Clinical and forensic examinations of glycemic marker 1,5-anhydroglucitol by means of high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Postmortem diagnosis of diabetes and a diabetic coma can be difficult because of the lack of characteristic morphological findings. 1,5-Anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG), the 1-deoxy form of glucose, competes with glucose for reabsorption in the kidneys. Therefore, diabetics with a permanent hyperglycemia show significantly lower serum concentrations of 1,5-AG than non-diabetics. A liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric method for the determination of 1,5-AG in serum and postmortem blood was developed and validated according to international guidelines. Linearity was given between 1μg/ml and 50μg/ml. Recovery rates ranged between 70.8% and 89.8%, the limit of quantification of the procedure was 0.20μg/ml, limit of quantification was 0.55μg/ml. Serum of 199 diabetics and 116 non-diabetics and femoral blood of 31 diabetic and 27 non-diabetic deceased was measured. Average concentrations were significantly (p<0.001) higher in non-diabetics compared to diabetics ante and postmortem. Seven of the diabetics may have died because of a hyperglycemic coma indicated by a sum formula of Traub>450mg/dl. 1,5-AG average concentrations in these deceased were not significantly different to diabetics which did not die because of a diabetic coma. Concentrations of 1,5-AG give a hint for not well controlled diabetes antemortem and postmortem and can be assumed as an additional and alternative information postmortem to the measurement of HbA1c or fructosamine.     

Fatal tolperisone poisoning: autopsy and toxicology findings in three suicide cases

Tolperisone (Mydocalm) is a centrally acting muscle relaxant with few sedative side effects that is used for the treatment of chronic pain conditions. We describe three cases of suicidal tolperisone poisoning in three healthy young subjects in the years 2006, 2008 and 2009. In all cases, macroscopic and microscopic autopsy findings did not reveal the cause of death. Systematic toxicological analysis (STA) including immunological tests, screening for volatile substances and blood, urine and gastric content screening by GC-MS and HPLC-DAD demonstrated the presence of tolperisone in all cases. In addition to tolperisone, only the analgesics paracetamol (acetaminophen), ibuprofen and naproxen could be detected. The blood ethanol concentrations were all lower than 0.10 g/kg. Tolperisone was extracted by liquid-liquid extraction using n-chlorobutane as the extraction solvent. The quantification was performed by GC-NPD analysis of blood, urine and gastric content. Tolperisone concentrations of 7.0 mg/l, 14 mg/l and 19 mg/l were found in the blood of the deceased. In the absence of other autopsy findings, the deaths in these three cases were finally explained as a result of lethal tolperisone ingestion. To the best of our knowledge, these three cases are the first reported cases of suicidal tolperisone poisonings.     

Family Closeness and Domestic Abuse Among Caribbean and South American Women in South Florida

This paper focuses on the importance of family member closeness as a protective factor against domestic abuse. We explore the link between long-lasting relations within the family and intra-familial violence perpetrated against women in Latino households in South Florida. We use data from an Inter-generational Transmission of Drug Use between Latina Mothers and Daughters (ITDMD) study. The study includes data on family relations and domestic abuse. We estimate a series of multivariate regressions to obtain the probability of abuse against women, the types of abuse inflicted and the relationship with the abusers. Our results indicate that among abused women, the effects of long-lasting relations within the family differ depending on the type of relationship between the abuser and the victim and the degree of closeness the victim feels towards other family members. Given these findings, there is a need to further study family relations and abuse in Latino households.     

Globalization through the Lens of Palace Wars: What Elite Lawyers' Careers Can and Cannot Tell Us about Globalization of Law

Yves Dezalay and Bryant Garth's three studies—Dealing in Virtue (1996), The Internationalization of Palace Wars (2002), Asian Legal Revivals (2010)—trace the globalization of law through “palace wars” among elites for positions in the “fields of state power.” They conclude that globalization occurs through links among elites engaged in their domestic palace wars, which independently establish the symbolic power of law in each state. The article argues that while Dezalay and Garth provide an invaluable new starting point for further research, they do not adequately consider an emerging field of research documenting alternative pathways of legal development pursued by local activists inside and outside the new states of the Global South.     

