Use of an Automated Nested Multiplex Respiratory Pathogen PCR Panel Postmortem in the Pediatric Forensic Setting

Respiratory pathogens have been detected in forensic investigations using multiple techniques; however, no study has examined the use of automated, nested, multiplex polymerase chain reaction (ANM‐PCR), commonly used in living patients, in the forensic setting. This retrospective study assessed the utility of ANM‐PCR in detecting respiratory pathogens in the pediatric forensic setting. Respiratory samples from 35 cases were tested for up to 20 respiratory pathogens. 51.4% of these cases yielded a positive ANM‐PCR result, 20% of which were considered the cause of or contributory to death. The most commonly detected pathogens were rhinovirus/enterovirus and respiratory syncytial virus, and these were the only pathogens determined to play a significant role in cause of death. The sampled sites and postmortem intervals tested did not affect the likelihood of a positive or negative test. ANM‐PCR panels are effective, affordable, and rapid ancillary tools in evaluating cause of death in the forensic pediatric population.     

Familial Identity Theft

Reports of identity theft in the U.S. have risen since the 2000s, which has resulted in financial losses into the billions. Along with this rise is the increased likelihood of familial identity theft. In this study, the differences between familial and non-familial identity theft were explored through the January–July 2012 Identity Theft Supplement collected with the National Crime Victimization Survey. Results showed that family member victims were likely to have experienced one type of identity theft more often than non-family victims were, personal information used for other fraudulent purposes, which included government benefits and driver’s licenses. Factors that allowed for a respondent’s personal information used for other fraudulent purposes included family membership, young persons in the household, and repeat victimization. Findings suggest that few factors can predict the likelihood to experience the misuse of personal information and that familial identity theft may be difficult to detect.     

The Role of Religiosity in the Relationship Between Parents,Peers, and Adolescent Risky Sexual Behavior

Research has documented a negative relationship between religion and risky sexual behavior. Few studies, however, have examined the processes whereby religion exerts this effect. The present study develops and tests a model of various mechanisms whereby parental religiosity reduces the likelihood of adolescents’ participation in risky sexual behavior (early sexual debut, multiple sexual partners, and inconsistent condom use). Structural equation modeling, using longitudinal data from a sample of 612 African American adolescents (55% female), provided support for the model. The results indicated that parental religiosity influenced adolescent risky sexual behavior through its impact on authoritative parenting, adolescent religiosity, and adolescent affiliation with less sexually permissive peers. Some mediating mechanisms differed by the gender of the respondent, suggesting a “double-standard” for daughters but not for sons. Findings also indicated the importance of messages about sexual behavior that are transmitted to adolescents by their peers. Theoretical and policy implications of the findings are discussed.     

Attitude counts: engaging with rice farmers in West Africa

An international project called PADS promoted participatory learning and action research with inland valley rainfed rice farmers in West Africa. All countries received the same training, similar funding, and the same leadership. Although the staff in Ghana were conscientious and gave much training to the farmer beneficiaries, the Mali staff explicitly encouraged farmers to experiment. Farmers in Mali responded to this favourable attitude by experimenting more than those in Ghana, and in qualitatively more interesting ways. Long-term engagement with grassroots organisations may be as conducive to changing public servants' attitudes as the actual participatory approach promoted on the ground.

L'attitude compte: travail avec des riziculteurs en Afrique de l'Ouest

Un projet international appelé PADS a favorisé l'apprentissage participatif et la recherche-action avec des riziculteurs pratiquant la culture pluviale dans les vallées de l'intérieur des terres en Afrique de l'Ouest. Tous les pays ont reçu la même formation, un financement similaire et le même leadership. Alors que les membres du personnel du Ghana étaient consciencieux et dispensaient une formation considérable aux agriculteurs bénéficiaires, le personnel du Mali encourageait expressément les riziculteurs à faire des expériences. Les riziculteurs du mali ont réagi à cette attitude favorable en faisant plus d'expériences que ceux du Ghana, et ce de manières plus intéressantes sur le plan qualitatif. L'engagement à long terme avec les organisations de la base populaire peut être tout aussi propice à la modification des attitudes des fonctionnaires que l'approche participative même promue sur le terrain.

As atitudes contam: Engajamento com produtores de arroz na África Ocidental

Um projeto internacional chamado PADS promoveu uma pesquisa sobre aprendizado e ação participativa com produtores de arroz irrigado com água da chuva no interior do vale na África Ocidental. Todos os países receberam o mesmo treinamento, financiamento semelhante e a mesma liderança. Embora os funcionários de Gana estivessem cientes e oferecessem bastante treinamento aos produtores beneficiários, os funcionários de Mali incentivaram explicitamente os produtores a experimentar. Os produtores de Mali responderam a esta atitude favorável experimentando mais do que aqueles de Gana e de maneiras mais interessantes em termos qualitativos. O engajamento de longo prazo com organizações de base pode contribuir para mudar as atitudes dos servidores públicos tanto quanto a abordagem participativa real promovida na base.

