Pitfalls in the diagnosis of drug smuggler's abdomen

Narcotics "body packing" can be detected in abdominal X-rays by the ring shadow caused by air trapped in the packs. In a series of 82 cases admitted for abdominal X-ray in Helsinki, Finland, in 1982 through 1988, we encountered 9 (11.0%) true positives, 3 (3.6%) false positives, and 1 (1.2%) false negative. The false positives were due to the constipation often associated with the narcotics abuse. The false negative X-ray diagnosis was attributable to an inexperienced radiologist. False negatives may also be associated with packets containing marijuana, packs with few wrappings, aluminum-foil coated packs, and machine-packed narcotics. Searching for trapped air in radiographs, repeated X-raying by an experienced radiologist, use of computed tomography, or combined urinary drug screening may be applied to diminish false findings and to avoid unnecessary arrest for the purpose of fecal screening over several days.     

A guide to the EEOC's final regulations on the Americans with Disabilities Act

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently issued its final regulations on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Although the regulations offer some guidance for employers on how to comply with the Act, they fail to provide specific answers to the many complicated compliance questions that will surely arise. Further, the regulations are almost totally silent on certain critical issues related to insurance, workers' compensation, and potential conflicts between ADA obligations and terms of collective bargaining agreements. The EEOC has essentially left the resolution of many important ADA questions to case-by-case determination and the litigation process.     

Antisocial burnout: an exploratory study

The more flagrant aspects of Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD), particularly criminality, are thought to diminish or "burnout" after age 30. However, empirical evidence of burnout in clinically defined groups is lacking. This study explores burnout in a cohort of forensic psychiatric patients, aged 41 to 67, with clinically diagnosed DSM-III APD (N = 39). Conviction data revealed that criminality did appear to decline from age 27 onward, but not in a straightforward manner. Further, a significant portion of the cohort remained criminally active throughout most of their adult lives. Age did not appear to interact with crime class.     

The relationship of abuse and witnessing violence on the Child Abuse Potential Inventory with black adolescents

A number of social and psychological factors present in most adolescent parents place them at high risk for abusive behavior toward their children. However, current child abuse potential measures do not include adolescent samples as part of the psychometric data base. Consequently, the purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to investigate whether a Black adolescent sample would perform differently than an adult nonabusing sample on the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAP), and (2) to examine the relationship between history of abuse or witnessing violence to scores on the CAP. Results revealed that Black adolescents scored significantly higher than the adult normative sample on the CAP; consequently, cutoff scores need to be empirically established for adolescents. Additional analyses indicated that a history of abuse, as well as a history of witnessing violence, are associated with a high potential for abuse.