Detecting Feigned PTSD Using the Personality Assessment Inventory

Research generally supports the use of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey 1991) to detect feigned PTSD, although this support has been somewhat mixed. There is also evidence that coaching individuals on the presence of PAI validity indicators may not affect their ability to avoid detection as feigners (Bagby et al. in Journal of Personality Assessment 78:69–86, 2002), although this question has not been specifically addressed with regard to PTSD. Additionally, a new PAI validity indicator, the Negative Distortion Scale (NDS), was developed that may have utility in detecting feigned PTSD, but this has not been tested. The purpose of this study was to further test the operating characteristics of the PAI validity indicators to detect feigned PTSD among naïve and coached respondents and to examine the newly developed NDS for this purpose. Individuals with genuine PTSD were compared to individuals instructed to feign PTSD on PAI validity indicators. Results suggest that: (a) coaching had minimal influence on the ability of the PAI to detect feigned PTSD, (b) the PAI validity indicators all significantly differentiated genuine from feigned PTSD, and (c) the NIM and NDS indicators were particularly effective for detecting feigned PTSD.     

TOPICAL ISSUES IN CROSS BORDER DISCOVERY： RECONCILING PERSONAL DATA REGULATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL GUIDELINES

This article will consider the following questions： What is the current state of the European data privacy and transfer regime？ What are the challenges the regime is facing and what are the modifications being considered to address them？ What role can the Sedona Conference play in reconciling personal data regulations and cross border discovery？ We will explore the following critical issues： 1. The position taken by the European Commission （EC） in its proposed General Data Protection Regulation （2012） that the current regime, as embodied in the European Union （EU） Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC, has not fully achieved the harmonization of its member state＇s legal systems that was originally envisioned; 2. How the regime can adapt to the challenges and be driven by dynamic legal, technological and economic environments？ The paper will conclude by examining key provisions of the EC＇s proposed regulation within the context of the Sedona Conference＇s International Principles and offer recommendations on implementation.     

Measuring the autonomous influence of an international bureaucracy: the Division for Sustainable Development

International bureaucracies influence global governance processes as independent agents. Biermann and Siebenhüner (Managers of global change: the influence of international environmental bureaucracies. MIT Press, Cambridge, 2009) have developed an analytical framework to measure and explain the degree of autonomous influence of bureaucracies. We test the validity of the causal claims in the framework by applying it to the Division for Sustainable Development, the bureaucracy that services the Commission on Sustainable Development and compare the results with existing applications of the framework to the United Nations Environmental Program and the Climate Secretariat (UNFCCC). The test shows that the framework is comprehensive and captures the main elements of bureaucratic influence. The structure of the explanatory variables, however, as well as some causal claims, needs to be improved. For instance, the framework includes too many explanatory variables, and interplay between the variables is not taken into account. The article suggests five concrete measures to improve the framework by, for example, creating protocols, collapsing variables, and introduce weightings to the variables.     

Positive Effects in Detecting Lies from Training to Recognize Behavioral Anomalies

We examined whether training in both the verbal and nonverbal indicators of truth telling and lying would have positive effects on Law Enforcement Officers’ (LEOs) ability to evaluate truths from lies. College course-level training on empirically validated verbal and nonverbal indicators of truth telling and lying was provided to mid- to advanced-career level LEOs, whose accuracy in detecting lies from truths was assessed pre- and post-training using truthful and deceptive videos of mock crimes and opinions. A marginally significant truth bias existed at pre-test; training, however, resulted in a significant improvement in accuracy rates for both truth and lie videos, and the truth bias that existed at pre-test was eliminated. Additional analyses indicated that accuracy rates improved for videos of mock crimes but not for opinions. These findings add to a small but growing literature that indicates that training on validated verbal and nonverbal indicators of truth telling and lying has positive benefits.     

Managing children's and adolescents' medical complaints amid parent conflict: Strategies and tools for professionals

Children and adolescents who are having difficulty coping with stress often present with complaints of physical discomfort. Effective treatment approaches exist for many of these issues. Among high-conflict parents, however, children's medical issues can become another canvas for conflict, with parents focused more on blaming one another for the child's distress than on options for assisting the child. Professionals can be drawn into the conflict to such a degree that they overlook essential steps for addressing and managing these issues. The authors present a research-informed model for managing medical and psychophysiological issues amid parental conflict.