The incidence of drugs of impairment in oral fluid from random roadside testing

Oral fluid (OF) has become a popular specimen to test for presence of drugs, particularly in regards to road safety. In Victoria, OF specimens from drivers have been used to test for the presence of methylamphetamine (MA) and Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) since 2003 and 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine (MDMA) since 2006. LC-MS/MS has been used to test the most recent 853 submitted OF specimens from Victoria Police for 31 drugs of abuse including those listed in the Australian Standard AS4760-2006. At least one proscribed drug was detected in 96% of drivers, of which MA was the most common (77%), followed by THC (42%), MDMA (17%) and the combination of all three (3.9%). Opioids were detected in 14% of drivers of which 4.8% were positive for 6-acetylmorphine and 3.3% for methadone. The incidence of the opioids tramadol (1.2%) and oxycodone (1.1%) were relatively low. Cocaine (8.0%) was as commonly detected as benzodiazepines (8.0%), and was almost always found in combination with MA (7.9%). Samples positive to benzodiazepines were largely due to diazepam (3.5%) and alprazolam (3.4%), with only 0.2% of drivers combining the two. Ketamine was also detected in 1.5% of cases. While the incidences of the proscribed drugs itself are concerning, it is clear that many drivers are also using other drugs capable of causing impairment.     

The prevalence of drugs in injured drivers

In mid 2009 Victoria introduced compulsory drug testing of blood taken from all injured drivers taken to hospital. Δ(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), methylamphetamine (MA) and 3,4-methylenedioxy-methylamphetamine (MDMA) are prohibited and if drivers are positive to any amount an automatic penalty is enforced. Laboratory screens were conducted on preserved blood using ELISA testing for cannabis metabolite and methylamphetamines and a fully validated LC-MS/MS method for 105 drugs including THC, amphetamines, opioids, benzodiazepines, antidepressants and antipsychotics and a number of other psychoactive substances using a minimum of two transitions per drug. Conventional GC-testing for ethanol was used to screen and quantify the presence of alcohol. 1714 drivers were tested and showed alcohol in 29% (≥ 0.01 g/100mL) and drugs in 35%. The positive rate for the three drugs prohibited by legislation was 12.5%. The prevalence of THC, MA and MDMA was 9.8%, 3.1%, and 0.8%, respectively. The range of THC concentrations in blood was 2-42 ng/mL (median 7) of which 70% had a concentration of 10 ng/mL or higher. The range of concentrations for MA and MDMA was 0.02-0.4 and 0.03-0.3mg/L (median for both drugs was 0.05 mg/L). Drugs of any type were detected in 35% of cases. The other drugs were largely prescribed drugs such as the antidepressants (9.3%) and benzodiazepines (8.9%). Neither 6-acetylmorphine nor cocaine (or benzoylecgonine) was detected in these cases.     

Wegfall des dringenden Wohnbedürfnisses des Eintrittsberechtigten während des Kündigungsverfahrens

Aus der Rsp zur Eigenbedarfskündigung des Vermieters, nach der der Eigenbedarf sowohl zum Zeitpunkt der Kündigung als auch zu jenem des Schlusses der mündlichen Verhandlung erster Instanz im Kündigungsprozess vorliegen muss, kann nicht der Schluss gezogen werden, dass die Kündigung eines nach dem Tod des ursprünglichen Mieters mit der Verlassenschaft fortdauernden Mietverh?ltnisses dadurch rechtswirksam würde, dass der an sich eintrittsberechtigte Angeh?rige im Laufe des Kündigungsverfahrens sein dringendes Wohnbedürfnis an der aufgekündigten Wohnung verliert. Gegenstand des Kündigungsverfahrens ist ausschlie?lich die Berechtigung der vom Vermieter (gerichtlich) ausgesprochenen Kündigung, die jedenfalls das Vorliegen eines Kündigungsgrundes zum Kündigungszeitpunkt voraussetzt. Ein im Todeszeitpunkt des früheren Mieters bestehendes Eintrittsrecht eines Angeh?rigen kann nicht im Nachhinein dadurch wieder wegfallen, dass das zum ma?geblichen Zeitpunkt bestehende Wohnbedürfnis sp?ter auf Grund einer anderen Wohnm?glichkeit wegf?llt. Die Frage des Wohnbedürfnisses des Eintrittswerbers ist nach den Verh?ltnissen im Zeitpunkt des Todes des Hauptmieters zu beurteilen, wogegen nachtr?gliche ?nderungen – wenn überhaupt – nur zu Gunsten des Mieters zu berücksichtigen sind.     

