A pilot study of the effects of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist therapy on brain activation pattern in a man with pedophilia

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, such as leuprorelin, are recommended in the patients with pedophilia at highest risk of offending. However, the cerebral mechanisms of the effects of these testosterone-decreasing drugs are poorly known. This study aimed to identify changes caused by leuprorelin in a pedophilic patient's brain responses to pictures representing children. Clinical, endocrine, and fMRI investigations were done of a man with pedophilia before leuprorelin therapy and 5 months into leuprorelin therapy. Patient was compared with an age-matched healthy control also assessed 5 months apart. Before therapy, pictures of boys elicited activation in the left calcarine fissure, left insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and left cerebellar vermis. Five months into therapy, all the above-mentioned activations had disappeared. No such activations and, consequently, no such decreases occurred in the healthy control. The results of this pilot study suggest that leuprorelin decreased activity in regions known to mediate the perceptual, motivational, and affective responses to visual sexual stimuli.     

Evidence of mephedrone chronic abuse through hair analysis using GC/MS

Mephedrone is a synthetic derivative of cathinone which is becoming more common on the recreational drug market. Several intoxications following mephedrone abuse have been reported though published papers have focused essentially on analytical approaches for biological fluids and only one has involved a hair sample. After the development and validation of a new method, the first series of positive results for mephedrone in hair specimens is reported here. After decontamination of the hair strand in methylene chloride, hair segments were cut into small pieces with scissors, weighed and incubated overnight in Soerensen buffer pH 7.0 in the presence of deuterated 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) at 40°C. The incubation medium was extracted using ethyl acetate after alkalinisation with 1N sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Before injection, the dry extract was derivatized using a mixture of heptafluorobutyric anhydride/ethyl acetate (100:50, v/v), evaporated and dissolved in ethyl acetate (25μl). After introduction of 1μl of the extract onto a splitless injector, chromatographic separation was achieved on a HP 6890 gas chromatograph equipped with a 5-MS capillary column. Detection was achieved in single ion monitoring mode (m/z 254-119-210 for mephedrone, m/z 258-213 for MDMA-d5) using a 5973 MSD operating in electron impact mode. Sixty-seven hair specimens were tested for mephedrone. Thirteen of them were found positive for mephedrone with concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 313.2ng/mg with a mean concentration of 26.8ng/mg. It was difficult to compare our findings due to a lack of reference data, nevertheless mephedrone seems well incorporated into hair (concentrations in the ng/mg range) like other stimulant drugs such as amphetamines or cocaine. The aim of this work was to develop a specific and accurate method for mephedrone analysis in hair specimens and its application to a large number of samples (n=67). The developed analytical method appears sensitive enough to reveal occasional to regular use of mephedrone.     

Prevalence of women's violent and nonviolent offending behavior: a comparison of self-reports, victims' reports, and third-party reports

This study assessed women's violent and nonviolent offending, using data from two online student samples (men and women: n = 344), reporting on either being a perpetrator and witness (women) or being a victim and witness (men). A comprehensive measure of general violence, intimate partner violence (IPV), and nonviolent offending was collected. From women's self-reports, 59.9% reported perpetrating general violent offenses, 58.1% reported perpetrating IPV offenses and 85.6% reported perpetrating nonviolent offenses. Correlations showed that women were involved in a variety of offenses and demonstrated the interrelatedness of general violence and IPV, and of violent and nonviolent offenses. Regression analysis confirmed the close association between partner and general violence, and found that drug offenses were also related to the former and criminal damage to the latter. Overall, the prevalence data demonstrated women's involvement in all types of offending, and a similar pattern of offending was supported across data sources. Limitations of the sampling method and measures are discussed.     

Revisiting the role of communication in adolescent intimate partner violence

A growing literature suggests that communication strategies can promote or inhibit intimate partner violence (IPV). Research on communication is still needed on a group ripe for early IPV intervention: high school-aged adolescents. This article revisits our previous analyses of young female reproductive clinic patients (Messinger, Davidson, & Rickert, 2011) by examining how the adolescent and young adult respondents differ. To explore replicability of the adolescent results across populations, they are compared to 487 adolescent female students sampled from four urban high schools. Across samples, all communication strategies were used more frequently within violent relationships. Multivariate analysis identified escalating strategies used and received as being positively associated with physical violence used and received in all three samples. Regarding verbal reasoning and temporary conflict avoidance, substantial differences appeared between the young adult and adolescent clinic samples, and results from the adolescent clinic sample were largely replicated with the adolescent school sample, suggesting that young adult samples in this literature are not adequate proxies for adolescents.     

