Pericardial Cyst: Cause of Sudden Cardiac Death?

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of sudden death in the world. The etiology of sudden cardiac death involves a wide range of diseases, but seldom pericardial cysts. A pericardial cyst is an uncommon cyst usually located in the middle mediastinum and rarely in the posterior part. They are usually harmless and asymptomatic. Here, we present a case of a 63‐year‐old woman who presented with dyspnea and hoarseness, but died suddenly after a CT scan was attempted. The detailed forensic pathologic and histologic examination revealed a pericardial cyst located in the posterior mediastinum. Toxicology and biochemistry tests, including tryptase, found no competing cause of death.     

Money launderers and tax havens: Two sides of the same coin?

This paper investigates whether tax havens have an incentive to maintain low regulatory standards in order to attract black money activities. Using a new dataset on money laundering regulation, the results of this study show that tax haven and money laundering services coincide within the same country. This effect is especially observable for regulative instruments which increase the probability of detecting money laundering; whereas in the case of punitive regulation for money laundering the complementary relationship is weaker, perhaps due to a “false friends” effect. If we classify tax havens according to their per capita GDP, poorer tax havens in particular tend to supply both services, because the gains from their tax haven status are low compared to those of wealthier and well-established tax havens. From a policy perspective the results add new insights to the debate on the welfare effects of tax havens since the results suggest that poorer tax havens might be reluctant to provide the necessary regulatory environment in order to constrain money laundering. This externality is beyond the familiar tax revenue effects caused by tax havens.     

Lessons from Philosophy? Interdisciplinary Justice Research and Two Classes of Justice Judgments

More and more scholars of social justice have been calling for a closer collaboration between empirical and normative disciplines. Psychological and sociological research, as well as philosophical theories can, so they claim, learn from one another and work should be based on results obtained in the other fields of research. Some political philosophers do not share this view. They argue that, since most empirical research does not capture people's moral views on justice, its results cannot be of any value to their theories. Based on this critique I suggest in the first part of this paper that empirical research should distinguish between two classes of justice judgments: First, justice judgments in a narrow sense, which are made under conditions of impartiality and grounded in moral principles, and second, justice attitudes, which differ from other types of social attitudes only in their attitude objects. In the second part I present a quasi-experimental study that aimed at testing the two different classes of justice judgments empirically. The results show that justice judgments in the narrow sense can be obtained even under conditions in which complex experimental manipulations cannot be employed. In the third part of this paper I hypothesize that justice judgments which are based on the two formal criteria provided by political philosophy (impartiality and reference to moral principles) may serve as important intervening variables when trying to explain the impact of justice beliefs on different patterns of human behavior.     

The Two Pratyabhij?ā Theories of Error

In this essay, it is argued that Abhinavagupta’s theory of error, the apūrṇakhyāti theory, synthesizes two distinguishable Pratyabhij?ā treatments of error that were developed in three phases prior to him. The first theory was developed in two stages, initially by Somānanda in the Śivadṛṣṭi (ŚD) and subsequently by Utpaladeva in his Īśvarapratyabhij?ākārikās (ĪPK) and his short autocommentary thereon, the Īśvarapratyabhij?āvṛtti (ĪPVṛ). This theory served to explain individual acts of misperception, and it was developed with the philosophy of the Buddhist epistemologists in mind. In a third phase, Utpaladeva developed in his Śivadṛṣṭivṛtti (ŚDVṛ) a second theory of error, one that involved the noncognition of non-duality (abhedākhyāti) and served to explain both the appearance and perception of multiplicity, despite the strict monism to which all Pratyabhij?ā authors subscribe. Abhinavagupta’s treatment of error, then, is significant not only because it was meant to explain all the various theories of error offered by opposing philosophical schools, as Rastogi has shown, but more importantly because it synthesized the thinking of his predecessors on the matter in a single, elegant account of error.     

Repeating the errors of our parents? Parental violence in men's family of origin and conflict management in dating couples

Within a social learning model, family-of-origin violence places men at risk for developing negative communication in their adult relationships. Thirty young men exposed to family-of-origin violence (exposed group) and 30 unexposed young men were videotaped discussing a conflict topic with their female dating partners. Relative to the unexposed group, the exposed men and women reported higher relationship aggression and during discussion showed more negative communication, were more domineering, and the men reported more negative affect. There were no differences between the groups on cognition or heart rate. The conflict management deficits and aggression evident in the exposed group suggest that these partners are at high risk for future relationship aggression and distress.     

