Unnatural and Violent Death in Cases with High Blood Alcohol Concentration— Autopsy Study

The use of alcohol increases the risk of dying from unnatural or violent causes. The presented study explored the distribution of age, gender, cause, and circumstances of death in persons who died in an unnatural and violent manner, with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) higher than 0.3 g/dL, and where the cause of death was not alcohol intoxication. We defined the control (0 < BAC < 0.3 g/dL) and study (BAC ≥ 0.3 g/dL) groups, as in subjects with these concentrations, there is a significant risk of gross intoxication, stupor, and death. The subjects from the study group were older, with no difference in gender distribution. Traffic accidents were the most common fatal event in both groups, followed by suicides. Other accidents (choking on food and exposure to fire) were more frequent in the study group. Compared to the control group, subjects from the study group were older persons whose deaths were mainly accidental.     

Examining gender as moderating the association between psychopathy and substance abuse

Previous research has shown a significant association between psychopathy and substance abuse. To date, these associations have not been compared between men and women in forensic or correctional samples, an important topic in light of some empirical findings indicating that psychopathy manifests differently across gender in other contexts. The current study was designed to address this gap in the literature using archival data sets consisting of four large samples derived from forensic, correctional, and university settings, with different measures for psychopathy, alcohol, and substance use. As expected, psychopathy (particularly traits reflective of disinhibition/social deviance) was significantly and moderately correlated with alcohol and substance abuse in all four samples; however, with one minor exception, hierarchical regression analyses revealed no significant moderating effects of gender on these associations. These findings indicate that, although psychopathy may be manifested differently across gender in some ways, substance abuse is likely not one of them.     

A Genetic Basis of Economic Egalitarianism

Studies of political attitudes and ideologies have sought to explain their origin. They have been assumed to be a result of political values ingrained during the process of socialization until early adulthood, as well as personal political experience, party affiliation, social strata, etc. As a consequence of these environment-dominated explanations, most biology-based accounts of political preference have never been considered. However, in the light of evidence accumulated in recent years, the view that political attitudes are detached from any physical properties became unsustainable. In this paper, we investigate the origins of social justice attitudes, with special focus on economic egalitarianism and its potential genetic basis. We use Minnesota Twin Study data from 2008, collected from samples of monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs (n = 573) in order to estimate the additive genetic, shared environmental, and unique environmental components of social justice attitudes. Our results show that the large portion of the variance in a four-item economic egalitarianism scale can be attributed to genetic factor. At the same time, shared environment, as a socializing factor, has no significant effect. The effect of environment seems to be fully reserved for unique personal experience. Our findings further problematize a long-standing view that social justice attitudes are dominantly determined by socialization.     

Hyperostosis frontalis interna as an age-related phenomenon – Differences between males and females and possible use in identification

Hyperostosis frontalis interna (HFI) is a condition manifested by thickening of the inner surface of the frontal bone and it could be useful when dealing with the identification of human remains in various anthropological and forensic investigations. We compared the macroscopic appearance and morphologic (metric) features of the skulls in cases with and without HFI, in both sexes, and wanted to establish whether age determined occurrence of HFI. To achieve this aim, we performed prospective autopsy study, covering ten-year period (2007–2016). Study group consisted of southeast Europe Caucasian subjects, with determined age and sex. The severity of HFI was classified by two forensic pathologists independently, according to the four types (A–D) proposed by Hershkovitz et al. Thicknesses of the frontal and temporal bones, as well as the longitudinal and frontal diameters of the skulls were measured. The sample consisted of 35 males and 112 females with HFI, and 55 males and 202 females without HFI (404 individuals in total). Type B was the most common type of HFI among males (45%) and type C among females (41%). HFI type D was almost four times more common in females than in males (OR?=?3.73). Frontal and temporal bones were thicker in all subjects who have HFI. Thickness of the skull was not age-dependent, in the entire sample, or in subjects with HFI, or in the control group (in all the cases Spearman's Rho was <0.3). Age seemed to be a predicting factor for HFI occurrence only in females. Females younger than 55?years have similar risk for HFI occurrence as males. An unidentified skull with the general markers of old age and severe form HFI is most probably from a female decedent.     

University and Community Resources for Sexual Assault Survivors: Familiarity With and Use of Services Among College Students

Scholars have highlighted the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. Universities are generally equipped to address victimization through a range of resources, including counseling and psychological services. These resources are instrumental for posttrauma recovery, but students must be aware of and willing to use available services. This study used a sample of 505 survey responses collected at a mid-sized, public, Southern university regarding community and campus resource knowledge, familiarity, and service use. The majority of participants were unaware of resources. Females reported increased community resource familiarity compared to males. Multivariate models revealed distress disclosure, sexual victimization history, and race were significant predictors of service use but criminal justice major and law enforcement career plans were not significant. Implications are discussed.     

DNA Identification of Commingled Human Remains from the Cemetery Relocated by Flooding in Central Bosnia and Herzegovina

The floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina in May 2014 caused landslides all over the country. In the small village of ?eri?i, near the town of Zenica, a landslide destroyed the local cemetery, relocated graves, and commingled skeletal remains. As the use of other physical methods of identification (facial recognition, fingerprint analysis, dental analysis, etc.) was not possible, DNA analysis was applied. DNA was isolated from 20 skeletal remains (bone and tooth samples) and six reference samples (blood from living relatives) and amplified using PowerPlex^® Fusion and PowerPlex^®Y23 kits. DNA profiles were generated for all reference samples and 17 skeletal remains. A statistical analysis (calculation of paternity, maternity, and sibling indexes and matching probabilities) resulted in 10 positive identifications. In this study, 5 individuals were identified based on one reference sample. This has once again demonstrated the significance of DNA analysis in resolving the most complicated cases, such as the identification of commingled human skeletal remains.