Patterns of breaks in umbilical cords by different mechanisms*

Investigations of perinatal deaths often result in discrepancies between autopsy findings and witness accounts. The mechanism by which the umbilical cord is severed after delivery is a common quandary. Confirming or refuting the mother's stated method frequently has significant investigative importance; however, a surprising paucity of data currently exists to allow an objective opinion about the likely mechanism. Ninety-nine placentas with umbilical cords were examined. By random selection, each cord was severed by one of the following tools or mechanisms: knives, scissors, traction, or crush. Each break was examined and photographed, and a tissue section from the broken end examined microscopically. Differentiation of mechanism was best done grossly based on specific pattern recognition. Umbilical cords severed by blunt force have distinctly different morphology from those severed by sharp force. Even similar-appearing sharp force transections frequently have mechanism-specific distinctive patterns of injury.     

Youth alcohol use and dating abuse victimization and perpetration: a test of the relationships at the daily level in a sample of pediatric emergency department patients who use alcohol

Objective: This study retrospectively examined the daily-level associations between youth alcohol use and dating abuse (DA) victimization and perpetration for a 6-month period. Method: Timeline Followback (TLFB) interview data were collected from 397 urban emergency department patients, ages 17 to 21 years. Patients were eligible if they reported past month alcohol use and past year dating. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) analyses estimated the likelihood of DA on a given day as a function of alcohol use or heavy use (≥4 drinks per day for women, ≥5 drinks per day for men), as compared with nonuse. Results: Approximately 52% of men and 61% of women participants reported experiencing DA victimization ≥1 times during the past 6 months, and 45% of men and 55% of women reported perpetrating DA ≥1 times. For both men and women, DA perpetration was more likely on a drinking day as opposed to a nondrinking day (ORs = 1.70 and ORs = 1.69, respectively). DA victimization was also more likely on a drinking day as opposed to a nondrinking day for both men and women (ORs = 1.23 and ORs = 1.34, respectively). DA perpetration and DA victimization were both more likely on heavy drinking days as opposed to nondrinking days (2.04 and 2.03 for men's and women's perpetration, respectively, and 1.41 and 1.43 for men's and women's victimization, respectively). Conclusions: This study found that alcohol use was associated with increased risk for same day DA perpetration and victimization, for both male and female youth. We conclude that for youth who use alcohol, alcohol use is a potential risk factor for DA victimization and perpetration.     

Telling more than they can know? Does the most important issue really reveal what is most important to voters?

Recent British Election Studies have asked respondents to nominate ‘the most important issue’. Responses to this question have been used to explain individual vote decisions and characterise the issue-component of those elections. This paper, however, finds limited evidence that individuals place more weight on those issues that they report as ‘most important’ when they vote. It also finds that aggregate responses to the MII question broadly match the estimated ‘average’ impact of those issues on voters. This suggests that even if voters have a limited understanding of what issues matter to themselves they have some understanding of what makes their fellow voters tick.     

Sustainable intensification and ecosystem services: new directions in agricultural governance

Reconciling environmental objectives for land use with the need to produce more food is a prominent concern of scientific and policy discourses on sustainable agriculture. The idea of sustainable intensification has emerged as one prominent framing of this challenge. In this paper we elaborate this idea from an ecosystem services perspective to natural resource management, with particular reference to developments in the UK. The paper considers the general origins and attributes of the perspective and how the challenge of sustainable intensification would be conceptualized and approached through it. While efforts to link analysis of ecosystem services to policy development and delivery in the UK are revealed as consistent with prevailing, and often long standing, approaches to sustainable agriculture, the marketization of environmental assets is highlighted as a distinguishing feature of current policy applications. The character and limitations of this facet of the ecosystem services agenda are discussed. The need to animate ecological issues of sustainable intensification through frames of reference other than those of economic valuation is emphasized.     

Free choice of legal fee shifting rules?

In every country in the world parties to private litigation are subject to a predetermined fee shifting regime. While there are no institutionalized opt-out provisions so far, we demonstrate that such provisions could improve welfare. We argue that private negotiations are not a viable alternative to such opt-out provisions. We derive the conditions under which welfare improvements occur and suggest an applicable design for such an opt-out scheme.