Challenging custom: rethinking national population surveillance policy in a global public health age

This article examines the current state of disease surveillance and reporting in the United States and seeks to answer two central questions: first, whether the increasing emphasis on the global importance of public health policies compels a fundamental reexamination of the long-standing deferential approach to state power where matters of population health surveillance are concerned and, second, how the nation's long-standing deferential legal customs might be modified to address the growing emphasis on global public health policy that is undergirded by technological advances. We examine the International Health Regulations, or IHR (2005), and suggest that these regulations offer a powerful impetus for reevaluating U.S. legal custom concerning the policy and practice of population health surveillance, not only as a matter of U.S. law but also as a core dimension of U.S. legal obligations to other nations, as embodied in international agreements and treaties. We find that if the political will exists to change the domestic disease surveillance and reporting system, the federal government has the power to act. Questions remain, however, about whether the public health and legislative communities are willing to challenge current customs or even if they desire to do so.     

Social Policies and Center‐Right Governments in Argentina and Chile

Latin America's “left turn” expanded cash transfers and public services, contributing to lower poverty and inequality. Recently, right‐leaning candidates and parties have begun to win back seats in the legislature, and in some cases have captured the executive branch. This shift has sparked debate about the future of Latin America's welfare states. This article analyzes social policy reforms enacted by two recent right‐leaning governments: that of Sebastián Piñera in Chile (2010–14) and Mauricio Macri in Argentina (2015–). It finds that contrary to neoliberal adjustment policies of the past, neither Macri nor Piñera engaged in privatization or deep spending cuts. Instead, both administrations facilitated a process of policy drift in some sectors and marginal expansion in others. Policy legacies and the strength of the opposition help to explain these outcomes, suggesting that Latin America's political context has been transformed by the consolidation of democracy and the experience of left party rule.     

Latent Fingermark Aging Patterns (Part III): Discontinuity Index as One Indicator of Degradation

This article is the third in a series of reports exploring quantifiable visual parameters of the aging process of latent fingermarks. On this occasion, research is focused on the occurrence of ridge discontinuities (i.e. breakages) as a function of time. Experiment variables included type of secretion (eccrine and sebaceous), substrate (glass and plastic), and exposure to natural light (dark, shade, and direct light) over a 6 months period. Fingermarks were sequentially visualized with titanium dioxide powder, photographed, and the number of naturally occurring ridge discontinuities subsequently evaluated. A semi‐quantitative value, named Discontinuity Index, was used to better characterize this aging parameter. Results indicated that ridges of sebaceous depositions on glass were generally less affected by the environmental conditions compared with those on plastic surface. In addition, aging in darkness was not always the best condition for preservation, and the direct exposure to light seemed not to affect the degradation under certain conditions.     

The provenance of émigrés: the validity of measuring knowledge of places

Establishing the origin of those seeking asylum is essential but difficult as asylum seekers often cannot corroborate their origin claim with documents. The aim of the present study was to assess whether asking knowledge questions, sketch questions and impossible questions are valid methods to determine the veracity of an origin claim. Participants (N?=?105) from Tilburg (truth-tellers), Maastricht (partial liars) and Gothenburg (full liars) were asked to convince an interviewer that they originated from Tilburg. Half of them prepared and half of them did not prepare themselves for the interview. They were asked 10 knowledge questions typically asked to assess the credibility of origin claims, 4 impossible questions and 1 sketch question. Participants from Tilburg answered more questions correctly than participants from Maastricht and Gothenburg. Performance also improved with preparation. Even though the results did provide some support for the validity of assessing claims about origin by asking knowledge questions, the differences between the groups were modest, and it was impossible to correctly identify all truth-tellers and liars. Changing the output modality from verbal answering to sketching contributed to the credibility assessment of origin claims, whereas impossible questions were not discriminatory.     

The Past and Future State of De Facto Parents in New York

Over the past two decades, the definition of “family” has expanded drastically. To address these changing family dynamics, many states have adopted de facto parent laws, which recognize a nonbiological or adoptive parent's right to petition for custody or visitation in strict circumstances. These laws differ drastically from state to state, leaving no common understanding of the requirements to be a de facto parent. Until recently, New York law refused to recognize de facto parents within the Domestic Relations Law, leaving New York as one of the only states without this important distinction. However, this year the Court of Appeals crafted a narrow exception to the rule and allowed for a de facto parent to petition for custody or visitation in extremely limited circumstances. This article proposes that the Court of Appeals’ decision was too restrictive and that New York should adopt a legal framework that reflects this new type of parent, while still recognizing public policy concerns.     

