Detecting Deception in Children's Testimony: Factfinders' Abilities to Reach the Truth in Open Court and Closed-Circuit Trials

This study examined the influence of closed-circuit television (CCTV) on jurors' abilities to detect deception in children's testimony. Children ages 7–9 individually played games and made a video movie with a male confederate. In the guilty condition, stickers were placed on exposed body parts (i.e., the child's arm, toes, and bellybutton). In the not-guilty and deception conditions, stickers were placed on the child's clothing rather than on bare skin. Approximately 3 weeks later, mock jurors recruited from the community viewed child participants testify either in a traditional courtroom setting or via one-way CCTV. The mock jurors responded to questions about the child witness and the defendant as well as deliberated to reach a verdict. Children in the deception condition were asked to testify as if the stickers had been placed on exposed body parts rather than on their clothing. Predeliberation, jurors were less likely to convict when a child testified in the deception condition as opposed to the guilty condition. These differences disappeared following deliberation. There was no support for the notion that jurors reach the truth better when children testify in open court versus via CCTV. Implications for jurors' abilities to reach the truth are discussed.     

Clinico-morphological parameters of heroin abuse and pathology connected with it

Morphological manifestations of narcomania in heroin users are described. Diseases associated with heroin narcomania and causes of death of heroin users are presented. Morphological manifestations at the site of injections and inflammatory reactions in parenchymatous organs are characterized. The authors pay special attention to the productive inflammation which can serve as one of the signs that confirm narcomania in cases with parenteral injections of crude heroin. The authors refer the granulomas to toxic allergic form of granulomatous hypersensitive inflammation.     

Fetal death. A 10-year retrospective study

Fetal death has been defined by the World Health Organization as death before complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy. Certain causes of fetal death, including syphilis, Rh isoimmunization, toxemia, and diabetes, have shown significant declines over the past several decades. However, many fetal losses continue to occur from intrauterine infections, lethal malformations, fetal growth retardation, and abruptio placentae. Fetal death with no identifiable specific cause is another consideration when dealing with these cases. Other risk factors can include maternal, sociodemographic, and medical care factors. The authors reviewed all forensic cases referred for autopsy to the Forensic Section of the Medical University of South Carolina, Medical Examiners' Office over the 10-year period 1990-1999. All cases listed as fetal death or stillbirth were included. The 42 cases were analyzed as to fetus' gestational age, sex, race, weight, location of delivery, history of prenatal care, maternal drug use, chromosomal abnormalities, cause and manner of death, and autopsy findings. The black:white ratio was approximately 2:1, and the male:female ratio was virtually 1:1. Most fetuses were older than 20 weeks' gestational age, with one third between 20 and 29 weeks. The majority were externally normal aside from maceration. Only 7.5% had congenital anomalies. Twenty-one of 38 placentas were grossly and microscopically normal. Of cases with toxicologic analysis, 21% were positive for drugs, and 17% were positive for cocaine/benzoylecgonine. The manner of death was classified as natural (28), accident (2), and undetermined (12). Few studies have reported the specific causes of fetal death, and the lack of uniformity in data collection and classification of causes of fetal death has made comparisons difficult. The authors present this retrospective study to better determine the factors leading to fetal demise in the hope of assisting death investigators in this challenging arena.     

GHB. Club drug or confusing artifact?

