State,citizenship, and the urban poor

This paper examines the dynamic, moving relationship between three concepts – those of life, law, and exception. Following a brief exposition of these concepts, this paper provides an ethnography of struggles over housing waged by the urban poor in a squatter colony in Noida that adjoins the city of Delhi, India. I argue that each concept in this triad exerts force on the other and is the dynamic relation that creates the conditions of possibility for the emergence of claims over citizenship for the urban poor. In suggesting that citizenship is a claim rather than a status, which one either has or does not have, the article shows the precariousness as well as the promise for the poor of ‘belonging’ to a polity. Joining the discussion on the politics of life, the paper argues that the notion of life allows the mutual absorption of the natural and the social, and thus illuminates aspects of citizenship forged through the struggles waged by the poor for their needs. These are aspects of citizenship which remain obscure if we reduce democratic citizenship to the domain of rational deliberative processes alone.     

Youth suicide in New Mexico: a 26-year retrospective review

Although suicidal behavior in children and adolescents is a major public health problem, large-scale research on suicide in this population is uncommon. In this study, we reviewed autopsy and field reports for all pediatric suicide cases referred to the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator from 1979 to 2005. The age-adjusted suicide rate was 4.8 per 100,000. Psychologic stressors and parasuicidal behavior were identified in some cases. Seventy-six percent of suicides occurred in the victim's home or yard, and 25% left a suicide note. In 26% of cases, alcohol or other drugs were detected in postmortem. Gunshot wound was the most common method overall (58%), followed by hanging (30%). Although the age-adjusted suicide rate is higher in New Mexico than nationally, the trends in the population are similar. With a solid understanding of the circumstances, it may be possible to predict, and hopefully prevent, future cases of child and adolescent death.     

Disseminated Neonatal Herpes Simplex Virus Infection with Escherichia Coli Coinfection

Neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection is an uncommon disease that rarely presents as sudden unexpected death of a previously healthy newborn. Clinical manifestations are variable; signs and symptoms may be subtle and nonspecific. Neonatal infection may present with mucocutaneous (skin, eye, and/or mouth), disseminated, or central nervous system disease. Morbidity and mortality are dependent upon disease presentation and treatment. The infection is most frequently transmitted during the peripartum period, although the majority of mothers have no known history of HSV infection at the time of delivery. Findings at autopsy include gastrointestinal or mucocutaneous ulcers, diffuse hepatic necrosis, adrenal necrosis, pneumonitis, and splenic necrosis. Characteristic intranuclear viral inclusions are identified on microscopic examination. Coinfection with bacterial organisms may contribute to death. Autopsy examination with appropriate ancillary studies, including cultures, is critical given that many infants lack cutaneous manifestations of disease and remain undiagnosed prior to death.