Undiagnosed, untreated acute promyelocytic leukemia presenting as a suspicious sudden death

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a subtype of acute myelogenous leukemia frequently associated with clotting abnormalities and severe hemorrhagic diathesis. The disease is associated with a high incidence of early fatal hemorrhage. We report the sudden death of a 40-year-old male without significant medical history in which foul play had been initially suspected. A thorough postmortem investigation performed on the decedent lead to the diagnosis of APL. Cause of death was a cerebellar hematoma. Underlying APL should be considered in the differential diagnosis when unexplained bleeding is encountered in a decedent. This case emphasizes the value of routinely collecting bone marrow during an autopsy to enable accurate testing and diagnosis.     

A pilot study of the effects of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist therapy on brain activation pattern in a man with pedophilia

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, such as leuprorelin, are recommended in the patients with pedophilia at highest risk of offending. However, the cerebral mechanisms of the effects of these testosterone-decreasing drugs are poorly known. This study aimed to identify changes caused by leuprorelin in a pedophilic patient's brain responses to pictures representing children. Clinical, endocrine, and fMRI investigations were done of a man with pedophilia before leuprorelin therapy and 5 months into leuprorelin therapy. Patient was compared with an age-matched healthy control also assessed 5 months apart. Before therapy, pictures of boys elicited activation in the left calcarine fissure, left insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and left cerebellar vermis. Five months into therapy, all the above-mentioned activations had disappeared. No such activations and, consequently, no such decreases occurred in the healthy control. The results of this pilot study suggest that leuprorelin decreased activity in regions known to mediate the perceptual, motivational, and affective responses to visual sexual stimuli.     

A Faustian bargain or just a good bargain? Chinese foreign direct investment and politics in Europe

This article explores the political challenges posed by the recent influx of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) into the European Union (EU), which has become in 2011 the top destination for Chinese investment in the world. The central political question facing European states welcoming the influx of Chinese capital is whether this is a good bargain—a positive-sum game where both investor and investee benefit—or instead a Faustian bargain—a zero-sum game in the long term where capital is accompanied by implicit conditionality affecting European norms and policies, from human rights to labor laws. The novelty of Chinese FDI has the potential to affect politics in Europe in three different venues: inside European countries, between European countries, and between Europe and third countries. This article, whose main goal is to launch a research agenda on the political implications of Chinese FDI, explores in turn its potential impact on foreign and domestic policy, institutional process within the EU, and transatlantic relations.     

Co‐Production of Public Services in Australia: The Roles of Government Organisations and Co‐Producers

This article adds to the emerging empirical literature on citizen co‐production. Based on a telephone survey of 1000 Australian adults, it replicates a five‐country European study focusing on three policy domains: neighbourhood safety, environment, and health (Loeffler et al. 2008). It shows that individually performed and closely reciprocal activities with high levels of private value are performed the most often, whereas group activities producing mainly public value are the least performed. We found no evidence of a relationship between service satisfaction and co‐production, or between information provision/inclusion/consultation and co‐production, which challenges some of the previous literature on what might motivate citizens to co‐produce. Citizen self‐efficacy has a modest relationship with co‐production levels in each of the three policy domains. These findings have implications for policymakers, and pave the way for future empirical research in this field.     

Autobiographical Memory Impairment in Female Victims of Intimate Partner Violence

Although the health consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV) have been amply described, as of yet, no study has focused on autobiographical memory (AM), despite the fact that AM dysfunction has been shown to have an impact on everyday life. We assessed AM using a cue-word task in 25 female victims of IPV and 22 control women who had never been exposed to a traumatic event. The IPV group also completed measures of psychotraumatic symptoms. AM was impaired in the IPV victims. When the effect of cue-word valence was analyzed, decreased AM specificity was observed with negative cue-words. This exploratory study demonstrates AM dysfunction among female victims of IPV for the first time. The pattern is consistent with the AM impairment observed in victims of traumatic events.     

Keep going on: A qualitative comparative analysis on the durability of solidarity initiatives during and after crisis

During the COVID-19 lockdowns in the Netherlands, numerous solidarity initiatives emerged, providing relief to those affected by lockdown measures. These initiatives have an important added value for a society under crisis as they provide instant solutions to timely, crisis-related needs, strengthen connectivity between stakeholders and divide the burdens of the crisis. The durability of these initiatives is however a concern and although the literature on durability of community-based initiatives is growing, there is a lack of understanding how initiatives can sustain under the challenging dynamics of a major crisis. Using a fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of 14 COVID-19 solidarity initiatives in Rotterdam, this article explores whether conditions for the durability of community-based initiatives in general (social capital, organizational resources, transformational leadership, and government support) also apply during a crisis, with special attention of the configurations of conditions under the challenging context of the COVID-19 pandemic.     

The Psychopathological Profile of Cannibalism: A Review of Five Cases

In today's society, human cannibalism is extremely rare and represents an unthinkable act of violence. Scientific literature on the topic is sparse due to significant methodological problems, such as collecting enough data and generating unbiased analyses. The purpose of this article is to illustrate some psychodynamic aspects of cannibalism. After a review of the literature, we will present and compare five cannibalistic patients hospitalized in the Henri Colin secure unit (Villejuif, France). The patients described fall into two subgroups, suffering either from severe schizophrenia or from a mixed personality disorder with sadistic and psychopathic features associated with paraphilia. For the schizophrenia group, cannibalism is a self‐defense reaction to a perceived threat of destruction: survival depends on the annihilation or assimilation of the other. For the mixed personality disorder group, ego and narcissism are the central issue with a desire to overcome deep‐rooted frustrations by means of an extraordinary act.