South African prisoner wins payout after prison HIV infection

An ex-prisoner who sued South Africa's prison authorities after contracting HIV has obtained a landmark payout--the first time the South African government has been held accountable for the spread of HIV in overpopulated prisons, Reuters reported on 12 February 2003.     

Psychosocial differences between occasional and regular adolescent users of Marijuana and Heroin

Data on marijuana and heroin use were obtained from 969 adolescents in Hong Kong, part of them being offenders. Very high drug use prevalence rates were found, which is due to the unique population studied. All but two of the heroin users were incarcerated youth. Drug use frequencies were highly associated with psychosocial variables such as sensation seeking, peer drug use, family drug use, susceptibility to peer pressure, perceived control to gain access to drugs, intention to try other substances, and perceived adverse consequences of drug use. Interactions were found indicating, for example, that regularly marijuana using girls and occasionally heroin using girls were characterized by higher levels of sensation seeking and susceptibility to peer pressure than their male counterparts. Polysubstance use was generally related to high levels of psychosocial vulnerability factors. The exclusive use of marijuana was associated with high susceptibility to peer pressure and with perceived control to gain access to drugs. The findings reflect a complex interplay of psychosocial variables with substance use in adolescents that, however, cannot be generalized beyond this particular sample in Hong Kong.Received Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Texas. Research interests include drug-taking behaviors, health psychology and women studies. To whom correspondence should be addressed.Received M. Phil in Clinical Psychology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Research interests include drug-taking behaviors and adolescent problems.Research interests include stress and anxiety.     

Digital forensic osteology--possibilities in cooperation with the Virtopsy project

In forensic pathology, the reactions that occur in the body from somatic death to cell death are commonly termed "supravital reactions". There are many reports of grossly visible and microscopic supravital reactions; however, few papers are available on the supravital reaction concerning gene expression. The aim of this study was to examine the gene expression of immediate early genes (IEGs) including c-fos, fos-B and c-jun in mechanically asphyxiated mouse brain and lung after somatic death and to identify the IEGs expressed at the point of supravital reaction in the brain and lung. Our results confirm that the expression of IEGs changed after death during supravital reaction and that the alterations differed according to the cause of death and the types of organ examined. In addition, IEG expression significantly increased following mechanical asphyxia. These results suggest that there is a specific pattern of gene expression following asphyxia. It is therefore important to identify the specific genes involved, as this may give significant information to aid in the post-mortem diagnosis of strangulation and hanging.     

Bank regulation and supervision in bank-dominated financial systems: a comparison between Japan and Germany

This paper compares bank regulation and supervision in Japan and Germany. We consider these countries because they both have bank-dominated financial systems and their banking systems are often lumped together as one model, yet, bank stability differs significantly. We show that Japan and Germany have chosen different approaches to bank regulation and supervision and ask why they made their choices. We argue that bank regulation and supervision were less efficient in Japan than in Germany and that these differences were decisive for bank behavior.

Special Tasks and Sacred Secrets on Soviet Atomic Espionage

This paper explores a largely ignored explanation to what was perceived as very extensive submarine intrusions in Swedish territorial waters during the 1980s. It is argued that the incident in 1981 when a Soviet Whiskey-class submarine ran aground close to a Swedish naval base damaged Soviet political ambitions in Europe. Although the Soviet Union could not credibly explain the incident, its significance could be diminished through a psychological operation. Several unsuccessful submarine hunts during the following years caused the public to doubt Swedish claims of repeated Soviet intrusions. The issue eventually developed an air of ridicule that undermined the political significance of the original event. Although available data are not sufficient to fully test this scenario, it is highly consistent with the course of events and deserves further attention.     

Another review of prison-based needle exchange programs published

In volume 8, issue 1 of the Review, we reported on the publication of a review of prison-based syringe-exchange programs (PSEPs) that concluded that such programs "are feasible and do provide benefit in the reduction of risk behaviour and the transmission of blood-borne infection without any unintended negative consequences." Another, more comprehensive review was recently published, confirming once again that PSEPs have been successful where they have been introduced.