Not ‘by those old books of international law,but only by war’: Ottoman Intellectuals on the Eve of the Great War

Prevailing understanding of the Ottoman entry into Word War I has focused on the role of Enver Pasha and the so-called pro-German faction in the Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). This article examines Ottoman views on international relations and the future of the Ottoman Empire in contemporary Ottoman publications. The article concludes that substantial parts of Ottoman society viewed war in 1914 not only as an acceptable course of action, but as a morally justified, potentially liberating, and unifying experience for many Ottomans. Ottoman views, therefore, form part of a much wider non-Western response to Western expansion, and Ottoman entry into World War I is best understood as a reaction against the international system which the Ottoman leaders thought had betrayed them.     

Islam in Europe: Quest for a Paradigm

Mr. Malik, a journalism fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMFUS), has returned from fieldwork in six West European countries to write a book on the outlook for Islam in the West. The GMFUS is an independent U.S. foundation created to deepen understanding, promote collaboration and stimulate exchanges of practical experience between Americans and Europeans.     

Multivariate Comparison of Male and Female Adolescent Substance Abusers with Accompanying Legal Problems

Purpose

The factors that distinguish adolescent male and female substance abusers with and without legal problems were investigated.

Method

Youths (N = 4,071) admitted for substance abuse treatment were administered the revised Drug Use Screening Inventory (DUSI-R) to measure severity of health, behavior, and social adjustment problems.

Results

Legal problems were more frequent among boys; however, severity of disturbance was greater in girls on 9 of 10 scales. Substance abusing girls and boys with legal problems reported more severe behavior, substance abuse, family adjustment, and peer relationship problems than substance abusing peers without legal problems. Quality of peer relationship mediated the association of family dysfunction, substance abuse and behavior problems with legal problems in boys only.

Conclusions

Gender and legal status both need to be taken into account to potentiate treatment prognosis of substance abusing youths.     

Marijuana But Not Alcohol Use During Adolescence Mediates the Association Between Transmissible Risk for Substance Use Disorder and Number of Lifetime Violent Offenses

Aim

This study determined the extent to which alcohol and marijuana use during adolescence mediates the relation between transmissible risk for substance use disorder (SUD) and lifetime number of different types of violent offenses.

Methods

The transmissible liability index was administered to 359 10-12 year old youths who were tracked to 22 years of age. Past year frequency of alcohol and marijuana consumption was longitudinally tracked to age 22 at which time lifetime violent offenses was recorded.

Results

Rate of increase in marijuana use mediated the association between transmissible risk and lifetime number of different types of violent offenses. No association was found between past year frequency of alcohol use and violent offenses.

Conclusions

Prevention directed at lowering the psychological characteristics associated with transmissible risk for SUD may also reduce violent offending.     

The forensic deaths caused by pesticide poisoning between the years 2006 and 2009 in Izmir, Turkey

Pesticide poisoning is still a significant health problem in Turkey. We conducted a retrospective study of autopsy cases at Izmir Branch of the Council of Forensic Medicine to describe the characteristics of deaths caused by pesticide poisoning between 2006 and 2009. The distributions of the cases according to gender and age were as follows: men 74.1% (n = 40, mean [±SD] age, 44.7 ± 14.1), women 25.9% (n = 14, mean [±SD] age, 39.2 ± 18.9). The majority of pesticide-poisoning deaths were suicides (n = 43, 80%) followed by accidents (n = 4, 8%) and homicide (n = 1, 2%). The manner of death could not be determined in six cases (11%). Suicides mostly occurred at home (n = 26, 63%) (p < 0.05). Methomyl was the most frequent pesticide (n = 9, 17%) among the all cases. This study reported that most of the pesticides found in poisoning cases were highly hazardous types. Combined efforts of medical professionals and law makers are needed for enacting strict laws against highly hazardous pesticides.     

Evaluation of Postmortem Cerebrospinal Fluid S100B Protein and Serotonin Levels: Comparison of Suicidal Versus Nonsuicidal Deaths in Konya,Turkey

Although suicide is a preventable public health problem, objective assays for suicide risk are limited. In this study, it was aimed to determine levels of S100B protein and serotonin as a marker for risk of suicide. S100B protein and serotonin levels were investigated with ELISA method in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in medicolegal autopsy cases, including those of suicide cases (n = 32) and nonsuicide cases (n = 56). The CSF S100B levels were higher (9.3 ± 2.9 ng/mL vs. 5.4 ± 2.0 ng/mL), and serotonin levels were lower (10.4 ± 4.9 ng/mL vs. 19.0 ± 5.7 ng/mL) in suicide group than nonsuicide group (p < 0.05). There was no correlation between S100B protein and serotonin levels with gender, age groups, postmortem interval, and cause of death. It is concluded that both S100B protein and serotonin in CSF may be useful for determination of suicide risk.