Visual object processing as a function of stimulus energy, retinal eccentricity and Gestalt configuration: a high-density electrical mapping study.

To reveal the fundamental processes underlying the different stages of visual object perception, most studies have manipulated relatively complex images, such as photographs, line drawings of natural objects, or perceptual illusions. Here, rather than starting from complex images and working backward to infer simpler processes, we investigated how the visual system parses and integrates information contained in stimuli of the most basic variety. Simple scatterings of a few points of light were manipulated in terms of their numerosity, spatial extent, and organization, and high-density electrophysiological recordings were made from healthy adults engaged in an unrelated task. We reasoned that this approach permitted an uncontaminated view of the spatio-temporal dynamics of the related neural processes. We were guided in our predictions by the "frame-and-fill" model for object perception, whereby fast inputs to the dorsal stream of the visual "where" system first frame the spatial extent of visual objects, which are subsequently "filled-in" by the slower activation of the ventral stream of the visual "what" system. Our findings were consistent with this view, showing a rapidly-onsetting effect of spatial extent in dorsal stream sources, and later-onsetting effects due to dot number and symmetry, which were deemed to be more closely tied to the details of object identity, from ventral stream sources. This collection of observations provides an important baseline from which to understand the spatio-temporal properties of basic visual object perception, and from which to test dysfunction of this system in clinical populations.

[Problems in organization and experience gained while working in the Department of Identifying and Examining Unrecognized Persons]. / Organizatsionnye voprosy i opyt raboty otdeleniia identifikatsii lichnosti i issledovaniia neopoznannykh trupov.

Experience gained in organization and activities of department of unrecognized personality identification at the Khabarovsk Regional Bureau of Forensic Medical Expert Evaluations is presented. The period of 1998-2000 is analyzed. Programs developed at the department are presented and recommendations on the activities and organization of such departments are offered.

[Experience in using the "Termit-1" device for determining the time of death]. / Opyt primeneniia apparatno-programmnogo kompleksa "Termit-1" pri opredelenii davnosti nastupleniia smerti.

The operating principle and utilization of a Termit-1 complex (equipment and software) is described. Expert cases are presented and recommendations are offered.

[New technology in craniofacial human identification]. / Novye tekhnologii v kraniofatsial'noi identifikatsii lichnosti.

Results of development and prospects of using new computer technologies of craniofacial personality identification based on three-dimensional simulation of identification objects are demonstrated.

The co-occurrence of AIDS and homelessness: results from the integration of administrative databases for AIDS surveillance and public shelter utilisation in Philadelphia.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Administrative databases from the City of Philadelphia that track public shelter utilisation (n=44 337) and AIDS case reporting (n=7749) were merged to identify rates and risk factors for co-occurring homelessness and AIDS. DESIGN: Multiple decrement life tables analyses were conducted, and logistic regression analyses used to identify risk factors associated with AIDS among the homeless, and homelessness among people with AIDS. SETTING: City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. MAIN RESULTS: People admitted to public shelters had a three year rate of subsequent AIDS diagnosis of 1.8 per 100 person years; nine times the rate for the general population of Philadelphia. Logistic regression results show that substance abuse history (OR = 3.14), male gender (OR = 2.05), and a history of serious mental disorder (OR = 1.62) were significantly related to the risk for AIDS diagnosis among shelter users. Among people with AIDS, results show a three year rate of subsequent shelter admission of 6.9 per 100 person years, and a three year rate of prior shelter admission of 9%, three times the three year rate of shelter admission for the general population. Logistic regression results show that intravenous drug user history (OR = 3.14); no private insurance (OR = 2.93); black race (OR = 2.82); pulmonary or extra-pulmonary TB (OR = 1.43); and pneumocystis pneumonia (OR = 0.56) were all related to the risk for shelter admission. CONCLUSIONS: Homelessness prevention programmes should target people with HIV risk factors, and HIV prevention programmes should be targeted to homeless persons, as these populations have significant intersection. Reasons and implications for this intersection are discussed.