Dealing with cryopreserved embryos upon divorce: a contractual approach aimed at preserving party expectations

The development of assisted reproductive technologies, including cryopreservation, or freezing, of embryos created through in vitro fertilization, has given rise to complex legal questions. Because cryopreservation permits indefinite storage of embryos, if couples fail to specify disposition directions, they may disagree regarding embryo treatment upon the occurrence of contingencies such as divorce. Few courts have resolved such disputes, and those that have appear to uphold the rights of the party seeking to prevent implantation in the absence of a written agreement specifying otherwise. In this Comment, Sara Petersen proposes that courts should draw upon contract law principles in determining whether the parties to such conflicts actually reached agreements regarding embryo disposition in the event of divorce. After analyzing existing precedent, the author assesses proposed approaches for deciding which party's interests should prevail and concludes that these methods are inherently ineffective. She then argues that, in an effort to preserve party expectations and to provide fair results, courts instead should examine whether the parties executed binding contracts or achieved mutual assent. Furthermore, she suggests that couples undergoing cryopreservation will be more likely to contemplate and to provide for various outcomes if they know that courts will look at evidence of their conversations and thought processes prior to cryopreserving their excess embryos.     

Lifetime prevalence and socioemotional effects of hearing about community violence

This study extends findings on community violence (CV) exposure in young adults by examining the prevalence, characteristics, and socioemotional effects related to hearing about violence. Surveys of lifetime CV exposure and socioemotional outcomes were completed by 518 male and female undergraduates completed and were divided into groups with high, moderate, or low scores on hearing. Of respondents, 97.8% reported hearing about violence at least once, with a substantial proportion hearing about different types of acts. Reportedly, the most frequent perpetrators were non-family members, the most frequent location was near home, and most incidents occurred within the past year. The high-scoring group reported significantly greater levels of depressed mood, posttraumatic stress symptoms, aggressive behavior, and interpersonal problems associated with personality disorders. Results extend previous findings on the unfortunate prevalence of violence exposure and its negative psychological effects in today's young adults and suggest that chronic exposure to hearing about violence can have deleterious repercussions.     

Not all the time … But Mostly…

Not all the time … but mostly … is the outcome of collaboration across the genres of ethnographic research, and visual and performing arts. In exploring renewed methodologies for social research Maggie sought to develop a methodological model (ethno-mimesis) rooted in feminist thought and practice, that represented in visual artistic forms the multiple standpoints of women working in prostitution. Ethno-mimesis is a combination of ethnographic research and the representation of this work in visual/artistic form. Introduced by a mutual friend in 1997 our collaborative work began with Sara reading and interpreting the ethnographic work with a view to developing a performance text, as an exemplar of ethno-mimesis. In the collaborative work presented here the hybrid texts that emerge are an outcome of the inter-relationship between ethnographic research and the re-presentation of women's life stories through live art forms – video, and two movement based performances. Through this work we hope to reach a wider audience, beyond academic communities, facilitating understanding, interpretation and maybe even action/praxis in relation to prostitution as a social issue. In representing ethnographic data in artistic form it is hoped that we can access a richer understanding of the complexities of women's lived experiences that can throw light on broader social structures and processes. Such hybrid work may also help audiences to see that women working in prostitution are ordinary women; and that ‘prostitutes’ are indices for all women.     

Death due to attack from chow dog.

It is estimated that between one and four million persons per year are bitten by dogs in the United States. While most injuries associated with the bites are minor, serious sequelae, and even death, may occur. Most victims of fatal dog attacks are children < 1 year of age or elderly women. The most frequent cause of death is hemorrhage and shock from major vessel damage. A case is reported in which an elderly woman was attacked by her pet Chow dog. The victim received multiple superficial abrasions, contusions, and lacerations from the dog attack. A large perforation of the right external pudendal vein and three perforations of the left superficial femoral vein resulted in exsanguination and death. Fractures of the left 2nd through 4th ribs with underlying pulmonary contusion were also found.