Prevalence of xylazine in overdose cases: An analysis of Miami-Dade County medical examiner case data

Xylazine sedative, muscle relaxant, and analgesic used in a veterinary setting. Although xylazine was never approved for therapeutic use in humans, it has become popular in the street drug market as a cutting or bulking agent in the fentanyl and heroin supply. Recently, there has been a significant increase in the detection of xylazine in postmortem forensic toxicology casework. Xylazine can be identified during routine toxicology screening utilizing instrumentation such as gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Using the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's LIMS system, all cases received between 2015 and 2022 in which xylazine was reported were reviewed. The cases studied include accidental drug overdose deaths in Miami-Dade County as well as Collier County (Naples), Florida. In total, there are 170 cases; the majority are accidental polydrug overdoses involving White males between the ages of 25 and 44 years old. Of the 170 cases, 37% listed xylazine as the cause of death. 13% of cases contained only xylazine and fentanyl while the remaining 87% of deaths were attributed to polydrug toxicity involving two or more substances. The prevalence of xylazine can be attributed to its increasing popularity rather than an increase in caseload. In 2019, xylazine was present in only 4% of all accidental fentanyl overdoses. By 2021, this percentage has increased sixfold, with xylazine present in 24% of all accidental fentanyl overdoses. Despite a decrease in fentanyl overdoses in 2022, the percentage of xylazine detection remained the same.     

Non-Governmental Policy Transfer: The Strategies of Independent Policy Institutes

Discussions of policy transfer have primarily focused on official actors and networks. The non-governmental mode of policy transfer via foundations, think tanks and non-governmental organizations is a relatively neglected dimension. Accordingly, this paper addresses the role of think tanks in promoting the spread of policy ideas about privatization. The importance of think tanks to policy transfer is their ability to diffuse ideas by (1) acting as a clearing-house for information; (2) their involvement in the advocacy of ideas; (3) their involvement in domestic and transnational policy networks; and (4) their intellectual and scholarly base providing expertise on specialized policy issues. Concepts from comparative public policy and international relations such as "social learning" and "epistemic communities" are used to outline the way think tanks advocate innovative policy ideas. However, not only have think tanks been effective in promoting the transfer of policy ideas, the international spread of think tanks also exhibits organizationaltransfer.     

Trace Element Analysis of Rough Diamond by LA‐ICP‐MS: A Case of Source Discrimination?*,†

Abstract: Current profiling of rough diamond source is performed using different physical and/or morphological techniques that require strong knowledge and experience in the field. More recently, chemical impurities have been used to discriminate diamond source and with the advance of laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) empirical profiling of rough diamonds is possible to some extent. In this study, we present a LA‐ICP‐MS methodology that we developed for analyzing ultra‐trace element impurities in rough diamond for origin determination (“profiling”). Diamonds from two sources were analyzed by LA‐ICP‐MS and were statistically classified by accepted methods. For the two diamond populations analyzed in this study, binomial logistic regression produced a better overall correct classification than linear discriminant analysis. The results suggest that an anticipated matrix match reference material would improve the robustness of our methodology for forensic applications.     

Does Context Matter in Determining Psychological Abuse? Effects of Pattern,Harm, Relationship,and Norms

This study explored contextual influences in determining whether psychologically aggressive actions constitute abuse. One hundred and thirty-one undergraduates completed measures of key experiences, attitudes, and traits, and rated abusiveness of behaviors in a series of vignettes. Vignettes varied contexts in which behaviors occurred, including whether the behavior was a pattern, whether there was harm to the recipient, characteristics of the initiator-recipient relationship, and whether behavior was normative. Results showed no effects for participants’ gender, past experiences with psychological aggression, and traits or attitudes. Findings indicated that behaviors were rated as more abusive when harm to the recipient was evident. Findings regarding patterns of behavior, relationship, and normative contexts were less consistent. Implications for measurement of psychological abuse are discussed.     

Addressing avoidable vision impairment in Mozambique and the Africa region

The Mozambique Eyecare Project was an international partnership to implement and research eye health education in Mozambique and the Africa region. An optometry degree was developed at Universidade Lúrio, Mozambique. In addition, existing eye health workers were upskilled with training. Researchers from various disciplines evaluated the project and its potential for impact on eye health in the region. The body of evidence generated from the research provides useful lessons for development programmes in general, as well as specific lessons for delivering eye health education and service delivery models for low-income settings.     

The Forgotten Educator: Experiential Learning’s Internship Supervisor

Past studies have addressed the role of the university, student interns and, the faculty advisor; here, we attempt to fill in a missing piece of the experiential-learning process by examining the role and importance of the often overlooked internship supervisor. A survey was developed and distributed to 343 recent internship supervisors. Their responses show that many of these supervisors view internships as an important professional and educational experience. We argue here that the internship supervisor can maximize one’s effectiveness when operating within a strong college or university educational infrastructure facilitated by an engaged and competent faculty advisor. Our recommendations were discussed and confirmed by a focus group of experienced faculty advisors.     

Trajectories of Discrimination across the College Years: Associations with Academic,Psychological, and Physical Adjustment Outcomes

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Despite growing evidence that racial-ethnic discrimination has a critical impact on college students of color, there is a shortage of longitudinal studies...     

COVID-19 and the policy sciences: initial reactions and perspectives

Policy Sciences - The world is in the grip of a crisis that stands unprecedented in living memory. The COVID-19 pandemic is urgent, global in scale, and massive in impacts. Following Harold D....     

Women on the Edge of Modernity

Feminism has long been committed to a critique of stereotypic examples of women in patriarchal discourse and has been keen to see what it could offer by way of alternatives. Yet to suggest that alternatives are possible raises the question of whether feminism itself can altogether avoid the trap of turning women into stereotypes, turning the specific example of woman into a universal model, in its own efforts to represent women. Communication demands the particular; it is not possible to refer to everything at once. At the same time, judgements that arise from the use of those particulars are always to some extent faulty - inaccurate or incomplete, too particular or too general. This applies as much to aesthetics (models of beauty) as it does to politics (another matter of representation). What is at issue here is the entire problematic of inclusion and exclusion, whether in politics or aesthetics. Focusing on the significance of Kant's reliance on woman as an example in the Critique of Judgement , Elam argues that it would be a mistake to dismiss all aesthetic discourses of beauty as ploys on the part of patriarchy to keep women for men's eyes only. The Critique of Judgement stands to be useful to feminism because it demonstrates that the problem of the example cannot be solved by striving for the perfect representation of woman - either an inclusive aesthetics or a fully representational politics - or even by overcoming the use of examples altogether. Rather, taking 'woman' as an example stages both aesthetic and political questions about representation that call attention to the challenges feminism faces in its attempt to form political communities.