Fatalities in the bathtub

A retrospective analysis concerning deaths in the bathtub was carried out in the Institute of Legal Medicine in Hamburg. The study includes 245 death cases between 1971 and 1988 (1% of all autopsies). 66 cases proved to be natural deaths, 76 were classified as suicides, 39 as accidents and 13 as homicides; 51 fatalities remained unclear with respect to one of these groups. Among the natural deaths sudden cardiac deaths were dominating (n = 39), among the suicides the intoxications (n = 37) and electrocutions (n = 20), and among the accidents the intoxications by carbon monoxide (n = 17) and electrocutions (n = 12). Out of 13 homicides only 2 were committed directly in the bathtub: One by drowning of a child and one by electric current via a hair dryer; in the other cases the dead body was put into the bathtub post mortem. About 50% of the victims were alcoholized. Signs of drowning were present in about 40% of all cases; the most frequent finding was emphysema aquosum.     

Reaching for the Philosopher's Stone: Contingent Coordination and the Military's Response to Hurricane Katrina

When Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in August 2005, it immediately overwhelmed the abilities of local and state emergency management officials to respond to the ensuing disaster. Although the U.S. Coast Guard and some military units were on scene shortly after the passage of the storm, there seemed to be interminable delays before the military forces began to arrive in numbers to both provide humanitarian relief and secure the affected areas. This article analyzes the response of the National Guard, active-duty military, and Coast Guard forces through the lens of coordination. We find evidence of the successful use of both traditional hierarchical and network-based coordination; we also find support for Donald Kettl's idea of "contingent coordination."     

PROSTITUTION,IV DRUG USE,AND SEXFOR-CRACK EXCHANGES AMONG SERIOUS DELINQUENTS: RISKS FOR HIV INFECTION*

There is mounting evidence that HIV infection among adolescents is increasing, particularly among minorities and inner-city youths involved in certain high-risk activities, such as multiple sex partners and intravenous drug use. Interviews conducted “on the street” with 611 seriously delinquent male and female adolescents (ages 12–17) included questions about their involvement in prostitution, intravenous drug use, and sex-for-crack exchanges. Findings included high percentages of youths engaged in these HIV-risk activities and a consistent association between all of them and greater illicit drug use. This would suggest that these risk behaviors may be surprisingly prevalent among some inner-city adolescent groups. Special AIDS prevention/intervention targeting these groups is warranted and urgently needed. Drug treatment should be a central focus of such programs.     

Interpretation of unusual wounds caused by firearms.

The interpretation of the range of fire of gunshot wounds requires coordination of information and observations from the autopsy surgeon, scene investigator, and laboratory analyst. Opinions based on incomplete information often lead to misinterpretation of the wound. The effects of interposed targets such as clothing, windows, and body parts are discussed. Case examples are given for interposed targets that cause confusing patterns and even lead to misidentification of the points of entrance and exit of the projectile in the body. The splitting of tissue in areas of bony prominence can be mistaken for evidence of discharge of a firearm at close range.     

Hemopericardium following cerebral hemorrhage. Report of an autopsy case.

The simultaneous occurrence of cerebral hemorrhage and hemopericardium due to the rupture of a dissecting aneurysm has not been previously reported. We describe an autopsy case of a 45-year-old man with hypertension who died suddenly following both of these conditions. He had been treated for hypertension; the finding of arteriolar nephrosclerosis supported the existence of the disease. Because rupture of the aorta invariably causes a marked fall in blood pressure, the occurrence of cerebral hemorrhage following hemopericardium is highly unlikely. Thus, we presume that rupture of the aorta occurred after the cerebral hemorrhage.     

HLA DQ alpha typing of forensic specimens by amplification restriction fragment polymorphism (ARFP) analysis.

The alleles present at the HLA DQ alpha locus may be typed by either allele specific oligonucleotide (ASO) probing or by restriction mapping, referred to here as amplification restriction fragment polymorphism (ARFP) analysis. ASO typing relies upon hybridization principles, whereas ARFP typing relies upon restriction site analysis. Dot-blot ASO typings which are of doubtful interpretation may be directly checked by ARFP analysis. Aliquots of the PCR products amplified using the commercial Amplitype HLA DQ alpha system are digested with suitable restriction endonucleases. Electrophoresis, blotting and detection of biotin-labelled restriction fragments provides a sensitive and robust typing method suited to forensic analysis.     

Norms versus Action: Why Voters Fail to Sanction Malfeasance in Brazil

We show that Brazilian voters strongly sanction malfeasant mayors when presented with hypothetical scenarios but take no action when given the same information about their own mayor. Partnering with the State Accounts Court of Pernambuco, we conducted a field experiment during the 2016 municipal elections in which the treatment group received information about official wrongdoing by their mayor. The treatment has no effect on self‐reported voting behavior after the election, yet when informing about malfeasance in the context of a vignette experiment, we are able to replicate the strong negative effect found in prior studies. We argue that voters' behavior in the abstract reflects the comparatively strong norm against corruption in Brazil. Yet on Election Day, their behavior is constrained by factors such as attitudes toward local political dynasties and the greater salience of more pressing concerns like employment and health services.     

Reconciling Sexism and Women’s Support for Republican Candidates: A Look at Gender,Class, and Whiteness in the 2012 and 2016 Presidential Races

Political Behavior - Much of the gender gap literature focuses on women’s greater average liberalism relative to men. This approach masks considerable heterogeneity in political identity and...     

Cost‐Effectiveness of Early Childhood Interventions to Enhance Preschool: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Head Start Centers Enrolling Historically Underserved Populations

We evaluate the cost‐effectiveness of two early childhood interventions that use instructional coaching and parent coaching as levers for improvement. The study design allows us to compare the individual effects of each intervention as well as their combined effect on student outcomes. We find that teachers receiving instructional coaching improve their use of evidence‐based instructional practices, while families receiving parent coaching show increases in numerous responsive parenting behaviors associated with positive child outcomes. Both interventions demonstrate positive impacts on students, but only parent coaching shows statistically significant effects across a range of student outcomes. Instructional coaching alone is substantially less costly and may therefore be the most cost‐effective of the three treatment conditions; however, small sample sizes limit our ability to reach definitive conclusions. Policy simulations suggest that implementing these interventions could raise the overall cost‐effectiveness of Head Start by at least 16 percent.