Reviews

Kaunda's Zambia, 1964 ‐ 1991. A Select and Annotated Bibliography compiled by Naomi Musiker.

South African Institute of International Affairs, Bibliographical Series No. 26, Johannesburg. 1993. viii plus 426pp.

Environment, Employment and Development edited by A.S. Bhalla. International Labour Office, Geneva, 1992. x plus 177pp. including bibliography.

Poverty in Developing Countries: A Bibliography of Publications by the International Labour Office World Employment Programme, 1975–91. International Labour Office Bibliography No 12. International Labour Office, Geneva, 1992. viii plus 152pp.

The South African Tripod: Studies in Economics, Politics and Conflict by B. Oden, T. Ohlson, A. Davidson, P. Strand, M. Lundahl, and L. Moritz. Scandinavian Institute of International Studies, Uppsala, 1994. 281pp. including tables and graphs.

Tears of the Dead, the Social Biography of an African Family by Richard Werbner. Baobab Books: Harare and Edinburgh University Press, 1991. xi plus 211pp. including genealogies and illustrations.

The Politics of the National Arts Festival by Kenneth Grundy. Occasional Paper, No. 34, Institute of Social and Economic Research. Rhodes University, Grahamstown. 66 pp. including notes.

The Agrarian Question in Southern Africa and Accumulation from Below: Economics and Politics in the Struggle for Democracy by Michael Neocosmos. Research Report No. 93, The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala, 1993. 79 pp. including notes and bibliography.

The Bushman Myth: The Making of a Namibian Underclass by Robert J. Gordon. Boulder, Westview Press, Colorado and Oxford, 1992. xiv plus 304 pp. including maps, tables, notes, references and index.

A Bed Called Home: Life in the Migrant Labour Hostels of Cape Town by Mamphela Ramphele. David Philip: Cape Town, 1993. vii plus 152pp. including illustrations, appendix, bibliography and index.

The Small and the New in Southern Africa: The Foreign Relations of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland since their Independence. A Select and Annotated Bibliography compiled by L.E. Andor. South African Institute of International Affairs, Bibliographical Series No. 25, Johannesburg, 1993. x plus 526pp.     

“The Indispensable Enemy,” by Alexander Saxton

Abstract

The publication of Jon Halliday's A Political History of Japanese Capitalism in 1975 marks a uniquely important event in our understanding of Japan in this country, for it is the first Marxist history in English of a century of Japanese capitalism.     

A diflunisal related fatality: a case report

A case is reported where the death of an individual resulted from the ingestion of diflunisal. Diflunisal was identified by a combination of liquid chromatography, UV spectrophotometry and colorimetry. Diflunisal was quantified in blood (260 mg/l), bile (71 mg/l), kidney (350 mg/kg), liver (400 mg/kg), stomach contents (34 mg) and urine (78 mg/l). No previous literature references discussing diflunisal related fatalities were available.     

The effect of sodium fluoride on the stability of cyanide in postmortem blood samples from fire victims

Assigning a level of significance to cyanide concentrations found in the blood of fire victims is often hampered by the fact that cyanide is inherently unstable in cadavers and in stored blood samples. A few researchers have proposed that sodium fluoride can be used to minimize the instability of cyanide in blood samples; however, controlled studies have not been performed to support validation of this hypothesis. To test the sodium fluoride hypothesis, both treated and control blood samples from 14 autopsied fire victims were tested over a 25-30 day period. A 2% concentration of sodium fluoride was added to the blood samples at the start of testing and the samples were refrigerated between testing intervals. Cyanide concentrations in the treated and control samples were measured between 9 and 11 days post treatment and between 25 and 30 days post treatment. A statistically significant difference was not present between blood cyanide concentrations in treated and control samples between 9 and 11 days. During this time period, although there were small statistically significant increases in both treated and untreated samples the fluctuations were minor. Since the treated and control samples did not exhibit instability between 9 and 11 days, it is not surprising that the sodium fluoride appeared to have no effect. However, a statistically significant difference between blood cyanide concentrations in treated and control samples was observed between 25 and 30 days. Those samples treated with sodium fluoride showed a reduction in blood cyanide variability with virtually no overall change, over a 25-30 day period when compared to control samples, while unconditioned samples showed a significant, average increase of 35%. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that 2% sodium fluoride be added to blood samples obtained from fire victims to reduce cyanide instability due to bacteriological activity.     

Growing Stem Cells: The Impact of Federal Funding Policy on the U.S. Scientific Frontier

This paper articulates a citation‐based approach to science policy evaluation and employs that approach to investigate the impact of the United States’ 2001 policy regarding the federal funding of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research. We evaluate the impact of the policy on the level of U.S. hESC research, the U.S. position at the knowledge frontier, and the strategic response of U.S. scientists. Consistent with recent research on the science of science and innovation policy, we employ a difference‐in‐differences approach using bibliometric data with the aim of analyzing the causal impact of the policy on cumulative research. Our estimates suggest that in the aftermath of the 2001 policy, U.S. production of hESC research lagged 35 to 40 percent behind anticipated levels. However, this relative decline was largely concentrated in the years 2001 to 2003 and ameliorated over time. The rebound in U.S. hESC research after 2003 was driven by contributions by researchers at elite U.S. institutions and U.S. researchers who collaborated with international partners. The results suggest that scientists respond strategically to research funding restrictions and that modest science policy shifts can have a significant influence on the within‐country composition of research and the pattern of global research collaboration.     

Factor structure and reliability of the childhood trauma questionnaire and prevalence estimates of trauma for male and female street youth

This study examines the psychometric properties of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire short form (CTQ-SF) with street youth who have run away or been expelled from their homes (N = 397). Internal reliability coefficients for the five clinical scales ranged from .65 to .95. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to test the five-factor structure of the scales yielding acceptable fit for the total sample. Additional multigroup analyses were performed to consider items by gender. Results provided only evidence of weak factorial invariance. Constrained models showed invariance in configuration, factor loadings, and factor covariances but failed for equality of intercepts. Mean trauma scores for street youth tended to fall in the moderate to severe range on all abuse/neglect clinical scales. Females reported higher levels of abuse and neglect. Prevalence of child maltreatment of individual forms was very high with 98% of street youth reporting one or more forms; 27.4% of males and 48.9% of females reported all five forms. Results of this study support the viability of the CTQ-SF for screening maltreatment in a highly vulnerable street population. Caution is recommended when comparing prevalence estimates for male and female street youth given the failure of the strong factorial multigroup model.     

Evidence of arteriosclerosis in cremated remains.

Severely burned or cremated human remains (i.e., cremains) are among the most challenging cases investigated by forensic pathologists, odontologists, and anthropologists. Exposure to extreme heat of long duration destroys all organic components of the body, leaving only the inorganic component of the skeleton. The numerous calcined osseous or dental fragments that remain after the cremation process rarely convey useful information to the investigator. In most cases, it is associated nonosseous artifacts that provide evidence of the decedent's identity. In a case investigated at the University of Florida's C. A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory, as well as in several cases examined during data collection for a research project, several fragments were identified as calcined plaque tubules from sclerotic blood vessels. These tubules provide direct evidence that the cremated individual had a variety of arteriosclerosis.