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The verifiability of a suspect's alibi is often interpreted as a sign of innocence. Because the police resources are limited, verifiability could be used to dismiss suspects of minor offenses. We examined whether alibi verifiability actually indicates innocence for minor crimes. In Experiment 1, participants imagined they were guilty or innocent suspects of minor crimes and selected a response to convince the police of their innocence. Compared to innocent suspects, guilty suspects were more likely to select pseudo‐verifiable responses (which seemed verifiable but were not) rather than non‐verifiable responses. Experiment 2 revealed that pseudo‐verifiable responses increased observers' perceptions of innocence (rather than guilt). Experiment 3 suggested that people infer the police will not verify alibis of minor crimes, which may lead people to invent pseudo‐verifiable responses. These results indicate that apparent verifiability does not necessarily indicate innocence. The police should systematically test alternative hypotheses whenever they encounter apparent verifiable responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Acquired tracheal stenosis (ATS) is an unusual disease often secondary to prolonged mechanical trauma. Acquired tracheal stenosis pathogenesis involves inflammation and subsequent fibrosis with narrowing of the tracheal lumen. Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β) represents a pivotal factor in most fibrotic processes, and therefore a potential target in this context. The aim of this study is to analyze the role of TGF-β as a target for anti-fibrotic interventions in tracheal stenosis.Methods: Human stenotic tracheobronchial tissues from patients with benign airway stenosis and normal controls from pneumonectomy specimens were analyzed. Tracheal stenosis was induced in adult NZ rabbits by a circumferential thermal injury to the mucosa during open surgery and re-anastomosis. Rabbits were treated postoperatively with a peritracheal collagen sponge containing a TGF-β peptide antagonist (p17) or vehicle. Fibrosis was determined by Masson's trichrome staining, and smooth muscle cell α-actin+ (α-SMA+ Confirm accuracy.) myofibroblasts, connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), and p-Smad2/3 expression by immunohistochemistry.Results: Human and rabbit stenotic tissues showed extensive submucosal fibrosis, characterized by significantly increased α-SMA+ myofibroblasts and CTGF expression. In human stenotic lesions, increased p-Smad2/3+ nuclei were also observed. p17 treatment significantly reduced the fibrotic thickness, as well as the density of α-SMA+ myofibroblasts and CTGF+ cells in rabbit stenotic lesions, but failed to improve the luminal area.Conclusion: ATS is characterized by a TGF-β dependent fibrotic process, but reduction of the fibrotic component by TGF-β1 antagonist therapy was not sufficient to improve tracheal narrowing, suggesting that fibrosis may not be the main contributor to luminal stenosis.Level Of Evidence: NA. Laryngoscope, 127:561-567, 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Congenital erythropoietic porphyria ( CEP), or Günther's disease, is an inborn error of metabolism produced by a deficiency of uroporphyrinogen III synthase ( UROS), the fourth enzyme of the heme biosynthesis pathway. This enzymatic defect induces the accumulation of isomer I porphyrins in erythrocytes, skin, and tissues, producing various clinical manifestations. Severe cases are characterized by extreme photosensitivity, causing scarring and mutilations, and by hemolytic anemia, reducing life expectancy. CEP is caused by mutations in the UROS gene, and one of the most severe forms of the disease is associated with a cysteine to arginine substitution at residue 73 of the protein (C73R). CEP has been successfully treated only by the transplantation of hematopoietic precursors. We report the case of a male infant with severe postdelivery symptoms diagnosed with CEP and found to be homozygous for the C73R mutation. He underwent successful allogeneic bone marrow transplantation from a matched unrelated donor at 7 months of age. The hemolytic anemia was corrected and the porphyrin overproduction was significantly reduced. The patient remained asymptomatic after 1 year. This new case confirms that patients with severe CEP can benefit from early postnatal hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has shown that the Behavior Analysis Interview (BAI) indicators of guilt or innocence are merely commonsense notions. In this study, we examined whether this would lead suspects of a serious crime to try to manipulate their behavior during a BAI in order to look innocent. A serious crime was described to 74 undergraduates who were asked to imagine that they were guilty or innocent. They then completed a questionnaire about the strategies that they would use during a BAI. Both guilty and innocent suspects were more willing to show the innocence rather than guilt indicators of the BAI. Innocent suspects had a blind faith in the power of innocence to demonstrate that they were not guilty. The general (non-BAI) strategies coincided with those of previous studies; this indicates that prior findings on strategies can be generalized to serious crimes and that strategies can be examined with uncomplicated procedures such as the one used in this study. