What Judges Want and Need: User-Friendly Foundations for Effective Judicial Education

This article evaluates the connection between judicial education and judges’ needs and preferences. In Part I, we begin by discussing the history, purpose, and form of judicial education, charting its evolution over time. In Part II, we examine current judicial education programs and scholarship, highlighting differences and similarities between federal and state programming. In Part III, we analyze the limitations of existing scholarship and programming, arguing judicial education programs are insufficiently tied to evidence of judicial demands. We conclude in Parts IV and V by suggesting two proposals to align programming with needs: (1) an annual needs-based assessment of judicial education offerings and (2) a voucher system for judges to attend their choice of judicial education programs

Residual cognitive deficits 50 years after lead poisoning during childhood

The long term neurobehavioural consequences of childhood lead poisoning are not known. In this study adult subjects with a documented history of lead poisoning before age 4 and matched controls were examined with an abbreviated battery of neuropsychological tests including measures of attention, reasoning, memory, motor speed, and current mood. The subjects exposed to lead were inferior to controls on almost all of the cognitive tasks. This pattern of widespread deficits resembles that found in children evaluated at the time of acute exposure to lead rather than the more circumscribed pattern typically seen in adults exposed to lead. Despite having completed as many years of schooling as controls, the subjects exposed to lead were lower in lifetime occupational status. Within the exposed group, performance on the neuropsychological battery and occupational status were related, consistent with the presumed impact of limitations in neuropsychological functioning on everyday life. The results suggest that many subjects exposed to lead suffered acute encephalopathy in childhood which resolved into a chronic subclinical encephalopathy with associated cognitive dysfunction still evident in adulthood. These findings lend support to efforts to limit exposure to lead in childhood

Contrasting deficits on executive functions between ADHD and reading disabled children

BACKGROUND. The object of this study was to analyze the executive functioning of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or reading disability (RD) independent of their non-executive deficits. METHODS: Three carefully diagnosed groups of children, aged between 7 and 12 years (35 ADHD, 22 RD and 30 typically developing children), were tested on a wide range of tasks related to five major domains of executive functioning (EF): inhibition, visual working memory, planning, cognitive flexibility, and verbal fluency. Additional tasks were selected for each domain to control for non-executive processing. RESULTS: ADHD children were impaired on interference control, but not on prepotent and ongoing response suppression. ADHD showed deficits on visual working memory, planning, cognitive flexibility and phonetic fluency. RD children were impaired on phonetic fluency. The only EF measure that differentiated ADHD from RD was planning. CONCLUSIONS: The present sample of ADHD children showed several EF deficits, whereas RD children were almost spared executive dysfunction, but exhibited deficits in phonetic fluency

Three siblings with Asperger syndrome: A family case study

Reports of multiple incidence of Asperger syndrome have suggested links between Asperger syndrome and autism. In this case study, we describe three siblings with Asperger syndrome based on the ICD-10 criteria. There was no family history of mental retardation or of autism. We propose that in some families, Asperger syndrome may occur as a distinct clinical entity and show no overlap with autism. Les publications sur l'incidence multiple du Syndrome d'Asperger ont suggéré des liens entre ce syndrome et l'autisme. Dans cette étude, nous décrivons 3 membres d'une même fratrie avec un Syndrome d'Asperger répondant aux critères d'l'ICD-10. Il n'yavait pas dans l'histoire familiale de retard mental ni d'autisme. Nous proposons que dans certaines familles le Syndrome d'Asperger peut survenir comme entité clinique distincte sand chevauchement avec l'autisme. Berichte über multiples Auftreten des Asperger-Syndroms haben Zusammenhänge zwischen dem Asperger-Syndrom und Autismus nahegelegt. In diesem Fallbericht beschreiben wir drei Geschwister mit einem Asperger-Syndrom (ICD-10-Kriterien). Die Familienanamnese im Hinblick auf geistige Behinderung oder Autismus war unauffällig. Wir schlagen vor, daß in einigen Familien das Asperger-Syndrom als eine eigenständige klinische Entität ohne Überlappung zum Autismus auftreten kann.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41755/1/787_2005_Article_BF02098829.pd

Psychosocial Treatment of Children in Foster Care: A Review

A substantial number of children in foster care exhibit psychiatric difficulties. Recent epidemiologi-cal and historical trends in foster care, clinical findings about the adjustment of children in foster care, and adult outcomes are reviewed, followed by a description of current approaches to treatment and extant empirical support. Available interventions for these children can be categorized as either symptom-focused or systemic, with empirical support for specific methods ranging from scant to substantial. Even with treatment, behavioral and emotional problems often persist into adulthood, resulting in poor functional outcomes. We suggest that self-regulation may be an important mediat-ing factor in the appearance of emotional and behavioral disturbance in these children

Characterization of the Radiation Shielding Properties of US and Russian EVA Suits

Reported herein are results from the Eril Research, Inc. (ERI) participationin the NASA Johnson Space Center sponsored study characterizing the radiation shielding properties of the two types of space suit that astronauts are wearing during the EVA on-orbit assembly of the International Space Station (ISS). Measurements using passive detectors were carried out to assess the shielding properties of the US EMU Suit and the Russian Orlan-M suit during irradiations of the suits and a tissue equivalent phantom to monoenergetic proton and electron beams at the Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC). During irradiations of 6 MeV electrons and 60 MeV protons, absorbed dose as a function of depth was measured using TLDs exposed behind swatches of the two suit materials and inside the two EVA helmets. Considerable reduction in electron dosewas measured behind all suit materials in exposures to 6 MeV electrons. Slowing of the proton beam in the suit materials led to an increase in dose measured in exposures to 60 MeV protons. During 232 MeV proton irradiations, measurements were made with TLDs and CR-39 PNTDs at five organ locations inside a tissue equivalent phantom, exposed both with and without the two EVA suits. The EVA helmets produce a 13 to 27 percent reduction in total dose and a 0 to 25 percent reduction in dose equivalent when compared to measurements made in the phantom head alone. Differences in dose and dose equivalent between the suit and non-suit irradiations forthe lower portions of the two EVA suits tended to be smaller. Proton-induced target fragmentation was found to be a significant source of increased dose equivalent, especially within the two EVA helmets, and average quality factor inside the EMU and Orlan-M helmets was 2 to 14 percent greater than that measured in the bare phantom head