New autopsy signs in violent death

In forensic medicine subtle observation has often resulted in the detection of single findings which are of great significance regarding the mechanisms of development of the incidence or its vitality. Thus, empiricism is an accepted method to gain new insights. Nevertheless the value and the significance of empirically gained insights have to be proven either by retrospective or prospective analysis of important case series or by experiments. It is often a long and difficult way from observation to proof. But without a detailed and evidence-based scientific argumentation the level of empirical methods could not be exceeded.     

Two Liberal Fallacies in the Hate Crimes Debate

Law and Philosophy -     

Variants of the signs of death from acute alcohol poisoning stipulated by different features of thanatogenesis

Two variants of thanatogenesis were formulated in cases of death of acute alcohol intoxication; according to the above variants, different combinations of macro- and micro signs as well as of biochemical indices of carbohydrates content in the hepatic tissues and blood are revealed during cadaver examinations. The diagnostic value of the mentioned signs demands that the thanatogenesis specific features must be taken into account in each separate case.     

“知识创作物未保护领域”之思维模式的陷阱

自现代知识产权法诞生以来,基于强化和拓展知识产权保护以涵盖各种未保护的知识创作物的理论观念,知识创作物未保护领域的界线就不断遭到突破。但这种理论观念的主要问题在于它们脱离了人类行为的实际模式。任何合理的知识产权法和政策必须注重人类行为的具体模式——即调整人类活动的连接点,因而法律和政策没有必要调整所有知识创作物的利用行为,知识产权只能限制某些人类行为。为了避免可能的缺陷,知识产权法的制定者既应当考虑影响知识产权法制定的实际因素,比如制定过程中经常出现的利益不均衡现象,也应当考虑其应用和实际的效果。     

论集体建设用地流转解禁之谬误

当前关于集体建设用地问题的研究中,主流的观点认为允许集体建设用地自由流转,建设城乡统一的土地市场将成为解决当前土地问题的有效路径。这些研究往往赋予自己保护农民土地财产权利、给予农民"国民待遇"等道德话语,但是由于其分析的片面性与缺乏逻辑性使得诸多研究主张与其所期待的改革目的完全相悖。在梳理关于集体建设用地流转问题的已有研究的基础上,笔者认为对此问题的探讨应当理清并具体分析一些基本问题,明确允许集体建设用地自由流转并不是解决当前土地问题的有效途径,当前与建设用地相关的土地问题应当置于中国城市化的进程和调节收入分配机制的框架之下进行思考与建构。     

Philosophical Anarchism and Its Fallacies: A Review Essay

Law and Philosophy -     

Morphological signs of impaired excitation conduction in the myocardium

The article describes morphological changes in cardiac muscular fibers and cardiomyocytes secondary to disorders in conduction of excitation in the myocardium. These changes may indicate cardiac arrest as a result of reflex impacts including cases of damage which is not lethal.     

Sudden death in the alcoholic

A study of victims of alcohol abuse was performed on the case files of the Office of the Medical Examiner of Metropolitan Dade County in Miami, Florida. During the year 1983, all cases in which alcoholism, either acute or chronic, was the cause of death primarily or contributory in a natural or accidental manner of death were collected. These 118 cases were then analyzed as to the age, race, sex, and cause of death of the victim along with the blood alcohol content, the drugs detected at autopsy, the scene circumstances, the geographic location of the terminal incident, noting whether or not there was a history of drinking prior to the terminal incident, the average weights of key target organs, and the histopathology of the liver. The most common victim is an older (greater than 50 years) white male who dies from "chronic alcoholism" with a terminal negative blood alcohol. This victim is usually "found dead" at home with a past history of drinking, and histopathologically the liver depicts fatty metamorphosis rather than cirrhosis.     

An Exploration of Conceptual and Temporal Fallacies in International Health Law and Promotion of Global Public Health Preparedness

In February 2007, Indonesia withheld sharing H5N1 viral samples in order to compel the World Health Organization and Member States to guarantee future access to vaccines for States disproportionately burdened by infectious diseases. This article explores conceptual and temporal fallacies in the International Health Regulations (2005) and the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, as relates to global public health preparedness. Recommendations include adopting laws to facilitate non-pharmaceutical interventions; securing the rights of affected populations; and fostering inter-State collaborations to promote intra-State public health capacity building.     

Establishing the cause of death in pneumopathies

The article deals with determination and differential diagnosis of the cause of death in different forms of pneumopathy and mechanical asphyxia on the basis of developed morphometric method for separate evaluation of the volume of lung tissue per se, the air and pathologic contents of airways.     

Dilemmas in administering the death penalty

This article critiques ethical arguments against conducting forensic evaluations of capital defendants or condemned prisoners and against treating prisoners found incompetent for execution, and considers the impact of widespread professional abstention on the legal system. It concludes that arguments for abstention by forensic evaluators are grounded mainly in personal moral scruples against capital punishment, rather than in tenets of professional ethics, but that abstention would be ethically required if the evaluator's scruples preclude objectivity. It also concludes that treatment of incompetent prisoners known to want treatment is ethically permissible but that treatment for the sole purpose of readying the prisoner for execution is not.Editor's note: Adversary Forum is edited by Gary B. Melton. Stan Brodsky was asked to respond to Professor Bonnie's article, and Professor Bonnie was given an opportunity to reply.This article is based on a paper presented as the Keynote Address to the Annual Meeting of the     

Sudden death in the chronic alcoholic

A review of the causes of sudden death in 500 chronic alcoholics is presented. The deaths were fairly equally distributed between trauma, natural causes, acute intoxication and alcohol related disease. In a small but significant number, the cause is not initially clear although distinct patterns of death were evident.