Post-mortem examination prior to cremation--an instrument to verify the quality of medical post-mortems and uncover non-natural deaths?

The external post-mortem examination, its deficient quality and possible causes have been the subject of numerous political and professional discussions. The external post-mortem examination is the basis for the decision whether further criminal investigations are required to clarify the cause of death. It is thus an essential instrument to ensure legal certainty. Before cremation, a second external post-mortem examination is performed by a public medical officer to make sure that errors of the first post-mortem are corrected. In the present study, cases were retrospectively analyzed in which a forensic autopsy had been ordered on the basis of the results of the post-mortem examination performed before cremation. The entries on the death certificate regarding the manner and cause of death were compared with the autopsy results. Between 1998 and 2007, 387 autopsies were ordered after external examination before cremation. In 55 cases (14.2%), the autopsy revealed a non-natural death, although a natural death had been attested on the death certificate. In descending order, a wrong manner of death was attested by clinicians, general practitioners and emergency physicians. With regard to the place where the first external post-mortem had been performed the lowest error rate was seen in nursing homes. Concerning the cause of death, discrepancies between the first post-mortem and autopsy were found in 59.4% of the cases. In this respect, general practitioners and clinicians were ranking first, whereas in nursing homes the cause of death was wrongly assessed in over 70% of cases. At present, the medical post-mortem does not meet the required quality standards, especially with regard to legal certainty. Determination of the cause of death on the basis of the external post-mortem examination is a challenging task even for the experienced medical examiner. As to the categorization of the manner of death it has to be stated that non-natural deaths are often not recognized or that the possibility to certify a death as unclear is not sufficiently used. As a result, it seems important to demand intensive, qualified, additional training in external post-mortem examinations for physicians.     

Does Hyperthyroidism Increase Risk of Death Due to the Ingestion of Ecstasy?

Ecstasy (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, MDMA) is a psychoactive amphetamine derivative widely used for recreational purposes. Deaths caused by acute drug intoxication with MDMA are rare but can often involve a severe hyperthermic episode. The factors underlying the increased risk of some ecstasy users to a fatal drug reaction are not known. We present a case report of a 24-year-old woman who developed fatal hyperthermia with multi-organ complications following MDMA use and was found at autopsy to have diffuse thyroid hyperplasia (Graves' disease). An antemortem blood MDMA concentration of 0.68 mg/L was measured in a sample obtained on admission to hospital. Although a cause and effect cannot be established, as the thyroid hormone is a major regulator of thermogenesis, we suggest that hyperthyroidism predisposed the subject to ecstasy-induced hyperthermia and that a pre-existing defect affecting temperature status could be one factor in explaining some ecstasy intoxication deaths.     

The Biological Effects of Kambo: Is There a Relationship Between its Administration and Sudden Death?

Kambo is a substance obtained from the skin secretions of a frog, Phyllomedusa bicolor, popular in the Amazon region, which is administered via the transdermal route. We report a case of 42‐year‐old man found dead in his house. Near the corpse, a plastic box labeled as “Kambo sticks” was found. The man was a chronic consumer of Kambo and no previous pathology or genetic disease emerged in clinical history from the declaration of his general practitioner. Autopsy investigations and toxicological analysis were performed. The histopathological examination showed left ventricular hypertrophy. Toxicological screening was negative for ethanol and other drugs. Phyllocaerulein, phyllokinin, and deltorphin A were isolated from the Kambo sticks but, only deltorphin A was detected in blood sample. We describe the first forensic case of death associated with Kambo administration. We attempt to explain how its use could be related to the cause of sudden death in this case.     

Dr. Death? Professionalism,Virtue, and U.S. Physician Participation in the Death Penalty

In the United States at present, the death penalty is a possible sentence in 31 out of 50 states, as well as within the military and for federal cases. In the U.S., numbers of executions are declining, in part due to moratoriums in place and challenges to execution by lethal injection. Participation by physicians in lethal injection executions has been steadfastly viewed by professional medical organizations as contrary to their ethical standards. However, physicians have participated in lethal injection executions, and the morality of the death penalty itself is a matter of intense social and political debate. Medical ethics commentators and professional organizations have typically held that the prohibition on physician participation in the death penalty is independent of the ethical status of the death penalty itself. This article argues that this view is untenable, and that it is tied to a view of professional role virtue that is similarly untenable. At the same time, it argues that, given the morally uncertain status of the death penalty, it is plausible that virtuous physicians may either refuse or choose to participate in some aspects of the death penalty.     

