Sudden death as a complication of bacterial endocarditis

Three cases are reported to demonstrate the range of possible lesions and wide variation in lethal mechanisms that may be found in cases of unexpected death subsequently shown to be due to bacterial endocarditis. Case 1: A 36-year-old man was found dead on his bedroom floor surrounded by drug paraphernalia. At autopsy, acute myocardial ischemia was present caused by coronary artery ostial occlusion complicating acute bacterial endocarditis of the aortic valve. Case 2: A 54-year-old man with chronic renal failure was found dead in bed at home. At autopsy, a left middle cerebral artery territory cerebral infarct was present due to septic embolization from bacterial endocarditis involving the aortic valve. Case 3: A 23-year-old man was found collapsed in a pool of blood. At autopsy, upper airway hemorrhage from an arteriobronchial fistula was present caused by septic pulmonary infarction from previous endocarditis of a congenital ventricular septal defect. This report demonstrates that bacterial endocarditis may still be a cause of sudden and unexpected death presenting to forensic mortuaries and that the underlying mechanisms may involve complex sequences of pathological changes that compromise vascular function.     

Recent trends in suicides utilizing helium

Retrospective review of cases of suicide involving helium inhalation was undertaken at Forensic Science South Australia over a 25-year period from 1985 to 2009. No cases of helium-related suicides were identified in the first 15 years of the study, with one case between 2000 and 2004 and eight cases between 2005 and 2009. Australian data were also reviewed from 2001 to 2009 that showed 30 cases between January 2001 and June 2005, compared to 79 cases between July 2005 and December 2009, an increase of 163%. A review of Swedish data between 2001 and 2009 showed no cases between January 2001 and June 2005, compared to seven cases between July 2005 and December 2009. Thus, all three areas showed recent and striking increases in cases of suicide involving helium inhalation. Given the availability of helium and the recent promotion of this method of suicide, it is quite possible that this may represent a newly emerging trend in suicide deaths.     

Who graduates from drug courts? Correlates of client success

Drug courts combine punishment and treatment to provide an intermediate sanction for offenders. This paper contains an analysis of drug court case files for 196 participants in one mid-Atlantic jurisdiction. Logistic regression reveals that employment status before and during the program, race, education, and referral time are significant predictors of successful completion. Policy implications and suggestions about participant screening and program administration are offered. The authors would like to thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments and suggestions.     

Eu Programme Management 1977‐96: A Performance Indicators Analysis

Measuring the performance of public services and programmes is now a generally accepted part of the scenery of public management. In practice, it is often honoured more in the breach than the observance owing to well‐known technical and epistemological problems. In the absence of reliable performance data, normative assumptions may prevail on policy makers and managers alike which are at variance with objective reality. The critique and attempted reform of EU programme management is often based on such assumptions. This paper attempts to provide an empirical and epistemological basis to the judgment of EU programme management by identifying appropriate performance indicators, collecting data on them from audit reports over a 20‐year period and constructing a methodology for analysis. Criteria for reliable sources and the effect of intervening variables on the results are discussed. The paper reviews the evidence of the aggregate data collected for the five major EU spending areas, and suggests some conclusions questioning both commonly held assumptions about, and models for, the reform of EU programme management.     

Economic analysis of the removal of illegal gains

The purpose of the present paper is to explore both the motivation for confiscating illegal gain and also to look at some of its legal aspects and economic effects. It is argued that the removal of illegal gain may be able to play a significant complementary role, if only by closing the gap between the maximum punishment the law will allow and fines sufficient to represent a credible deterrent. The paper develops a deterrence model and applies it to confiscation powers introduced to help combat drug trafficking.     

Autonomy and Control in Australian Agencies: Data and Preliminary Findings from a Cross‐National Empirical Study

This article is developed from data gathered through the analysis of a survey of ‘agencies’ at Commonwealth and Australian Capital Territory (ACT) levels of government, undertaken as the Australian component of a cross‐national empirical study of autonomy and control in non‐departmental public sector organisations. It presents preliminary findings from one part of what is potentially a very important enterprise in comparative research, along with discussion of methodological issues which need to be confronted in many such comparative exercises. The data reveal that Australia agencies have been granted more autonomy than agencies in other countries contributing to this survey, though that autonomy varies markedly across functions such as personnel management and financial management. While the article represents just a snapshot in time in agency autonomy, we believe it provides a robust baseline for future changes in the way agencies are managed in the Australian public sector.     

Raising local authority district revenues through direct taxation in a low-income developing country: evaluating Uganda's GPT

Uganda's graduated personal tax represents a rather unusual attempt at applying a local income tax as a means of financing local authority operations in a predominantly informal, rural economy. Statistical and other analysis and comment reveal it to have serious deficiencies in terms of standard tax criteria and as a result of associated social costs, despite which local authorities have been led to increase rather than to decrease their reliance on it. Some alternative revenue-raising instruments which could serve to reduce this reliance are indicated. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

President Museveni and the politics of presidential tenure in Uganda

There are various reasons why President Museveni is so determined to hold on to power in Uganda. These are similar to the ones motivating other African presidents seeking to entrench themselves in office. Museveni believes he is indispensable for Uganda's stability and prosperity, especially in a country devastated by bad leadership in earlier post-independence decades. Moreover, Museveni and his close allies are fearful of being prosecuted under a new president for alleged wrongdoings.

Opposition to Museveni's continued stay in power has come from within the ruling party, as well as other parties and the Buganda kingdom. But, as elsewhere in Africa, the opposition is too weakly developed to challenge Museveni effectively. Also, presidential manipulations, election rigging, and coercive measures have helped to secure Museveni's grip on power. In particular, Museveni has used the military to entrench himself in office.

Moreover, as in some African countries, international pressures to force Museveni to relinquish power are limited. In fact, donors have propped up a quasi-authoritarian regime with large amounts of resources. Museveni has overseen a prolonged period of economic and political stability and donors argue he deserves their support, even when his record on democracy and good governance is tainted.

In Africa, presidential incumbents who have stepped down have done so because of the strength of domestic and international pressures. Where political opposition is organised and united or where international donors use their aid to promote greater democratisation, then leaders are more likely to abandon plans to stay in power. It is the absence of such conditions and pressures that are leading to the creation of a life presidency in Uganda.