Fatal tolperisone poisoning: autopsy and toxicology findings in three suicide cases

Tolperisone (Mydocalm) is a centrally acting muscle relaxant with few sedative side effects that is used for the treatment of chronic pain conditions. We describe three cases of suicidal tolperisone poisoning in three healthy young subjects in the years 2006, 2008 and 2009. In all cases, macroscopic and microscopic autopsy findings did not reveal the cause of death. Systematic toxicological analysis (STA) including immunological tests, screening for volatile substances and blood, urine and gastric content screening by GC-MS and HPLC-DAD demonstrated the presence of tolperisone in all cases. In addition to tolperisone, only the analgesics paracetamol (acetaminophen), ibuprofen and naproxen could be detected. The blood ethanol concentrations were all lower than 0.10 g/kg. Tolperisone was extracted by liquid-liquid extraction using n-chlorobutane as the extraction solvent. The quantification was performed by GC-NPD analysis of blood, urine and gastric content. Tolperisone concentrations of 7.0 mg/l, 14 mg/l and 19 mg/l were found in the blood of the deceased. In the absence of other autopsy findings, the deaths in these three cases were finally explained as a result of lethal tolperisone ingestion. To the best of our knowledge, these three cases are the first reported cases of suicidal tolperisone poisonings.     

Internal Validation of Human Mitochondrial DNA Quantification Using Real‐Time PCR

The quantity of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) template added for amplification and subsequent dye terminator reactions is critical for obtaining quality sequence data. Validation of a human mtDNA real‐time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay demonstrated its high degree of reproducibility and precision as well as an extremely sensitive threshold of detection (0.0001 pg/μL or approximately six human mtDNA copies/μL). A study of 35 nonprobative bone and teeth evidence samples revealed that 20 pg of mtDNA template is recommended for successful HV1 and HV2 sequence analysis; however, as little as 0.013 pg can generate a full mtDNA profile when using enhanced amplification reactions. The assay can also detect PCR inhibition and is useful for identifying samples that may benefit from re‐purification. Overall, the assay is an excellent method to quantify mtDNA and is useful for determining the best analytical approach for successful sequencing.     

Using EHRs to design drug repositioning trials: A devolved approach to data protection

One area where the application of data protection law has proven complex is in relation to the secondary usage of health data in EHRs for medical research. Here the tension between the privacy interests of patients and the risk of harm if such sensitive data are compromised, and on the other side, the potential societal value of utilizing the data for the benefit of medical science, is especially striking. In this paper, we consider the applicable provisions of the EU Data Protection Directive, and outline a general approach to patient data handling for research, which we believe to be compatible with relevant legal and ethical requirements. We then illustrate and apply this by reference to a specific EU FP7 project, involving EHR data processing to select patients for clinical pharmaceutical trials. After introducing the project (PONTE), we explain the ‘devolved’ data protection architecture it employs and provide a legal evaluation.     

Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation Predict Different Moral Signatures

Moral Foundations Theory posits five distinct foundations of morality: Harm/Care, Fairness/Reciprocity, In-group/Loyalty, Authority/Respect, and Purity/Sanctity. In combination, this should yield between four-to-six moral signatures—distinct combinations or patterns of support for these aspects of morality. We extend previous research by examining the replicability of these moral signatures in a New Zealand-based national sample (n = 3,635). Latent Profile Analysis identified four distinct moral signatures: Individuators, Moderates, Neutrals, and High Moralists. We integrate these moral signatures within the Dual Process Model (DPM) framework and show that Social Dominance Orientation predicts membership in the Neutral moral signature (moderate/lukewarm support for multiple moral foundations); whereas Right-Wing Authoritarianism predicts membership in the High Moralist signature (undifferentiated high support across moral foundations). These findings were observed controlling for Big-Six personality and various demographics. Thus, the authoritarian and dominance-based motives identified by the DPM independently predict categorical differences in the signatures people use to judge morality.     

Hearing parties' voices in Coordinated Family Dispute Resolution (CFDR): An Australian pilot of a family mediation model designed for matters involving a history of domestic violence

This paper discusses the Coordinated Family Dispute Resolution (family mediation) process piloted in Australia in 2010–2012. This process was evaluated by the Australian Institute of Family Studies as being ‘at the cutting edge of family law practice’ because it involves the conscious application of mediation where there has been a history of family violence, in a clinically collaborative multidisciplinary and multi-agency setting. The Australian government's failure to invest resources in the ongoing funding of this model jeopardises the safety and efficacy of family dispute resolution practice in family violence contexts, and compromises the hearing of the voices of family violence victims and their children.     

