Detection of the calcium antagonist nicardipine and its metabolites by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

An 89-year-old male patient, hospitalized with Parkinson's syndrome, suddenly died shortly after an intravenous drug injection. The conditions indicated that an overdose of nicardipine (1.3 mg/(mlkg)) may be given to the patient. At the autopsy, no pathological changes were noted. With a capillary gas chromatograph with mass spectrometer (GC-MS), nicardipine (4.97 microg/ml) and its pyridine metabolite (M-5, 5.0 microg/ml) were detected in the heart blood of the deceased. This result indicated that an overdose of intravenous nicardipine caused a sudden death of a patient in a poor condition.     

Postmortem changes in cytochrome c oxidase activity in various organs of the rat and in human heart

Cytochrome c oxidase (COX), a mitochondrial enzyme, is inactivated by cyanide or carbon monoxide (CO) intoxication. To test whether cytochrome c has potential as an indicator of these toxins in cadavers, we measured COX activity in the main organs of the rat, and in the human heart, at various times after death. Each tissue sample or organ was homogenized and the COX activity in the mitochondrial fraction was measured using ferrous cytochrome c as the substrate. COX activity was significantly higher in rat brain, heart and kidney than in lung and liver from 0 to 4 days after death. The loss of COX activity was significantly slower in the brain and heart than in the lung, liver and kidney. Most importantly, COX activity correlated with the time-since-death for each of the rat organs we tested (r2=0.70-0.95), but for the human heart (r2=0.47). It may be possible that COX activity is likely to be a useful indicator of the time-since-death, and is worth pursuing as an indicator of the tissue cyanide and CO content.     

A gastric artery aneurysm complicated by a dissection of gastric and hepatic arteries: possible role of adventitial inflammation and disruption of internal elastic lamina in splanchnic artery dissection

A 77-year-old woman was found deceased at home. An autopsy examination revealed a hemoperitoneum due to a ruptured false aneurysm of a branch of the left gastric artery. A long dissection extending from the aneurysm involved splanchnic arteries including the left gastric, common hepatic, right and left branches of proper hepatic, and intrahepatic arteries. An intimal tear was identified in the common hepatic artery. Neutrophils infiltrating in the adventitia may have been reactive and may have triggered the adventitial rupture of aneurysm or development of the dissection. Disruption of the internal elastic lamina, which has been proposed to cause dissection of intracranial arteries, was seen in the dissected arteries. Little is currently known about aneurysms or dissections of splanchnic arteries; however, observation of adventitial inflammation and internal elastic lamina may help disclose the etiology and pathogenesis.     

Immigrant Students’ Emotional and Cognitive Engagement at School: A Multilevel Analysis of Students in 41 countries

Central to student learning and academic success, the school engagement of immigrant children also reflects their adaptation to a primary institution in their new country. Analysis of questionnaire responses of 276,165 fifteen-year-olds (50?% female) and their 10,789 school principals in 41 countries showed that school engagement has distinct, weakly-linked cognitive and emotional components. Native students had weaker attitudes toward school (cognitive engagement) but greater sense of belonging at school (emotional engagement) than immigrant students or students who spoke a foreign language at home. Students with better teacher–student relationships, teacher support or a classroom disciplinary climate often had a greater sense of belonging at school and had better attitudes toward school than other students. While immigrant students often have solid attitudes toward school, teachers can help them feel a greater sense of belonging at school.     

Factors that contribute to the improvement in maternal parenting after separation from a violent husband or partner

