Risk factors for sexual victimization among male and female homeless and runaway youth

Risk factors associated with the likelihood of being sexually victimized by a stranger or friend/acquaintance since being on the street was examined among 372 homeless and runaway youth. Young people were interviewed on the streets and in shelters by outreach workers using a systematic sampling strategy. Youth who engaged in more high-risk behaviors were expected to be at greater risk for sexual victimization by both known and unknown assailants. Results indicated that for females, running from home for the first time at an earlier age was associated with sexual victimization by both a stranger and friend/acquaintance. However, engaging in deviant subsistence strategies, survival sex, and grooming predicted being sexually victimized by a friend/acquaintance. For males, survival sex and grooming predicted stranger sexual victimization, whereas sexual orientation was associated with sexual victimization by a friend/acquaintance. Overall, 35% of the sample had been sexually victimized.     

Noncoercive sexual contact with similarly aged individuals: what is the impact?

A community sample of 610 adults were grouped into those who reported no sexual abuse experience, others who reported noncoercive sexual contact with an individual that was at most 4 years older, and those who reported more severe sexual abuse. The first two groups did not differ from each other on current social support, trauma-specific symptomatology, and somatic complaints whereas the more severe sexual abuse group reported more problems on these dimensions. Further analyses suggested that of the two variables, coercion was more closely associated with problematic outcome than was the existence of an age difference.     

Sexual and nonsexual offenders with intellectual and learning disabilities: a comparison of characteristics, referral patterns, and outcome

This article reports an evaluation of a community intellectual disability offender service over the period from 1990 to 2001. Men who committed sex offenses or sexually abusive incidents (n = 106) and men who committed other types of offenses and serious incidents (n = 78) are compared on personal characteristics, referral sources, forensic details, and outcome up to 7 years after referral. The cohorts are older than one would expect from the criminology literature, and, at about 33%, the incidence of mental illness is consistent with some previous studies. A greater proportion of sex offenders had criminal justice involvement and a formal disposal from court. Fire raising was not overly represented as an offense. There was a higher rate of reoffending in the nonsexual cohort, which persisted up to 7 years. Investigating only reoffenders, there was a considerable amount of harm reduction recorded up to 7 years, statistically significant up to 5 years following initial referral.     

The epidemiology of female rape victims who seek immediate medical care: temporal trends in the incidence of sexual assault and acquaintance rape

Women who seek medical care following sexual assault are usually evaluated and treated in an emergency department (ED). Therefore, EDs can be an important source of sexual assault surveillance data. The authors compared the incidence of sexual assault presenting for emergency care in a single county during July to November of 1974 and 1991. Participants included all female sexual assault victims aged 14 and older who presented for ED evaluation. Treating physicians prospectively collected data using standardized forms. The z statistic was used to compare sexual assault incidence. There was a 60% increase in the incidence of sexual assault victims presenting for emergency care in 1991 compared to 1974, primarily due to an increase in the incidence of women presenting to the ED after rapes by known assailants. In contrast, the annual incidence of reported stranger assaults was similar in the two study years.     

Multicommunitarianism in a fragmented world

This paper proceeds with the premise that individual lives, societies and cultures in our globalizing era in general and in Western countries in particular are becoming increasingly fragile and vulnerable to fragmentation and atomization. This fragmentation, the paper argues, is embedded in a complex interplay between a variety of factors, including the forces unleashed by late modernity and globalization and the increasing diversification of societies across the globe. This is followed by a critique of the existing models of societal integration, including nationalism, multiculturalism, civil society and communitarianism. In the concluding part of the paper, multicommunitarianism is proposed as an alternative to the existing models of societal and national integration, aimed at healing the rupture caused by the processes of modernization and globalization and at restoring the balance and harmony between the individual and society.     