The changing role of the Prime Minister's Office†

Abstract. It is impossible to understand how the Prime Minister's Office has evolved without a clear appreciation of the prime minister's ‘office’ - his powers, responsibilities and influence. By the ‘office’ of prime minister, I am referring not only to his role as shaped by constitutional custom and usage, but also to his contemporary leadership role in its widest context. The ‘raison d'être’ of the Prime Minister's Office is to serve the prime minister in the discharging of all his responsibilities - as leader of the Canadian people, as head of the government and of the administration, as chief spokesman within the House of Commons, and as leader of a particular political party. His Office reflects, in large measure, his priorities, thinking, personality and style. Today, more than ever before, however, die Prime Minister's Office reflects the increasing burden and changing emphasis of his many responsibilities. Herein lies the principal theme and thrust of this paper. Only by defining what the contemporary prime minister does can we appreciate the task of the Office that helps him to do it. This paper is, therefore, divided into two major parts: the first one is entitled the office of prime minister and attempts to describe in a summary way the powers, functions and contemporary role of die prime minister; the second one is entitled the Prime Minister's Office and analyses how the Prime Minister's staff provides him with the assistance he requires in the discharging of his many responsibilities. I conclude with some brief personal thoughts about possible future developments of the office of the prime minister and the Prime Minister's Office. Sommaire. Il est impossible de camprendre l'évolution du Cabinet du Premier Ministre si l'on n'a pas une idée Claire de la charge de premier ministre, c'est-à-dire de ses attributions, de ses pouvoirs et de son influence. Par charge, j'entends non seulement le rôle de premier ministre tel que l'ont façonné les us et coutumes constitutionnels, mais aussi, au sens le plus large, ce rôle de meneur d'hommes qui est devenu le sien dans notre monde contemporain. La raison d'être du Cabinet du Premier Ministre est de l'aider à assumer toutes ses responsabilités de chef du peuple canadien, de chef du gouvernement et de la fonction publique, de premier porte-parole à l'interieur de la Chambre des Communes, et de chef d'un parti politique. Dans une large mesure, son Cabinet est à l'image de sa personnalité, de son style, de sa pensée et de ses objectifs. Cependant, aujourd'hui plus que jamais, ce qui marque surtout son Cabinet, c'est le fardeau croissant de ses nombreuses responsabilités, aux solicitations toujours mouvantes. C'est là le thème majeur que j'entends développer. Ce n'est qu'en précisant ce que fait le premier ministre actuel que nous pourrons apprécier à sa juste valeur la tâche du Cabinet qui le seconde. Le présent exposé est, par conséquent, divisé en deux parties: la première, sous le titre de “La charge de premier ministre”, décrit brièment les attributions, les pouvoirs et le rôle actuel du premier ministre; la seconde, intitulée “Le Cabinet du Premier Ministre”, analyse la manière dont l'équipe du premier ministre lui apporte l'aide dont il a besoin pour assumer ses multiples responsabilités Je conclurai par quelques vues personnelles sur l'évolution possible de la charge de premier ministre et du Cabinet du Premier Ministre.     

Relational legal consciousness in the punitive welfare state: How Dutch welfare officials shape clients' perceptions of law

With a growing number of strict obligations and harsh sanctions for welfare recipients, the Netherlands has increasingly become a punitive welfare state. This article looks at what this means for welfare clients and their commonsense understandings of the law. To analyze how welfare officials shape clients' legal consciousness, I draw on an online survey among Dutch welfare clients (N = 1305) and a correlation analysis. The findings show that there is a clear relationship between welfare clients' own legal consciousness and their assessment of welfare officials' beliefs about the law. However, not all elements of their legal consciousness are relationally influenced by the same factors. Also, clients' self-reported compliance behavior is less relationally influenced than other elements of their legal consciousness. This study adds to our understanding of the mechanisms that constitute the production of relational and second-order legal consciousness and it contributes to the development of new research methods to study people's perceptions of law.     

The Ecological Distribution of Community Advantage and Disadvantage: Power Structures,Political Economy,Communities, and Green-State Crime and Justice

Certain forms of criminology such as social disorganization theory examine how community characteristics influence crime. That approach, however glosses over the fact that the distribution of community advantages and disadvantages (CAD) has structural origins, and that the distribution of CAD is also an indicator of the kinds of social, economic and ecological injustice communities face. Building on observations recently made by Moloney and Chambliss concerning the integration of state and green criminological research, this article explores the structural origins of CAD, how taking a political economic view of CAD relates to the distribution of crime and injustice in communities, and how a CAD approach promotes the integration of state crime, radical criminological and green criminological research.     

Die Dimensionalität der Reichstage der Weimarer Republik von 1920 bis 1932

We analyse the dimensionality and the positioning of parliamentary party groups and single MPs in the parliament (“Reichstag”) of the Weimar Republic on the basis of all recorded votes between 1920 and 1932. On the basis of studies on the milieu-boundedness of German parties and theoretical accounts on the dimensionality of parliaments in general we develop hypotheses regarding the number and characteristics of dimensions that structured voting behaviour in the Weimar Reichstag. The expectations are tested with a full sample of recorded parliamentary votes. The results, which are based on item response models, show that two dimensions structured MP’s decision-making: this is, first, an economic left-right axis and, secondly, a pro vs. contra Weimar Republic dimension. Additionally, our results provide support for recent studies on intra-party conflict inside the German national conservatives.     

Self-reported personality traits in forensic populations: a meta-analysis

The current study covers a systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of self-reported deviant or disruptive personality traits: anger, aggression, hostility, antisocial traits, psychopathy, and impulsivity in forensic populations worldwide. A computer-based search of titles was carried out using the PubMed electronic database for articles published in English that included a self-report instrument for personality characteristics in combination with a forensic population (i.e. detained in remand, sentenced and/or in enforced treatment, or on parole). The final sample consisted of 39 studies (N?=?11,716) that together used 17 different instruments and reported on 32 subscales or constructs that fitted our current interest. Results showed significantly higher levels of self-reported antisocial and psychopathic features in forensic samples, including a significant effect of the assessment instrument and subscale used. No significant differences were found for self-reported impulsivity, anger, aggression, or hostility in forensic populations compared to norm scores of non-forensic samples. Possible explanations, including suggestions that forensic populations are prone to providing socially desirable answers on self-report questionnaires, possibly to gain advantages such as a lower prison sentence or to avoid enforced treatment, are discussed, as well as limitations, and suggestions for future research and clinical practice.