The relation of personality functions and adaptive skills to self-esteem in early adolescence

This paper examines the relation, in early adolescence, of competence in personality functions and adaptive skills to self-esteem. As part of a longitudinal study of adolescent personality development, a nonclinical group of 63 adolescents underwent a comprehensive assessment at age 13. Their personality functioning status was assessed by means of a semistructured psychiatric interview. A psychometric battery was administered to assess verbal and nonverbal adaptive skills. In addition, global self-esteem was assessed. The findings indicate that positive self-esteem was associated with competence in both personality functions and in adaptive skills. Both domains contributed to self-esteem to a similar degree.This study was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Community and Social Services of the Province of Ontario, Canada. This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Academy of Child Psychiatry, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, 1985.Received his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Research Interests include adolescent personality development and the effects of affective disorders on development.Received his M.D. from the University of Toronto. Research interests include mood disorders, personality development in adolescence, and preventive psychiatry.Received his M.D. from the University of Toronto. Research interests include adolescent personality development, effects of psychosis on personality, and psychophysiology of schizophrenia.Received his M.D. from the University of Toronto. Research interests include affective disorders in adolescence and individual psychotherapy.     

Fatal intoxication with melperone

Melperone is judged to be a safe neuroleptic drug. Until now there has been no report of a melperone fatality, though it has been used in suicide attempts. We report on a case of a 36-year-old woman where no cause of death could be established at autopsy. Criminological investigation pointed to a homicide by poisoning but also the possibility of a suicide had to be taken in account. The toxicological analysis of blood, cerebral spinal fluid and urine revealed extremely high concentrations of melperone which had never been reported before. Furthermore, diazepam, nordazepam and carbamazepine were detected. To our knowledge, this case is the first melperone fatality. Possible interactions with diazepam and carbamazepine are discussed.     

Uber in Queensland: From policy fortress to policy change

Emerging technologies are challenging the regulatory systems and industry policy settings that were settled during the microeconomic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s. In 1994, in the absence of credible competition in the taxi industry, Queensland legislation constructed a protective ‘policy fortress’ that benefited taxi licence holders in return for specific service standards. This entrenched a policy–industry nexus upheld by all political parties for two decades. But in 2014–2016, using disruptive digital platforms, Uber and similar organisations directly challenged the policy regime by rapidly expanding their unlicensed operations for personalised passenger bookings. Queensland policy-makers were eventually shocked into establishing a major review, leading to the termination of the protective regime. Drawing on interviews and policy documents, we identify the contextual and ideational factors that facilitated the unlocking of policy change. As consumers became more ‘tech-savvy’, the policy ideas championed by powerful new agents of change came to highlight consumer convenience, flexibility, and the ‘sharing economy’. Such narratives reframed the economic disruptions flowing from new technologies as opportunities to lower service costs.     

Analysis of 683 drug packages seized from "body stuffers"

The wrappings and contents of 683 drug containers (bubbles) seized from 154 street dealers have been analysed since 2001, when the law enforcement policy in Hamburg, Germany, allowed the application of emetics to be used by so-called body stuffers for the recovery of swallowed drug packages. Of the bubbles recovered 96% contained cocaine. Cases of intoxication have not yet been observed but a 20-year-old man with a previously unknown toxic cardiomyopathy died 3 days after a sudden cardiac arrest which followed the forced application of ipecacuanha via correctly placed nasogastral tube.