Fatal neurotoxic response to neuroleptic medications: case report and review of the literature

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is a diagnosis of exclusion difficult to make due to a lack of pathognomonic features. Diagnosing NMS by postmortem examination becomes increasingly challenging when possible underlying brain pathology is obscured. The diagnosis is based on clinical history and laboratory findings. Autopsy and histologic findings, if any, usually are reflective of hyperthermia or complications (eg, aspiration pneumonia) of NMS. The authors describe a case of a 36-year-old Hispanic woman with a presumptive diagnosis of pseudoseizures, treated with various combinations of neuroleptic medications over a 6-week period prior to her sudden, unexpected, in-hospital death. Neuroleptic malignant syndrome is likely to have contributed to this patient's death. Confounding factors and medicolegal issues of a postmortem diagnosis of NMS are discussed.     

International Cougar Management Guidelines: Processes for Collaboration and Implementation

This article briefly describes the development of international cougar management guidelines for use in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Release of the guidelines in mid-2005 is intended as the prelude to a further round of redrafting and revision, based on the experience of managers in the field, new scientific developments, and comments from various stakeholders. The guidelines are notable as the outcome of extensive scientific collaboration and careful consultation with wildlife agency administrators. The guidelines draw on the work and experience of cougar specialists in western North America through the regular meetings of the Mountain Lion Workshop.     

Food for Thought: Reflections on a Counter-hegemonic Food-related Intervention in a South African University

Currently the Academy operates primarily as a space that helps to create and cement neoliberal hegemony in the Gramscian sense. However, since hegemony is never complete, universities are a site of struggle and the opportunity exists to engage in a “war of position” within them. This must necessarily involve allowing space for counter-hegemonic discourses to emerge through critical reflection on “common sense” discourses, as well as the deliberate inclusion of counter-hegemonic thinking and theory from below. This article reflects on an attempt to do this in a South African university, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in relation to the issue of food. The Food Festival was an attempt to subvert interlocking hegemonic discourses, including that of food security, by “reading the world” (à la Freire) in order to understand the actual nature of existing food systems as inherently oppressive, and “inserting” the concept of food sovereignty as developed by the global peasants’ movement La Via Campesina. After considering the counter-hegemonic intentions of the Festival, the article reflects on its uneven success.     

Prime time hostages: A case study of coverage during captivity

Media coverage of the hijacking and diversion of to Beirut of TWA Flight 847 on 14 June 1985 by members of the Shi'ite Muslim Islamic Jihad was characterized by several unique aspects. For the first time during reporting of such an event, the hostages, their captors, and Middle Eastern political leaders were interviewed live on American television. The media were drawn directly into the negotiations to free the hostages when the hijackers and Amal mediators delivered a letter from the captives to President Reagan via the crew of reporters at Beirut Airport. The hijackers’ awareness of the importance of news coverage was indicated by their continuing use of the media to communicate their political views and demands to government officials and the public. This paper traces the efforts of the hijackers to make use of the media and details the coverage of the event by the three major U.S. networks and other major news organizations from the beginning of the crisis until the release of the hostages on 30 June.     

Ancillary studies in amniotic fluid embolism: a case report and review of the literature

The incidence of amniotic fluid embolism during pregnancy is approximately 1/50,000 and has a mortality rate in excess of 80%. The postmortem diagnosis of amniotic fluid embolism can be challenging for forensic investigators and pathologists. At autopsy, usually signs of disseminated intravascular coagulation suggest an amniotic fluid embolism. A definitive diagnosis of amniotic fluid embolism cannot be made until ancillary studies are performed on the decedent's tissues. We report a case of a 37-year-old G3P2 white female who was 36 weeks gestation when her membranes spontaneously ruptured. She suddenly became breathless, went into cardiogenic shock, and died. The autopsy revealed gross and microscopic findings of amniotic fluid embolism, which was confirmed with ancillary studies consisting of special stains, immunohistochemistry, and a serum tryptase level. The authors hope this case report, including gross and microscopic autopsy findings with procedural and ancillary studies, and review of the literature will help investigators and pathologists in the diagnosis of amniotic fluid embolism.     

Reviews

Hilary Pilkington, Migration, Displacement and Identity in Post‐Soviet Russia. London: Routledge, 1998, x + 252 pp., £16.99.

