Spontaneous cerebellar hemorrhage in children

Spontaneous cerebellar hemorrhages are a rare but often fatal occurrence in children. Although there are several predisposing factors such as blood dyscrasias or astrocytomas, the most common cause of cerebellar hemorrhage in an otherwise healthy child is the rupture of a vascular malformation. We reviewed the files of the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York and found four such instances over a period of less than two years. We present these here and outline the approach the forensic pathologist should take in evaluating such deaths.     

Rethinking Democratisation and Citizenship: Legal Pluralism and Institutional Reform in Guatemala

The December 1996 peace settlement in Guatemala agreed a series of institutional reforms in order to recognise the rights of the country's indigenous peoples; some 23 different ethno‐linguistic groups which make up 60% of the overall population. This article explores the relationship between pluri‐culturalism, citizenship, democracy and law in the contemporary politics of Guatemala. While territorially autonomous regions or separate legal jurisdictions are often proposed as a means to ensure indigenous rights, I argue that within a framework of post‐conflict reconstruction, integration with a measure of autonomy for democratically organised communities is the ideal. This is linked to development of an integrative form of citizenship which combines both social membership and identity and rights. Finally, I argue that support for pro‐active efforts to challenge the legacies of authoritarianism, militarisation and inequality will be necessary in order to strengthen democracy, build a culture of citizenship and increase justice.     

Psychiatric aspects of arsonists.

Arson is a major source of property damage, injury and death in the United States. Many people who commit arson have extensive psychiatric histories and symptoms at the time of their fire-setting. However, traditionally the law enforcement community and the mental health community have not shared information about the characteristics of people who set fires. This study examined mental health records and/or prison files from 283 arsonists. 90% of arsonists had recorded mental health histories, and of those 36% had the major mental illness of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. 64% were abusing alcohol or drugs at the time of their firesetting. Pyromania was only diagnosed in three of the 283 cases. Different motives for setting fires are discussed; many patients were both angry and delusional. A survey instrument, which captures both psychiatric and legal data, is included. Suggestions are made for gathering future "profiling" information. A matrix approach to coding diagnosis and behavior is presented.     

Eating Attitudes and Weight-Loss Attempts in Female Adolescents and Their Mothers

This study examined the relationship between mothers' eating attitudes and weight-loss attempts and their adolescent daughters' body dissatisfaction and weight-loss attempts. Two modes of transmission of mother's values to the daughter (modeling and encouragement) and two forms of weight-loss behavior (moderate and extreme) were examined. Female 10th and llth graders and their mothers completed eating attitudes and behaviors questionnaires. Daughter's moderate weight-loss attempts (e.g., dietary restraint and exercising) and its associated body dissatisfaction were significantly associated with mother's encouraging her daughter to lose weight. In contrast, daughter's more extreme weight-loss behaviors (e.g., fasting, crash dieting, and skipping meals) were predicted by mother's reports of her own body dissatisfaction and mother's use of extreme weight-loss behaviors herself. These effects were not simply an artefact of daughter's body weight. Implications for theory and prevention were noted.     

Israeli adolescents' self-image profile

Seven hundred and seventy-two Jewish Israeli male and female high school students (aged 14–18) responded to a Hebrew version of the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire (OSIQ). Results show that, much like the American adolescents, the majority of the Israeli respondents are happy and well-adjusted, although a noticeable minority experiences some personal trouble. Gender and age differences show that males hold a more positive self-image than do females, and that age differences among males are larger than among females. Comparisons with the American norm sample indicate that the Israeli and American self-image profiles differ significantly on only three scales. Israelis report a higher impluse control, and lower morals and vocational and educational goals. These results are discussed in terms of ecological and cultural explanations, and the need for extending OSIQ research to additional sectors of Israeli society is noted.Received Ph.D. from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Research interest is adolescents' psychosocial development.Received Ph.D. from the University of Manchester, England. Major research interest is personality development in adolescents.     

