Anomalous Anterior Papillary Muscle as an Autopsy Finding in Two Cases

Anomaly in the anterior papillary muscle (APM) is known to cause left ventricle outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction, and this rare congenital condition could be a cause of sudden cardiac death. This anomaly and its hemodynamic effects is similar to valvular heart disease. In our two described cases, in which cause of death was, respectively, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and suicide by hanging, the cephalad portion of the left APM was inserted directly into the ventricular surface of the anterior mitral leaflet and chordae tendineae were absent in the area of the direct anomalous muscle insertion; the aberrant papillary muscle was very large and showed an exaggerated anterior displacement within the left ventricular cavity. The described anomaly is a cause of LVOT obstruction. This condition is considered to be rare, although incidence estimates do not exist. In the absence of other possible causes, this finding may indicate arrhythmia as being the immediate cause of death.     

EU Climate Change Litigation,the Role of the European Courts,and the Importance of Legal Culture

The purpose of this article is to show it is only in light of legal culture that climate change jurisprudence in the European Union can be explained. Examining the case law concerning the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, this article demonstrates that climate change proceedings in the European Union raise questions that stand at the heart of the EU legal order; that is, they demand that the boundaries of the EU's regulatory competences are drawn. In effect, the EU courts focus on ensuring that EU climate change laws are in accord with the rule of law or, in the context of EU law, the borders of the EU's environmental regulatory powers. As such, this article shows that attention needs to be given to the interaction between climate change laws and the constitutional role of the EU judiciary. These interactions are considered here together with the contingency of EU climate change litigation on EU legal culture.     

Viability of Human Articular Chondrocytes Harvested Postmortem: Changes with Time and Temperature of In Vitro Culture Conditions

Different studies of long‐term chondrocytes viability have shown a gradual reduction as a function of time and ambient temperature. The aim of our in vitro study was to establish chondrocyte postmortem viability curves for 4°C, 11°C, 23°C, 35°C during 63 days after the donors' death. Osteochondral cylinders were procured from the knees of 16 male donors (20–47 years), stored in preservation media that was not changed, and analyzed in 3‐day intervals using a confocal laser scanning microscope. A significant influence of time on viability was found from Day 9 (p = 0.0029) and onwards (p < 0.0001). The lowest overall chondrocyte viability was at 35°C, followed by 4°C (p < 0.0001). The conditions used in this in vitro analysis suggest that similar viabilities may occur while in situ in the decedent. Further studies of chondrocyte viability from individuals with known postmortem intervals may show premise to help evaluate time since death in the late postmortem interval.     

Laryngeal Choking on Food and Acute Ethanol Intoxication in Adults—An Autopsy Study*

Abstract: The retrospective autopsy study included 98 adults who died because of laryngeal choking on a bolus of food: 67 men and 31 women (χ² = 6.843, p < 0.01), average age 58.61 ± 15.87 years (range 26–92 years). Most of the subjects had poor dentition (χ² = 34.327, p < 0.01). Twenty individuals died in medical institutions, and 78 were nonhospitalized individuals. More than a third of the nonhospitalized individuals were under the influence of ethanol at the moment of death: average blood concentration 8.3 g/dL (SD = 11.0), ranged from 5.0 to 36.0. Nonhospitalized persons were at the moment of event more often under influence of ethanol than the subjects in control group (χ² = 38.874, p < 0.01), and at the same time significantly more intoxicated (z = −7.126, p < 0.01). Our study pointed out that poor dentition and impairment of the swallowing reflex, as a consequence of ethanol intoxication in individuals without mental disorders, were the most important risk factors for bolus death.     

Lawyers about Mixed Tribunals: Do Croatian Professional Judges, State Attorneys, and Private Attorneys Share the Same View?

In this paper, I examine opinions about mixed tribunals, a form of lay participation used widely in the criminal justice systems across Europe. The distinguishing feature of mixed tribunals is the fact that professional and lay judges decide the guilt and sentence jointly. I explore the differences of opinion among lawyers about mixed tribunals in general and about lay judges in particular. Using the theoretical underpinnings of status characteristics theory, I study the impact of the lawyers' role in the criminal justice system and the type of court/office at which they serve or practice law on their opinion about mixed tribunals. The dataset I analyze in this paper consists of questionnaires filled out by Croatian professional judges, state attorneys, and private attorneys.