Relationship of the Family Environment to Children's Involvement in Bully/Victim Problems at School

Previous studies regarding the relationship of the family environment to children's involvement in bully/victim problems at school primarily focused on children's perceptions of family dimensions. No studies were known using data from multiple reporters within 1 family (parents and children) on family characteristics of bully/victim problems. The aim of this study was to investigate differences between families of victims, bullies, bully/victims, and noninvolved children on family functioning, child-rearing practices, and problem-solving strategies in hypothetical conflict situations and perception differences between children and their parents on those dimensions. The findings revealed important perception differences between children and their parents, with parents holding up a more positive picture of their family. Important differences between families of bullies, victims, and bully/victims were documented looking at the family functioning and parent–child interactions from the perspective of the children. In contrast, almost no differences between the groups were observed if parents' reports were considered. Discussion leads to suggestions for further antibullying interventions at the school.     

Books in review

She has written widely on sociological and cultural aspects of psychoanalysis. Her most recent book, Feminists and Freudians: A Comparative Perspective,has just been published in German and is forthcoming in English.     

Distribution of HLA-DQA1, polymarker, CSF1PO, vWA, TH01, TPOX, D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, and D5S818 alleles in East Bengali and West Punjabi populations from Indo-Pak Subcontinent

Blood samples were collected from 115 individuals residing in the Pakistani state of West Punjab and 81 Bengali individuals residing in the state of East Bengal, India. These samples were analyzed for the loci HLA-DQA1, PM (LDLR, GYPA, HBGG, D7S8, and GC) and eight short tandem repeats: CSF1PO, TPOX, THO1, vWA, D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, and D5S818. Departures from Hardy-Weinberg (HWE) were observed in Punjabi population at LDLR, THO1, D13S317, D5S818, and D16S539 and at CSF1PO and THO1 in Bengali population.     

Morphological changes in lungs of patients with spinal injuries died in hospital

Morphological characteristics of changes in the spine and lungs in patients with spinal injuries dead in hospital are described. Spinal edemas were detected in all cases. Edemas were found even in subjects dead at the place where the injury was inflicted. Morphological changes in the lungs were characterized by a phase-wise process, depended on the volume of injury, duration of hospitalization, medical care rendered, and manifested by disorders of blood content of the organ, development of tissue edema, and pneumonia. These data do not rule out the development of pneumonia in patients with spinal injuries.     

Diagnostic evaluation of main signs of liquor crystallograms in live subjects with craniocerebral injuries of different severity

Liquor samples from 159 live subjects with craniocerebral injuries were analyzed. Forty-four patients had brain concussions, 30 light contusions of the brain, 43 medium-severe contusions of the brain, and 42 severe contusions of the brain. Crystallograms were evaluated by 37 signs detected visually and by stereoscopy. The main diagnostic criteria for evaluation of the severity of craniocerebral injury were defined.     

Morphology of hairs on the head and other parts of the body in the residents of Africa

The morphology of hairs from the head, beard, chest, armpits, and pubis was studied in indigenous population of Sudan, Sierra-Leone, Cote d'Ivoir, Ruanda, Nigeria, Gambia, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Zaire, Southern African Republic, Angola, Benin, and Guinea Bissau. A total of 327 hair specimens were examined. A number of new parameters of hairs were determined: thickness, number of cuticle pattern lines per mm, optic edge pattern, cuticle patterns, methods for detecting the cortical and medullar layers, width of hair layers and their transverse sections. The resultant morphological signs are new specific signs for African residents (Negroid) which can be used in forensic medical studies for identifying the race appurtenance of hairs.     

Mechanism of sudden death in female pseudohermaphroditism

Sudden death in female pseudohermaphroditism is described. Hemorrhage into hyperplastic adrenals leads to acute adrenal failure and is the immediate cause of death.     

Medical anthropological aspects of hand phalanx dermatoglyphics

Main and middle phalanx skin patterns represent a polymorphic hereditary system of signs practically not studied in anthropology, but interesting for forensic medicine and criminology from the viewpoint of expert evaluation of relation and personality identification. Based on a vast scope of data (600 hand impressions of 300 subjects from Russian families), a classification of patterns on the main and middle finger phalanges has been developed and their incidence evaluated. The proposed classification includes 15 types and 40 subtypes. The incidence of individual patterns on phalanges of different site and order has been determined. The problem of genetic determination, i.e. inheritance of certain patterns from father and mother, remains open and requires a special research.     

Computer-aided personality identification by skull and life-time photography by POSKID 1.1 method

An improved method for computer-aided personality identification by the skull, based on the POSKID 1.1 software, consists in investigation of enlarged images of the skull and life-time photograph of the probable individual by coordinates of 49 anatomical points; independent quantitative evaluation of the aspect of each of the compared objects by the X, Y, and Z axes; formal evaluation of the results of comparative study of the skull-portrait by multidimensional discriminant analysis models. The proposed version differs from the POSKID 1.0 software in the method for evaluating the spatial position of the head on the portrait and adequate orientation of the skull in space, which necessitates the utilization of coordinate-regulated holder POSKID 1.1 method is based on multidimensional discriminant analysis and suggests a virtually reliable solution in 76.13-80.65% cases, a probable solution (positive and negative) in 11.61-18.06% cases, and motivated refusal from solution in 5.81-7.74% cases. In case of a probable or indefinite solution further investigations are recommended making use of life-time photographs with different aspects.     

A simple and cost-effective method for preparing DNA from the hard tooth tissue, and its use in polymerase chain reaction amplification of amelogenin gene segment for sex determination in an Indian population

The use of teeth as an important resource in the analysis of forensic case history by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or other related methods has been reported. However, a major drawback in using teeth has been that the DNA is present only in trace amounts, and the methods to recover DNA from the flinty material have not been efficient or cost effective. In this report, we describe a method to prepare DNA from the hard tooth tissues. Our studies show that ultrasonication of teeth samples yields sufficient amounts of good quality DNA useful for PCR-based diagnostic methods. The teeth could serve as a reliable source of DNA for amplification-based forensic methods in sex determination. DNA could be obtained from any tooth, regardless of the age of subject. Furthermore, by using the AMEL gene-based primers in PCR, we have shown that the AMEL gene serves as a good marker for sex determination in the Indian population. In our study, the PCR-based method was sensitive and proved to be successful for sex determination with a complete specificity.