Malnutrition, a rare form of child abuse: diagnostic criteria

Infantile malnutrition is often difficult to diagnose as it is rarely observed in industrialized countries. It may be associated with physical violence or occur in isolation. The essential clinical sign is height and weight retardation, but malnutrition also causes a variety of internal and bone lesions, which lead to neuropsychological sequelae and death. We report a rare case of death by malnutrition in a female child aged 6 1/2 months. The infant presented height and weight growth retardation and internal lesions related to prolonged protein-energy malnutrition (fat and muscle wasting, thymic atrophy, liver steatosis) resulting in a picture of marasmus or kwashiorkor. We detail the positive and negative criteria that established the diagnosis of abuse, whereas the parents had claimed a simple dietary error.     

Random timing of elections and the political business cycle

In his 1975 paper, Nordhaus formally proves that governments whose aim is to be reelected, will generate ‘political’ business cycles. Empirical results do not confirm this proposition, especially in countries used to early elections. We show that if there is a non-zero probability for elections to be called before the legal term, the political business cycle will be less pronounced, even if no early election actually takes place; moreover, if the normal electoral cycle is interrupted before the legal term, one might observe an inversion of the business cycle, or no cycle at all.     

Frequency of laryngeal and hyoid bone trauma in nonhomicidal cases who died after a fall from a height

A retrospective study was carried out on 93 autopsy cases who died after a fall from a height. For each case, following parameters were reported: age, sex, manner of death, estimated height of fall, ground type, estimated site of primary impact, type of laryngeal and hyoid bone trauma, presence of associated local trauma in the neck and cephalic region. Mean age of the studied population was about 33 years. Sex ratio (men/women) was 1.8. Mean height of fall was about 15 m. Manner of death was, respectively, suicide and accident in 70 and 23 cases. The type of ground was concrete in 94% of the cases. The site of primary impact was, respectively, head, front of the body, back of the body, feet/lower limbs, and lateral body in 31, 26, 19, 12, and 5 cases. Cervical soft tissue bruising without laryngohyoid fractures was found in 5 cases. Laryngohyoid fractures were found in 5 cases. These fractures could be explained by direct impact of the neck structures against the ground. The mechanism of these fractures could also be indirect fractures due to high muscle strains on the hyoid bone or thyroid cartilage due to cervical hyperflexion or hyperextension or secondary to mandible or cervical vertebral column fractures.     

A Participant Evaluation of the U.S. Navy Parent Support Program

This study reports on the results of a program evaluation of the U.S. Navy New Parent Support Program (NPSP). NPSP is composed of two components: center-based parenting classes and home-based visits. Data are presented on: (a) satisfaction with program quality, (b) how well the program met its primary objectives (e.g., helps reduce parenting stress), (c) how well the NPSP met its Reasons for Being (RFBs; e.g., Helps service members concentrate on their job), and (d) program impact on mission-related outcomes (i.e., quality of life (QOL), readiness, and program impact on their decision to remain in the military). Results indicate that parents who take part in both the parenting classes and home-based visits report that the program exceeded their expectations, the program improved their perceptions of their parenting and coping skills, they perceived that the program demonstrated the Navy's concern for Sailors and their families, and the program enhanced the family's quality of life. Implications of study findings are discussed.

John R. Commons and Max Weber: The Foundations of an Economic Sociology of Law

This article underlines contemporary economic sociology's lack of interest – until recently – in legal phenomena, unlike the close attention paid by two historic figures in ‘economic sociology’, Max Weber and John R. Commons, to the relationships between law and economy. It argues that to grasp fully the importance of the legal dimension in socio‐economic analysis, we must return to their foundational insights. However, they particularly stress differences between Weber and Commons as to the unity or heterogeneity of law and the economy, the role of ethics, the search for an all‐encompassing approach in the construction of ideal‐types, the various forms of constraint that characterize law (whether psychological, economic, or physical), and the distinction between state law and non‐state law. The latter element is why the authors argue that due consideration for legal plurality should be a central thread in any sociological analysis of the interplay between law and the economy.