The phallometric assessment of sex offenders: some professional and research issues

Phallometry (or penile plethysmography) is a technique for measuring penile erection in response to a variety of stimuli, used with many procedural variations in different sex offender assessment centres. Recent research suggests that penile plethysmography, in spite of its many unresolved methodological problems, is both valid and reliable. The technique is ideally suited to challenge sex offenders’ denials, assess their treatment needs and to evaluate treatment, although it can not be relied upon, on its own, to establish guilt or predict future deviant sexual behaviour. An examination of current practice suggests a number of areas where research is needed: to design and standardise stimulus material; to provide more reliability data; to develop and test procedures to discourage faking; and to carry out validation studies with forensic and non-forensic populations (which include a detailed analysis of the subjects’ sexual history, motivation and fantasies) . Finally, professional guidelines are needed to control conduction and interpretation of assessments, use of stimuli and counselling of clients.     

Anthropometric Characteristics of Mohawk Children Aged 6 to 11 Years: A Population Perspective

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies have concluded that Native North American children have higher proportions of overweight and obesity than children from the general North American population. This study presents anthropometric data on a representative sample of children from the Mohawk Nation that can be used for comparison with other Native American populations. DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional study comparing distributions of anthropometric characteristics of Mohawk children to the corresponding age and gender data from the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II). Weight, height, triceps and subscapular skinfold thickness, and waist and hip circumferences were measured in 527 children. SUBJECTS/SETTING: All children in grades 1 to 6 (aged 6 to 11 years) in the 3 elementary schools of 2 Mohawk communities in Canada, for whom parental consent was obtained, were enrolled in the present study. There were no exclusion criteria. With a participation rate of 83%, the 527 children enrolled in this study represent an unbiased sample of the population from 2 Mohawk territories. RESULTS: Compared with children studied in NHANES II, Mohawk children were similar in height and triceps skinfolds but were generally heavier, had thicker subscapular skinfolds, and had greater waist and hip circumferences. These differences were greater in older children. Mohawk children who had extreme-high weight values compared with their population means were heavier than their NHANES II counterparts. APPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS: Results indicated that, on average, Mohawk children seem to be slightly heavier than children in NHANES II. Except for those with extreme overweight values, Mohawk children show less variation of weight and body mass index than children in NHANES II. Finally, overweight Mohawk children seem to be more likely to carry their excess body fat truncally, compared with overweight children from NHANES II. Health practitioners working with Native American populations should be careful when assessing childhood obesity. Simple comparisons of weight or body mass index with NHANES standards may lead to inappropriate risk assessments.     

VJ REARRANGEMENTS OF THE TCRγ LOCUS IN PERIPHERAL T-CELL LYMPHOMAS: ANALYSIS BY POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION AND DENATURING GRADIENT GEL ELECTROPHORESIS

Using Southern blotting for the diagnosis of clonality in peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs), analysis of the T-cell receptor (TCR) γ gene rearrangement was shown to be more informative than that of the TCR β gene rearrangement. In order to amplify every VJγ rearrangement, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure using newly designed GC-clamp primers has been developed. All primers can be mixed in a single multiplex PCR. PCR products are analysed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), providing tumour-specific imprints inasmuch as the procedure characterizes N sequence polymorphism at the VJ junctions. In a series of 30 PTCL cases, the PCR procedure demonstrated 27 cases to be clonally rearranged and failed in three cases. PCR was more accurate than Southern blotting, showing 47 rearranged γ alleles, four of which were undetectable on the Southern blot. When lymphomas were studied at different sites and at relapse, the DGGE pattern remained unchanged. In PTCL, the proposed PCR is helpful for the diagnosis and staging of the disease and should improve the follow-up monitoring. The undetectability of clonal rearrangements in a few cases is discussed in the light of concepts of lymphomagenesis and T-cell differentiation.     

Crystal and molecular structure of two geometrically restricted chemotactic tripeptides,analogues of formyl-methionine-leucine-phenylalanine*

The crystal structures of HCO-Met-Leu-Phe-OC(CH₃)₃, (CH₂₅H₃₉N₃O⁵S), fMLP-OtBu, and HCO-Metψ[CSNH]-Leu-Phe-OCH₃, (C₃₃H₃₃N₃O₄S₂), fM^SLP-OMe, have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction, and their conformational properties investigated by molecular mechanics energy calculations. Crystals of fMLP-OtBu are monoclinic, space group P2₁, a = 12.027(4), b = 9.492(3), c = 12.660(4) Å, β= 101.99(3)°, Z = 2; those of fM^SLP-OMe are orthorhombic, space group P2₁2₁2₁, a = 7.130(1), b = 12.097(2), c = 31.060(5) Å, Z = 4. The first compounds fMLP-OtBu is the t-butyl ester of the tripeptide fMLP that represents one of the most potent compounds in inducing the lysozyme release from human neutrophils that reflects the chemotactic activity. From the crystal structure, it is shown that the orientation of the phenylalanine side chain is largely affected by the presence of the bulky group. fM^SLP-OMe was shown to be inactive after thionation of the methionine residue in the original tripeptide. Nevertheless, the crystal structure does not reveal any influence of the presence of the thionated peptidic bond on the backbone conformation. The X-ray results have been used to generate parameters for empirical energy calculations. Subsequently, a strategy based on random generation of conformations followed by energy-minimization was applied to investigate the conformational space of thiopeptides, in comparison with normal peptides. From molecular free energy calculations, it is shown that the main influence of the introduction of a thioamide bond on the molecular structure is to prevent the existence of C⁷_eqconformations involving the thiomethionine residue. Consequently, a larger number of conformers are found to form intramolecular hydrogen bonds involving the formyl group, reducing its availability to interact with the receptor. For the first time, the theoretical prediction of the existence of C⁷_eq conformations for fMLP is made. The resulting conformers are compared to previously active structures of these chemotactic agents.     

Diagnosis of Ventricular Tachycardia Using a Pacemaker Holter Function

The diagnosis of ventricular tachycardia (VT) using the Holter function of an implanted pacemaker has not yet been reported. We present the case of a patient with episodes of slow VT. hemodynamically stable, but in whom long lasting attacks were not identified by the patient as VT recurrences, finally leading to progressive heart failure. Prospective analysis of the 24-hour ECG and comparison with the pacemaker Holter data allowed us to determine diagnostic criteria to recognize VT using the pacemaker Holter function. Using these criteria it was possible to retrospectively diagnose VT occurrence during the weeks when the patient was out-of-hospital.