Fatalities temporally associated with the ingestion of ibogaine

Ibogaine is a naturally occurring psychoactive plant alkaloid that is used globally in medical and nonmedical settings for opioid detoxification and other substance use indications. All available autopsy, toxicological, and investigative reports were systematically reviewed for the consecutive series of all known fatalities outside of West Central Africa temporally related to the use of ibogaine from 1990 through 2008. Nineteen individuals (15 men, four women between 24 and 54 years old) are known to have died within 1.5-76 h of taking ibogaine. The clinical and postmortem evidence did not suggest a characteristic syndrome of neurotoxicity. Advanced preexisting medical comorbidities, which were mainly cardiovascular, and/or one or more commonly abused substances explained or contributed to the death in 12 of the 14 cases for which adequate postmortem data were available. Other apparent risk factors include seizures associated with withdrawal from alcohol and benzodiazepines and the uninformed use of ethnopharmacological forms of ibogaine.     

Pontomedullary lacerations in unhelmeted motorcyclists and bicyclists: a retrospective autopsy study

ABSTRACT: Pontomedullary lacerations (PMLs) have often been reported in car occupants and pedestrians, are less frequently described in motorcyclists, and are very rarely described in bicyclists. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of brainstem PMLs among fatally injured motorcyclists and bicyclists as well as the frequency of concomitant cranial, facial, and cervical spine injuries in such cases. A possible underlying mechanism of PML in fatally injured motorcyclists and bicyclists might thus be established. Of 443 cases of fatally injured motorcyclists and bicyclists, a sample of 381 cases of fatally injured motorcyclists and bicyclists with head injury of Abbreviated Injury Scale score of 3 or greater was formed and further analyzed. This group was composed of 345 men and 36 women. The average age was 48.8 ± 20.8 years (range, 15-99 years). In the analyzed sample group, there were 158 motorcyclists and 223 bicyclists. Partial PMLs were present in 44 cases (12%) within the sample of 381 head injuries, which breaks down to 40 men and 4 women. In our study, the impact area on the head and the specific skull base fracture type were good predictors of either PML occurrence or absence (B = -2.036, Wald = 161.312, P < 0.01, for the whole model). Impact to the chin, with or without a skull base fracture, most often led to this fatal injury due to impact force transmission, either through jawbone or vertebral column. Also, lateral head impact, the most frequent in bicyclists, with subsequent hinge fracture, PML, and frontoposterior hyperextension of the head that is associated with upper spine fracture, could be possible mechanisms of brainstem injury in fatally injured motorcyclists or bicyclists. Our study showed that the jawbone, as well as other facial bones, could act as shock absorbers, and their fracture could diminish energy transfer toward the skull and protect the brain and brainstem from injury.     

The Prosecution Service Function within the Croatian Criminal Justice System

The national criminal justice system of Croatia is described. Special attention is paid to the Prosecution Service Function within this framework and its relationship to police and courts. The article not only refers to legal provisions but to the factual handling of criminal cases as well.     

The Torturer's Dilemma: A Theoretical Analysis of the Societal Consequences of Torturing Terrorist Suspects

Terrorism today is one of the main threats to Western civilization. Almost as dire a threat is the fight against terrorism itself. A broad spectrum of antiterrorism measures may significantly change the nature of society by destroying those forms of cooperative activity that underlie Western culture. This threat becomes obvious with an analysis of mathematical models of human moral behavior.     

A Sultan's Children: Bosnian Jews in Two Major Newspapers of the Bosnian Vilayet: Bosna and Sarajevski Cvjetnik

This paper deals with the references to the Jewish community, its members and interests in Bosnia in official vilayet newspapers during the late Ottoman times until the Austro-Hungarian occupation in 1878. Two kinds of references can be discerned: ones related to the Jewish community in Bosnia, and the other referring to the community in Serbia. In this context, numerous questions of integration, language, education and state patronization are treated.     

Gang Membership and Mental Health During the Transition to Adulthood

Journal of Quantitative Criminology - There is an increasing understanding that mental health may be a collateral consequence of joining a gang. The objective of the present study is to assess the...     

Making local government work better: How local and internationally sponsored institutions interact to influence performance in Bosnia‐Herzegovina

Why has international investment into reforming local governance in post‐conflict societies produced mixed results? Drawing on new institutionalism, the authors expect reform outcomes, even of comprehensive assistance, to be shaped by the interaction between new and old rules, an interaction mediated by local elites. This expectation is explored in three pairs of comparable municipalities in Bosnia‐Herzegovina. Using data collected through field research and an original index of local government performance, we find that most municipalities achieved incremental improvements in performance between 2005 and 2010. Differences can be explained by the varying endurance of old informal rules that antagonistically coexist with and undermine internationally proposed rules, as well as by the varying strength of local opponents of reform. The implication is that more effective promotion of local government performance requires more attention to and a long‐term approach to minimizing the constraints posed by informal rules and local actors opposed to reform.