional, it also identifies the preventive strategies for the high-risk suicide population. The age-standardized mortality rates for suicide in Nantou County were calculated for the years 1997–1998 and 2000–2001. The suicide standardized mortality ratio (SMR for townships in Nantou were calculated by "type of township" as the standard rate). There is a statistically significant difference in male suicide rates for the years prior to the earthquake (1997–1998) when pooled and compared to the suicide rates for the years after the earthquake (2000–2001). The rate for four age groups (under 25, 25–44, 45–64, 65 and above) all increased, yet all but one (the group of age 45–64) was not statistically significant. The male SMR has slightly increased after the 9-21 earthquake. Yet there are no statistical significances in most townships, except in Kaohsiung and Puli after the 9-21 earthquake. The Kaohsiung SMRs were 1.36 (95% CI: 0.54–2.80) before the earthquake (1997–1998) and 2.01 (95% CI: 1.04–3.52) after the earthquake (2000–2001). The SMRs before and after the earthquake in the Puli Township were 1.51 (95% CI: 0.95–2.29) to 1.56 (95% CI: 1.03–2.27). This study suggests that monitoring high-risk population, especially males or 45–64 years of age who experienced the highest statistically significant suicide rate in this study. The study provides support for providing both the psychological restoration program and, to the extent feasible, financial support for the unemployed as useful public health strategies for suicide prevention in Taiwan.