Should it be curtains for some of the IMF’s lending windows?

Increasing attention is being paid to IMF governance and operations, but not to how IMF programs are differentiated under the array of available lending windows. This paper examines empirically the economic and political circumstances associated with the use of IMF facilities. It therefore extends existing research into the determinants of IMF arrangements by investigating the extent to which different influences are at work in the case of different facilities. Focusing initially on extended arrangements as compared to stand-bys, the results indicate that although initially the facilities were used in different economic circumstances, since the mid 1980s these differences have largely disappeared. Instead the differences between user countries have become more political than economic. There are, however, some differences between concessionary and non-concessionary facilities beyond the income levels of countries using them. The policy implications for the range and design of the Fund’s lending windows are discussed.

“It Must Be <Emphasis Type="Italic">Me</Emphasis>”: Ethnic Diversity and Attributions for Peer Victimization in Middle School

This study examined the mediating role of self-blaming attributions on peer victimization-maladjustment relations in middle school and the moderating role of classroom ethnic diversity. Latino and African American 6th grade participants (N = 1105, 56% female) were recruited from middle schools in which they were either members of the numerical majority ethnic group, the numerical minority, or one of several ethnic groups in ethnically diverse schools. Peer nomination data were gathered in the Fall of 6th grade to determine which students had reputations as victims of harassment and self-report data on self-blame for peer harassment and the adjustment outcomes of depressive symptoms and feelings of self-worth were gathered in the Spring of 6th grade, approximately 6 months later. A mediational model in which self-blame partly explained the relation between victimization and maladjustment was supported among students from the majority ethnic group in their classroom but not among students from the minority group. The usefulness of including ethnic diversity as an important context variable in studies of peer victimization during early adolescence was discussed.

Multidimensional Family Therapy in Theory and in Practice

This article reviews the family therapy case of an adolescent substance abuser through the lens of multidimensional family therapy (MDFT). Initially, the adolescent presented with suicidal ideation, depression, academic difficulties, and behavior problems. The family experienced chronically high levels of conflict, which related to the mother's depression, the father's harsh discipline, and the adolescent's sister's frequent suicidal threats and outbursts. Family therapeutic interventions helped to decrease family conflict and improve the adolescent's grades and behavior. In particular, conjoint work with the parents had a stabilizing effect on the family system. As predicted by MDFT, this stabilizing effect was shown to place the adolescent on a healthier developmental trajectory. Limitations of the case and implications for future research are also presented.     

Rwanda: an agrarian developmental state?

This article investigates Rwanda’s agricultural policies and institutions as a historically contextualised response to exceptionally adverse developmental circumstances. Using the agrarian question as an analytical point of reference, the article argues that it is extremely difficult to identify how increases in productivity and income in smallholder agriculture can be achieved without forceful state action and a sustained injection of resources. In light of this, entirely right-congruent governance is caught in a dilemma about the extent to which the government overrides peasants’ own agency and the extent to which the agrarian strategy produces a sustained and stable transformation in agriculture. Rather than making a defence or condemnation of the government’s strategy, the article argues against pre-emptive judgements of an agrarian strategy that can only discernibly attain success over a long period. What the article does do is insist that there is development potential in the current strategy, not simply a disaster in the making.     

The Measurement of Legitimacy: A Rush to Judgment?

In an important article on the methodological issues surrounding measuring of police legitimacy, Jackson and Bradford (Asian Journal of Criminology,https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-019-09289-w, 2019) adequately warn against the use of confirmatory factor analysis as an adjudication tool for differentiating the possible sources and constituent components of police legitimacy. However, in the process of arguing against the Sun et al.’s (Asian Journal of Criminology, 13, 275–291, 2018) measure of legitimacy, they inadvertently bring attention to a more foundational issue—How should scientists conduct research and test theories in various cultures? Furthermore, their argument against the alternative measuring of police legitimacy elucidates an extensive problem facing criminology—they have brought attention paid to the interrogation of operationalizing key constructs within criminology. We argue that Jackson and Bradford’s (2019) critiques of Sun et al.’s (2018) modeling and subsequent testing of police legitimacy in China are a bit overstated. Additionally, we contend that testing theories, such as police legitimacy, across cultures should be conducted both top-down and bottom-up—neither are necessarily contradictory. We urge readers to be the ultimate amicus curiae because this issue is not a concretely right-or-wrong type issue.