Optimization of Human mtDNA Control Region Sequencing for Forensic Applications

Sequencing mitochondrial DNA hypervariable regions I and II (HVI and HVII) is useful in forensic missing person and unidentified remains cases. Improvements in ease and sensitivity of testing will yield results from more samples in a timely fashion. Routinely, amplification of HVI and HVII is followed by Sanger sequencing using the BigDye^® Terminator v3.1 Cycle Sequencing kit (Applied Biosystems) using 4 μL of ready reaction mix (RRM). Each sequencing reaction is then purified through column filtration before capillary electrophoresis. Using lower amounts of RRM (2 μL or 1 μL) and purification using BigDye^® XTerminator^? (Applied Biosystems) instead of columns showed no loss of sequence length and increased the quality and the sensitivity of testing, allowing HVI and HVII typing from mitochondrial genome equivalent to 125 fg of nuclear DNA, or 100 pg of HVI/HVII amplicons. Using this methodology, testing can be completed in 1 day, and the cost of testing is reduced.     

THE VERDICTS OF CRIMINAL LAW JUDGES REFLECTING THE PRINCIPLES OF FUNDAMENTAL JUSTICE BASED ON PANCASILA

Indonesia is a state law. This statement can be found in Article 1 Verse （3） of Indonesia Constitution of 1945 and is elaborated more in Act No. 48 Year 2009 on Judicial Power-in which Article 1 No. 1 asserts that Judicial Power refers to the power of a free country to perform court systems in order to enforce the law and justice based on Pancasila and Indonesia Constitution of 1945, in line with the status of Indonesia as a state law.     

The Relationship Between Childhood Physical Abuse and Adult Attachment Styles

The purpose of the study was to identify the insecure adult attachment style associated with childhood physical abuse. Five hundred fifty-two female and 294 male university students completed questionnaires on their child abuse history, adult attachment style, and other variables. Regression analyses were completed. A history of physical abuse was associated with attachment avoidance while controlling for other forms of childhood abuse. Some support was also found for an association between physical abuse and attachment anxiety. Social support, as a control variable, was found to be an important predictor of attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety. A history of childhood physical abuse has important and specific impacts on intimate adult relationships with social support acting as a possible protective factor.     

Code or court: the financial-political aspect of correlation between common and civil law

This paper analyses the ‘law and finance theory’ and other papers which are based on it and finds that the theory has more in common with a political order than independent scientific research. This paper argues that, as our world becomes more and more globalized, common law countries in general, and case law in particular, have a little advantage when it concerns financial and business relationships. Consequently, such differences as legal origins can become a huge rift for global unity. It concludes that, in agreement with many philosophers, the best way is a ‘middle way’. It recommends the construction a new system of law, which combines the best aspects of the common and civil law families.     

A Comparison Between Digital Radiography,Computed Tomography,and Magnetic Resonance in the Detection of Gunshot Residues in Burnt Tissues and Bone

The radiological search for GSR is crucial in burnt material although it has been rarely tested. In this study, thirty‐one bovine ribs were shot at near‐contact range and burnt to calcination in an oven simulating a real combustion. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) were performed before and after carbonization and compared with former analyses with DR (digital radiography); thus comparing the assistance, the radiological methods can provide in the search for GSR in fresh and burnt bone. DR demonstrated the greatest ability in the detection of metallic residues, CT showed lower abilities, while MR showed a high sensitivity only in soft tissues. Thus, DR can be considered as the most sensitive method in the detection of GSR in charred bones, whereas CT and MR demonstrated much less reliability. Nonetheless, the MR ameliorates the analysis of gunshot wounds in other types of remains with large quantities of soft tissues.     

Deterring Gang-Involved Gun Violence: Measuring the Impact of Boston’s Operation Ceasefire on Street Gang Behavior

Objectives

The relatively weak quasi-experimental evaluation design of the original Boston Operation Ceasefire left some uncertainty about the size of the program’s effect on Boston gang violence in the 1990s and did not provide any direct evidence that Boston gangs subjected to the Ceasefire intervention actually changed their offending behaviors. Given the policy influence of the Boston Ceasefire experience, a closer examination of the intervention’s direct effects on street gang violence is needed.

Methods

A more rigorous quasi-experimental evaluation of a reconstituted Boston Ceasefire program used propensity score matching techniques to develop matched treatment gangs and comparison gangs. Growth-curve regression models were then used to estimate the impact of Ceasefire on gun violence trends for the treatment gangs relative to comparisons gangs.

Results

This quasi-experimental evaluation revealed that total shootings involving Boston gangs subjected to the Operation Ceasefire treatment were reduced by a statistically-significant 31 % when compared to total shootings involving matched comparison Boston gangs. Supplementary analyses found that the timing of gun violence reductions for treatment gangs followed the application of the Ceasefire treatment.

Conclusions

This evaluation provides some much needed evidence on street gang behavioral change that was lacking in the original Ceasefire evaluation. A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that jurisdictions should adopt focused deterrence strategies to control street gang violence problems.