Multicultural health care? Cultural accommodation in non‐devoted policy sectors

As developed states have faced increasing ethnocultural diversity, debates have arisen over what tools the state has at its disposal to help create peaceful, tolerant, and cohesive diverse societies. This research note has two purposes. First, it builds on existing theoretical research on multicultural policies to propose a typology of multicultural policies from non‐devoted immigration or multicultural ministries. Second, it argues that there is space for policies aimed to accommodate and recognize immigrants and ethnocultural minorities in health care policy and – by extension – other policy areas. Such initiatives would both improve the quality of service for immigrants, ethnocultural minorities, and majority group Canadians and greatly enhance the likelihood of recognition and comprehensive integration of minorities.     

Identification of group affinity from cross-sectional contours of the human midfacial skeleton using digital morphometrics and 3D laser scanning technology

Identifying group affinity from human crania is a long-standing problem in forensic and physical anthropology. Many craniofacial differences used in forensic skeletal identification are difficult to quantify, although certain measurements of the midfacial skeleton have shown high predictive value for group classifications. This study presents a new method for analyzing midfacial shape variation between different geographic groups. Three-dimensional laser scan models of 90 crania from three populations were used to obtain cross-sectional midfacial contours defined by three standard craniometric landmarks. Elliptic Fourier transforms of the contours were used to extract Fourier coefficients for statistical analysis. After cross-validation, discriminant functions based on the Fourier coefficients provided an average of 86% correct classifications for crania from the three groups. The high rate of accuracy of this method indicates its usefulness for identifying group affinities among human skeletal remains and demonstrates the advantages of digital 3D model-based analysis in forensic research.     

A Tale of Two Debtors: Responding to the Shock of Over‐Indebtedness in France and England – a Story from the Trente Piteuses

England and France have developed distinct treatment systems to address the shock of a substantial increase in over‐indebted individuals since the mid‐1980s. In France, Over‐Indebtedness Commissions, with the Bank of France playing a central role in their management, now dominate the system. A more fragmented system of private and public providers of remedies developed in England, with innovation driven by private actors modifying existing commercial procedures and increased access to bankruptcy relief a side‐effect of government promotion of entrepreneurialism. This article explains the differences between these countries in terms of the influence of interest groups, including state actors, and ideologies. Historical contingency also plays a role. The distinct responses were not hard‐wired to legal origins and the article argues that analysis of the interaction of interest groups, state actors and ideology in shaping institutions, which in turn structure future change, provides a productive approach for future comparative research in this area.     

Recognition of Early Myocardial Infarction by Immunohistochemical Staining with Cardiac Troponin‐I and Complement C9*

Abstract: The diagnosis of early myocardial infarction (MI) after death, especially in the first few hours (c. 6 h) after the onset of MI, poses a challenge to the forensic pathologists. During this time, the damaged myocardium does not show grossly identifiable morphological changes and may not be recognized even with routine histological microscopic examination. However, the infarcted cardiac tissue releases certain chemicals that can be detected microscopically, two of these being cardiac troponin‐I (CT‐I) and complement C9 (C9). This study utilizes the importance of these two biomarkers immunohistochemically in an attempt to identify this early phase of MI. This study reveals that the early phase of MI of <6 h duration may be detected through immunohistochemical staining with CT‐I and C9. The ischemic/infarcted cardiac myofibers in the <6 h group display reduced/absent CT‐I staining as well as positive C9 staining.     

The evolution of informed consent

Informed consent and the changes in what is expected over the 21st century provide an instructive case study of the mutual influence on one another of medical law and medical ethics. Over the years we have moved from a doctor-centred standard to a patient-centred standard and from a one-size-fits-all patient-centred standard to a more individual requirement that engages with the needs of a particular patient It is unreasonable to expect those changes to be reflected in anything less than an extended conversation in which the health care professional gives out some version of what a reasonable patient would expect to hear from an informed health care professional and then responds to the patient's questions as informatively and helpfully as he or she can. It is therefore convenient to refer to spontaneous and responsive disclosure as a very concrete implementation of the health care professional-patient partnership that is contemporary health care and at the heart of health care ethics.     

Space,Kinship Networks and Youth Transition in Provincial Russia: Negotiating Urban–Rural and Inter-Regional Migration

This article addresses orientations towards place and opportunities for rural–urban and inter-regional migration amongst graduates of vocational colleges in Ul'yanovsk Oblast'. Given the inaccessibility of the housing market and decline in the provision of student and workplace accommodation, kinship networks have become the principal means to negotiate any form of migration. However, while in some cases such networks provide ‘bridges’ to opportunities elsewhere, a general lack of networks, alongside the ‘bonding’ effects of kinship networks at the local level, acts as a significant constraint on young peoples' prospects for geographical, and social, mobility.