Extensive Necrotic Purpura in Levamisole‐Adulterated Cocaine Abuse – A Case Report

Levamisole, which is used as an adulterated compound of cocaine, is currently being seen year after year in cocaine intoxication. For a few cases in the last decade, necrotic purpura and neutropenia after levamisole/cocaine intoxication have been described in the medical community. Herein, we present an original case of levamisole intoxication of a 40‐year‐old woman who smoked heroin and cocaine few during a month. She rapidly presented an extensive necrotic purpura of the nose, cheeks and extremities (lower and upper), and immunologic reactions (positive anti‐MPO and anti‐HNE). Levamisole was detected on hairs with ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. The case reports also a probable cocaine supplier deceit, which bring pure drug for hospital investigation after the intoxication of his client. The intoxicated woman had survived with several skin and chronic pain complications. That case recalls the knowledge about levamisole with a short review of the forensic literature.     

Mental disorders and cognitive impairment in ageing offenders

The aim of our study was to identify psychiatric and cognitive disorders among older prison inmates and to investigate whether there is an association between mental disorders and cognitive impairment. 138 men aged 50 and over were recruited in seven French prisons (Group 1) and 138 men aged 50 and over were recruited from the general public (Group 2). Participants were assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, the Mini Mental State Examination, and the Frontal Assessment Battery. The results reveal very significant differences in the incidence of mental disorders and in cognitive performance between the two groups. However, there does not appear to be a significant link between mental disorders and cognitive performance. We discuss the risk factors for mental disorders and cognitive impairment. We raise particularly the issue of depression, which is the most common pathology in this population and which is generally associated with the risk of suicide.     

Immundefiziente Labortiere im System des Tierschutzrechts

Natur und Recht - Zucht und Haltung immundefizienter Labortiere wurden bislang nicht als Tierversuch gewertet, soweit die Tiere mit an Sicherheit grenzender Wahrscheinlichkeit nicht aufgrund des...     

The Private Interests of Public Officials: Financial Regulation in the US Congress

Legislators' private financial holdings affect policy decisions. Due to financial self‐interest, we theorize that legislators whose personal investment portfolios include equities from firms affected by proposed policies vote for legislation that benefits those firms. We also theorize that legislators with greater personal exposure to equity investments support policies that benefit equities markets generally. We create a novel data set of legislators' personal stock investments and examine major congressional actions since the 1990s on financial deregulation and market intervention. US House members who own stocks in firms who benefit from financial deregulation vote for deregulation. House members with greater exposure to financial and automotive stocks support the financial and auto bailouts, respectively. General exposure to equities markets is also associated with support for key legislation boosting markets. The normative implications are significant, as legislators' private interests influence decisions in the public sphere.     

Commercializing academic research: a social network approach exploring the role of regions and distance

The Journal of Technology Transfer - Relationships between firms and universities have been centre stage for some time. However, empirical studies on firms contracting research to universities...     

Limits of diaspority in Central Asia: contextualizing Dungan's multiple belongings

This article shows different ways of defining, understanding and performing ‘diaspority’ in the border region of Kordai (Kazakhstan) and Tokmok (Kyrgyzstan). Taking the example of Dungan people, as the Sinophone Muslims are known in Central Asia, both academic and political definitions of the concept of ‘diaspora’ are compared. This ethnographic account problematizes Kazakhstani Shaanxi Dungan ‘diaspority’. Together with this, the political definitions of ‘diaspora’ are also analysed. I show that while in China and Kazakhstan the definitions of the Dungans as a ‘diaspora’ of ‘China’ are somewhat complementary, once the Shaanxi Dungan emic perspective is taken into account, this concept becomes rather problematic. The kinds of diaspority defined by the states involved are ways of implementing particular cultural hegemonies that legitimate the two political regimes analysed in this article. Concurrently, this dual diaspority is used by the Dungan people in distinct ways in defining their own identities. Nevertheless, I show in this article that the ‘Chinese card’ is not necessarily played by all Dungans. Moreover, there are some Dungans for whom ‘Chinese-ness’ is not even relevant.     