Evaluation of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and phenylpropanolamine concentrations in human urine samples and a comparison of the specificity of DRI amphetamines and Abuscreen online (KIMS) amphetamines screening immunoassays

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of two amphetamine class screening reagents to exclude ephedrine (EPH), pseudoephedrine (PSEPH), and phenylpropanolamine (PPA) from falsely producing positive immunoassay screening results. The study also sought to characterize the prevalence and concentration distributions of EPH, PSEPH, and PPA in samples that produced positive amphetamine screening results. Approximately 27,400 randomly collected human urine samples from Navy and Marine Corps members were simultaneously screened for amphetamines using the DRI and Abuscreen online immunoassays at a cutoff concentration of 500 ng/mL. All samples that screened positive were confirmed for amphetamine (AMP), methamphetamine (MTH), 3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), EPH, PSEPH, and PPA by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The DRI AMP immunoassay identified 1,104 presumptive amphetamine positive samples, of which only 1.99% confirmed positive for the presence of AMP, MTH, MDA, or MDMA. In contrast, the online AMP reagent identified 317 presumptive amphetamine positives with a confirmation rate for AMP, MTH, MDA, or MDMA of 7.94%. The presence of EPH, PSEPH, or PPA was confirmed in 833 of the 1,104 samples that failed to confirm positive for AMP, MTH, MDA, or MDMA; all of the 833 samples contained PSEPH. When compared to the entire screened sample set, PSEPH was present in approximately 3%, EPH in 0.9%, and PPA in 0.8% of the samples. The results indicate that cross reactivities for EPH, PSEPH, and PPA are greater than reported by the manufacturer of these reagents. The distribution of concentrations indicates that very large concentrations of EPH, PSEPH, and PPA are common.     

Systematic differences in electropherogram peak heights reported by different versions of the GeneScan software

DNA profiling using STRs on the 310 and 3100 Genetic Analyzers routinely generates electropherograms that are analyzed with the GeneScan software available from the instrument's manufacturer, Applied Biosystems. Users have been able to choose from three different smoothing options that have been known to result in significant differences in the peak heights that are reported. Improvements in the underlying algorithm of the most recent version of the software also result in significant and somewhat predictable differences in peak height values. Laboratories that have performed validation studies using older versions of GeneScan should either reanalyze the data generated in those validation studies with the newest version of the software or otherwise take into consideration the systematically higher peak height values obtained as they begin following the recommendation of the manufacturer and use the new algorithm.     

Analysis of nitrite in adulterated urine samples by capillary electrophoresis

A simple method for analyzing nitrite in urine has been developed to confirm and quantify the amount of nitrite in potentially adulterated urine samples. The method involved separation of nitrite by capillary electrophoresis and direct UV detection at 214 nm. Separation was performed using a bare fused silica capillary and a 25 mM phosphate run buffer at a pH of 7.5. Sample preparation consisted of diluting the urine samples 1:20 with run buffer and internal standard, and centrifuging for 5 min at 2500 rpm. The sample was hydrodynamically injected, then separated using -25 kV with the column maintained at 35 degrees C. The method had upper and lower limits of linearity of 1500 and 80 microg/mL nitrite, respectively, and a limit of detection of 20 microg/mL. The method was evaluated using the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) protocol (Document EP10-A2), and validated using controls, standards, and authentic urine samples. Ten anions, ClO-, CrO4(-2), NO3-, HCO3-, I-, CH3COO-, F-, SO4-, S2O8(-2), and Cl-, were tested for potential interference with the assay. Interferences with quantitation were noted for only CrO4(-2) and S2O8(-2). High concentrations of Cl- interfered with the chromatography. The method had acceptable accuracy, precision, and specificity.     

The forensic medical diagnosis of intoxication of alcohol surrogates by morphological findings

The pathomorphology of intoxication of alcohol surrogates is described. A high frequency rate of DIC-syndrome is shown for the condition. A majority of thrombi accumulates at places with the highest concentrations of toxic substances as well as at those places, through which poisoning substances are brought out of the body, i.e. in the liver (since toxic substances are introduced perorally) and kidneys. Thrombi were detected in all internals, including the brain, in lethal intoxication. The immediate toxic effect from methanol and from higher spirits can matter in the genesis of changes, including acute swelling and chromatolysis with subsequent cell death. Exclusively cerebral or coagulopathic-cerebral types of thanatogenesis were registered in studied case of intoxication.