Bloodstain pattern analysis in a case of suicide with a compound bow and arrow

The incidence of human fatalities due to arrow injuries in the medical literature is rare. We report an incident involving a 46-year-old man who was found in his secured apartment with a fatal arrow wound of his chest and abdomen. The initial scene investigation suggested that the victim impaled himself with an arrow attached to a razor-sharp, 4-bladed broad-head hunting tip before collapsing on the floor. However, analysis of the bloodstain patterns suggested that the victim used the compound bow to propel the arrow.When investigating deaths due to bows and arrows, thorough scene investigation along with bloodstain pattern analysis is essential in determining the mechanism of injury and manner of death.     

Call 911: psychiatry and the new Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) regulations

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), enacted in 1986 as part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, aims to prevent "patient dumping" by requiring hospitals to screen and stabilize patients who come to an emergency room seeking medical attention. For many reasons, recovery under EMTALA is rare, especially when psychiatric treatment is called for. New regulations of EMTALA went into effect on November 10, 2003. These new regulations helpfully clarify the applicability of EMTALA. However, the bias against recovery in cases involving psychiatric emergencies is likely to remain.     

Sexual dimorphism of the calcaneus of South African blacks

Forensic anthropology is a rapidly growing field in South Africa and skeletal biologists are often called upon by the police to assist in personal identification from skeletal remains, which are recovered in suspected cases of homicide and suicide and in mass disaster. Measurements of the calcaneus have been shown to be sexually dimorphic in South African whites. Since the validity of discriminant function equations in sex determination is population specific, the aim of the present study was to derive similar equations for the calcanei of the South African blacks. The bones that were used in this study were obtained from the Raymond A. Dart Collection of Human Skeletons, School of Anatomical Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. One hundred and sixteen (116) intact and non-pathological calcanei, consisting of 58 males and 58 females and belonging to individuals whose age at death ranged between 22 and 75 years, were selected by the simple random sampling technique. The measured variables included the maximum length, the load arm length, the dorsal articular facet length, the body height, the maximum height, the cuboidal facet height, the middle breadth, the dorsal articular facet breadth and the maximum breadth. Discriminant function analyses were done using the Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) program. All measured parameters of the calcaneus showed significant sexual differences. Length measurements were found to be the most sexually dimorphic. Combinations of variables provided better estimate of sex (79%-86%) than individual variables (64%-79%).     

Injuries and Health Care Use in Women with Partners in Batterer Intervention Programs

Objective:To characterize injury frequency, injury patterns, and health care seeking behavior in women with intimate partners enrolled in batterer intervention programs. Methods: A standardized telephone interview was conducted on a sample of women with male partners enrolled in batterer intervention programs in four U.S. cities. Information on prior injuries and the utilization of health care services was sought. Results: Four hundred and eighty eight of the 648 women (75.3%) reported a history of prior injury as a result of abuse. Contusions were the most common injury. Of the women reporting contusions, 233 (51.4%) reported contusions as their only injuries. Another 220 women (48.6%) reported other injuries in addition to contusions. In the majority of cases (63.2%) the contusions were to multiple body parts. When the contusion involved only one anatomical region, it was mostly to the face. A total of 192 of the 488 injured women (39.3%) reported ever seeking medical care for injuries caused by their intimate partner. Twenty-three women (4.7% of the injured cohort or 3.5% of the total cohort) reported having ever been hospitalized for injuries sustained from abuse.     

Who benefits from minority business set-asides? The case of New Jersey

Race-based remedies often are justified by evidence of prior discrimination. They work when they benefit groups previously disadvantaged. This article examines one such remedy—minority business set-asides—and its application in the award of public procurement and construction contracts by the state of New Jersey. Analyzed are contract awards to minority and non-minority/non-women-owned business enterprises in 1990, as well as in periods before, during, and after the imposition of a state minority set-aside program. Using a conventional decomposition approach, the article reveals significant discriminatory gaps in the success of minority- versus non-minority-owned firms in obtaining contracts from the state of New Jersey. The analysis suggests that minority contracting success rates fell from the pre-set-aside era to the set-aside era and that discriminatory outcomes persisted. The particular remedy chosen—while justified based on evidence of prior discrimination—appears not to have reduced the original discrimination nor did it unambiguously benefit minority businesses.     

Do National and International Media Cover the Same Event Differently? The Online Media Framing of Irreecha Festival Tragedy

This article examines how media framed the deadly stampede that killed several dozen people gathered to celebrate a festival in Ethiopia. News articles published by 14 national media (N=21) and 116 international media (N=117) on October 2 and 3, 2016 were collected and comparative content analysis was carried out between April and May 2017. Conflict, attribution of responsibility and political consequences frames dominated the coverage. The differences observed in the use of conflict, responsibility and morality frames by national and international media were statistically significant. The differences in the appearance of political consequences and human-interest frames in national and international media were not statistically significant. In terms of coverage pattern, the themes of headlines of almost all the news articles published on the first day after the incident focused on deaths of people whereas the second day headlines diverged to deaths, mourning, unrest that followed, and other issues as the media found additional facts to organise strong and compelling frames to influence the audience. Based on the findings, this article generalises that national and international media cover the same disaster from different perspectives—national media promote national interest whereas international media emphasise conflict.