The impact of juveniles' ages and levels of psychosocial maturity on judges' opinions about adjudicative competence

This study investigated whether defendants' ages and levels of psychosocial maturity would affect judges' ratings of juveniles' adjudicative competence in juvenile and criminal court. Three hundred forty two judges reviewed a forensic psychological report about a hypothetical defendant; only the defendant's age (12-17) and maturity level (mature, immature) varied across reports. Results revealed a main effect of age, with older juveniles generally deemed more competent, and a main effect of maturity, with mature juveniles generally deemed more competent. No interaction was found. Results suggest that age and maturity play major roles in judicial determinations of juvenile competency.     

Women's participation in democratic innovation apparatuses: the case of the autonomous region of the Basque country,Spain

Since 1990, many democratic regimes have seen an increasing number of democratic innovation apparatuses that have been the subject of many of the reflections of democratic theory. Furthermore, the notion of participation has been a priority since the early stages of the institutionalisation of gender studies. Many analyses of the presence and the voice of women in representative spaces and in social movements have been made. However, both areas of study seem to have developed in parallel, giving rise to a knowledge gap when it comes to the participation of women in public affairs by the democratic innovation apparatuses. This article is situated at the intersection of those areas. It analyses the relationship between women's participation and the extension of the public sphere in terms of obstacles. Based on the analysis of the participatory biographies of 42 women and six men who participate in 15 democratic innovation apparatuses implemented between 1978 and 2014 in the Autonomous Region of the Basque Country (Spain), five discussion groups and two direct observations, the obstacles met by the women when carrying out their participatory project in those governance apparatuses are identified. The article concludes by highlighting the currency of the public versus private and reason versus emotion categories to explain the objectivized and incorporated structure of the obstacles. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Formal independence of regulatory agencies and Varieties of Capitalism: A case of institutional complementarity?

The Varieties of Capitalism literature posits that national economic institutions reflect the mode of coordination of a country's market actors. Despite the importance of this claim and a rich literature on the emergence of regulatory capitalism, few studies test such prediction for Independent Regulatory Agencies (IRAs). This article connects the two fields of research by analysing the impact of economic coordination on the formal independence of IRAs. The results show that, beyond issues of credible commitment and policy stability, the collective action capacity of market actors matters. In particular, regulators in Coordinated Market Economies enjoy less independence than in Liberal Market Economies, while intermediate regimes grant IRAs the least autonomy. The policy implications are nontrivial. Similar to other macroeconomic institutions, inappropriate combinations of economic coordination and IRA independence may engender Pareto‐suboptimal regulatory solutions. In such cases, policymakers should reconsider the rules governing national regulators.     

Embutramide,a Component of Tanax®(T‐61) as a New Drug of Abuse?

Tanax^®(T‐61) is a euthanasia solution commonly used in veterinary medicine in Europe. It consists of three active components: embutramide, mebezonium iodide, and tetracaine hydrochloride. Human consumption of Tanax^®(T‐61) is usually associated with suicide attempts. In our 15‐year‐long practice, embutramide was detected only three times but within a short period. First, it was found in the urine of a 42‐year‐old veterinarian, and the other two observations were made in a 16‐year‐old young man. Urine samples were analyzed using Shimadzu Prominence TOX.I.S.II. HPLC–DAD system with online SPE extraction system. Both of the two patients denied any intention to die. These cases show that this veterinary drug may also be considered as potential drugs of abuse.     

From chronic rhinitis to death: Fatal outcome of nasal polyposis treatment

Introduction

Nasal polyposis (NP) is considered to be the state of chronic inflammation of nasal mucosa and sinuses presenting with various nasal symptomatology. In most cases, it is treated conservatively. Recently, functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) was developed as the valuable and advantageous surgical procedure to treat NP. Despite the inherited risks of this procedure, its complication rate is considered to be acceptable compared to potential benefits for the patient.

Case

Fifty-five-year-old man was admitted to the hospital for surgical removal of the nasal polypus. After the usual pre-surgery procedures, the patient underwent FESS. Under general anesthesia, left sphenoid sinus was opened and cleaned from the imflammatory discharge, polypus was excised, and following the trepanation the left maxillary sinus was left to drain out. Polypus and pieces of sinonasal mucosa were sent to pathohistological analysis, which yielded in diagnosis of inverted sinonasal papilloma.The early postoperative recovery was regular, but 2 h upon the surgery, the patient started to lose consciousness gradually falling into the state of coma. CT scan and angiography of the head revealed pneumocranium, defect of the left ethmoidal sinus, hematoma in the left frontal cerebral lobe, as well as the hemorrhage in all four cerebral ventricles. A series of neurosurgical procedures followed in the next 8 days. Despite the attempts to resolve above complications, the patient remained comatous and died 16 days after the polypectomy.Autopsy revealed the extensive oval-shaped defect on the skull base in the left posterior part of cribrous plate of the left ethmoid bone. The brain appeared swollen and heavily congested, showing the zone of subarachnoidal hemorrhage in basal face of left frontal lobe. Frontal serial sections revealed large intracerebral haematoma in basal periventricular structures of left frontal lobe extending to the whole ventricular system. Apart from the above, most prominent finding was bilateral bronchopneumonia. The cause of death was attributed to bronchopneumonia following the brain trauma, manner of death ruled as violent.

Conclusion

Although majority of the patients suffering from chronic rhinosinusitis or NP recover well after the endoscopic surgery, the possibility of undesirable outcome must not be ignored. This case calls for assessment of potential medical liability caused by malpractice. Having in mind rather high prevalence of chronic rhinosinusitis and NP, legal aspects of postoperative death should be carefully analyzed.     

Raman spectroscopy offers great potential for the nondestructive confirmatory identification of body fluids

Raman spectroscopy was used to compare body fluids commonly found at crime scenes in a nondestructive manner. The dry traces of semen, vaginal fluid, sweat, saliva, and blood were analyzed using confocal Raman microscopy with a 785-nm excitation. The results show that the five fluids can be differentiated from one another by visual comparison of their Raman spectra, and that the laser radiation does not damage the sample. The Raman signature of each body fluid is specific and correlates with the known composition of the fluid. Dry traces of human and canine semen exhibited distinctly different Raman signatures. Overall, this preliminary study demonstrates the great potential of Raman spectroscopy for nondestructive, confirmatory identification of body fluids for forensic purposes.