Nitrous Oxide Determination in Postmortem Biological Samples: A Case of Serial Fatal Poisoning in a Public Hospital*

Abstract: In a public hospital, eight cases of fatal poisoning by nitrous oxide (N₂O) occurred under oxygen administration, due to an erroneous swapping of the lines in the gas system. The aim of the study was to clarify the factors involved in asphyxia by characterizing gases from different lines and measuring N₂O concentrations in postmortem biological samples from bodies exhumed. Analyses carried out on the gas system confirmed the erroneous substitution of O₂ line with N₂O and air line with O₂. Consequently, high N₂O amounts were revealed in several tissues and gaseous biological samples. All specimens were analyzed by headspace gas chromatography technique. A rigorous quantitative analysis was possible only in blood (11.29–2152.04 mg/L) and urine (95.11 mg/L) and in air samples from stomach and trachea (from 5.28 to 83.63 g/m³). This study demonstrates that N₂O can be detected in biological samples even 1 month after death.     

Family farming in Brazil: evolution between the 1996 and 2006 agricultural censuses

This article compares the main findings of Brazilian agricultural census data of 1996 with the same of 2006 by applying the methodology known as ‘FAO/INCRA’ (Food Agriculture Organization/Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária) which allows the characterization of family farms in relation to the total universe of farms. In this comparison several variables are shown, including the share of family farming in the total value of production, in the total number of farms, utilization of modern technology and partial factor productivity. Census data shows that family farming has changed from 37.91 percent of total production value to 36.11 percent during a decade of strong expansion of agriculture as a whole, demonstrating the economic relevance of this segment which, besides producing food, is integrated in the most important productive agricultural chains of the Brazilian agribusiness. Family farming is a heterogeneous segment, with different sub-segments. During the studied period of ten years the most rich of these sub-segments (A) has increased participation in total production, while the poorer sub-segments (C and D) have only grown in absolute terms without a corresponding increase in production.     

Rebels-Turned-Narcos? The FARC-EP’s Political Involvement in Colombia’s Cocaine Economy

Abstract

According to the ‘rebels-turned-narcos’ premise, increasing involvement in the illicit drug industry causes insurgent groups to lose sight of their political aims, as they shift their focus to profit-making. The (former) Colombian rebel group, the FARC-EP, became a paragon for this idea. Drawing on primary research, we argue that the FARC-EP’s involvement in the illicit drug economy was itself political. Their involvement included governance activities, which are by their very nature political. Furthermore, these activities formed part of the FARC-EP’s political project, aimed at ensuring the reproduction of the peasant smallholder economy. Our argument challenges the rebels-turned-narcos premise more broadly by showing why involvement in the illicit drug economy, on its own, is insufficient evidence to posit the depoliticization of an insurgent group.     

The hybrid role of the High Representative in the security and defence field: more in 10 months than in the 10 years?

ABSTRACT

Despite a growing “momentum” on European Union (EU) security and defence, there are no academic analyses that aim to systematically assess the role of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission (HR/VP) in these strategic domains. This is surprising given that the HR/VP is one of the central actors in the complex institutional architecture of EU security and defence. To fill this gap in the scholarly literature and to contribute to a more fine-grained analysis of the two post-Lisbon Treaty HR/VPs, the article assesses Ashton and Mogherini’s mandates in these fields. This study is particularly relevant because the HR/VP’s hybrid institutional role may represent a unique analytical angle to investigate a formally intergovernmental sector, strongly shaped also by EU institutions’ authority over defence-industrial policy. Following these considerations, the article looks at how the two HR/VPs managed to navigate both the military and the defence-industrial dimensions of EU security and defence.     

A Struggle for Power: Al Nusra and Al Qaida in Syria

Abstract

Relying on interviews with members of the organization, the article argues (contrary to the prevailing view) that Al Nusra never split from Al Qaida and even more so from the global jihadist movement. Instead the leadership of Al Nusra was locked in a power struggle with Al Qaida over the control of jihad in Syria and possibly even over the future of Al Qaida itself. Efforts to unify the Syrian opposition, even those limited to jihadist groups, failed also because of the leadership of Al Nusra kept trying to co-opt other opposition groups, rather than forming alliances with them.     

Factitious disorder comorbid with bipolar I disorder. A case report

We describe a case of factitious disorder with physical and psychological symptoms comorbid with bipolar I disorder in a 37-year-old woman. Since the onset of bipolar disorder, which occurred at the age of 31, she increasingly complained of physical symptoms, compulsively seeking medical and surgical interventions. She has been hospitalised several times and her Munchausen-type factitious disorder recently appeared to be developing into Munchausen by proxy, involving her 11-year-old daughter. The patient adhered poorly to stabilising and antipsychotic drug treatment and did not improve through the years. We here analyse her mood phases, which were always associated with changes in the quality of factitious symptoms, according to whether the disorder was in its depressive phase (somatic complaints and suicidal ideation prevail), or in its manic or mixed phase (medical intervention-seeking and manipulation of clinicians to obtain surgical interventions). We also briefly discuss some important forensic issues to consider in similar cases, mainly stemming from the psychotic aspects of these two co-occurring disorders. Clinicians should be aware of some patients' ability to produce signs and symptoms of physical and/or psychological illness and consult psychiatrists before giving consent to invasive diagnostic procedures or surgery.