Annual general meeting, 1967

General

Imperial Sunset. Volume 1: Britain's Liberal Empire 1897–1921. By Max Beloff. London, Methuen, 1969. Pp. 387. Maps. Chronology. Index. £3.25.

United Nations Peacekeeping, 1946–1967. Documents and Commentary. Part 2: Asia. By Rosalyn Higgins. London, Oxford University Press for Chatham House, 1970. Pp. xviii+486. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £4.50.

Colonialism in East‐West Relations: A Study of Soviet Policy towards India and Anglo‐Soviet Relations 1:0.17–1047. By Zafar Imam. New Delhi, Eastman Publications, 1969. Pp. xii+531. Bibliog. Index. Rs. 40.

India and the Soviet Union: The Nehru Era. By Arthur Stein. Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 1969. Pp. xiv+320. Bibliog. Index. £4.30.

Studies in Asian History: Proceedings of the Asian History Congress, 1961. Edited by K. S. Lal. London, Asia Publishing House, 1969. Pp. 530. Appendices. £4.25.

That Untravelled World. An autobiography. By Eric Shipton. London, Hodder &; Stoughton, 1969. Pp. 286. Illus. Maps. Index. £2.25.

Religion

The Bhagavad‐Gita (first six chapters). Translated by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. London, Penguin Books, 1970.

Eastern Religion and Western Thought. By S. Radakrishnan. London, Oxford Paperback 1970 (first pubd. 1939).

Dimensions of Islam. By Frithjof Schuon, translated by P. N. Townsend. London, Allen and Unwin, 1970. Pp. 167. Index. £1.75.

Buddhism, a Non‐Theistic Religion. By Helmuth von Glasenapp, translated by Irmgard Schloegl. London, Allen &; Unwin, 1970. Pp. 208. Glossary. Index. £2.

Christian and Hindu Ethics. By Shivesh Chandra Thakur. London, Allen &; Unwin, 1969. Pp. 216. Bibliog. Index. £2.40.

The Indian Theogony. By Sukumari Bhattacharji. London, Cambridge University Press, 1970. Pp. 397. Bibliog. Index. £7.

The Buddhist Revival in China. By Holmes Welch; photographs by Henri Cartier‐Bresson. London, OUP for Harvard University Press. 1970. Pp. 385. Maps. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £5.75.

Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi. By Henry Corbin, translated by Robert Manheim. London, Routledge, 1970. Pp. 406. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £4.75.

The Field of Zen. By Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, edited by Christmas Humphreys. London, The Buddhist Society, 1969. Pp. xvii+105. Illus. Index. £1.05.

South Asian Politics and Religion. Edited by Donald Eugene Smith. London, OUP for Princeton University Press, 1970 (first issued 1966). Pp. 563. Index. £1.75.

The Politics of Untouchability: Social Mobility and Social Change in a City of India. By Owen M. Lynch. New York and London, Columbia University Press, 1970. Pp. 251. Maps. Illus. Glossary. Bibliog. Index.

Religion, Law, and the State in India. By J. Duncan M. Derrett. London, Faber and Faber, 1968. Pp. 615. Bibliog. Indexes. £4.50.

Middle East

The Middle East in Revolution. By Humphrey Trevelyan. London, Macmillan, 1970. Pp. 266. Index. £3.25.

The Game of Nations. The Amorality of Power Politics. By Miles Copeland. London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1969. Pp. 272. Bibliog. Index. £2.50.

Army Officers in Arab Politics and Society. By Eliezer Be'eri. London, Praeger, Pall Mall Press. 1970. Pp. 514. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £4.

The Chatham House Version and other Middle Eastern Studies. By Elie Kedourie. London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1970. Pp. 488. Bibliog. Index. £3.75.

