Unusual suicide with a chainsaw

Described here is a case of suicide with the use of a chainsaw. A female suffering from schizophrenia committed suicide by an ingenious use of a chainsaw that resulted in the transection of her cervical spine and spinal cord. The findings of the resulting investigation are described and the mechanism of suicides with the use of a chainsaw is reviewed. A dry bone study was realized to determine the bone sections, the correlation between anatomic lesions and characteristics of chainsaw. The damage of organs and soft tissues is compared according to the kinds of chainsaw used.     

Money laundering in a two-sector model: using theory for measurement

This paper implements a methodology that exploits firms and households’ optimality conditions to measure money laundering for the Italian economy. This approach, first implemented by Ingram et al. (J Monet Econ 40:435–436, 1997) to the household production sector, and by Busato et al. (Using theory for measurement: an analysis of the behaviour of underground economy working paper, Aarhus University, 2006) for measuring the underground economy, allows to generate high frequency time-series for money laundering using a theoretical two-sector dynamic general equilibrium model calibrated over the sample 1981:01–2001:04. The analysis of the generated series suggests two main results. First, money laundering accounts for approximately 12 percent of aggregate GDP; second, money laundering is more volatile than aggregate GDP and it is negatively correlated with it.

Fatal intoxication due to tramadol alone: case report and review of the literature

Poisoning may also lead to both coma and multiple organ failure, also in youngsters without a known major medical history. As not all toxic agents are routinely screened when a poisoning is suspected, it is useful to consider less frequently encountered poisons in certain cases. We describe the occurrence of asystole and multiple organ failure which occurred in a young man after a suspected tramadol overdose. The tramadol concentration on admission in the ICU was indeed 8 microg/ml (mg/l), far above the therapeutic range. Subsequently, the patient developed severe acute liver failure, finally leading to death. Post-mortem toxicology did not reveal any other poison responsible for this unfavourable course as only very high serum and tissue tramadol and desmethyltramadol concentrations were found. Only a few fatal poisonings attributable to tramadol alone, as observed in our case, have been reported. An overview of these cases is presented.     

Issue yield,campaign communication,and electoral performance: a six-country comparative analysis

Abstract

This article develops and tests a model that explains election outcomes on the basis of party strategy. It employs a new comparative dataset linking representative mass surveys from six European countries with Twitter analysis of campaign activity. The expectation is that parties whose issue agendas exploit electoral opportunities while avoiding risks will be rewarded at the polls. These risks and opportunities are modelled using issue yield, a general framework summarising public support, electoral alignments, and party credibility. Empirically, the article traces a three-step process: (1) the configuration of electoral risks and opportunities (which is captured through public opinion surveys) guides party communication (measured with Twitter data), and to the degree that (2) parties design their campaigns strategically (identified through issue yield), this in turn (3) improves their electoral performance (measured using official statistics). The analysis explains some of the most salient election outcomes of recent years.     

Gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of buflomedil hydrochloride in biological samples after acute intoxication.

Two cases of acute intoxication of buflomedil hydrochloride are reported. The analysis of this compound was performed by an Extrelut extraction followed by a gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric determination. Analytical parameters of linearity, reproducibility and specificity were satisfactory.     

文化性的缺失—论课程的文化锁定现象

课程起源于化传承的需要，传递、复制、再生产社会化是学校课程唯一不变的使命。在课程发展中形成了特定的化锁定现象。它造成了课程应具有的自的化品性及其所必然引发的内在的、独立的价值标准与宗旨的消解。课程成了现实社会主流化的“代言人”。它具有诠释、粉饰及原样传递的职责，却无反思、批判、创新的品质。学校教育的工具品性、灌输与训练机制、教育教学理论的学术品质等，都是课程化锁定现象所造成的化性缺失的必然结果。揭示课程化性缺失的病理表征，是使课程由化的工具存在转变为化的主体存在的重要前题。     

The use of isoelectric focusing to identify rhinoceros keratins.

Keratins represent the principal structural proteins of hair. They are also found in horn, nail, claw, hoof, and feather. Hair and nail samples from human and canine sources and hair samples from mule deer, white tail deer, cat, moose, elk, antelope, caribou, raccoon, and goat were studied. Parrot and goose feathers were also analyzed. Keratins are polymorphic, and species differences are known to exist. Proteinaceous extracts of deer and antelope antlers and bovine and rhinoceros horn were prepared by solubilizing 10 mg of horn sample in 200 microL of a solution containing 12M urea, 74mM Trizma base, and 78mM dithiothreitol (DTT). Extraction took place over a 48-h period. A 25-microL aliquot of extract was removed and incubated with 5 microL of 0.1 M DTT for 10 min at 25 degrees C. Keratins were then separated by isoelectric focusing (IEF) on 5.2% polyacrylamide gels for 3 h and visualized using silver staining. At least 20 bands could be observed for each species studied. However, band patterns differed in the position of each band, in the number of bands, and in band coloration resulting from the silver staining process. Horn from two species of rhinoceros was examined. For both specimens, most bands occurred in the pH range of 4 to 5. Although similar patterns for both species were observed, they differed sufficiently to differentiate one from the other. As might be expected, the closer two species are related phylogenetically, the greater the similarity in the IEF pattern produced from their solubilized keratin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

A discriminant function analysis of deciduous teeth to determine sex

Studies of deciduous teeth have concluded that crown size differences in these teeth between males and females are not reliable sex discriminators, in contrast to such differences in permanent teeth. This study measured the mesiodistal and faciolingual crown diameters of all deciduous teeth, as well as those of the permanent first molars, of 162 children from the Burlington Orthodontic Growth Study, conducted earlier in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. All 40 deciduous tooth diameters (20 mesiolingual and 20 faciolingual) were significantly different between the sexes, as were the permanent tooth diameters. Using three to five measurements of deciduous teeth, discriminant analyses of several samplings of these children produced discriminant functions in which 76 to 90% of the holdout samples were correctly classified by sex. Combinations of deciduous and permanent measurements were used to classify 83 to 85% of the holdout samples correctly. When compared with published data on other sample populations, the Burlington group is the most dimorphic for deciduous teeth and is within the range of permanent tooth dimorphisms of other populations. The level of classification accuracy, when using discriminant analysis of the deciduous teeth, can approach the accuracy levels of analysis using the permanent teeth.