Meckel's diverticulum and intestinal obstruction--report of a fatal case

Meckel's diverticulum is an uncommon cause of intestinal obstruction in adult life. Rarely Meckel's diverticulum is complicated by a mesodiverticular band, which is believed to be a remnant of a vitelline artery. When this abnormality occurs it is associated with high mortality. We present a case of a 48-year-old man with increasing abdominal pain and vomiting for 3 days. Meckel's diverticulum was not taken into diagnostic consideration, and the man died. Autopsy revealed a Meckel's diverticulum with a mesodiverticular band and intestinal obstruction. Histological examination of cross sections of the mesodiverticular band showed the presence of an artery. Because of the high mortality of this rare anatomic anomaly in adults, we find the case of interest.     

Urban homicide: Some recent developments

We examine homicide data from fifty of the largest U.S. cities for the years 1976–1977 and, in particular, compare them to similar data for 1971–1972. The results reinforce earlier predictions that one in seventy urban residents born this decade will ultimately be murdered. However, the dispersion of murder risk as a function of race, sex, and city has apparently dropped considerably in the last few years.     

The workplace as a context for the socialization of youth

A number of respected social critics, including the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC), have recommended the earlier integration of adolescents into the workplace. The PSAC Panel on Youth (1973) claims that work settings provide opportunities for developing and exercising personal responsibility, taking responsibility for the welfare of others, and establishing more extensive instrumental and social relations with nonfamilial adults. This study of naturally occurring employment among high school students examines these claims about the nature of the workplace. Drawing on interview, questionnaire, and observational data, we argue that the PSAC's expectations are somewhat optimistic. With respect to personal responsibility taking, although many adolescent workers have opportunities for self-management and report performing assigned tasks dependably, very few report going beyond the call of duty. With respect to social responsibility, workers experience only modest levels of task interdependence and centrality to a team effort; yet substantial numbers of adolescent workers feel that their work serves a socially useful purpose. Finally, with respect to intergenerational contact, the workplace fails to induce meaningful interaction with adults. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that if the workplace is to become a truly vital context for adolescent socialization, it needs to be designed more deliberately with such aims in mind.This study is part of a large-scale investigation of the cost and benefits of working to adolescent development. The research program is supported by the National Institute of Education and the Spencer Foundation; dissemination of policy-oriented papers is supported by the Ford Foundation. The authors, who are Co-Principal Investigators of the research program, share equal responsibility for this report.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Harvard University. Main research interests are adolescence and social institutions, life-span development, and social policy.Received Ph.D. in human development and family studies from Cornell University. Main research interests are adolescent development, life-span development, and social policy.     

The measurement and structure of psychosocial maturity

The educational community lacks tools for assessing the nonacademic growth of students — their growth as persons and as social beings. This paper describes the development of an attitude inventory based on an interdisciplinary model of psychosocial maturity. The Psychosocial Maturity Inventory, a self-report instrument, is comprised of nine subscales and is suited for the assessment of youngsters in the approximate age range 11–18. Among the studies reviewed are ones which (1) specify at various age levels the internal consistency of the subscales, (2) report the association between the subscales and various measures of academic achievement, and (3) describe the relationship of the subscales to other measures of personality such as faking good, anxiety, and self-esteem. Factor analyses of the Inventory provide an empirical base for testing the proposed theoretical structure of psychosocial maturity.Preparation of this paper was supported by funds from the National Institute of Education, Contract No. NE-C-00-3-0013.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Radcliffe College. Main interest: personality development from childhood through adolescence.Received Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan. Main research interests: the psychology of adolescence and the psychology of women.Received Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Maryland. Main interests: measurement theory and the measurement of human performance.     

Political Succession in the Middle East

The following briefs were presented in a workshop on "Political Succession in the Middle East" at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, September 1, 2001, in San Francisco. Louis J. Cantori, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Augustus Richard Norton, Boston University, were the conveners of the Conference Group on the Middle East, which issued this report.     

The Effect of Breakfast in the Classroom on Obesity and Academic Performance: Evidence from New York City

Participation in the federally subsidized school breakfast program often falls well below its lunchtime counterpart. To increase take‐up, many districts have implemented Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC), offering breakfast directly to students at the start of the school day. Beyond increasing participation, advocates claim BIC improves academic performance, attendance, and engagement. Others caution BIC has deleterious effects on child weight. We use the implementation of BIC in New York City (NYC) to estimate its impact on meals program participation, body mass index (BMI), achievement, and attendance. While we find large effects on participation, our findings provide no evidence of hoped‐for gains in academic performance, or of feared increases in obesity. The policy case for BIC will depend upon reductions in hunger and food insecurity for disadvantaged children, or its longer‐term effects.     

Cross-sectoral strategies in global sustainability governance: towards a nexus approach

The recent shift from the Millennium Development Goals to the much broader Sustainable Development Goals has given further impetus to the debate on the nexus between the multiple sectors of policy-making that the Goals are to cover. The key message in this debate is that different domains—for instance, water, energy and food—are interconnected and can thus not be effectively resolved unless they are addressed as being fully interrelated and interdependent. Yet while this overall narrative is forcefully supported in the new UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that are the main part of this agenda, many Goals still remain sectoral in their basic outlook. This now requires, we argue, a new focus in both policy and research on the nexus between different Sustainable Development Goals, especially with a view to reforms in the overall institutional setting that is required to sufficiently support such a nexus approach. This article thus examines the nexus approach in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and identifies multiple avenues for its institutionalisation in global governance.