International socialization at the state and individual levels: mixed evidence from intellectual property

This article synthesizes the results of two quantitative analyses, one at a macro and the second at a micro level, to shed light on the process of international socialization. The first analysis examines the seeming adoption of intellectual property norms at the state level while the second looks at the internalization of similar norms at the individual decision maker level. Both pay special attention to foreign education and capacity-building courses as carriers of US norms to developing countries. By triangulating the results of these analyses, we develop a more nuanced view of international socialization processes than analyses centred at only one level. We provide clear evidence that institutionalization of foreign norms often takes place prior to individual persuasion rather than as a result of it. We show that different socialization types (acculturation and persuasion) and the transmission of different idea types (causal and normative beliefs) may simultaneously operate in opposing directions. These conclusions reveal a bias in previous studies that focussed at only one level of analysis and support calls for greater eclecticism in the levels of analysis.     

The International Monetary Fund,Party System Institutionalization,and Protest in Latin America

Extant studies have documented a positive correlation between country participation in International Monetary Fund–sponsored programs and collective protests in Latin America. However, anecdotal evidence indicates that there is a great deal of variation in the number of protests in recipient countries across the region. This article provides a theoretical argument that explains how the fund interacts with the level of party system institutionalization to affect the level of protest. The main prediction is that the level of protest decreases in recipient countries when the level of party system institutionalization is high. Empirical results from a sample of 16 Latin American democracies observed from 1982 to 2007 provide strong statistical and substantive support for the main hypothesis.     

Developing a new scoring method to evaluate human decomposition in a humid,continental (Dfb) climate in Quebec

The published literature shows a lack of methods to evaluate the patterns and extent of decomposition of human remains and to estimate the post-mortem interval (PMI) in humid, continental (Dfb) climates such as Quebec. The aim of this study was to address this gap in the current knowledge base by providing the first observations from human corpses studied under controlled conditions in Quebec. A 12-month study was conducted at the site for Research in Experimental and Social Thanatology; the first human taphonomy facility in Canada. Six human donors with known time of death were deposited across spring (n = 1), summer (n = 3), and autumn (n = 2) 2021. The lack of suitability of the total body score method to evaluate the extent of decomposition at the facility prompted the development of a new scoring system based on the macromorphoscopic changes observed. The scoring system was applied to the donors to evaluate decomposition throughout seasons. All donors followed comparable decomposition trajectories, regardless of the season of deposition. Eighty-five percent of taphonomic patterns appeared in the first 25 experimental days or 5000 Kelvin accumulated degree days (350 ADD). Extensive desiccation of tissues was observed at a median of 21 experimental days across donors, resulting in a plateau within decomposition with no extensive skeletonization. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first published report of experimentally observed desiccation in such a form in a Dfb climate. This study provides new data on the types of decomposition patterns to expect in forensic investigations in southern Quebec and comparable climates.     

The impact of lipid degradation on fingerprint quality on fired firearm cartridges

The recovery of identifiable fingerprints from fired cartridge cases is challenging. Therefore, the characterization of chemical modifications and their effects on fingerprint integrity post-firing is essential. In this study, the primary fingerprint lipids, including myristic acid, pentadecanoic acid, palmitoleic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, squalene, and cholesterol in fired and unfired cartridges, were extracted with acetonitrile, followed by derivatization using N,O-Bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide with 1% trimethylchlorosilane (BSTFA/1%TMCS). Squalane was used as the internal standard, and all quantifications were performed using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry using a triple-quadrupole mass filter. All lipids identified in the unfired cartridges were also detected in the fired cartridges, and statistical analysis using Student's t-test and F tests was performed with a 95% confidence level. The concentration of lipids in the unfired cartridges was found to be similar to that detected in the fired cartridges, except for squalene, the recovery of which was 28% lower in the fired cartridges.