Non-incarcerated psychopaths: why we need to know more about the psychopaths who live amongst us.

On 1 November 2000, Robert Stewart, aged 20, was jailed for life for bludgeoning to death his Asian cellmate, Zahid Mubarek, aged 19 years because 'he felt like it'. During the court hearing the term 'psychopathic personality' was used in relation to Stewart and, following this and other similar cases, the average man or woman could be forgiven for believing that psychopathy is inextricably linked with dangerousness and criminality. In the light of the Government consultation paper entitled Managing Dangerous People with Personality Disorder. Proposals for Policy Development and the Government White Paper Reforming the Mental Health Act -- Part II: High-risk patients, this article proposes that whilst studies conducted with incarcerated psychopaths will continue to increase our knowledge and understanding of criminality, non-incarcerated psychopaths have an arguably equal potential to illuminate our understanding of the emotional difficulties, such as lack of empathy and lack of conscience, which underlie psychopathy and which lead to offending behaviour. Although a range of obstacles have hindered progress in this field of study, this paper proposes that developing an understanding of the nature of the emotional difficulties of the psychopath, unconfounded by criminality, has the potential to make a valuable contribution to the field of child psychiatry in ways which have implications for mental health nurses and society as a whole. It theorizes that if the psychological constructs which underlie psychopathy were better understood, children who display those emotional difficulties could be more accurately identified and strategies be generated which carry the ultimate aim of minimizing the risk of those children developing the offending behaviour associated with psychopathy.

The yeast STE12 protein binds to the DNA sequence mediating pheromone induction.

The STE12 gene product of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is required for the transcription of two sets of cell-type-specific genes: the a-specific genes (active only in a cells) and the alpha-specific genes (active only in alpha cells). We show that radiolabeled STE12 protein, prepared by in vitro transcription and translation, is capable of forming complexes with unlabeled DNA fragments from two a-specific genes. Wild-type yeast, but not a ste12 mutant, produce a factor that forms complexes with labeled DNA from these same two genes. We use assays with yeast extracts to localize the binding site for the STE12-dependent activity. This site corresponds to the sequence identified as the pheromone induction element, which is responsible for increased transcription of genes when cells are exposed to alpha-factor or a-factor. Thus the STE12 protein may be an ultimate effector in the signal transduction pathway triggered by pheromone.

Rocky mountain spotted fever: hepatic lesions in childhood cases.

We studied 16 fatal childhood cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF). Hepatic histologic lesions with statistically significant differences from age- and sex-matched controls were portal triaditis consisting of polymorphonuclear leukocytes and large mononuclear cells, portal vasculitis, sinusoidal leukocytosis, erythrophagocytosis by Kupffer cells, and gross hepatic weight. Hepatocellular necrosis, cholestasis, and congestion were not more frequent in RMSF than in controls. Using immunofluorescence microscopy, we were able to demonstrate rickettsial organisms in portal blood vessels and sinusoidal lining cells of 7 cases.