GHB can be produced either as a pre- or postmortem artifact. The authors describe two cases in which GHB was detected and discuss the problem of determining the role of GHB in each case. In both cases, NaF-preserved blood and urine were analyzed using gas chromatography. The first decedent, a known methamphetamine abuser, had GHB concentrations similar to those observed with subanesthetic doses (femoral blood, 159 microg/ml; urine, 1100 microg/ml). Myocardial fibrosis, in the pattern associated with stimulant abuse, was also evident. The second decedent had a normal heart but higher concentrations of GHB (femoral blood, 1.4 mg/ml; right heart, 1.1 mg/ml; urine, 6.0 mg/ml). Blood cocaine and MDMA levels were 420 and 730 ng/ml, respectively. Both decedents had been drinking and were in a postabsorptive state, with blood to vitreous ratios of less than 0.90. If NaF is not used as a preservative, GHB is produced as an artifact. Therefore, the mere demonstration of GHB does not prove causality or even necessarily that GHB was ingested. Blood and urine GHB concentrations in case 1 can be produced by a therapeutic dose of 100 mg, and myocardial fibrosis may have had more to do with the cause of death than GHB. The history in case 2 is consistent with the substantial GHB ingestion, but other drugs, including ethanol, were also detected. Ethanol interferes with GHB metabolism, preventing GHB breakdown, raising blood concentrations, and making respiratory arrest more likely. Combined investigational, autopsy, and toxicology data suggest that GHB was the cause of death in case 2 but not case 1. Given the recent discovery that postmortem GHB production occurs even in stored antemortem blood samples (provided they were preserved with citrate) and the earlier observations that de novo GHB production in urine does not occur, it is unwise to draw any inferences about causality unless (1) blood and urine are both analyzed and found to be elevated; (2) blood is collected in NaF-containing tubes; and (3) a detailed case history is obtained.     

Transfer of biological traces in cases of hanging and ligature strangulation

In hanging and ligature strangulation, the noose mostly causes a mark or groove which is formed partly by compression of the skin and partly by abrasion with loss of the upper epidermal layers. The horny scales abraded from the neck may be transferred to the strangulation device or to the interposed textiles where they are sometimes visible at stereomicroscopic examination or even to the naked eye as silver-grey particles. The morphologic features of the epidermal transfer due to hanging and ligature strangulation is demonstrated by 14 case examples. The biological traces may be sufficient for comparative DNA typing by means of PCR-based methods. In 9 out of the 14 cases, genomic DNA typing was successful. Analysis of mtDNA succeeded in another two cases, although genomic DNA could not be detected. Beside the accumulation of solid epidermic particles the paper describes deposition of serous and fatty tissue fluid at the ligature (mainly adjacent to skin ridges).     

Detection and assay of cis- and trans-isomers of 4-methylaminorex in urine, plasma and tissue samples

The 4-methylaminorex (4-MAX) is an amphetamine-related psychostimulant drug that has appeared on the clandestine market with a street name of "U4Euh". This compound exists as four stereoisomers, trans-4R,5R, trans-4S,5S, cis-4R,5S and cis-4S,5R, of which the cis forms have been classified as Schedule I substances in the US. The increasing variety of designer drugs has highlighted the importance of detection, identification, and quantitative measurement of these drugs, including 4-MAX, in biological samples. In the present study, the isomers of 4-MAX were detected in urine of rats treated with the drugs by some but not all of the on-site immunoassays tested, mainly as amphetamine or methamphetamine. To facilitate identification of 4-MAX by laboratories specialized in drug analysis, the electron-ionization mass spectrum and TLC data for underivatized 4-MAX using a routine laboratory drug-screening procedure is provided. In addition, a GC/MS method is described for the quantitative determination of cis- and trans-4-MAX as tert-butyldimethylsilyl-derivatives in plasma, urine and tissue.     

Entrepreneurship, Secrecy, and Productivity: A Comparison of Clinical and Non-Clinical Life Sciences Faculty

This paper addresses research in the life sciences, responsible for significant national expenditures for scientific investigations funded by both the federal government and industry. Our investigation examines faculty members' involvement with industry in entrepreneurial ways that is, involved in translating their research into potentially marketable knowledge or products. First, this study examines whether there are differences in entrepreneurial behaviour between clinical and non-clinical faculty in the life sciences with industry relationships, and, second, to discover any linkage between entrepreneurship and secrecy or productivity in different ways for clinical and non-clinical faculty. The study is based on survey responses of a national sample of 4,000 clinical and non-clinical life sciences faculty in 49 U.S. research universities. The results show non-clinical faculty as more involved at the back end. The more entrepreneurial end of commercialization while clinical faculty are involved at the back end. The more entrepreneurial faculty (non-clinical) are more likely to be secretive about their research. Clinical faculty are less likely to have been denied access to research results or products. Entrepreneurial faculty are not less productive in their faculty roles. This investigation is preliminary in that it addresses one large area of academic research but excludes fields with longer historical relationships with industry.