Emerging Liabilities from Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products

There is growing awareness and concern regarding the presence of chemical constituents of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (“PPCPs”) in the environment. A recent USGS study indicated that PPCPs are present at low levels in surface water throughout the U.S. Concern is based in part on the fact that certain PPCPs: (1) are designed to have biological effects (particularly pharmaceuticals), (2) are persistent in or continually added to the environment, (3) have negative environmental effects (specifically on aquatic life) even at low levels, and (4) potentially have cumulative and synergistic effects when combined with other PPCPs. The primary route of PPCPs into the environment is sewage discharges, septic systems, and large stock yards and feedlots where the unmetabolized PPCPs are excreted by humans and animals and end up in surface water and ground-water. Given these circumstances, manufacturers of PPCPs may face a risk of increased regulation and possibly litigation similar to that faced by oxygenate manufacturers and petroleum refiners over the use of Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (“MTBE”). Companies can take steps now and in the future that may minimize the impact of these risks.     

Acute myoglobinuria as a fatal complication of heroin addiction

A fatal case of myoglobinuria complicating heroin addiction is described. Clinically the patient had no overt symptoms of rhabdomyolysis. Pathologists should be alerted to this rare complication in heroin addicts who die of no apparent cause. The antimyoglobin immunoperoxidase technique is useful in confirming the diagnosis.     

Correlates of Mortality in a U.S. Cohort of Youth, 1980–98: Implications for Social Justice

This paper reports results of a study based on a nationally representative sample of U.S. youth (N = 11,549) that asked two questions: (1) How does family structure affect the likelihood of adolescent death beyond that of race/ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, personal behavior, and other structural factors and (2) under what conditions might appeals for social justice be warranted for relative mortality statuses and for absolute gains in mortality? The study found that marital instability increases the likelihood of dying when controlling for a variety of other factors including class, race/ethnicity, sex, and unemployment rate in area of residence. The author argues that this finding lends support to social justice arguments to redistribute resources in such a way as to ensure the likelihood of absolute gains in mortality. The study also found, however, that race/ethnicity/sex also accounted for the likelihood of dying independently of family structure when controlling for socioeconomic and other factors. The author argues that this finding lends support to social justice arguments to redistribute resources on the basis of relative mortality statuses.     

The individuality of fibres used to provide forensic evidence--not all blue polyesters are the same.

Fibres used in forensic casework suffer from a disadvantage common to other forms of trace evidence--it is not possible to state with absolute certainty that they originate from a specific source. Target fibre studies, population studies and research on 'blocks of colour' have effectively demonstrated the polymorphism of textile fibres (particularly man-made ones) and have shown that when a fibre is believed to have a specific putative source, the chance that it has originated from a different source purely by coincidence is extremely remote. A study by Houck MM (Houck MM, Inter-comparison of unrelated fibre evidence. Forensic Science International 2003; 135: 146-149) has shown that no coincidental matching fibres were recovered from items of clothing examined in 20 unrelated crimes. The study involved over two million comparisons. This work goes a step further, and using the example of blue polyester fibres shows that even within a very narrow segment of the whole general fibre population, many examples of a specific colour/type of man-made fibre taken from random sources can be compared and the chance of any two being the same is very low. These studies should help to show the specificity and value of transferred fibres in providing forensic evidence.     

High performance liquid chromatographic determination of alcohols with reference to body distribution of methanol

A method has been developed on reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography for simultaneous determination of methyl, ethyl and isopropyl alcohols under refractive index detection using pure water as the mobile phase. A good separation has been achieved between these alcohols. Detector response was linear with a detection limit of 5 mg/100 ml. Recovery studies were performed by adding known amounts of methyl and ethyl alcohols to blood, lung and liver within the range 80–90%. The reproducibility of the results was always >90%. The quantitative distribution of methyl alcohol in postmortem body tissues and fluids has been reported in three cases of poisoning.     

Bolt from the Blue or Avoidable Failure? Revisiting September 11 and the Origins of Strategic Surprise

Drawing on the strategic surprise, warning-response, and foreign policy literature, this article argues that the September 11 terror attacks should be regarded as a strategic surprise and examines a number of key factors that contributed to vulnerability and inhibited vigilance. Three broad explanatory "cuts" derived from the literature—psychological, bureau-organizational, and agenda-political—are deployed to sift through the rapidly expanding empirical record in an effort to shed light on the processes and contextual factors that left the United States vulnerable to the attacks. The article aims to improve our understanding of generic processes and practices that enhance or detract from vulnerability and vigilance.     

Effect of carcass size on rate of decomposition and arthropod succession patterns.

Decomposition studies were conducted using two carcasses of domestic pigs, Sus scrofa L., 8.4 kg and 15.1 kg in weight, to determine the effects of carcass size on the rate of decomposition, composition of the arthropod fauna, and succession patterns. A total of 46 arthropod taxa were recovered during this study. No size-related differences were observed between carcasses with respect to composition of the arthropod fauna or patterns of succession. A greater number of arthropods were observed attracted to the 15.1-kg carcass, and the rate of decomposition observed was more rapid for the 15.1-kg carcass than for the 8.4-kg carcass. Internal temperatures of the 8.4-kg carcass were more directly related to external ambient temperatures during the fresh and bloated stages of decomposition. During the decay stage, both carcasses generated internal temperatures significantly above ambient temperatures. Following this stage, internal temperatures fell to approximate ambient temperatures during the postdecay and remains stages.