When random assignment fails: Some lessons from the Minneapolis Spouse Abuse Experiment

In this paper, we consider what may be done when researchers anticipate that in the implementation of field experiments, random assignment to experimental and control groups is likely to be flawed. We then reanalyze data from the Minneapolis Spouse Abuse Experiment in a manner that explicitly models violations of random assignment. As anticipated, we find far larger treatment effects than previously reported. The techniques developed should be useful in a wide variety of settings when random assignment is implemented imperfectly.     

Hypervariable regions of DNA for parentage testing and individual identification

Four kinds of DNA probes that recognize hypervariable regions (HVR) were studied for parentage testing and individual identification. Allele frequencies and their confidence intervals among unrelated Japanese individuals were obtained. Codominant segregation of the polymorphism was confirmed in family studies. Two a priori probabilities were calculated for each HVR locus: the exclusion probabilities for an alleged father/mother/child trio and for an alleged parent/child duo, and the probabilities of matching of genotypes of two unrelated individuals or two siblings. The ease of availability of the probes and their highly discriminating polymorphic patterns mean they could be very useful for forensic purposes.     

The shielding capacity of the standard military flak jacket against ballistic injury to the kidney

An animal model was designed to evaluate the ability of the standard military flak jacket to protect the kidneys from direct ballistic trauma. Yorkshire swine were anesthetized and their flanks were protected by flak jackets. Ballistic insults ranging from a low-velocity handgun to a high-velocity rifle were evaluated. The results demonstrate that a flak jacket provides adequate protection against low- and mid-velocity projectiles since none of the animals from this group had evidence of internal trauma and because only minor superficial surgical attention would have been required. Survivability in each case was considered to be excellent. The flak jacket failed to provide any protection against several types of high-velocity bullets. These weapons caused severe internal injury to the genitourinary system as well as to other major organ systems. Survival would have been unlikely.     

An infant fatality involving ajmaline

An infant fatality following accidental ingestion of ajmaline is described. Ajmaline was determined by thin-layer chromatography and infrared spectrophotometry, and quantitated by high performance liquid chromatography. The ajmaline concentration in blood was 5.5 micrograms/mL. The toxicological data relevant to the interpretation of case findings are presented.