Chorionic villus sampling prior to pregnancy termination, a tool for forensic paternity testing.

Chorionic villus sampling (CVS), prior to pregnancy termination (pre-termination CVS), is suggested as a tool for forensic paternity testing. Unlike the abortion material, which consists of ruptured tissues of fetal and maternal origin, extra-embryonic membranes obtained through CVS can provide an uncontaminated source of fetal tissue for genotyping. We discuss the possibility of confined placental mosaicism (CPM) and its implications on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based analyses of short tandem repeats (STRs) and the D1S80 loci.     

Wischnewski ulcers and acute pancreatitis in two hospitalized patients with cirrhosis, portal vein thrombosis, and hypothermia.

Accidental hypothermia has been described in the forensic literature but reports of occurrence in hospitalized patients are rare. Associated anatomic lesions include acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis and characteristic acute gastric ulcers termed Wischnewski ulcers. We report here two patients with cirrhosis and ascites; one also had hepatocellular carcinoma. Portal vein thrombosis, acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis and Wischnewski ulcers were present in both. The clinical records documented hypothermia that progressed over several days. Temperature nadirs of 31.0 degrees C (87.8 degrees F) and 32.2 degrees C (90.0 degrees F) were recorded in each patient, respectively, one day before death, although each transiently reached temperatures that did not register on standard monitoring devices. This is the first report that chronicles antemortem body temperatures in hypothermic patients with Wischnewski ulcers and pancreatitis at autopsy. Also, the association of these findings with portal vein thrombosis and cirrhosis has not been previously described. We discuss this constellation of findings with regard to possible mechanistic interrelations.     

Juror Judgments in Civil Cases: Hindsight Effects on Judgments of Liability for Punitive Damages

An experiment was conducted to investigate whether hindsight bias influences an important class of legal decisions—civil jurors' judgments of liability for punitive damages. Jury-eligible citizens were shown a videotaped summary of the circumstances surrounding an environmental damage lawsuit. Some subjects were presented a foresight perspective and asked to judge whether or not a railroad should comply with an order to stop operations on a section of track that had been declared hazardous. Other subjects were asked to judge whether the railroad was liable for punitive damages after an accident occurred. Three independent variables were manipulated: temporal perspective with one third of the subjects assessing risks in foresight and two thirds assessing risks in hindsight; subject role with one half of the subjects asked to assume the role of a juror rendering a verdict and one half the role of a citizen whose personal opinion was solicited; and, in the hindsight conditions only, the amount of damage ($240,000 vs. $24,000,000) caused by the accident. Almost all measures of participants' judgments and thoughts about the case showed dramatic foresight–hindsight differences. The participants' role had an effect on some measures; for example, participants in the juror role exhibited slightly smaller hindsight effects when judging liability than did those in the citizen role. The magnitude of the damage caused by the accident had no effects on any measures.     

Juror Judgments in Civil Cases: Effects of Plaintiff's Requests and Plaintiff's Identity on Punitive Damage Awards

Two experiments were conducted to study the manner in which civil jurors assess punitive damage awards. Jury-eligible citizens were shown a videotaped summary of an environmental damage lawsuit and told that the defendant had already paid compensatory damages. They were asked to judge liability for punitive damages and, if damages were to be assessed, to assign a dollar award. Three independent variables were manipulated in the case materials: the dollar amounts that were explicitly requested by the plaintiffs in their closing arguments to the jury, the geographical location of the defendant corporation, and the location of the lead plaintiff. Consistent with prior findings of anchor effects on judgments, we found that the plaintiffs requested award values had a dramatic effect on awards: the higher the request, the higher the awards. We also found that local plaintiffs were awarded more than were geographically remote plaintiffs, while the location of the defendant company did not have reliable effects on the awards. The implications of these results for procedures in civil trials and for theories of juror decision making are discussed.     

Current contradictions in adolescent theory

This article points out two contradictions in current adolescent theory. The first is between the classical point of view, espousing the notion of storm and stress, and the empirical view, supporting a concept of adolescence as relatively peaceful and harmonious. The latter approach, however, creates a second contradiction because it does not explain how young people cope with the major adaptations demanded as a result of changes in their physical, social, and emotional spheres of life. The article examines the status of concepts such as the generation gap and identity crisis and concludes with the formulation of a focal theory of adolescence which attempts to resolve the contradictions discussed earlier.Received his B.A. from McGill University, Montreal, and Ph.D. from University College, London. Is both a developmental and clinical psychologist. Major interests include adolescence and the preschool years.     

Death fantasies of father-absent and father-present late adolescents

Parental perceptions of father-absent and father-present late adolescents were studied by having them create stories to selected pictures from the Thematic Apperception Test and the Michigan Pictures Test. Ratings on the manifest thematic content of the stories revealed that father-present females, but not males, introduced themes of death and loss involving the parents with significantly greater frequency than did late adolescents who had actually lost their fathers. One of the tasks of adolescence, as described in psychoanalytic writings, is decathecting internalized parental images. It is possible that father-present females produced significantly more death and loss themes because they were actively coping with their fantasies of parental loss. The significantly fewer fantasies of parental loss given by father-absent females is consistent with this psychoanalytic model which suggests that the loss of a parent at an earlier developmental period complicates the decathexis process in adolescence. Reasons for the failure to find differences between father-absent and father-present males are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.This research is based upon the doctoral dissertation of the first author.Received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Texas at Austin; internship at the Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts. Current research interests include death and dying and adolescent personality development.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Current research interests include imaginary companions and fantasy in young children and adolescent psychosexual development.     

Actual and perceived intrafamilial attitudes of late adolescents and their parents

The present study assessed the comparability of adolescents' (N=184), their mothers' (N=184), and their fathers' (N=184) attitudes toward contemporary societal issues, as well as each familial group's perceptions of the other two groups' attitudes. Results of multivariated analyses of variance indicated that while there were significant overall differences between adolescents' and either parent's self-ratings for the 36 questionnaire items (dealing with such topics as drug use, sexuality, and dress codes), major (i.e., 2-scale-point) differences between generational groups existed on only about 20% of the items. However, as predicted, both adolescents and parents misperceived the extensiveness of the divisions between them. Adolescents significantly overestimated the number of major differences between themselves and their mothers and fathers, while these two parental groups significantly underestimated such divisions. These distortions in perceived attitudes were also reflected in the results of correlational analyses assessing intrafamilial attitude consistencies and inconsistencies across the 36 items. Self-alternative-family-members' perceived attitudes correlations showed greater consistency than existed in the self-alternative-family-members' actual attitudes correlations. Moreover, both analyses of variance and correlational analyses indicated that there was greater similarity between the actual attitudes of the mothers and fathers than between either parental group and their children. These results are discussed in terms of the cognitive and emotional significance of the intrafamilial attitudes of adolescents and parents.Received his Ph.D. from the City University of New York in developmental psychology. Current research interests include the relation of organismic variables to personality/social development.Received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Denver. Research interests include measurement theory and cognition.