The Effects of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease on Forensic Breath Alcohol Testing

Fifteen test subjects, 10 of whom were diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), were dosed with alcohol to BACs above 0.150 g/dL. Blood and breath assays taken at 20-min intervals for 8 h after dosing demonstrated close agreement between postabsorptive BAC and BrAC values. Three subjects exhibited elevated breath alcohol concentrations up to 0.105 g/dL during the absorptive phase that were apparently due to the passage of gastric alcohol through the lower esophageal sphincter not attributable to eruction or regurgitation. The effect of gastric alcohol was not consistently proportional to the amount of unabsorbed gastric alcohol. Absorption of alcohol in the esophagus explains the nonproportionality. Breath samples contaminated by GERD-related alcohol leakage from the stomach into a breath sample were found only when there was a high concentration of alcohol in the stomach. When contaminated breath samples were encountered, they were irreproducible in magnitude.     

A Pilot Study Examining the Reduction of Trauma Symptomatology in Families to Prevent Child Abuse And Neglect: Trauma Adapted Family Connections

This article presents the preliminary outcomes of a 6-month, in-home trauma-adapted neglect prevention program intended to reduce trauma-related risk factors in families and increase caregiver, child, and family well-being. Standardized measures were administered via a computer assisted self-interview (CASI) at intake and case closure. At the time of the analyses 72 caregivers and 105 children completed both an intake and closing CASI. Significant differences were found over time in the reduction of caregiver and child related post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptomatology. Outcomes in overall caregiver, child, and family well-being and safety significantly improved over time. Evidence suggests that trauma adaptation of the empirically supported neglect prevention program shows great promise in filling a service gap and in helping families who are chronically traumatized and struggling to meet their children's basic needs.     

The Use of Children as a Tactic of Intimate Partner Violence and its Relationship to Survivors’ Mental Health

Journal of Family Violence - Although prior research has established that intimate partner violence (IPV) often leads to increased depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),...     

Exit, voice, and loyalty in international organizations: US involvement in the League of Nations

Recent challenges to traditional international relations theory have questioned the nature of international organizations (IOs) as agents of powerful state-members and have examined various conduits through which non-state actors can voice their concerns. Yet little work has focused on participation in IOs when a powerful state’s official position contradicts the goals of actors within it. This article examines the archival record of American involvement in the League of Nations’ economic section to explore such a circumstance. I correct the prevailing historical view of American isolationism in the interwar period and argue that participation by advanced, industrial democracies can better be understood as combinations of exit, voice, and loyalty on the part of individual components of state and civil societies.

Of Mail-Order Brides and ‘Boys' Own’ Tales: Representations of Asian-Australian Marriages

Asia is increasingly entering into the Australian imaginary as the nation grapples with the issue of ‘Australian identity’. This article examines two instances in which the idea of Asia has been taken up in debates about marriage and relations between men and women. Asia is a site of fantasy for men in an era when they feel that ‘traditional’ values of male pre-eminence in the family are being undermined. In this fantasy, ‘Asia’ is known through stereotypic representations, the stereotypes underlying the nature of the response in the popular media.     

Workers' Compensation, Social Security Disability, SSI, and Genetic Testing

This article argues that the use of genetic testing to determine eligibility for worker compensation and/or social security disability benefits would seriously undermine the social purposes of the laws.