Book reviews

Handbook of Legal Information Retrieval Edited by J Bing, Norwegian Research Centre for Computers and Law, Oslo, in co‐operation with T Fjeldvig, T Harvold and R Svoboda North‐Holland 1984, US $96.25

Information Technology: The Challenge to Copyright. James Lahore, Gerald Dworkin and Yvonne Smyth Sweet & Maxwell and The Centre for Commercial Law Studies 1984, £12.00

Data Processing and the Law Edited by Colin Campbell Sweet and Maxwell 1984, £20.00

Le droit des Contrats Informatiques — Principes — Applications Centre de Recherches informatique et droit des Facultes Universitaires de Namur Maison Ferdinand Larder (Brussels), 1983, 45 FB

Computer Insecurity Adrian R.D. Norman Chapman and Hall 1983, £14.95

The Data Protection Act Richard Sizer and Philip Newman Gower Publishing, 1984, £16.95

The Data Protection Act 1984 Professor Bryan Niblett Oyez Longman Publishing, 1984, £18.00

The Data Protection Act 1984 — A Guide to the New Legislation J. A. L. Sterling CCH Editions, 1984, £15.00

Privacy and Data Protection — An International Bibliography Professor David H. Flaherty Mansell Publishing, 1984, £23.50

Computer Contracts R Morgan & G Stedman Oyez Longman Publishing 1984, 2nd Edition, £27.50

Computer Contracts Handbook Michele Rennie Sweet & Maxwell 1984, £15.00

Computer Contracts — An International Guide to Agreements and Software Protection Hilary Pearson Financial training 1984, £14.95     

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.     

Growth behavior of the blue blowfly Calliphora vicina maggots

Fifty-three clusters of blowfly eggs of the genus Calliphora vicina were observed in the laboratory up to the hatching stage under reproducible and virtually field-like conditions. Rearing the larvae was then continued up to pupation, the larval growth in length being recorded several times a day. As the object was to study the dependence of the larvae increase in length on the temperature conditions in vitro, the substratal humidity and food supply were kept unchanged during the entire study. The temperature ranged from 6.5 degrees C to 35 degrees C, with the temperature for the individual cluster kept constant during the entire developmental process. Data on about 5500 measured larvae were statistically evaluated. The basic result established was that in the case of the blowfly of the genus Calliphora vicina in vivo, all developmental stages relevant to the entomologic determination of the time of death depend on the temperature conditions: (1) the duration of the egg stage increases with decreasing temperature; (2) the speed of larval growth is slower at lower temperatures; (3) the maximal larval length is reached earlier at higher temperatures; (4) the mean value of maximal length decreases with increasing temperature; (5) larvae under all temperature conditions decrease in size after having reached their maximal length, the decrease in length being more rapid at higher temperatures; (6) constant temperatures over 30 degrees C lead to "stunted forms" which do not pupate and die; (7) constant temperatures under approximately 16 degrees C after the peak of growth has been reached inhibit the readiness to pupate, which causes the larvae to fall into a stationary state of rest, which will be interrupted only when the temperature is raised and resumption of the metamorphosis is thus induced. To allow rapid reconstruction of the larval age in general practice, the established growth data were set out in the form of a diagram designated isomegalendiagram, which permits temperature-fluctuation-related entomologic determination of the time of death with a maximum degree of accuracy.