The Struggle for the Middle East, 1958–68. By Walter Laqueur. London, Routledge &; Kegan Paul, 1969. Pp. 351. Index. £2.50.

East and West of Suez: the Suez Canal in History 1854–1956. By D. A. Farnie. Oxford, Clarendon Press 1969. Pp. 860. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £8.40.

An Arab Common Market. A Study in Inter‐Arab Trade Relations, 1920–67. By Alfred G. Musrey. New York, Frederick A. Praeger; London, Pall Mall Press, 1969. Pp. 274. Bibliog. £6.25.

The Life and Works of Jahiz. Edited by Charles Pellat; translated from French by D. M. Hawke. London, Routledge, 1969. Pp. xiv+286. Glossary. £3.15.

A Time in Arabia. By Doreen Ingrams. London, John Murray, 1970. Pp. 160. Map. Index. £2.25.

Middle Eastern Cities: a symposium on Ancient, Islamic, and Contemporary Urbanism. Edited by Ira M. Lapidus. Los Angeles &; London, University of California Press, 1969. Pp. 206. Index. £2.85.

The Islamic City: a colloquium. Edited by A. H. Hourani and S. M. Stern. London, Faber for Bruno Cassirer and University of Pennsylvania Press, 1970. Pp. 222. Maps. Illus. £2.10.

Palmyra: text by Kazimierz Michalowski, photographs by Andrzej Dziewanowski. London, Pall Mall Press, 1970. Pp. 129. Illus. £2.40.

Current British Research in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. Compiled by Dr. Peter Beaumont. University of Durham, Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, 1969. Pp. 89. Indices. £0.40 or $1.

A History of Persia. By Sir Percy Sykes. London, Routledge &; Kegan Paul, 1969 (3rd edn.) 2 vols: Pp. xxxix+563; xvii+616. Maps. Illus. Index. £7.50.

Persia. Introduction by James Morris. Photographs by Roger Wood. Notes on the Plates by Denis Wright. London, Thames &; Hudson, 1969. Pp. 216. Illus. Map. Index. £3.15.

Indian Sub Continent

Curzon in India. Volume Two: Frustration. By David Dilks. London, Rupert Hart‐Davis, 1970. Pp. 307. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £3.

Sardar Patel. By D. V. Tahmankar. Foreword by Lord Mountbatten. London, Allen &; Unwin, 1970. Pp. 299. Index. £3.

A View from New Delhi. By Chester Bowles. New Haven &; London, Yale University Press, 1970. Pp. 268. £1.40 (paper 90 np.)

The Partition of India ‐ Policies and Perspectives, 1935–1947. Edited by C. H. Philips and Mary Doreen Wainwright. London, Allen &; Unwin, 1970. Pp. 607. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £5.50.

National Communication and Language Policy in India. By Baldev Raj Nayer. NY, Praeger; London, Pall Mall, 1969. Pp. 310. Index. Bibliog. £5.25.

Opposition in a Dominant Party System. A study of the JanaSangh, Praja Socialist, and Socialist Parties in Uttar Pradesh, India. By Angela S. Burger. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1969. Pp. 325. £4.05.

Jana Sangh. A Biography of an Indian Political Party. By Craig Baxter. London, OUP for University of Pennsylvania Press, 1970. Pp. 352. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £6.

Land Control and Social Structure in Indian History. Edited by Robert E. Frykenberg. Madison, Wis., University of Wisconsin Press, 1969. Pp. x+256. Index. $10; £4.75.

Trade and Empire in Western India 1784–1806. By Pamela Nightingale. London, CUP, 1970. Pp. 264. Bibliog. Index. Maps. £3.5.

The Nagas in the Nineteenth Century. By Verrier Elwin. London, Oxford University Press (printed in India), 1969. Pp. xii+650. Illus. Map. £4.80.

The Nadars of Tamilnad: The Political Culture of a Community in Change. By Robert L. Hardgrave Jr. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1969. Pp. xiv+314. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £4.20.

A Garland for E. M. Forster. Edited by H. H. Anniah Gowda. Mysore, The Literary Half‐Yearly, 1969. Pp. 132 + viii.

