The legitimacy of vaccine critics: what is left after the autism hypothesis?

The last dozen years have seen a massive transnational mobilization of the legal, political, and research communities in response to the worrisome hypothesis that vaccines could have a link to childhood autism and other developmental conditions. Vaccine critics, some already organized and some composed of newly galvanized parents, developed an alternate world of internally legitimating studies, blogs, conferences, publications, and spokespeople to affirm a connection. When the consensus turned against the autism hypothesis, these structures and a committed membership base unified all the organizations in resistance. This article examines the relationship between mobilization based on science and the trajectory of legitimacy vaccine criticism has taken. I argue that vaccine critics have run up against the limits of legitimate scientific argument and are now in the curious position of both doubling down on credibility-depleting stances and innovating new and possibly resonant formulations.     

Gunshot residues on dry bone after decomposition-a pilot study

Abstract: Very little literature exists concerning radiochemical and microscopic analyses of gunshot wounds in decomposed material, and even less concerning skeletonized samples; the most advanced technologies may provide useful indications for the diagnosis of suspect lesions, especially if gunshot wounds are no longer recognizable. However, we know very little of the survival of gunshot residues (GSR) in skeletonized samples. This study examined nine gunshot wounds produced on pig heads which then underwent skeletonization for 4 years, and four gunshot entries on human heads from judicial cases which were then macerated to the bone in water; the samples underwent scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X‐ray (SEM‐EDX) analysis. Positive results for GSR were observed only in four of the nine animal samples and in all four human samples. Among the human samples, two lesions showed Pb and Sb, one lesion only Pb, and one Pb, Sb, and Ba. This pilot study showed the survival of GSR in skeletal material and therefore the crucial importance of SEM‐EDX analyses on skeletonized material. Further studies are needed in order to ascertain the role of environmental modifications of GSR.     

Fatal hypernatraemia after laparoscopic treatment of hydatid liver cyst: medical and legal concerns of a rare complication

A case of fatal hypernatraemia after laparoscopic treatment of hydatid livers cysts is presented in order to highlight the risks associated with the implementation of newer techniques and the use of hypertonic saline as a scolecocidal agent in hydatid disease. Additionally this case raises some concerns on the importance of obtaining a patient's informed consent.     

A rapid and sensitive method for the identification of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in oral fluid by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

This paper proposes a new approach for automatic classification of counterfeit Viagra(?) and Cialis(?) tablets using image processing and statistical analysis. A high resolution VSC 5000 is used for image acquisition in a controlled environment, and the combination of a thresholding technique with morphological operators is used to segment the tablet from the background. A statistical model based on the RGB color components of original samples is built, and the detection of counterfeit tablets was performed by checking the adherence of a test sample to the obtained distribution using the Bhattacharyya distance. Our experimental results indicated that counterfeit tablets can be effective detected using the proposed approach.     

Acronyms of dying versus patient autonomy

In medical practice in Germany and several other countries abbreviated orders linked to end-of-life decisions, such as DNR (do not resuscitate), are increasingly used. In order to investigate their legal status, this article gives an overview of the recently passed German law, which regulates the process of end-of-life decision-making and the use of living wills, giving primacy to patient autonomy. Concerning the risk of misinterpretation of acronyms, the article describes the impacts of such orders on patient autonomy and safety and suggests a clear systematic classification of the different DNR orders in order to investigate their legal status under the German law. Their general binding force is to be acknowledged, depending on its origination and the fulfilment of certain requirements.     

Exhibiting the Enlightenment: Joseph Banks’s Florilegium and Colonial Knowledge Production

ABSTRACT

The returned Australia-Japan Foundation Visiting Professor of Australian Studies at the University of Tokyo (2014–15), Anna Johnston, reflects on a 2014 exhibition held in Tokyo: The Bunkamura Museum of Art’s “Captain Cook’s Voyage and Banks’ Florilegium.” The Florilegium continues to have resonance as part of Australia’s complex colonial inheritance from the Enlightenment past. Its display and interpretation both overseas and within Australia provides an opportunity to better understand its origin in a pivotal historical period, globally, and its contribution to knowledge in arts and sciences. The Florilegium also reveals how Indigenous knowledge was central to European exploration and knowledge production. This article outlines contextual issues and seeks to provide a complex biography of this scientific and artistic artefact of Empire, in order to propose new ways of reading the Florilegium that pay attention to that enriched biography.     

Family Factors in the Ego Development of Adolescent Girls

Thirty-nine adolescent girls, 16–19 years, were observed together with their 2 parents at a family discourse about moral and family issues on which they disagreed, to study interaction and conflict handling in families with daughters at different levels of ego development. Family interactions were coded by the Constraining and Enabling Coding System, ego development by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test and handling of internal conflict by Bond Defense Style Questionaire. Daughters' ego development was predicted by parental cognitive and affective enabling, but not by constraining communications. Fathers' cognitive and affective enabling transactions and mothers' affective enabling transactions contributed to the explained variance in the adolescents' ego development when daughters' age, parents' SES and ego development were controlled for in hierarchical regression analyses. Parents' ego levels were related to their enabling transactions, which also predicted daughters' ego levels, suggesting that especially enabling parenting behavior may play a mediating role. Mothers' challenging behavior toward daughters and parental autonomy from responding in kind to daughters' communications were also related to high ego levels in daughters.