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Variegate porphyria (VP) is a rare metabolic disorder that may present as an acute predominantly motor neuropathy. Cranial nerves and brainstem functions have been only scarcely studied. Methods: Brainstem reflexes were examined in symptomatic and non-symptomatic VP mutation carriers of a single family. Results: Similar results were found in the 2 patients with a history of porphyric crises. The blink reflex showed an absence of late responses (R2 and R2c) to stimulation of both sides. The masseter inhibitory reflex showed reduced inhibition of the second phase. The jaw jerk was normal. The asymptomatic carriers did not show any of the abnormalities just noted. Conclusions: Our results are compatible with a central lower pons-upper medulla disorder in the brainstem. We hypothesize that brainstem dysfunction in VP patients with a history of porphyric crises may be due to neurotoxic effects of porphyrin precursors as well as subclinical osmolarity changes due to hyponatremia. Muscle Nerve 46: 426-433, 2012 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effect of a non-fatal road crash on the health-related quality of life of injured people. A new approach based on the cardinalization of categorical Self-Assessed Health valuations is suggested. Health losses have been estimated by using different Time Trade-off and Visual Analogue Scale tariffs, in order to assess the robustness of the results. The methodology is based on the existing literature about treatment effects. Our main contribution focuses on evaluating the loss of health up to 1 year after the non-fatal accident, for those who are non-institutionalized, which aids the appropriate estimation of the aggregated health losses in quality-of-life terms. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Masip, J., Bethencourt, M., Lucas, G., Sánchez-San Segundo, M. & Herrero, C. (2012). Deception detection from written accounts. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 103-111. Most research into deception detection in written accounts has been conducted on transcripts instead of written messages, and has focused on identifying valid verbal deception correlates instead of also examining untrained readers' spontaneous lie-detection attempts (accuracy rates, the cues they use, and so on). Also, the question of whether good liars are also good detectors has not been examined using written accounts. In Study 1, 78 participants handwrote a story and then judged the veracity of another participant's story. Accuracy was at chance level. Good liars were not better detectors than poor liars, but participants who thought they were good liars also thought they were good detectors. The higher the participants' fluidity scores on a standardized test, the poorer liars they were and the better liars they thought they were. The cues participants said they used were related to their judgments but unrelated to actual veracity. In Study 2, some Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) categories (with the Spanish-language dictionary) permitted a 68% classification rate of the written accounts of Study 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multicentric reticulohistiocytosis (MRH) is an uncommon non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis of unknown etiology. It is a multisystem disorder characterised by a papulonodular skin eruption, mainly in the extensor surfaces, and destructive polyarthritis. Histologically, either cutaneous lesions or the synovium show a dense dermal infiltrate of histiocytes and multinucleated giant cells with an eosinophilic granular material in the cytoplasm. In the immunohistochemical analysis these cells stain positively with monocyte/macrophage markers (CD68 and CD45), as well as with certain cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin 1β and interleukin 6). Moreover, recent reports suggest an osteoclastic nature of the infiltrating cells, as they stain strongly with osteoclast tissue lytic markers including tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase and cathepsin K. We report a case of MRH presenting with clinical features of dermatomyositis. Furthermore, the patient showed elevated cytokine serum levels that lowered after therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The Behaviour Analysis Interview (BAI) is an interview protocol developed by John E. Reid and Associates to generate different reactions in guilty and innocent suspects. Even though research has questioned the usefulness of the BAI protocol (Vrij et al., 2006), many law enforcement officials are trained in the BAI every year. Two studies were conducted to examine whether the BAI recommendations are in line with lay participants' beliefs about the correlates of guilt