Southeast Asia

Sukarno and the Struggle for Indonesian Independence. By Bernard Dahm. Translated from the German by Mary F. Somers Heidhues. Ithaca &; London, Cornell University Press, 1969. Pp. 374. Glossary. Bibliog. Index. £7.15.

The Broken Triangle: Peking, Djakarta and the PKI. By Sheldon W. Simon. Baltimore, The John Hopkins Press, 1969. Pp. 210. Glossary. Index. £3.30.

The United States and Malaysia. By James W. Gould. London, OUP for Harvard University Press, 1969. Pp. xi+267. Index. £3.30.

The French Presence in Cochin‐China and Cambodia ‐ Rule and Response (1895–1905). By Milton E. Osborne. Ithaca and London. Cornell University Press, 1969. Pp. 379. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £4.55.

Vietnam and China 1938–1954. By King C. Chen. London, OUP for Princeton University Press, 1969. Pp. 436. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £6.

Burma. By F. S. V. Donnison. Pp. 263. Illus. Bibliog. London, Ernest Benn, 1970. £2.50.

China

The Transformation of the Chinese Earth: Perspectives on Modern China. By Keith Buchanan. London, G. Bell &; Sons, 1970. Pp. xviii+321. Tables. Plates. Maps. Cartograms. Bibliog. Index. £3.25.

A Study of Chinese Communes 1965. By Shahid Javed Burki. Harvard East Asian Monographs no. 29. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1969. Pp. xvi+97. Tables. Index. $3.50.

Communist China's Agriculture. Its Development and Future Potential. By Owen L. Dawson. New York, Praeger; London, Pall Mall Press, 1970. Pp. xvii+317. £6.25.

Domestic Animals of China. By H. Epstein. Farnham Royal, Bucks., Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, 1969. Pp. 164. Bibliog. Plates. Index. £4.

Family and Kinship in Chinese Society. Edited by Maurice Freedman. London, OUP for Stanford University Press, 1970. Pp. 269. Index. £3.75.

Records of the Historian: Chapters from the Shih Chi of Ssu‐Ma Ch'ien, translated by Burton Watson. New York &; London, Columbia University Press, 1970. Pp. 356. £2.

Chinese Communist Politics in Action: edited by A. Doak Barnett. Seattle and London, University of Washington Press, 1969. Pp. 620. Illus. Index. £5.95 (cloth), £1.80 (paper).

Studies in the Social History of China and Southeast Asia. Essays in memory of Victor Purcell. Edited by Jerome Ch'en and Nicholas Tarling. Memoir by Sybille Van der Sprenkel. Cambridge University Press, 1970. Pp. 424. £4.50.

Sun Yat Sen and the Origins of the Chinese Revolution. By Harold Z. Schiffrin. Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1968. Pp. 412. Maps. Glossary. Bibliog. Index. £4.55.

The Cave Temples of Maichishan. By Michael Sullivan and Dominique Dubois. With an account of the 1958 expedition to Maichishan by Anil de Silva. London, Faber &; Faber, 1969. Pp. 77 + 104 of plates. £8.50.

Muscovite and Mandarin: Russia's Trade with China and its Setting, 1727–1805. By Clifford M. Foust. London, OUP for North Carolina Press, 1970. Pp. 424. Maps. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £4.75.

Far East

The Foreign Policy of North Korea. By Byung Chul Koh. NY, Praeger; London, Pall Mall Press 1969. Pp. xxi + 237. Charts. Bibliog. £5.20.

Book Pirating in Taiwan. By David Kasser. London. OUP for University of Philadelphia Press, 1969. Pp. 149. Index. £3.15.

Footprints in the Snow. By Kenjiro Tokutomi, translated and with biographical introduction by Kenneth Strong. London, Allen &; Unwin, 1970. Pp. xlvi+326. £3.25.

How the Conservatives Rule Japan. By Nathaniel B. Thayer. London, OUP for Princeton University Press, 1969. Pp. 349. Glossary. Bibliog. Index. £4.75.

