"Lateral Angle" of the Internal Auditory Canal: Non-Association with Temporal Bone Pneumatization

Abstract:  The "lateral angle," the angle with which the posterior wall of the internal auditory canal meets the posterior fossa plate, is arguably wider in females (>45°) than males (<45°). Not previously addressed, however, are repeatability of angle determination, and whether the extent of temporal bone pneumatization is a confounder. Forty-one adult human cranial specimens (82 clinically normal temporal bones) were studied; no sex information was available for this United States sample. Two casts were created from each ear; each cast was independently categorized twice. No association of lateral angle with mastoid size was found. Repeatability was good. Although bilateral symmetry was suggested (phi = 0.60, p  = 0.05), two crania had oppositely categorized right-left angles. We observed a new finding: narrowed but clinically normal canals in 10% of crania. The lateral angle is a good candidate to be a morphological method in determination of sex.     

The possibility of an Asian monetary union drawing from the EMU experience

This academic exercise evaluates the possibility of formation of a monetary union within East Asia, with the European Monetary Union (EMU) providing a referential framework against which lessons and comparisons are drawn. The benefits and drawbacks to Asia of adopting such a union are discussed, and their relative magnitude weighed against each other by employing the theory of the Optimum Currency Area (OCA). Although studies under the OCA framework have not yielded irrefutable or definitive results on the economic sustainability of an Asian monetary union, it is concurred that such a union is as economically viable as the EMU. The political sentiments towards monetary unification in East Asia are also examined, and though leaders remain generally unreceptive to such an undertaking, it is receiving serious consideration as cooperative monetary efforts accelerate and integrative initiatives deepen across Asia. Attention is also given to the existing monetary union between Singapore and Brunei (MUBS) as it commands relevance in our analysis due to its residence within Asia itself, and its smooth functioning despite economic disparities between its two members. A gradualist approach towards East Asian monetary unification, whereby smaller monetary unions are first formed to be eventually merged to make up an East Asian-wide monetary union is also discussed.     

Christian Ehrenfried Eschenbach (1712-1788)--a pioneer of legal medicine in German universities

Christian Ehrenfried Eschenbach (1712-1788) belongs to the forerunners of the embossed natural science scholars of legal medicine in Germany. As a principal re-elected 11 times and dean of the medical faculty at Rostock University he defended academic positions in difficult times. His bibliography comprises numerous text books, e.g. on surgery, anatomy, pathology and obstetrics as well as various fields of mathematics. His Medicina legalis (1746 and 1775) belongs to the first systematic editions of forensic medicine in the German-speaking community. Thanks to his extensive practical experience as a physician and public health officer he took a very progressive position on questions of forensic medicine, issues of professional ethics in medicine and the assessment of injuries. He has wrongly been forgotten.