The impact of general versus specific expert testimonyand eyewitness confidence upon mock juror judgment

Subjects (n=128) initially viewed an eyewitness of high or low confidence. Subsequently, participants viewed a psychologist who gave either espert testimony on the unreliability of eyewitness identification, specific expert testimony, or no expert (control) testimony. Subjects viewing expert testimony believed the eyewitness identified the gunman significantly less often, gave the defendant lower guilt ratings, estimated a lower general percentage of correct identifications under similar circumstances, estimated a lower percentage of general accurate eyewitness testimony, and gave significantly lower ratings to the belief that one can generally tell from eyewitness confidence whether an eyewitness is accurate than subjects in control conditions. Significant differences were also obtained between general and specific expert testimony. Participants viewing specific expert testimony estimated lower general percentages of correct identifications under the circumstances of the crime and reported relying more upon the psychologist's testimony than subjects viewing general expert testimony. Additionally, subjects viewing general expert testimony had significantly less confidence in their gunman vs. innocent person decision than subjects in specific testimony or control conditions. Subjects who viewed the high confidence eyewitness decided that the eyewitness correctly identified the gunman more often, gave the defendant higher guilt ratings, and estimated the general percentage of accurate eyewitness testimony to be significantly higher than jurors in low eyewitness confidence groups. The finding that jurors may continue to rely on eyewitness confidence to gauge the accuracy of the witness even after viewing expert testimony is discussed.     

The role of insecure attachment and gender role stress in predicting controlling behaviors in men who batter

The authors hypothesized that masculine gender role stress would mediate the relationship between insecure attachment and controlling behaviors in a sample of men who batter. To examine this hypothesis,143 men who were court mandated to attend a batterers' intervention program in a northeastern state completed measures including the Controlling Behavior Index, the Gender Role Stress Scale, the Relationship Questionnaire, and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. After controlling statistically for social desirability, results indicated that both fearful attachment and gender role stress significantly predicted controlling behaviors, with gender role stress partially mediating the relationship between fearful attachment and controlling behaviors. The discussion focuses on the importance of understanding partner abuse through a gendered context.     

Application of mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis in the forensic identification of Chinese sika deer subspecies

As a direct and indirect consequence of human activities, only two subspecies, Cervus nippon sinchuanicus and Cervus nippon kopschi, currently subsist in the wild of China. However, a large population of Cervus nippon hortulorum and Cervus nippon nippon is raised in order to gain deer parts for Chinese traditional medicine. According to Chinese Wild Animal Conservation Law, hunting, capturing and trading of the wild sika deer are strictly banned, however, raising and trading of the domestic individual are permitted. Thus, it is very necessary to identify the subspecies of sika deer in China in forensic tests. In our study, we used mitochondrial DNA control region sequence analysis and phylogenetic analysis to identify the subspecies of sika deer. Mitochondrial DNA control region sequences analysis revealed that two haplotypes came from the unknown samples. One is the same as the haplotype that came from the samples of wild population of C. n. kopschi. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the two haplotypes of unknown samples clustered with the haplotypes of C. n. kopschi, and had significant difference from the haplotypes of the other subspecies. These results together revealed that the unknown samples came from two individuals that belong to the wild population of C. n. kopschi living in the Qinglingfeng State Natural Reserve of Zhejiang province. Therefore, the results provide forensic evidence of illegal wild animal hunting.     

早期心肌梗死死后诊断的法医病理学研究进展

心源性猝死在成人猝死的死因中占首位,心肌梗死是冠心病猝死的主要机制之一,由于早期心肌梗死发生突然,且可在短时间内死亡,肉眼和镜下都缺乏典型的形态学改变,一直都是法医实践中研究的热点,本文回顾多年来心肌梗死的研究成果在法医学中的应用及局限,展望新的临床指标在法医工作中的可行性,期望提高死后心肌梗死诊断的准确率。     

Initial Development of a New Measure of Minor Stress for Adolescents: The Adolescent Minor Stress Inventory

