Suicide by Intentional Air embolism

Venous air embolism occurs when air enters the venous system. The main causes of venous air embolism include medical procedures, neck and head trauma, and injuries of the genitals. Self‐induced suicidal (and intentional) air embolism is extremely rare. The authors report a rare case of a suicidal air embolism committed using a self‐made tool composed of a plastic bottle and an infusion set, injecting nearly 2000 mL of air into the cubital vein. The toxicological analysis suggested that midazolam, together with air, was also injected into the circulation using the same bottle and infusion set.     

The local political economy of the regulatory state: Governing affordable housing in England

Regulatory governance involves the use of heterogeneous mechanisms to extract welfare gains from market-based processes. While often viewed as a depoliticization mechanism, here, we explore a distinctly political manifestation of regulatory governance. Our study focuses on the governance of affordable housing in England, specifically on local authorities' use of ‘Section 106′ (S106) powers to compel private developers to include affordable housing in new developments. We show that, following the financial crisis, the governance of affordable housing shifted from a partisan to a valence issue. As the crisis increased the issue salience of affordable housing, left-wing authorities' hitherto higher tendency to intervene was eroded in the midst of a broad-based increase in S106 deployment. In addition to extending insights into the political economy of regulatory state intervention, our findings shed valuable light on the undersupply of affordable housing in England.     

Remembering the repression of the Stalin era in Russia: on the non-transmission of family memory

Research into some 30 families has revealed blank spaces in the history of many of these families, most of which date from the Stalin period. My thesis is that the internal policy of the Soviet state, with its repression and stigmatization of victims and their families, contributed to making certain pages of Soviet history disappear from family memories, or be reinterpreted within these memories. The policies of physical and symbolic stratification of the new “communist” society and stigmatization of broad social groups tended to create a gap between the social outcasts and their families. Families were impelled to “purge” their past and to eliminate the elements that could make them discreditable: to change names, surnames, and fathers’ names, to destroy the documents and photographs containing information about repressed people and to forget relatives lost from sight in the political turmoil. With the disappearance of eyewitnesses, firsthand memories that had not been transmitted to subsequent generations fell out of family history. These memory omissions result in these pages of family history being entirely wiped out, or lead to fragmented and impersonal memories.     

Hemispheric reconfigurations in Northern Amazonia: the ‘Three Guianas’ amid regional change and Brazilian hegemony

Regional and hemispheric reconfigurations in Latin America and the Caribbean are increasingly mediated by Brazilian power, and the engagement of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana with this emerging context is intriguing. They are tentatively moving away from a Caribbean region with which they are culturally contiguous, towards a South American continent in which they are geographically located. This is partly a reflection of the gradual opening up of the Northern Amazonian space that they share collectively, and also with Venezuela and Brazil. These processes are occurring as cause and effect of Brazil’s emergence as a regional – and even regionally hegemonic – power. With reference to wider debates on regionalism and hegemony, we analyse the uncertain consequences of these shifts.     

Brexit: Challenges and Opportunities for Small Countries and Territories

This article is based on a round table discussion that was held at the Centre for Small States, Queen Mary University, London, on 18 September 2017. The article uses the presentations from the event, together with answers to questions that were posed, to construct an analysis of how Brexit has affected, and will probably continue to affect, small states and subnational island jurisdictions in Europe and beyond. There is still no real clarity in relation to British Prime Minister Theresa May’s declaration that ‘Brexit means Brexit’, but the effects of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union (EU) are starting to be felt – whether that involves redefining Euroscepticism across Europe, marginalising the diplomatic and economic profile of the UK’s overseas territories, or creating anxieties in the Commonwealth Caribbean regarding future trading relations. Thus, Brexit is creating a significant ripple effect and the article provides some reflections on how these are affecting small countries and territories, many of which are already highly vulnerable.     

Can latent fingerprint disclose the sex of the donor? A preliminary test study using GC–MS analysis of latent fingerprints

While fingerprints are a highly used means of identification, not every fingerprint left behind on a potential crime scene can be used for identification purposes. In some cases, the fingerprint may be smudged, partially preserved or overlapping with other prints hence distorting the ridge pattern and may therefore be not appropriate for identification. Further, fingermark residue yields a very low abundance of genetic material for DNA analysis. In such cases, the fingermark may be used to retrieve basic donor information such as sex. The focus of this paper was to assess the possibility of differentiating between the sexes of the donor of latent fingermarks. Analytical method was GC–MS analysis of the chemical compounds of latent fingermarks using 22 male and 22 female donors. Results showed 44 identified compounds. Two alcohols, octadecanol C₁₈ and eicosanol C₂₀, were found to show a difference that was statistically significant between male and female donors. There is also some evidence for the possibility of distinguishing sex of the fingermark donor based on the distribution of branched chain fatty acids, as free compounds or esterified in wax esters.     

Fatal suicidal injury of a radiocephalic arteriovenous fistula

A 59-year-old man was found dead in his living room. His body was covered with blood, but the only injury found was a 31-mm-long, transverse incision on the radial surface of the left forearm. Autopsy revealed that the injured vessel was an enlarged cephalic vein from a radiocephalic arteriovenous fistula (RC-AVF) that had been created 23 years before for hemodialysis. Cephalic vein injury is usually not fatal, but circumstantial evidence, autopsy, and histological findings suggested that hemorrhagic shock and death occurred within a short time after the self-inflicted incised wound. This may be explained by the blood flow rate in the RC-AVF, which can reach 12 ml/s; this is 25 times higher than the normal cephalic vein blood flow.     

Ein Supreme Court für das Vereinigte Königreich – ein Schritt zur Modernisierung der "unwritten constitution"?

Im Rahmen der Modernisierung des britischen Verfassungssystems wurde die Rolle des House of Lords als Höchstgericht auf ein vom Parlament unabhängiges Supreme Court übertragen und die gewaltenverschränkende Doppelstellung der Law Lords als Parlamentarier und Richter beendet. In diesem Aufsatz sollen vor allem die verschiedenen Faktoren, die Anlass zu dieser Verfassungsreform gaben, beleuchtet werden und auch auf die im Constitutional Reform Act 2005 verankerte Organisationstruktur und Funktion des neuen Supreme Court eingegangen werden.