The Izumi Shikibu Diary. Translated by Edwin A. Cranston. London, OUP for Harvard University Press 1970. Pp. 332. Bibliog. Indexes. £6.     

Brain distribution of selected antipsychotics in schizophrenia

The brain distribution of phenothiazine antipsychotics in 22 confirmed schizophrenic and 11 control subjects were collected at autopsy. Specimens were homogenized, extracted with n-butyl chloride, and analyzed via liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, using atmospheric pressure electrospray ionization operating in the positive mode. Drug concentrations normalized for those observed in cerebellum showed three distinct patterns of distribution corresponding to different structural features of each type of phenothiazine. Those drugs with high affinity for dopamine receptors were detected in the highest concentrations in regions with high concentrations of such receptors. However, those associated with relatively lower dopaminergic activity were found in the highest concentration in the occipital cortex, a region with a relatively low concentration of dopamine receptors. The regional brain distribution of thioridazine and its metabolites was concentration dependent. These results have implications for determining the role of these drugs in the sudden and unexpected deaths of schizophrenics.     

The redistribution of selected psychiatric drugs in post-mortem cases

The post-mortem redistribution of a number of psychiatric drugs was investigated. A portion of liver, the gastric contents and blood collected from heart and femoral sites was obtained from 13 cases and analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Drugs detected included five selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors; venlafaxine, a serotonin/noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor; and risperidone, an atypical antipsychotic. Heart blood concentrations were significantly higher (3.4-fold on average) than those measured in femoral blood when results from all drugs were included together. The range for parent drug concentrations in these two blood specimens was 0.5-6.2. There was no significant correlation of the post-mortem interval, the liver concentration and content of drugs in the gastric contents to the heart:femoral blood concentration ratio. These data serve to demonstrate that variable increases in blood concentration occur post-mortem and limit the interpretative value of such toxicological data.     

The incidence of drugs in drivers killed in Australian road traffic crashes

The incidence of alcohol and drugs in fatally injured drivers were determined in three Australian states; Victoria (VIC), New South Wales (NSW) and Western Australia (WA) for the period of 1990-1999. A total of 3398 driver fatalities were investigated which included 2609 car drivers, 650 motorcyclists and 139 truck drivers. Alcohol at or over 0.05 g/100ml (%) was present in 29.1% of all drivers. The highest prevalence was in car drivers (30.3%) and the lowest in truckers (8.6%). WA had the highest rate of alcohol presence of the three states (35.8%). Almost 10% of the cases involved both alcohol and drugs. Drugs (other than alcohol) were present in 26.7% of cases and psychotropic drugs in 23.5%. These drugs comprised cannabis (13.5%), opioids (4.9%), stimulants (4.1%), benzodiazepines (4.1%) and other psychotropic drugs (2.7%). 8.5% of all drivers tested positive for Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and the balance of cannabis positive drivers were positive to only the 11-nor-Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid (carboxy-THC) metabolite. The range of THC blood concentrations in drivers was 0.1-228 ng/ml, with a median of 9 ng/ml. Opioids consisted mainly of morphine (n=84), codeine (n=89) and methadone (n=33), while stimulants consisted mainly of methamphetamine (n=51), MDMA (n=6), cocaine (n=5), and the ephedrines (n=61). The prevalence of drugs increased over the decade, particularly cannabis and opioids, while alcohol decreased. Cannabis had a larger prevalence in motorcyclists (22.2%), whereas stimulants had a much larger presence in truckers (23%).     

Homogeneity and Smallness: Dahl and Tufte Revisited

In their well-known volume on 'Size and Democracy' (1973), Robert Dahl and Edward Tufte argue that small units are likely to be more homogeneous, whereas larger units are likely to exhibit more diversity. This study of the microstates of the world and of selected control groups of states supports this view only in part. In terms of attitudinal diversity, smaller units are indeed more homogeneous. In terms of ethnic and religious diversity, however, no significant differences emerge between small states and large states. This suggests that categoric differences are transformed in larger units to a greater extent into attitudinal differences. Bearing in mind that most microstates are island states, the capacity of microstates to manage ethnic diversity may in several cases be due to the intimacy of island communities which binds members together in mutual solidarity.