The Productivity of Wh- Prompts when Children Testify

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/acp.3204Wh- prompts (what, how, why, who, when, where) vary widely in their specificity and accuracy, but differences among them have largely been ignored in research examining the productivity of different question-types in child testimony. We examined 120 6- to 12-year-olds’ criminal court testimony in child sexual abuse cases to compare the productivity of various wh- prompts. We distinguished among what/how prompts, most notably: what/how-happen prompts focusing generally on events, what/how-dynamic prompts focusing on actions or unfolding processes/events, what/how-causality prompts focusing on causes and reasons, and what/how-static prompts focusing on non-action contextual information regarding location, objects, and time. Consistent with predictions, what/how-happen prompts were the most productive, and both what/how-dynamic prompts and wh- prompts about causality were more productive than other wh- prompts. Prosecutors asked proportionally more what/how-dynamic prompts and fewer what/how-static prompts than defense attorneys. Future research and interviewer training may benefit from finer discrimination among wh- prompts.This research was supported in part by NICHD Grant HD047290 to Thomas D. Lyon and an ESRC studentship to Samantha J. Andrews

Challenging the Credibility of Alleged Victims of Child Sexual Abuse in Scottish Courts.

This study examined the effects of credibility-challenging questions (n = 2,729) on 62 5- to 17-year-olds’ testimony in child sexual abuse cases in Scotland by categorizing the type, source, and content of the credibility-challenging questions defense lawyers asked and assessing how children responded. Credibility-challenging questions comprised 14.9% of all questions asked during cross-examination. Of defense lawyers’ credibility-challenging questions, 77.8% focused generally on children’s honesty, whereas the remainder referred to specific inconsistencies in the children’s testimony. Children resisted credibility challenges 54% of the time, significantly more often than they provided compliant responses (26.8%). The tendency to resist was significantly lower for questions focused on specific rather than general inconsistencies, and peripheral rather than central content. Overall, children resisted credibility challenges more often when the aim and content of the question could be understood easily. As this was a field study, the accuracy of children’s responses could not be assessed. The findings suggest that credibility-challenging questions that place unrealistic demands on children’s memory capacities (e.g., questions focused on peripheral content or highly specific details) occur frequently, and that juries should be made aware of the disproportionate effects of such questioning on the consistency of children’s testimony.This research was supported by an Economic and Social Research Council studentship to Samantha J. Andrews. The research was completed as Ms. Szojka’s undergraduate dissertation at the University of Cambridge

A prospective study of Helicobacter pylori in relation to the risk for pancreatic cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The relationship between <it>Helicobacter pylori </it>infection and pancreatic cancer has been investigated in three previous studies with contradictory results. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between <it>H. pylori </it>seropositivity and the risk for pancreatic cancer in a nested case-control study within a population based cohort.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Selected birth-year cohorts (born 1921–1949) of residents in Malmö, Sweden, were invited to a health screening investigation. A total of 33 346 subjects participated. Cases with pancreatic cancer (n = 87) were matched to controls (n = 263) using age, sex and time for baseline investigation as matching variables. <it>H. pylori </it>serology was analysed in stored serum samples using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Odds ratios (OR) for pancreatic cancer were calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CI) using logistic regression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>H. pylori </it>seropositivity was not associated with pancreatic cancer in the total cohort (adjusted OR 1.25 (0.75–2.09)). However, a statistically significant association was found in never smokers (OR 3.81 (1.06–13.63) adjusted for alcohol consumption) and a borderline statistically significant association was found in subjects with low alcohol consumption (OR 2.13 (0.97–4.69) adjusted for smoking).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that no association between <it>H. pylori </it>infection and the risk for pancreatic cancer was found in the total cohort. However, in never smokers and in subjects with low risk alcohol consumption, a positive <it>H. pylori </it>serology was associated with an increased risk for pancreatic cancer. These findings should be interpreted cautiously due to the limited number of cases in these subgroups.</p

A genome-wide association study identifies pancreatic cancer susceptibility loci on chromosomes 13q22.1, 1q32.1 and 5p15.33.

We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of pancreatic cancer in 3,851 cases and 3,934 controls drawn from twelve prospective cohort studies and eight case-control studies. Based on a logistic regression model for genotype trend effect that was adjusted for study, age, sex, self-described ancestry and five principal components, we identified eight SNPs that map to three loci on chromosomes 13q22.1, 1q32.1 and 5p15.33. Two correlated SNPs, rs9543325 (P=3.27×10(−11); per allele odds ratio, OR 1.26, 95% CI=1.18-1.35) and rs9564966 (P=5.86×10(−8); per allele OR 1.21, 95% CI=1.13-1.30) map to a non-genic region on chromosome 13q22.1. Five SNPs on 1q32.1 map to NR5A2; the strongest signal was rs3790844 (P=2.45×10(−10); per allele OR 0.77, 95% CI=0.71-0.84). A single SNP, rs401681 (P=3.66×10(−7); per allele OR 1.19, 95% CI=1.11-1.27) maps to the CLPTM1L-TERT locus on 5p15.33, associated with multiple cancers. Our study has identified common susceptibility loci for pancreatic cancer that warrant follow-up studies