     

Acute fatal acetaminophen overdose without liver necrosis

Two unusual cases of suicidal overdose of acetaminophen (paracetamol) without the usual extensive centrilobular necrosis of the liver are reported. Both cases were subjected to comprehensive drug screening by immunoassay, and a combination of gas chromatography with mass spectrometry, nitrogen detection, and electron capture detection. Acetaminophen was detected in both cases. No other drugs were detected in case #1, and only a small amount of olanzapine (<0.1 mg/L) was detected in case #2. No anatomical cause of death was identified in either case. If untreated, the normal outcome of a large acetaminophen overdose would be massive hepatic necrosis with delayed death and low blood and tissue acetaminophen concentrations. In contrast, particularly high postmortem acetaminophen concentrations were measured in both our cases with little hepatic tissue damage. For case #1, femoral blood acetaminophen 1280 mg/L, vitreous 878 mg/L, and liver 729 mg/kg; in case #2, cardiac blood 1220 mg/L, vitreous 779 mg/L, liver 3260 mg/kg, and gastric 11,500 mg/500 g. Acetaminophen was measured using high performance liquid chromatography with UV detection (254 nm) using 3-hydroxyacetanilide as the internal standard. The very high concentrations of acetaminophen is these cases but relatively little hepatic damage suggests an alternative, possibly cardiac, mechanism of death.     

Effects of prior knowledge and expert statement on belief in recovered memories: an international perspective

We tested the hypothesis that beliefs in the purported attributes of recovered memories of child sexual abuse (CSA) are associated with knowledge of the "recovered/false memory debate", and that such beliefs will be related to assessments of the credibility of statements made by participants in a vignette about CSA. Participants from five countries (the United States, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Israel) responded to a questionnaire regarding beliefs about recovered memory as well as self-reported exposure to and knowledge of the debate. In addition, they assessed the credibility of statements made by a daughter (reporting recovery of memories of sexual abuse by her father), her father (denying the allegation and accusing the daughter's therapist of implanting in her false "memories" of abuse), and two experts (each supporting one of the two protagonists). We found that prior knowledge of the debate across countries was linked to beliefs in specific attributes of recovered memories and to a subset of the credibility assessments of statements made by the protagonists and their experts. For individuals, however, credibility assessments were unrelated to knowledge of the debate, but they were related to beliefs about memory recovery. Finally, credibility of the protagonists' statements was differentially associated with those made by the daughter's and the father's experts. The results suggest that whereas familiarity with the debate does not affect the credibility of the statements made by the complainant and the accused, expert testimony does, as has been found in prior research. The psycholegal implications of this conclusion are discussed.     

Sickle cell lung disease and sudden death: a retrospective/prospective study of 21 autopsy cases and literature review

Sudden death in the setting of sickle cell lung disease (SCLD), is periodically seen in the practice of medical examiners. The goal of the present study was to identify the most common pathologic findings of SCLD associated with sudden or unexpected death. A retrospective/prospective review of 21 autopsy cases from sickle cell patients between 1990 and 2004 was performed. Review of medical records, autopsy reports, and H&E-stained slides of lung tissue was performed. Oil-Red-O and elastic staining of lung tissue were evaluated. All cases were screened for both acute and chronic forms of SCLD. Patients admitted for sickle cell pain crisis ranged in age from 8 months to 65 years. Fifteen out of 21 cases (71.4%) showed significant pulmonary pathology. The most frequent lung findings included pulmonary edema (47.6%), pulmonary thromboembolism (38.1%), fat emboli (33.3%), pulmonary hypertension, grades I-IV (33.3%), and microvascular occlusive thrombi (28.5%). Our study demonstrates higher-than-expected percentages of acute and chronic sickle cell-related lung injury such as fat embolism (33.3%) and pulmonary hypertension (33.3%), with right ventricular hypertrophy (33.3%). Therefore, we propose a simple and high-yield autopsy algorithm of ancillary procedures that should be applied on all known and suspected autopsy cases of sickle cell disease.