Sue Bridger & Frances Pine (eds), Surviving Post‐Socialism: Local Strategies and Regional Responses in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. London: Routledge, 1997; xvi + 224 pp., £45.00.

David Turnock, The East European Economy in Context: Communism and Transition. London: Routledge, 1997, x + 425 pp., £55.00.

Jan Winiecki (ed.), Institutional Barriers to Poland's Economic Development: The Incomplete Transition. London: Routledge, 1997, xi + 114 pp., £40.00.

Ray Taras (ed.), Postcommunist Presidents. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, ix + 250 pp., £14.95.

Mary McAuley, Russia's Politics of Uncertainty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, xix + 351 pp., £50.00 h/b, £16.95 p/b.

G. D. G. Murrell, Russia's Transition to Democracy. An Internal Political History, 1989–1996. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 1997, xii + 276 pp.

Karen Dawisha & Bruce Parrott (eds), The Consolidation of Democracy in East‐Central Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, xx + 389 pp. $24.95.

Andrew A. Michta, The Soldier‐Citizen. The Politics of the Polish Army after Communism. London: Macmillan Press, 1997, 122 pp., £40.00.

Wolfgang Stadler, Macht Sprache Gewalt: Rechtspopulistische Sprache am Beispiel V.V. Zirinovskijs vor dem Hintergrund der Wandlungen Politischer Sprache in Russland. Innsbruck: Verlag des Instituts für Sprachwissenschaft der Leopold‐Franzens‐Universität Innsbruck, 1997, 207 pp., ÖS480.

Steven L. Solnick, Stealing the State: Control and Collapse in Soviet Institutions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998, xiv + 337 pp., £33.50.

Peter H. Solomon, Jr (ed.), Reforming Justice in Russia, 1864–1996. Power, Culture, and the Limits of Legal Order. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1997, x + 406 pp., $82.95.

Jussi Simpura & Boris M. Levin (eds), Demystifying Russian Drinking; Comparative Studies From the 1990s. Helsinki: National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, 1997, 226 pp.

Kieran Williams, The Prague Spring and its Aftermath: Czechoslovak politics 1968–1970. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, xiii + 270 pp. £45.00 h/b, £15.95 p/b.

R. W. Davies, Soviet Economic Development from Lenin to Khrushchev. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, xxii + 96 pp., £19.95 h/b, £6.95 p/b.

Jane McDermid & Anna Hillyar, Women and Work in Russia 1880–1930: A Study in Continuity Through Change. London: Longman, 1998, vi + 236 pp., £40.00 h/b, £12.99 p/b.

Roger R. Reese, Stalin's Reluctant Soldiers. A Social History of the Red Army, 1925–1941. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1996, xii + 267 pp.

Thomas Lahusen, How Life Writes the Book: Real Socialism and Socialist Realism in Stalin's Russia. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1997, xii + 247 pp., £23.95.

Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj, Ukrainian Futurism, 1914–1930: A Historical and Critical Study. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997, xviii + 413 pp., $35.00 h/b, $18.00 p/b.

Marcel Cornis‐Pope, The Unfinished Battles. Romanian Postmodernism Before and After 1989. Ia?i: Polirom Press, 1996, 192 pp., $22.00.     

Older women and intimate partner violence: effective interventions

Women above the age of 60 who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) have specific needs compared with younger victims. More research is emerging that assists counselors and other helping professionals with identification of these needs and aids to promote the mental health and well-being of this population. Professionals must consider the generational values held by older IPV victims and understand how values may impact decision making. Integrating safety planning and risk assessment into the counseling process is vital. Older IPV victims may seek counseling for posttraumatic stress or depressive symptoms as a result of the abuse. Others may participate in counseling for issues unrelated to IPV. Therefore, a thorough assessment process should include questions related to relationship dynamics so that the counselor has a complete understanding of all factors impacting the client's functioning. Helping professionals must also have an understanding of available community resources, as well as barriers that these clients face as they take steps toward recovery from trauma. This research uses qualitative analysis of case studies to assist helping professionals in understanding the most effective interventions when working with this population.We found that a contextual approach focusing on the restoration of self-confidence is a constructive means of initiating recovery from trauma.