Settlements in corporate bribery cases: an illusion of choice?

European Journal of Law and Economics - Despite prosecutors’ difficulties in proving corporate bribery, nearly all enforcement actions end with a settlement at the pretrial stage. Compared to...     

Whose deaths matter? Mortality, advocacy, and attention to disease in the mass media

Diseases capture public attention in varied ways and to varying degrees. In this essay, we use a unique data set that we have collected about print and broadcast media attention to seven diseases across nineteen years in order to address two questions. First, how (if at all) is mortality related to attention? Second, how (if at all) is advocacy, in the form of organized interest group activity, related to media attention? Our analysis of the cross-disease and cross-temporal variation in media attention suggests that who suffers from a disease as well as how many suffer are critical factors in explaining why some diseases get more attention than others. In particular, our data reveal that both the print and the broadcast media tend to be much less attentive to diseases that disproportionately burden blacks relative to whites. We also find a positive link between the size of organizational communities that take an interest in disease and media attention, though this finding depends on the characteristics of those communities. Finally, this study also reveals the limitations of relying on single-disease case studies-and particularly HIV/AIDS-to understand how and why disease captures public attention. Many previous inferences about media attention that have been drawn from the case of AIDS are not reflective of the attention allocated to other diseases.     

Two generations of Sutherland’s white-collar war crime data and beyond

Edwin Sutherland published his famous White Collar Crime in 1949 where he excoriated leaders of American firms for their war crimes. The names of all corporations were deleted, however, from the book by the threat of legal action. The unabridged version was published in 1983 when the Sutherland files at Indiana University were unsealed. These files can now be compared with both the 1949 and 1983 book, as well as with other evidence of corporate war crimes during World War II.     

A God of Vengeance and of Reward? Voters and Accountability

Theories of democratic politics prize congruence between citizens’ preferences and their elected representatives’ actions in office. Elections are a critical means for achieving such policy congruence, providing voters the opportunity to chasten representatives who are out of step with constituent preferences and to reward the faithful. Do voters act this way? Recent studies based on observational data find they do, but these data are somewhat limited. We employ a survey experiment to estimate the extent to which information about policy congruence affects voters’ evaluations of representatives. We informed some subjects how often their member of Congress’s voting decisions match their own stated preferences on the same policies. We find that information about congruence enhances accountability by affecting constituent evaluations of representatives and may also affect citizens’ propensity to participate in upcoming elections.     

Two or three contributors of DNA mixtures? – Some practical considerations

The number of contributors is hard to determine in DNA mixture profiles. Here, we deal with the special but frequent case that either two or three contributors are possible. In fact, it might happen that two contributors can explain the number of alleles seen but that three contributors are necessary if a specific person of interest is to be included in the mixture. Then the likelihood ratio assuming two contributors will be zero while the likelihood ratio for three contributors may be large. We evaluate this situation and offer suggestions on how to arrive at an overall likelihood ratio. To exemplify our line of reasoning we use an example proposed by Biedermann, Taroni and Thompson.     

Forensic or Archaeological Issue: Is Chemical Analysis of Dental Restorations Helpful in Assessing Time Since Death and Identification of Skeletonized Human Remains?

In 2011, small mass grave with completely skeletonized remains was discovered in Belgrade suburb. An eyewitness claimed that skeletons belonged to German soldiers killed in WWII. Anthropologists were engaged to investigate whether the skeletal remains correspond to the indicated German group or represent more recent case requiring court trial. Numerous dental restorations were noticed. Owing to the fact that different dental materials were used in dental practice at certain times, the aim of this study was to explore whether analysis of dental restorations could help in identification and estimation of time since death. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry revealed that dental fillings corresponded to copper amalgam, conventional silver amalgam, silicophosphate cement, and zinc phosphate cement. Chemical results combined with anthropological and historical facts suggest that the individuals lived before the 1960s in country with well‐developed dental service at that time. Therefore, chemical analysis of dental fillings was useful to distinguish between skeletal remains that are too old to be of forensic interest and the remains relevant to legal investigations.