La actitud cuenta: el trato personal con campesinos arroceros de África Occidental

Un proyecto internacional llamado PADS promovió el aprendizaje participativo y la investigación-acción entre campesinos que cultivaban arroz de secano en los valles centrales de África Occidental. Todos los países participantes recibieron la misma capacitación, un financiamiento similar y las mismas orientaciones. Si bien el personal de Ghana era muy diligente y transmitió muchos conocimientos a los campesinos beneficiarios en capacitaciones, el personal de Malí se centró más explícitamente en animarlos para que experimentaran. Los campesinos de Malí respondieron a esta actitud estimuladora realizando más experimentos y de maneras cualitativamente más interesantes que los campesinos de Ghana. El compromiso de largo plazo con organizaciones de base puede ser tan importante para lograr un cambio en la actitud del servidor público como el método participativo que se promueve en la actualidad sobre el terreno.     

Predestination and Hierarchy: Vallabh��c��rya��s Discourse on the Distinctions Between Blessed, Rule-Bound, Worldly, and Wayward Souls (the Pu??iprav��hamary��d��bheda)

The Pu??iprav??hamary??d??bheda (PPM) by Vallabh??c??rya (1479?C1531?) is a brief work (25 verses) written in Sanskrit in about the year 1500, which is accompanied by four Sanskrit commentaries and one Hindi (Brajbh????) commentary. The most important and authoritative commentary is by Puru?ottama, written about two centuries after the original text. The article contains a translation of the PPM with long extracts from the commentaries, particularly the one composed by Puru?ottama. After an introduction placing the PPM??s doctrine of the hierarchy of embodied souls (j??vas) and their eligibility to obtain states of devotion (bhakti) in a wider context of Vai??ava sectarian and philosophical schools, the text is presented along with the translation and notes to the text (including extracts from the commentaries). The article concludes with reflections on the PPM??s doctrine of predestination, comparing it with those of other Indian religious sects and within the wider context of predestination in Western religions, where these discussions have been ongoing for more than 1500 years. An extensive bibliography is included at the end.     

Gender, social support, and depression in criminal justice-involved adolescents

Knowing where criminal justice-involved teens look for support and whether those supports reduce depression has important and possibly gender-specific treatment implications for this vulnerable population. This study examines the relationships between social support and depression in a mixed-gender sample of 198 incarcerated adolescents. Greater support from families and overall and greater satisfaction with supports predicted lower depression for boys and girls. Support from siblings and extended family strongly predicted lower depression; support from parents and from friends was either not related or only weakly related to depression. Girls reported higher levels of depression, more support from friends and extended family, and less support from parents than did boys. Family, sibling, and overall support were stronger predictors of depression for girls than for boys. Results suggest that nonparent family members, especially siblings and extended family, provide important emotional resources for teens in the criminal justice system.     

When Money Cannot Encourage Participation: Campaign Spending and Rolloff in Low Visibility Judicial Elections

Debates about the role of money in politics are commonplace. Although some critics point to the potentially negative impact spending has in elections, most recent scholarly evidence indicates that spending may actually promote greater participation in the political process. However, most of this research has uncovered this relationship in races for more visible offices; few studies have focused on whether the same linkage is present in low-information elections. For a variety of reasons, it is not altogether certain whether this relationship would exist for such offices. To test this proposition, we examine the impact of campaign spending on voter rolloff in 172 contested races for intermediate appellate courts (IAC) between 2000 and 2008. In contrast to other types of elections, combined candidate spending in these races had no effect on ballot rolloff.     

Estimation of age-at-death for adult males using the acetabulum, applied to four Western European populations

Methods to estimate adult age from observations of skeletal elements are not very accurate and motivate the development of better methods. In this article, we test recently published method based on the acetabulum and Bayesian inference, developed using Coimbra collection (Portugal). In this study, to evaluate its utility in other populations, this methodology was applied to 394 specimens from four different documented Western European collections. Four strategies of analysis to estimate age were outlined: (a) each series separately; (b) on Lisbon collection, taken as a reference Coimbra collection; (c) on Barcelona collection, taken as a reference both Portuguese collections; and (d) on London collection taken as reference the three Iberian collections combined. Results indicate that estimates are accurate (83-100%). As might be expected, the least accurate estimates were obtained when the most distant collection was used as a reference. Observations of the fused acetabulum can be used to make accurate estimates of age for adults of any age, with less accurate estimates when a more distant reference collection is used.