Enantiomeric Identification of Pregabalin by GC‐MS via Methylation and S‐TPC Chiral Derivatization

Pregabalin is a Schedule V controlled substance which is defined as the (S) enantiomer of 3‐(aminomethyl)‐5‐methylhexanoic acid. It is used legitimately to treat neuropathy in patients with diabetes as well as for epilepsy and fibromyalgia. Pregabalin is an amino acid and an amphoteric compound, which makes it difficult to analyze using the conventional GC‐MS instrumentation found in most forensic drug analysis laboratories. Problems associated with the traditional GC‐MS analysis of pregabalin include selective solubility, ring closure to the corresponding lactam in the GC injection port and/or the MS transfer line and difficulty with chiral derivatization due to the presence of a carboxylic acid moiety. Here, we show that these challenges can be overcome by methylating (capping) the carboxylic acid portion of the pregabalin molecule and converting to the corresponding methyl ester. Once the methyl ester is synthesized, chiral derivatization at the amine can be achieved to identify the controlled (S) enantiomer of pregabalin via GC‐MS.     

Revitalizing inner‐city neighborhoods: New York city's Ten‐Year Plan

Abstract

This article examines the impact of New York City's Ten‐Year Plan on the sale prices of homes in surrounding neighborhoods. Beginning in the mid‐1980s, New York City invested $5.1 billion in constructing or rehabilitating over 180,000 units of housing in many of the city's most distressed neighborhoods. One of the main purposes was to spur neighborhood revitalization.

In this article, we describe the origins of the Ten‐Year Plan, as well as the various programs the city used to implement it, and estimate whether housing built or rehabilitated under the Ten‐Year Plan affected the prices of nearby homes. The prices of homes within 500 feet of Ten‐Year Plan units rose relative to those located beyond 500 feet, but still within the same census tract. These findings are consistent with the proposition that well‐planned project‐based housing programs can generate positive spillover effects and contribute to efforts to revitalize inner‐city neighborhoods.     

European Competition Soft Law in European Courts: A Matter of Hard Principles?

This article analyses whether and how competition soft law instruments are taken into consideration by the European Courts and the Advocates General. The quantitative analysis of the case‐law reveals that even if arguments based on competition guidelines or notices were brought to court since the early days of European law, it is only during the last two decades that they have been taken seriously. The results of the qualitative analysis point to the fact that soft law instruments are considered by the European Courts an important and specific part of the body of European norms that they should use when deciding cases submitted for their judgment. Legal effects are recognised to these not legally binding instruments, but only when it serves the enforcement of hard, general principles of law.     

The allied occupation of İstanbul and the construction of Turkish national identity in the early twentieth century

This article tells the story of the construction of Turkish national identity in the early republican era by addressing two canonical novels about occupied ?stanbul: Sodom ve Gomore (“Sodom and Gomorrah”) by Yakup Kadri Karaosmano?lu and Biz ?nsanlar (“We People”) by Peyami Safa. Following the establishment of the Turkish Republic, Turkish nationalist intellectuals attempted to offer certain formulations and implemented various mechanisms to create a national self. The study aims to focus on the ways in which Karaosmano?lu and Safa create the new Turkish national identity and deals with the questions of how occupied ?stanbul was perceived by these intellectuals and how the memory of the Allied occupation of ?stanbul, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and the National Liberation Struggle shaped Turkish elites’ self-identification as well as their formulation of the national identity.     

Detecting concealed information: The role of individual differences in executive functions and social desirability

The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between deception efficiency and individual differences in executive functioning (EF) and personality, with a particular focus on the influence of social desirability. A mock crime scenario was used, followed by a Concealed Information Test based on reaction times (RT-based CIT). Individual measures of EF (inhibition, shifting, and working memory [WM]) and personality (the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire – Revised, EPQ-R), plus a measure of social desirability (Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding, BIDR) were collected in a distinct session. Results indicated that better executive functions were associated with faster responses to irrelevant items in the RT-based CIT. In a regression analysis, individual differences in shifting and spatial WM were significant predictors of the extra-time taken to lie, compare to truth-telling. No significant relations between deception outcomes and personality measures were noted. Looking at social desirability, the Impression Management scale predicted a further portion of variance in the extra time required to lie, beyond the contribution of executive functions. The utility of an individual differences approach to deception is advocated.     

La structure et le rôle de la diète transylvaine, 1529–1865

SUMMARY

In this article, Michael A.R. Graves and Chris R. Kyle take a new look at the ‘bills of grace’ or ‘sign manual bills’ which were a feature of the early-modern English parliament. These were a special category of bill, often introduced into one of the Houses already written out on parchment, and endorsed with the royal sign manual. The majority of such bills concerned either the affairs of the royal family, or the affairs of private suitors with privileged access to the royal Court, and were generally referred to as ‘bills of grace’. It has long been supposed that such bills were given favoured treatment and enjoyed a speedy and undisputed passage through the two Houses. The article first demonstrates that there have been many misunderstandings about these bills, both by contemporaries and by later historians, and then goes on to show that they present complex problems of interpretation. The authors show how the number and character of such bills varied from one reign to another, and how there were marked changes in the usage of this procedure over time. They conclude that the previously received views about this kind of legislation require revision.