Somatization and Medically Unexplained Symptoms in Psychological Injury: Diagnoses and Dynamics

This paper examines the somatization process that may complicate diagnosis in cases of psychological injury. Usually, somatoform and related disorders are fraught with diagnostic uncertainty, and a survey of the scientific literature reveals that recommendations are being made to revise them for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) V. The paper concentrates on the dynamics in somatization. The article presents an integrated forensic biopsychosocial model of somatization. It incorporates a biopsychosocial model of somatization that includes 100 factors. It addresses the process of somatization in terms of three dimensions having forensic relevance. The article concludes with recommendations for the DSM V in terms of a new class of diagnostic categories pertaining to somatization and a new axis on causality.     

Do large whales have an impact on commercial fishing in the South Pacific Ocean?

Abstract

Although there is evidence that some populations of large whales in the Southern Hemisphere have increased in recent years, differences in feeding behaviour and migration patterns largely precludes direct competition between these and coastal and pelagic fisheries in the South Pacific Ocean. In particular, many of the whales that spend at least part of their year in the South Pacific make feeding migrations in summer to Antarctic waters where some estimates put their food intake at 90% of annual consumption. Others, such as female sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), which do not migrate from tropical/subtropical South Pacific waters, feed at depths greater than that usually occupied by species that are the targets of commercial fisheries, such as the tunas (Thunmisspp.). Thus, even though consumption by whales is high, dietary overlap with commercially fished species is relatively low as much of their feeding is in waters that are not exploited by fisheries. However, there are a number of anecdotal reports that some smaller cetacean species, in particular killer and pilot whales, take fish from longlines set in the region, although more are lost to sharks. However, it should be noted that any assessment of interactions between whales and fisheries is limited by a lack of qualitative and quantitative data. Abundance estimates, particularly for some of the smaller species in the South Pacific region, are only order of magnitude estimates. Furthermore, knowledge of food chains (and their interactions) for many cetaceans in the South Pacific is sketchy making assessment of their impact on local fisheries‐difficult.     

Rapid direct PCR for ABO blood typing

Many different molecular typing methods have been reported to complement routine serological ABO blood typing in forensics. However, these ABO genotyping methods are often time-consuming and call for an initial DNA isolation step that requires the use of expensive kits or reagents. We report here a rapid direct ABO genotyping method that eliminates the need for DNA extraction from fresh blood, hair, and body fluid stains before PCR. Using a fast PCR instrument and an optimized polymerase, the genotyping method-which employs a multiplex allele-specific primer set for the simultaneous detection of three single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites (nucleotides 261, 526, and 803)-identifies A, B, O01/O02, O03, and cis-AB01 alleles in around 70 min from sample collection to electropherogram. Not only will this ABO genotyping method be efficiently used in forensic practice for rapid screening of samples before full-blown multilocus short tandem repeat profiling, but it will also demonstrate an example of rapid direct genotyping of SNPs that offers the advantages of time- and cost-efficiency, convenience, and reduced contamination during DNA analysis.     

Law, Diagram, Film: Critique Exhausted

What potential can be found in the work of Deleuze and Guattari for critical legal scholarship? The authors argue that their work can be deployed to re-think ??critique?? by directly addressing the place and role of the ??critic??. It is argued that the continued commitment to a stance of ??resistance?? in CLS is underpinned by never-ending dualisms which, if not confronted and replaced, can only make CLS ever more redundant. The authors ask: ??what is critique beyond the dualism of power and resistance, of state and nomad??? This question arises from a belief that critique is still capable of being effective, but only if there is the courage to experiment, and to think creatively. In this sense, the ??exhaustion?? of critique is framed as an opportunity to re-think and re-engage with the politics of law. The paper diagrams, through image and film, a critical thought: the potential of the artisan. Film is utilised not as representation, nor as illustration, but as a thinking mind in its own right, through which questions relating to the state, political action, and creative thinking can be (re)framed. Such a re-framing is essential, it is argued, for an engagement with the emergence of societies of control.     

Improving eyewitness identification accuracy by screening out those who say they don't know

Improving eyewitness identification evidence remains a key priority for research. Basic laboratory research has consistently demonstrated that allowing participants to withhold answers about which they are unsure leads to improved accuracy. Surprisingly, this approach has not been the subject of comprehensive investigation in the eyewitness identification literature. In this article, we explored the utility of allowing uncertain witnesses to opt out of an identification decision, by providing an explicit don't know option. Further, we contrasted the rate of use of this explicit option with the frequency that participants spontaneously withheld a decision when asked to respond in their own words. Four hundred and twenty participants witnessed a mock crime video before being presented with a showup of the perpetrator or an innocent suspect. Participants were tested either immediately or after a 3-week delay, with one of the three report options: Participants either made their choice in their own words (spontaneous report), chose between identifying and rejecting the showup (forced-report), or chose between identification, rejection and don't know (free-report). Only 2.2% of witnesses spontaneously used a don't know response, compared to 19.3% who used it when the option was explicit. Compared with the forced-report decisions, free-report decisions were more accurate, more diagnostic of the suspect's guilt or innocence, and came at no cost to the number of correct decisions rendered. These data suggest that utilisation of an explicit don't know option may be of practical value.     

Understanding the next act

Abstract

This essay argues that the practical difficulties of dealing effectively with terrorism reveal a basic problem in the terms of conventional moral understanding. Specifically, current moral principles permit us to condemn any act of terrorism as categorically unjustifiable only in terms which impose crippling restrictions upon the range of justifiable counterterrorist measures. This problem arises from an abstract individualism which pervades current moral and political thought. If this abstract individualism is rejected, then it is possible to construe acts of terrorism as savage in a special sense, insofar as they rejct the prior moral authority of the community to determine its own standards. On this basis, such acts may be condemned as inherently incapable of moral justification, and in terms which license vigorous counterterrorist measures.     

How Social Media Splits the Global Conversation

A disconnect has emerged between authority and influence, between the established platforms of informed public debate and the new dominance of social media.     

The American Founders Entrusted Elites to Save Democracy from Itself

The word “democracy” does not appear in the US Constitution . Nor in the Bill of Rights or the Declaration of Independence . That is because, as most Americans today would likely be surprised to discover , America's Founding Fathers not only distrusted democracy but, based on their close reading of Greek and Roman history, were actually hostile to the notion that it was the best system for governing society .