Redemption and reproach: Religion and carceral control in action among women in prison

Criminologists are increasingly interested in how a variety of justice-adjacent institutions scaffold surveillance and punishment in the U.S. criminal justice system. A relevant but understudied institution within the carceral state is that of religion. Drawing on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork inside a U.S. state women's prison, I interrogate how religion—predominately conservative and evangelical Protestantism—served dual purposes in light of carceral control. Religion offered redemptive narratives to counter punitive carceral narratives promulgated by the state. At the same time, this narrative shift from “flawed” to “faithful” prescribed particular forms of embodiment: avoiding fights and rejecting sexual relationships with women. These forms of Protestant embodiment aligned with carceral purposes, such that women who reprimanded others for breaching religious norms were simultaneously enforcing prison rules. Although rhetorically challenging official prison narratives on the meaning of incarceration, Protestant narratives in practice regulated women's emotional and sexual behaviors and fostered a system of informal surveillance among incarcerated women. These findings illuminate how organizational narratives are linked to individual action. More broadly, they suggest how an institution such as religion can undergird state authority within an intractable context of carceral control.     

Fast Discrimination of Marijuana using Automated High-throughput Cannabis Sample Preparation and Analysis by Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

In the United States, federal law and many state laws differentiate between marijuana and industrial hemp through delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) levels, whereby the latter is defined as ≤0.3 percent THC on a dry weight basis. Many traditional cannabis identification methods employed by crime laboratories cannot accurately determine total THC quantities in accordance with federal and state regulations, or do so with increased time, labor, and risks of instrument damage. In order to quickly distinguish positive marijuana samples, a method was developed to identify plant material with a total THC level >1%. This novel, automated dispersive pipette extraction (DPX) method uses tip-based technology and an automated liquid handler to enable fast, hands-free selective isolation of THC and its precursors for downstream gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The workflow proceeds with no repetitive manual effort and reduced need for instrument maintenance while enabling crime labs to legally identify marijuana through the detection of total THC above 1%. Recovery of THC using the DPX extraction method was 93% at 30 µg/mL and 78% at 500 µg/mL. Similarly, THCA-A recovery was 100% at 30 µg/mL and 74% at 500 µg/mL. Samples evaluated in a blind study (proficiency, hemp, and nonprobative case samples) were all accurately identified as greater than or less than 1% THC, with samples containing <1% THC being identified as “cannabis” and subjected to more discriminative analysis as needed.     

Linking Social Anxiety and Adolescent Romantic Relationship Functioning: Indirect Effects and the Importance of Peers

Peer relationships undergo dramatic shifts in form and function during adolescence, at the same time the incidence of socially evaluative fears sharply rises. Despite well-established links between social anxiety and broader interpersonal functioning, there is a dearth of research evaluating the impact of social anxiety on functioning in close relationships during this developmental stage. The present study examines the impact of social anxiety on functioning in close friendships and romantic relationships during adolescence. From a developmental psychopathology perspective, it was expected that social anxiety would influence functioning (quality, length, satisfaction) in romantic relationships through its influence on functioning in same- and other-sex friendships. Participants included 314 adolescents (60.5 % female, 14–19 years of age) with a prior or current history of romantic relationship involvement. Structural equation modeling was used to test a mediation model positing an indirect pathway from social anxiety to romantic relationship functioning through functioning in close same- and other-sex friendships. Given known gender differences in social anxiety and relationship functioning, gender also was explored as a potential moderator. Results supported the hypothesized indirect pathway whereby social anxiety was associated with impairment in same-sex friendships; functioning in same-sex friendships was associated with functioning in other-sex friendships, which was associated, in turn, with functioning in romantic relationships. While the hypothesized indirect pathway was significant among both boys and girls, there was greater continuity of functioning between same- and other-sex friendships for girls. These findings highlight the importance of examining the multiple downstream effects of social anxiety on perceived social functioning in adolescence, and suggest that continuity may exist for maladaptive patterns of socialization, particularly across developmentally salient close relationships.