or innocence. In Study 1, the participants read the transcriptions of two BAIs and had to indicate which one corresponded to the guilty suspect. Virtually all the participants who were familiar with the BAI protocol were successful in this task; however, more naïve participants (69%) than expected by chance were also able to identify the guilty interview. In Study 2, a questionnaire was designed to examine whether those behaviours that the BAI proponents maintain are guilt indicators were judged by lay participants as more indicative of guilt than those behaviours that the BAI proponents maintain that are indicators of innocence. The results strongly supported this prediction. Not only are the BAI recommendations inaccurate, but they are also in line with what people already believe. Apparently, little new can be learned by attending training seminars on the BAI. Law enforcement personnel should be taught interview protocols grounded on sound science instead of unsupported common-sense beliefs. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the axiomatic derivation of social evaluation indices in a multidimensional context. The resulting evaluation formula is the geometric mean of the egalitarian equivalent values of the different characteristics under consideration. We provide an application to the measurement of human development and compare the results obtained with those corresponding to the standard (additive) index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has failed to show that training to detect deception substantially increases accuracy. Instead, training yields a stronger tendency to make judgments of deceptiveness. Normally, training programmes place a strong emphasis on deception and deception cues. This may lead observers to engage in a biased information seeking process wherein only deception cues are searched for, and any suggestion that the person is being truthful is neglected. Two experiments were conducted in which participants made veracity judgments before and after being ostensibly trained to (a) detect deception (traditional training group or TRAD-GR), (b) detect truthfulness (alternative training group or ALT-GR) or (c) not being trained (control group or CONT-GR). Deception judgments increased for the TRAD-GR, but decreased for the ALT-GR, and did not change for the CONT-GR. Judgmental confidence significantly increased in both training groups, but not in the CONT-GR. These results indicate that traditional training programmes to detect deception bias the trainees' judgments towards deception. An emphasis on truthfulness cues could compensate for this tendency, as well as for the professionals' inclination to judge other people's statements as deceptive. However, the poor diagnostic value of deception cues makes it difficult to design good training programmes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: The diagnosis of pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigus foliaceus is usually based on clinical, histological, and immunofluorescence (IF) findings. In recent years, the antigenic profile of both diseases has been further defined by immunobiochemical techniques (ELISA, immunoblot, and immunoprecipitation). Methods: A retrospective study of 40 pemphigus patients was performed to determine the clinical, histological, and antigenic profile in patients with pemphigus followed at our Department. Charts review, clinical data, histological and IF findings, and antigenic analysis by ELISA were performed in all patients. Results: In most patients, there was a perfect correlation between the clinical and histological findings and their antigenic profile. In four patients (10%), clinicopathological features and antigenic findings were discordant. Conclusion: The antigenic profiles in pemphigus do not always correlate with the clinical diagnosis. Therefore, clinical and histological features should be considered as the mainstay for the diagnosis of pemphigus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Journal of Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents a case study of a 49-year-old woman with a history of an asymptomatic erythematous papular eruption on the limbs and trunk. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain was conducted, which showed lesions indicating ischemic small vessel disease in both cerebral hemispheres. The findings of a histological examination characterize Degos' disease. The patient underwent treatment of chloroquine, aspirin, and prednisone, which improved the skin lesions.

Oral mucous membrane involvement occurs uncommonly in mycosis fungoides and reports of it are scarce. We present two patients with severe involvement of the oral mucous membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case that illustrates the presence of very peculiar cytoplasmic inclusions in the red cells in a case of congenital erythropoietic porphyria. These newly described needle-like inclusions in the erythrocytes may correspond to crystallized porphyrins, which may have occurred in the patient because of the lack of the pitting function of the spleen.