An unusual shotgun injury pattern produced by an intermediate target

Discharge of a shotgun with a shotgun casing in its muzzle as a "dust cover" produced a pattern of injuries suggestive of combined intermediate- and distant-range wounds.     

Legalization of consensual unions in Mexico

Data examined in this study are from the 1976 Mexican Fertility Survey. The authors review previous findings and compare information from this survey with data from the 1969 PECFAL Survey. They then examine the types of consensual union and factors such as women's age, educational status, occupation, premarital fertility, and rural or urban residence. The focus of the study is on the extent to which consensual unions eventually become legal marriages. The authors also investigate the increasing probability of termination of marriage through divorce or separation, especially in urban areas.     

Practitioner fraud and abuse in medical benefit programs: government regulation and professional white-collar crime

Physicians who defraud and abuse medical benefit programs provide a unique group of lawbreakers for scientific study. They could be considered to epitomize white collar criminals given their exceedingly high socioeconomic status and power as a professional group. Using official reports and documents, as well as interviews with enforcement and program personnel at both state and federal levels, this study examines the problem of physician fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. Major areas relevant to understanding this phenomenon and its control are presented and policy implications of present knowledge in the area are discussed.     

Spleen and portal lymphnode pathology in fatal drug addiction

Spleen and portal lymphnode sections from 86 drug addicts submitted for medico-legal autopsy at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Copenhagen in the year 1979 were studied together with tissue sections from 24 "normal" persons. In 70% of the drug addicts the spleen weight was more than 200 g, and in 71% portal lymphnode hyperplasia was found. Birefringent foreign material was found in spleen tissue of drug addicts in 72% and in portal lymphnode tissue in 44%. Signs of antigen stimulation in both spleen and portal lymphnode tissue evaluated by the number of germinal centre and plasma cells were found in more than 80% of the drug addicts compared with about 20% of the "normal" persons. The results were related to anamnestic information of duration of drug abuse, to the spleen weight, to the occurrence of birefringent material and to the liver changes. Examination of lysozyme and immunoglobulin containing cells using the indirect preoxidase technique was performed in a total of 72 cases of spleen tissue, 59 cases of portal lymphnode tissue from drug addicts, 24 cases of spleen tissue and 18 of portal lymphnode tissue from "normal" persons. Lysozyme, IgM and IgG containing cells were found significantly more often among drug addicts than "normal" persons. The results indicate that the splenomegalia and the portal lymphnode hyperplasia often found in drug addicts are caused by continuous antigen stimulation due to repeated injections of various antigens.