Women in Eastern Europe: Survey of literature

Since 1975 there has been a considerable increase in the amount of literature, written in English, about the status of women in Eastern Europe. In this article it is argued that the growth of interest is related to the re-emergence of the Women's Movement during the sixties when feminists were looking towards socialist states for role models and for strategies to guide the transition to sexual equality in the West. This article reviews the literature on women in Eastern Europe and considers the impact of Women's Studies on East European Studies as a whole.     

Choking death on a live fish (Dicologoglossa cuneata)

A choking death of a healthy fisherman, who put a type of live sole between his jaws to free up his hands so that he could collect more fish to put into his basket, is described. The fish squirmed into the larynx and upper trachea and the attempts to rescue the man by his colleagues who used pliers did not succeed, and the man died. Other published cases are reviewed, and risk factors and rescue possibilities discussed.     

A fatal forensic intoxication with fenarimol: analysis by HPLC/DAD/MSD

Fenarimol (Rubigan) is a pyrimidine ergosterol biosynthesis inhibitor used as a systemic fungicide. The authors present a fatal fenarimol intoxication case analysed in the Forensic Toxicology Service of the National Institute of Legal Medicine. The results were used to compare two different HPLC techniques, regarding selectivity and sensitivity: an HPLC system with a diode array detector (DAD) and an HPLC system with a DAD and a mass spectrometry detector (MSD) with an electrospray interface. All biological samples were submitted to a solid-phase extraction procedure. The detection and quantification limits of fenarimol, linearity, precision and accuracy were evaluated. The fenarimol concentration levels determined were of 89.0 mg/ml in gastric contents, 1.9 mg/g in liver and 0.4 mg/g in kidney. Blood was not available at autopsy. No published data related to fenarimol self-poisoning were found, so it was not possible to interpret the results obtained by comparison with toxic/lethal levels.     

Ukraine,Russia and the strategic partnership dynamics in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood: recalibrating the EU’s ‘self’, ‘we’ and ‘other’

The present contribution explores the changing relationship between the European Union (EU) and the two largest countries in its eastern neighbourhood, namely Ukraine and Russia, between 1991 and 2014. Taking the differential between the existence of the EU Strategic Partnership (SP) with Russia and the absence of such an arrangement in the relationship with Ukraine as a point of departure, it investigates how the EU has dealt with different aspirations and challenges stemming from its two largest eastern neighbours. Adopting the Social Identity Theory perspective, the contribution analyses the interrelationship between the evolution of the EU’s SP approach towards the eastern neighbours and the development of (particular dimensions of) the EU’s identity. It demonstrates how the process of categorization relating to the ideational ‘self’, ‘we’ and ‘other’ took place; and how only the EU’s relationship with Russia and not that with Ukraine has accumulated the discursive markers of a strategic partnership. The contribution, furthermore, analyses the challenges to the EU changing approach stemming from the 2013–2014 Ukraine crisis.     

Characterization of lesions in hanging deaths

Hanging is a common method of committing suicide and a routine task in medico-legal autopsies. The hanging mark is the most relevant external sign and its characteristics are well known, but, for unknown reasons, there are major differences in reports on internal findings. We retrospectively studied 228 consecutive cases of hanging deaths. A complete standard autopsy was performed for every case. We investigated the association between the characteristics of the hanging mark and the frequency of bone, cartilage, soft tissue, and vascular injuries with the mode of suspension. Most cases (75.3%) presented some kind of bone or cartilage fracture, but these were unrelated to any of the variables studied. Vascular lesions are clearly more infrequent: intimal injuries were found in the carotid artery (9.1%), the jugular vein (2.2%), and ruptures of the carotid adventitial layer (21.7%). These could be partially associated with the use of a hard fixed noose and body weight.     

Evaluation of the composition of street cocaine seized in two regions of Brazil

This work evaluates cocaine purity and the concentration ranges of adulterants and inorganic constituents for 31 street cocaine samples seized in two different regions of Brazil from July 2008 to May 2010. Cocaine and adulterants, such as caffeine, lidocaine and benzocaine, were quantified by Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), and the inorganic constituents were determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) and ion chromatography (IC). The cocaine concentrations in the samples seized in the Amazonas state (AM samples) ranged from 154 to 978 mg g^? 1, and these samples did not contain any of the adulterants studied. The cocaine concentrations in the samples seized in the Minas Gerais state (MG samples) ranged from 63.9 to 753 mg g^? 1. Caffeine was the main adulterant found in 76% of the MG samples, ranging in concentration from 5.5 to 645.3 mg g^? 1. Lidocaine was found in 66.7% of the MG samples, with concentrations ranging from 16.3 to 576.7 mg g^? 1. Benzocaine was found in only one MG sample, at a concentration of 84.8 mg g^? 1. Fourteen elements were identified by ICP-OES, and a wide variation was observed in the concentrations of Ca, Mg, Na, P, Al, Fe, Mn and Zn. Pearson Product–moment Correlations between the analytes allowed the constituents to be associated with the chemicals used in the manufacturing of cocaine and with some common diluents. The study of the purity of cocaine and the presence and concentration of adulterants and inorganic constituents is important because the latter can have deleterious effects on health.     

A review of the evolution and state of transboundary freshwater treaties

Internationally shared basins supply 60 % of global freshwater supply, are home to about 1/3 of the world’s population, and are focal points for interstate conflict and, as importantly, cooperation. To manage these waters, states have developed a large set of formal treaties, but until now these treaties have been difficult to access and systematically assess. This paper presents and makes publicly available the assembly and organization of the largest known collection of transboundary water agreements in existence. We apply for the first time a “lineage” concept to differentiate between independent agreements and groups of legally related texts, spatially reference the texts to a global basin database, and identify agreement purposes, goals and a variety of content areas. The 688 agreements identified were signed between 1820 and 2007 and constitute 250 independent treaties which apply to 113 basins. While the scope and content varies widely, these treaties nominally govern almost 70 % of the world’s transboundary basin area. In terms of content, treaties have shifted from an earlier focus on regulation and development of water resources to the management of resources and the setting of frameworks for that management. While “traditional” issues such as hydropower, water allocation and irrigation are still important, the environment is now the most commonly mentioned issue in treaty texts. Treaties are also increasingly likely to include data and information sharing provisions, have conflict resolution mechanisms, and include mechanisms for participation beyond traditional nation-state actors. Generalizing, treaties have become more comprehensive over time, both in the issues they address and the tools they use to manage those issues cooperatively.