The authors test the hypothesis that separation from a violent husband or partner improves maternal parenting in Japan and examine how childhood abuse history (CAH), experience of domestic violence (DV), mental health problems, husband or partner's child maltreatment, and other demographic factors affect maternal parenting after such separation. A self-administered questionnaire survey is conducted for mothers (n = 304) and their children (n = 498) staying in 83 mother-child homes in Japan to assess the mothers' CAH, DV experiences, current mental health problems, and exposure to a husband or partner's child maltreatment. The authors also assess maternal poor parenting (physical and psychological abuse, neglect, no playing, and no praise) before and after admission into the mother-child homes. The total poor parenting score (specifically for neglect, no playing, and no praise) significantly reduces after separation from a violent husband or partner (p = .001, paired t test). However, scores for psychological abuse significantly increase after admission (p < .001, paired t test). CAH, DV, and mental health problems are not associated with a reduced total poor parenting score after admission. Husband or partner's child maltreatment is independently significantly associated with a reduced maternal poor parenting score: A 10% increase in such maltreatment is associated with a 5% reduction in the poor parenting score after separation. Marital status also contributes to the score reduction: The reduction is less in married or divorced mothers than in those who did not marry the partner. Mother-child homes might be useful for improving maternal parenting. Further study is needed to elucidate the mechanism of the impact of separation from a violent husband or partner on maternal parenting.     

Tweets That Matter: Evidence From a Randomized Field Experiment in Japan

Although election campaigns are increasingly utilizing social media, only a few studies have investigated their effects experimentally. To fill this gap in the literature, we conducted a field experiment to examine the effects of a campaign that used Twitter during the 2013 House of Councillors election in Japan. The treatment was exposure to tweets from Tōru Hashimoto, the mayor of Osaka and co-leader of the Japan Restoration Party, who has the largest number of Twitter followers among Japanese politicians. Participants assigned to the treatment group followed Hashimoto and the two placebos, whereas those assigned to the control condition followed only the two placebos. They followed the politicians continuously for approximately one month. Pre- and posttreatment measures were collected using online surveys, and treatment compliance was continuously checked via Twitter application programming interface (API). Following Hashimoto on Twitter during the election campaign had a positive impact on feelings toward Hashimoto. This effect was not mediated by issue knowledge or the evaluation of Hashimoto’s personal traits, and no effects were observed on voting. These findings suggest that repeated exposure to a politician’s messages on Twitter may only result in a mere exposure effect, which nevertheless generates favorable overall attitudes about the politician.     

Unusual characteristic patterns of postmortem injuries

Animal scavenging is one of the most significant causes of postmortem injuries. A large variety of scavenging animals have been reported on in previous papers. Although postmortem injuries attributable to birds are well known in the case of "aerial burial," the custom in Tibet, few cases of bird scavenging have been reported. In the two cases discussed herein, postmortem injuries were attributed to crows. Both cases, shared characteristic patterns of postmortem injuries, and in both cases death was attributed to fire. Although massive tissue loss by the crow scavenging made it difficult to determine the cause of the death and rendered personal identification difficult, 1 mL of blood drawn from the intracranial cavity and DNA analysis enabled this information to be determined, albeit with some difficulty.     

Examination of spur marks found on inkjet-printed documents

In this paper, we propose the examination of spur mark evidence on inkjet-printed documents. Spur marks are tool marks created by the spur gears in the paper conveyance system of many inkjet printers. The relationship between printouts and printers were investigated by comparing the spur marks found on printed documents with reference spur marks sampled from known printers. The comparison was based on two characteristics of spur marks: pitch and mutual distance. These characteristics extracted the geometric features of spur marks and provided information on the type of spur gears and their location in the paper conveyance system. The spur marks on a printout matched the reference spur marks within three percent of the measured values. Spur marks were considered to be effective class characteristics to identify certain brands of inkjet printers since spur gears are used in many types of these machines.     

Evaluation of ABO and Lewis genotypes using primer extension preamplification

There are some difficulties with blood typing from ABO variant bloodstains and Lewis negative samples using serologic methods. In these samples, DNA analysis should be employed simultaneously to avoid errors in typing. Primer extension preamplification (PEP) produces copies of template DNA. The minimum quantity to examine nucleotide substitutions of ABO and Lewis genotypes by PCR ranged from 1 to 3 ng DNA. The PCR products with or without PEP treatment showed identical ABO and Lewis genotyping results. Performing both serologic and PCR testing served to crosscheck the ABO and Lewis grouping of such specimens. Errors in ABO and Lewis typing can be avoided as discrepancies are investigated further. The application of the PEP method to limited amounts of DNA samples for ABO and Lewis blood groupings is useful.