It is Now Up to the Courts: Forensic Science in Criminal Courts: Ensuring Scientific Validity of Feature-Comparison Methods

It is Now Up to the Courts: Forensic Science in Criminal Courts: Ensuring Scientific Validity of Feature-Comparison Method

Courtroom Observation and Applied Litigation Research: A Case History of Jury Decision Making

Quantitative research has dominated applied litigation research, but it seems to lack the flexibility needed to link pretrial research to ongoing courtroom events. Participant observation is a methodology which seems more suitable for studying the dynamic environment of a trial. A 6-day civil trial is used to evaluate participant observation reports against pretrial survey analysis and trial simulations. The objective is to show how different methodological approaches converge in the frame of reference which reflects the actual verdict reached in trial

Iron Deficiency Anemia: Focus on Infectious Diseases in Lesser Developed Countries

Iron deficiency anemia is thought to affect the health of more than one billion people worldwide, with the greatest burden of disease experienced in lesser developed countries, particularly women of reproductive age and children. This greater disease burden is due to both nutritional and infectious etiologies. Individuals in lesser developed countries have diets that are much lower in iron, less access to multivitamins for young children and pregnant women, and increased rates of fertility which increase demands for iron through the life course. Infectious diseases, particularly parasitic diseases, also lead to both extracorporeal iron loss and anemia of inflammation, which decreases bioavailability of iron to host tissues. This paper will address the unique etiologies and consequences of both iron deficiency anemia and the alterations in iron absorption and distribution seen in the context of anemia of inflammation. Implications for diagnosis and treatment in this unique context will also be discussed

The influence of year-end bonuses on colorectal cancer screening

The objective of the paper is to estimate the effect of physician bonus eligibility on CRC screening while controlling for patient and primary care physician characteristics. The study is retrospective, using a managed care plan’s claims data on fifty-year-old commercially insured patients in the years 2000 and 2001. The data also include links to enrollment and provider files. Multivariate logistic regression models are used to assess the association between CRC screening receipt and physician bonus eligibility. The results indicate that the probability that a patient received a CRC screening was approximately 3 percentage points higher in the year physicians were eligible for a bonus. There were also significant differences according to the gender of both the patient and physician, income, and race.

Gap Junction Expression and Function in Xenopus Laevis Embryos

Connexins are intermembrane proteins that form protein complexes called connexons. These complexes bind together to form intercellular pores, called gap junctions, by binding to connexons of adjacent cells. These pores allow for passive transport of small molecules and ions involved in intercellular communication. Because gap junctions are required to transport of these ions, it is hypothesized that gap junctions are involved in developmental processes such as convergent extension during the processes of gastrulation and neurulation. In order to determine the role these genes play in development we must first determine the stages where they are expressed. To do this, cDNA (DNA reverse transcribed from RNA to only contain expressed genes) was made from developmental stages of Xenopus laevis embryos. The stages used were stage 6 (prior to activation of embryonic transcription), stage 8 (blastula), stages 10 and 12 (gastrula), stages 14, 16, 18 (neurula) and stage 20 (tailbud). This cDNA was then standardized by PCR using primers specific to ef1 alpha. This series of cDNA was then used as a template for PCR reactions of Xenopus connexin genes. The PCR reactions were then analyzed via gel electrophoresis in order to determine at what stages of development each gene is expressed. Gap junction gene alpha 3 was found to be expressed throughout neurulation and Gap junction gene alpha 7 was found to be expressed at all stages that were tested. Gap junction gene beta 1 and beta 2 were found to be expressed throughout gastrulation and neurulation. Gap junction gene alpha 2 was found to be maternally expressed as well as expressed in early gastrula, while Gap junction gene alpha 5 and alpha 4 are only expressed though early gastrulation. The next step of this project will be to use In Situ Hybridization to detect localized gene expression in embryotic tissue

Concluding Synthesis: Lessons Learned. A Complex Web: A Collective Process to Advance Social Justice

In Blessed Unrest, referenced by the opening quotation and several essay authors, Paul Hawken uses the metaphor of the immune system to describe the connectivity of organizations and activists across the world fiercely working to realize local and global social, economic, political, and environmental justice. Just as the invisible but interconnected parts of the body’s immune system jump into concerted action to restore health to an ill body, this social-change movement is organizing from the bottom up and emerging as an extraordinary and creative expression of people’s unstoppable need to reimagine their relationships to the environment and to one another. The leaders and organizations participating in the Boston–Haifa transnational learning exchange are actors in this powerful movement with “no name, no leader.” The transformational interplay between personal, collective, and social-change processes, nourished by our relationships with each other across and within national borders, is apparent throughout the journal essays and the Learning Exchange overall. We have collectively built knowledge to feed and inform our future actions and directions while simultaneously acting in our present worlds. Our reflection processes focus on matters of importance. Transformational change happens as we see ourselves and each others’ worlds through the others’ eyes. We privilege and grow from the interplay of many ways of knowing. In the process, transformation happens — changes of self, our organizations, and our communities. A connective web of relationships grows across borders, advancing social justice

Iatrogenic Aortic Dissection Presenting with Leg Pain Diagnosed with Point-of-care Ultrasound

Iatrogenic aortic dissection (IAD) status-post-cardiac catheterization is a rare complication often isolated to the proximal aorta. This is a case of IAD isolated to the distal aorta in a 41-year-old female who presented to the emergency department with right leg pain after undergoing three cardiac catheterizations. The diagnosis of IAD was made upon discovery of an intimal flap in the distal aorta and femoral artery while performing a point-of-care ultrasound to evaluate for deep vein thrombosis

Rethinking the benefits and costs of childhood vaccination: the example of the Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine

Economic evaluations of health interventions, such as vaccinations, are important tools for informing health policy. Approaching the analysis from the appropriate perspective is critical to ensuring the validity of evaluation results for particular policy decisions. Using the example of benefit-cost analysis (BCA) of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccination, we demonstrate that past economic evaluations have mostly adopted narrow evaluation perspectives, focusing primarily on health gains, health care cost savings, and reductions in the time costs of caring, while ignoring other important benefits including outcome-related productivity gains (prevention of mental and physical disabilities), behavior-related productivity gains (economic growth due to fertility reductions as vaccination improves child survival), and community externalities (prevention of antibiotic resistance and herd immunity). We further show that the potential cost reductions that could be attained through changes in the delivery of the Hib vaccine have also usually been ignored in economic evaluations. Future economic evaluations of childhood vaccinations should take full account of benefits and costs, so that policy makers have sufficient information to make well-informed decisions on vaccination implementation.Economic evaluation, review, Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine