Existence of a Suicide Pact as a Complete Defense to a Survivor\u27s Criminal Liability: State v. Sage

Can one who encourages another\u27s suicide through a suicide pact be absolved of criminal liability? The Ohio Supreme Court answered this question in the affirmative in State v. Sage. The court held that a suicide survivor\u27s proof that another\u27s death resulted from a mutual suicide pact acts as a complete defense to criminal liability. Not since 1872 has the Ohio Supreme Court discussed criminal liability for suicide pact members who aid and abet another\u27s suicide. The Sage court did not differentiate between classic suicide pacts where each member agrees to commit suicide, and suicide-murder pacts where one person agrees to commit suicide and the other consents to murder

Experimental Observation of Total-Internal-Reflection Rainbows

A new class of rainbows is created when a droplet is illuminated from the inside by a point light source. The position of the rainbow depends on both the index of refraction of the droplet and the position of the light source, and the rainbow vanishes when the point source is too close to the center of the droplet. Here we experimentally measure the position of the transmission and one-internal-reflection total-internal-reflection rainbows, and the standard (primary) rainbow, as a function of light-source position. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America

Analysis of the Shadow-Sausage Effect Caustic

We analyze the optical caustic produced by light refracted at the curved meniscus surrounding a cylindrical rod standing partially out of a liquid-filled container. When the rod is tilted from the vertical or when light is diagonally incident, the caustic is a four-cusped astroid with two of its cusps obscured by the rod\u27s shadow. If a portion of the flat end of the rod is raised above the water level, the caustic evolves into a pattern of five interlocking cusps. The five cusps result from symmetry breaking of a three-cusped surface perturbation caustic. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America

How Old We Are & How Old We Feel

Many researchers assess differences in age as a distinct independent variable for a wide range of empirical analyses. However, subjective age (how old people feel) is a construct that has been relatively neglected in the literature. The purpose of the current study was to assess the relationship between chronological age and subjective age, as well as subjective age differences between genders. As part of a larger study, 95 participants completed the Subjective Age Questionnaire (Montepare, Rierdan, Koff, & Stubbs, 1989) including 5 items on a 7-point Likert scale. Reported subjective age was subtracted by chronological age (age discrepancy) for comparison between genders. A significant negative correlation emerged, such that as chronological age increased, subjective age scores subsequently decreased. A comparison of mean age discrepancy scores between genders revealed a difference that was marginally significant, with males reporting a subjective age slightly younger than their actual age, and females reporting subjective age slightly older than their actual age

Ultra-Fast Evaluation of Protein Energies Directly from Sequence

The structure, function, stability, and many other properties of a protein in a fixed environment are fully specified by its sequence, but in a manner that is difficult to discern. We present a general approach for rapidly mapping sequences directly to their energies on a pre-specified rigid backbone, an important sub-problem in computational protein design and in some methods for protein structure prediction. The cluster expansion (CE) method that we employ can, in principle, be extended to model any computable or measurable protein property directly as a function of sequence. Here we show how CE can be applied to the problem of computational protein design, and use it to derive excellent approximations of physical potentials. The approach provides several attractive advantages. First, following a one-time derivation of a CE expansion, the amount of time necessary to evaluate the energy of a sequence adopting a specified backbone conformation is reduced by a factor of 10(7) compared to standard full-atom methods for the same task. Second, the agreement between two full-atom methods that we tested and their CE sequence-based expressions is very high (root mean square deviation 1.1–4.7 kcal/mol, R(2) = 0.7–1.0). Third, the functional form of the CE energy expression is such that individual terms of the expansion have clear physical interpretations. We derived expressions for the energies of three classic protein design targets—a coiled coil, a zinc finger, and a WW domain—as functions of sequence, and examined the most significant terms. Single-residue and residue-pair interactions are sufficient to accurately capture the energetics of the dimeric coiled coil, whereas higher-order contributions are important for the two more globular folds. For the task of designing novel zinc-finger sequences, a CE-derived energy function provides significantly better solutions than a standard design protocol, in comparable computation time. Given these advantages, CE is likely to find many uses in computational structural modeling

Methods of a national colorectal cancer cohort study: the PIPER Project

A national study looking at bowel cancer in New Zealand has previously been completed (the PIPER Project). The study included 5,610 patients and collected medical information about how each person was found to have bowel cancer and the treatment they received. This paper reports how the study was carried out. The information collected in the study will be used to look at the quality of care being provided to New Zealand patients with bowel cancer, and to find out if differences in care occur based on where people live, their ethnicity and their socioeconomic status

The iogeneration intervention study at Lisbon: iodine status and iodised salt consumption in school-aged children

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The role of fear in mental health service users' experiences: a qualitative exploration

Purpose Although studies suggest that fear plays an important role in shaping mental health service users’ experiences, evidence is patchy and the contexts, conditions and consequences of fear have rarely been researched. This paper explores the role of fear in adult mental health service users’ lives and describes its implications for mental health services. Methods Four community health service user focus groups (N32) were held. Each group was reconvened after 7–14 days. An initial thematic analysis generated a service user definition of continuity of care (reported elsewhere). A Straussian ‘secondary grounded theory analysis’ was conducted to gain a deeper understanding of participants’ experiences. Results ‘Being afraid’ was identified as a core process, with power and control, and stigma and discrimination found to have explanatory power in determining how and why fear manifests. Consequences included distrusting staff, cooperating reluctantly, learning reticence, delaying help-seeking, avoiding services, feeling unsafe in the community and avoiding exposure as a service user. Conclusions Our model suggests that fear plays a substantial role in the lives of adult mental health service users. This has particular consequences for therapeutic relationships, engagement with services and engagement with the wider community. This lack of engagement is associated with adverse outcomes. Further research into the role of fear and the factors that mediate against it is warranted

Association between Elevated Iodine Intake and IQ among School Children in Portugal

Funding Information: This project was funded through grants by the Public Health Initiatives Programme (PT06), financed by EEA Grants Financial Mechanism 2009–2014, and supported by FEDER through the operation POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007746 funded by the Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização—COMPETE2020 and by National Funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., within CINTESIS, R&D Unit (reference UIDP/4255/2020) and within the scope of the project RISE, Associated Laboratory (reference LA/P/0053/2020). DP and VCF also received individual funding from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (SFRH/BPD/109158/2015 in the first case; SFRH/BPD/109153/2015, UIDB/50006/2020, UIDP/50006/2020, and LA/P/0008/2020 in the second case).The goal of this work was to examine whether elevated iodine intake was associated with adverse effects on IQ among school-age children in Portugal. In a representative sample of children from the north of the country, IQ percentiles by age (assessed with Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices) were dichotomized to <50 (“below-average” IQs) and ≥50. Morning urine iodine concentrations, corrected for creatinine, were dichotomized to <250 µg/g and ≥250 µg/g, according to the European Commission/Scientific Committee on Food’s tolerable upper level of daily iodine intake for young children. Data were examined with Chi-square tests, logistic regression, and GLM univariate analysis. The sample (N = 1965) was classified as generally iodine-adequate (median urinary iodine concentration = 129 µg/L; median iodine-to-creatinine ratio = 126 µg/g) according to the WHO’s criteria. A greater proportion of children in the ≥250 µg/g group had below-average IQs, compared to children with less than 250 µg/g (p = 0.037), despite a sizable (though non-significant) proportion of children in the less-than-250 µg/g group also presenting below-average IQs, at the bottom of the iodine distribution (<50 µg/g). The proportion of below-average IQs increased with increasingly elevated iodine concentrations (p = 0.047). The association remained significant after the adjustment for confounders, with the elevated iodine group showing increased odds of having below-average IQs when compared with the non-elevated iodine group (OR 1.55; 95% CI 1.11–2.17; p = 0.011). Consistently, the former group presented a lower mean IQ than the latter (p = 0.006). High iodine intake was associated with lower IQs even in a population classified as iodine-adequate. These results bear on child cognition and on initiatives involving iodine supplementation.publishersversionpublishe

Shading by Napier Grass Reduces Malaria Vector Larvae in Natural Habitats in Western Kenya Highlands

Increased human population in the Western Kenya highlands has led to reclamation of natural swamps resulting in the creation of habitats suitable for the breeding of Anopheles gambiae, the major malaria vector in the region. Here we report on a study to restore the reclaimed swamp and reverse its suitability as a habitat for malaria vectors. Napier grass-shaded and non-shaded water channels in reclaimed sites in Western Kenya highlands were studied for the presence and density of mosquito larvae, mosquito species composition, and daily variation in water temperature. Shading was associated with 75.5% and 88.4% (P < 0.0001) reduction in anopheline larvae densities and 78.1% and 88% (P < 0.0001) reduction in Anopheles gambiae sensu lato (s.l.) densities in two sites, respectively. Shading was associated with a 5.7°C, 5.0°C, and 4.7°C, and 1.6°C, 3.9°C, and 2.8°C (for maximum, minimum, and average temperatures, respectively) reduction (P < 0.0001) in water temperatures in the two locations, respectively. An. gambiae s.l. was the dominant species, constituting 83.2% and 73.1%, and 44.5% and 42.3%, of anophelines in non-shaded and shaded channels, respectively, in the two sites, respectively. An. gambiae sensu stricto (s.s.) constituted the majority (97.4%) of An. gambiae s.l., while the rest (2.6%) comprised of Anopheles arabiensis. Minimum water temperature decreased with increasing grass height (P = 0.0039 and P = 0.0415 for Lunyerere and Emutete sites, respectively). The results demonstrate how simple environmental strategies can have a strong impact on vector densities