Interview with Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson, the Founding Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs of Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine

A series of interviews with the founding deans of Florida Interanational University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine conducted on April 6, 2011 by Bohyun Kim, the Digital Access Librarian at Florida International University Medical Library. This audio recording is the interview with Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson, the Founding Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, and the format of the audio file is MP3.

Does expert psychological testimony improve juror sensitivity to lineup suggestiveness?

Previous research has examined the validity of behavioral assumptions underlying the presumed effectiveness of safeguards against erroneous conviction resulting from mistaken eyewitness identification. In keeping with this agenda, this study examined juror sensitivity to lineup suggestiveness in the form of foil, instruction, and presentation biases and whether expert psychological testimony further sensitizes jurors to the factors that influence the likelihood of false identifications. One hundred and sixty jury eligible citizens watched versions of a videotaped trial that included information about the identification of the defendant by an eyewitness and that varied the suggestiveness of the eyewitness identification procedure. In addition, half of the mock-jurors heard the testimony of an expert psychologist regarding the factors that influence lineup suggestiveness. Mock-jurors rendered individual verdicts, rated the defendant's culpability and the suggestiveness and fairness of the identification procedure. Results indicated that jurors are somewhat sensitive to foil bias but are insensitive to instruction and presentation biases. No evidence was found to suggest that expert testimony leads to juror skepticism or juror sensitization. These results question the effectiveness of cross-examination and expert testimony as safeguards against erroneous convictions resulting from mistaken identification. ^

Influence of teleost abundance on the distribution and abundance of sharks in Florida Bay, USA

Understanding the factors that influence the distribution and abundance of predators, including sharks, is important for predicting the impacts of human changes to the environment. Such studies are particularly important in Florida Bay, USA where there are planned large-scale changes to patterns of freshwater input from the Everglades ecosystem. Studies of many marine predators suggest that links between predator and prey habitat use may vary with spatial scale, but there have been few studies of the role of prey distribution in shaping habitat use and abundance of sharks. We used longline catches of sharks and trawls for potential teleost prey to determine the influence of teleost abundance on shark abundance at the scale of regions and habitats in Florida Bay. We found that shark catch per unit effort (CPUE) was not linked to CPUE ofteleosts at the scale of sampling sites, but shark CPUE was positively correlated with the mean CPUE for teleosts within a region. Although there does not appear to be a strong match between the abundance of teleosts and sharks at small spatial scales, regional shark abundance is likely driven, at least partially, by the availability of prey. Management strategies that influence teleost abundance will have cascading effects to higher trophic levels in Florida Bay.

The influence of the cross -race effect on lineup construction and fairness

Lineup procedures have recently garnered extensive empirical attention, in an effort to reduce the number of mistaken identifications that plague the criminal justice system. Relatively little attention, however, has been paid to the influence of the lineup constructor or the lineup construction technique on the quality of the lineup. This study examined whether the cross-race effect has an influence on the quality of lineups constructed using a match-to-suspect or match-to-description technique in a series of three phases. Participants generated descriptions of same- and other-race targets in Phase 1, which were used in Phase 2. In Phase 2, participants were asked to create lineups for own-race targets and other-race targets using one of two techniques. The lineups created in this phase were examined for lineup quality in Phase 3 by calculating lineup fairness assessments through the use of a mock witness paradigm. ^ Overall, the results of these experiment phases suggest that the race of those involved in the lineup construction process influences lineups. There was no difference in witness description accuracy in Phase 1, which ran counter to predictions based on the cross-race effect. The cross-race effect was observed, however, in Phases 2 and 3. The lineup construction technique used also influenced several of the process measures, selection estimates, and fairness judgments in Phase 2. Interestingly, the presence of the cross-race effect was in the opposite direction as predicted for some measures in both phases. In Phase 2, the cross-race effect was as predicted for number of foils viewed, but in the opposite direction for average time spent viewing each foil. In Phase 3, the cross-race effect was in the opposite direction than predicted, with higher levels of lineup fairness in other-race lineups. The practical implications of these findings are discussed in relation to lineup fairness within the legal system. ^

Novel NR5A1 Missense Mutation in Premature Ovarian Failure: Detection in Han Chinese Indicates Causation in Different Ethnic Groups

Background The etiology of most premature ovarian failure (POF) cases is usually elusive. Although genetic causes clearly exist and a likely susceptible region of 8q22.3 has been discovered, no predominant explanation exists for POF. More recently, evidences have indicated that mutations in NR5A1 gene could be causative for POF. We therefore screened for mutations in the NR5A1 gene in a large cohort of Chinese women with non-syndromic POF. Methods Mutation screening of NR5A1 gene was performed in 400 Han Chinese women with well-defined 46,XX idiopathic non-syndromic POF and 400 controls. Subsequently, functional characterization of the novel mutation identified was evaluated in vitro. Results A novel heterozygous missense mutation [c.13T>G (p.Tyr5Asp)] in NR5A1 was identified in 1 of 384 patients (0.26%). This mutation impaired transcriptional activation on Amh, Inhibin-a, Cyp11a1and Cyp19a1 gene, as shown by transactivation assays. However, no dominant negative effect was observed, nor was there impact on protein expression and nuclear localization. Conclusions This novel mutation p.Tyr5Asp, in a novel non-domain region, is presumed to result in haploinsufficiency. Irrespectively, perturbation in NR5A1 is not a common explanation for POF in Chinese.

Occupational therapists as consultants in Florida schools : a survey

Little research has been done on how well prepared occupational therapists feel to perform the role of consultant. This study investigated the perceptions of occupational therapists acting as consultants in Florida schools, how much education/training they have received and how they perceive their consultation skills. Participants in the study were sent a questionnaire and measures of central tendency were calculated on each item. Crosstabulations using Fisher's exact test were completed to investigate any relationship between type of consultation model used and relationships with educators. A one way ANOVA was conducted to investigate any relationship between self-perceived consultant skills and age, amount of experience, and training. The results indicate that occupational therapists providing consultative services rate their abilities as more than adequate and believe formal training in consultation is only mildly important. No significant relationships were found between training and skills or model used and relationships with educators.

Trends in Water Quality within the Broward County Portion of the Biscayne Aquifer

Continuous and reliable monitoring of contaminants in drinking water, which adversely affect human health, is the main goal of the Broward County Well Field Protection Program. In this study the individual monitoring station locations were used in a yearly and quarterly spatiotemporal Ordinary Kriging interpolation to create a raster network of contaminant detections. In the final analysis, the raster spatiotemporal nitrate concentration trends were overlaid with a pollution vulnerability index to determine if the concentrations are influenced by a set of independent variables. The pollution vulnerability factors are depth to water, recharge, aquifer media, soil, impact to vadose zone, and conductivity. The creation of the nitrate raster dataset had an average RMS Standardized error close to 1 at 0.98. The greatest frequency of detections and the highest concentrations are found in the months of April, May, June, July, August, and September. An average of 76.4% of the nitrate intersected with cells of the pollution vulnerability index over 100.