The primary aim of this study was to develop, standardize, and establish initial reliability and validity for the Adolescent Minor Stress Inventory (AMSI), a new measure of minor stress for adolescents. The AMSI improves upon existing adolescent stress measures in a number of important ways in that it does not emphasize school or classroom-based stressors, and includes a method of adjusting for the over- and underreporting of stress. In this investigation, the AMSI was mailed to 1865 adolescents aged 13–17 from which we obtained 720 (39%) usable surveys. Standardized scoring was developed and the results provide initial data supporting the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the AMSI. The AMSI has potential application both in clinical and research settings, particularly during times when school is not in session or with adolescents who do not regularly attend school.Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida. Received PhD in Clinical Psychology from Louisiana State University in 1999. Research interests include psychological stress and nicotine dependence treatment in adolescents and young adults.Professor Emeritus, Division of Biostatistics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN. Received MS in Statistics from Iowa State University in 1971. Research interests include survey research, nicotine dependence treatment, and biostatistics.Data Analyst, Division of Biostatistics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Received BS in Applied Statistics from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2000. Research interests include nicotine dependence and survey methods.Associate Professor, Nicotine Dependence Program, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Received PhD in Clinical Psychology from University of California, San Diego in 1996. Research interests include nicotine dependence in adolescents.Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Received PhD in Clinical Psychology from University of North Dakota in 1980. Research interests include impact of trauma.Statistician, Division of Biostatistics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Received MS in Applied Mathmatics from University of Minnesota, Duluth in 1999. Research interests include nicotine dependence.Professor, Nicotine Dependence Center, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Received MD from University of Louisville in 1970. Research interest in area of tobacco dependence.     

Disposition of quetiapine in biological specimens from postmortem cases

Quetiapine is a new atypical antipsychotic that was approved in 1997 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of schizophrenia. It possesses a high affinity for 5-HT2 receptors and a low affinity for D1 and D2 dopamine receptors. Because quetiapine has only been released recently to the U.S. market, little information exists regarding therapeutic, toxic, and lethal concentrations. This study reports the detection of quetiapine in 13 postmortem cases. Following a basic liquid-liquid extraction, quetiapine was identified and quantitated by capillary gas chromatography with nitrogen phosphorus detection. Confirmation was accomplished by full scan electron impact gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Heart blood quetiapine concentrations ranged from 0.07 to 18.37 mg/L (N = 12, mean +/- SD = 3.42 +/- 5.67, median 0.62) and femoral blood concentrations ranged from 0.06 to 19.25 mg/L (N = 10. mean +/- SD = 3.89 +/- 6.12, median 0.81). The average heart blood/femoral blood ratio was 1.31 (range 0.55 to 2.57, N = 10). Urine, bile, and gastric contents were assayed in all cases in which they were submitted. In three cases, the cause of death was determined to be quetiapine toxicity. In these cases heart blood concentrations ranged from 0.72 to 18.37 mg/L (N = 3). These data may provide a basis for establishing levels associated with quetiapine toxicity as well as therapeutic concentrations in postmortem specimens.     

Alkaloid content of the seeds from Erythroxylum Coca var. Coca

Alkaloid extracts from the seeds of Erythroxylum Coca var. Coca grown in the Chapare Valley of Bolivia were subjected to gas and liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometric analyses. Several alkaloids from these seeds were detected and characterized, including methylecgonidine, tropine, 3alpha-acetoxytropane, ecgonine methyl ester, cuscohygrine, N-norbenzoyltropine, benzoyltropine, hexanoylecgonine methyl ester, cocaine, cis-cinnamoylcocaine, and trans-cinnamoylcocaine. Methylecgonidine was determined to be the primary constituent and not an analytical artifact. Additionally, two significant new uncharacterized alkaloids were established as present. Recent evidence suggests that some cocaine processors are adding this seed extraction material to cocaine extracted from coca leaf and may impact cocaine impurity signature profiles.     

The ‘science’ of superiority: Africa and scholarly colonial assumptions

ABSTRACT

The use of ‘neopatrimonialism’ as a category in mainstream scholarship on African polities and economies is ubiquitous. A critique by Thandika Mkandawire has shown that the ‘neopatrimonial school’ is devoid of conceptual coherence and analytical power – it is an expression of a prejudice, not a useful tool for research and analysis. The article endorses Mkandawire's view but points out that this is by no means the only example of its kind. On the contrary, the use of categories which assume the superiority of societies in the global North over those in Africa is widespread. The article illustrates this by discussing and criticising two others, the ‘democratic consolidation’ paradigm and the ‘failed state’ framework. It argues that all three shape assumptions by scholars in Africa as well as outside it which obstruct concrete analysis. A critique of these paradigms is thus essential to the development of scholarship on and about Africa.