Identification of alprazolam in hair in two cases of drug-facilitated incidents

The use of a drug to modify a person's behaviour for criminal gain is not a recent phenomenon. However, the recent increase in reports of drug-facilitated crimes (sexual assault, robbery) has caused alarm by the general public. Among the drugs that can be used, alprazolam (Xanax), an anxiolytic benzodiazepine, has been seldom observed. To document two cases involving this drug, we have developed an approach based on hair testing by LC-MS/MS. After pH 8.4 buffer incubation and extraction with methylene chloride/diethyl ether (80/20, v/v), hair extracts were separated on a XTerra MS C18 column using a gradient of acetonitrile and formate buffer. Alprazolam and diazepam-d5, used as internal standard, were detected by electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. In the first criminal case, alprazolam tested positive in two consecutive 2 cm hair segments at 4.9 and 2.4 pg/mg, from a 12-year-old girl, assaulted by her father who had sedated her three or four times. In the other case, alprazolam was detected in four consecutive 1cm hair segments at 3.1-0.4 pg/mg, obtained from an adolescent who had been forced to prostitute herself.     

Women's response to intimate partner violence

The responses of women to a situation of abuse by their partner has hardly been addressed in the literature. Using a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire, 400 women attending three practices in a primary health care center in Granada (Spain) were studied. The women's response to abuse was used as a dependent variable. Sociodemographics, intensity, duration, and combination of the types of abuse were used as independent variables. Lifetime prevalence of any type of partner abuse was 22.8%. Of abused women, 68% showed an active response, attempting to resolve the situation mainly through separation (58.2%). The factors independently associated with a woman's active response were being separated, widowed, or divorced; reporting a greater intensity of abuse; and being younger than age 35 years. The results of this study show that a large majority of abused women in Spain try to resolve their situation, and that they are not passive victims.     

Development of a capillary zone electrophoresis method including a factorial design and simplex optimisation for analysis of amphetamine, amphetamine analogues, cocaine, and heroin

A capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method was developed for the analysis of amphetamine and 13 amphetamine analogues. A full factorial design was used to screen for important design variables (i.e. carrier electrolyte concentration, pH, and separation temperature), and a modified simplex was employed in a final optimisation step. The resolution values of the target compounds were used as responses in the screening and optimisation phases. This approach made it possible to control the effects of the design variables on the separation of the target compounds. The best results were obtained using a 100mM Tris/phosphate buffer (pH 3.1) at a separation temperature of 10 degrees C, and the analysis time was 23 min under these conditions. After slight modification, the method also enabled baseline resolution of the most commonly encountered amphetamine derivatives, as well as cocaine and heroin, within 7 min. There was a linear relationship between peak area and concentration for all substances, with correlation coefficients in the range of 0.9975-0.9999. Moreover, the technique was repeatable and exhibited relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) values in the ranges of 0.01-0.11% and 0.54-1.60% for relative migration time and corrected peak area, respectively. Lastly, the method was successfully applied to analyse street samples.     

Y-chromosome STRs in an Antioquian (Colombia) population sample

Haplotype data were obtained from a sample of 777 unrelated male individuals from Antioquia Department (Colombia), for eight Y-chromosome STRs (DYS19, DYS385, DYS389 I, DYS389 II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392 and DYS393). A total of 442 different haplotypes were identified of which 334 were represented only once in the database and the most frequent haplotype was found in 32 individuals. A high haplotype diversity was found (99.45%). Genetic distances were calculated using previously published haplotype data and the lowest values were found for the comparisons with samples of lberian origin.     

Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA quantification of various forensic materials

Due to the different types and quality of forensic evidence materials, their DNA content can vary substantially, and particularly low quantities can impact the results in an identification analysis. In this study, the quantity of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA was determined in a variety of materials using a previously described real-time PCR method. DNA quantification in the roots and distal sections of plucked and shed head hairs revealed large variations in DNA content particularly between the root and the shaft of plucked hairs. Also large intra- and inter-individual variations were found among hairs. In addition, DNA content was estimated in samples collected from fingerprints and accessories. The quantification of DNA on various items also displayed large variations, with some materials containing large amounts of nuclear DNA while no detectable nuclear DNA and only limited amounts of mitochondrial DNA were seen in others. Using this sensitive real-time PCR quantification assay, a better understanding was obtained regarding DNA content and variation in commonly analysed forensic evidence materials and this may guide the forensic scientist as to the best molecular biology approach for analysing various forensic evidence materials.     

Suicide by inhalation of carbon monoxide in a residential fire

Fire deaths are usually accidental, but atypical cases of homicide or suicide have been described. In suicide by fire, the only method reported by several authors consists of self-immolation. We present here the unusual case of an adult female who committed suicide by waiting in the living room after setting fire to her bedroom. The autopsy revealed smoke inhalation and the toxicological analysis revealed carboxyhemoglobin levels of 67%. Very few cases of suicide by fire not of the self-immolation type have been reported, and all have been anecdotal. A review of the literature is presented and a new term, "suicide by inhalation of carbon monoxide in a fire," is proposed for such cases.     

Overview of ecofiscal powers for municipalities: Implementation of new measures in Québec

A variety of taxes, charges and user fees deployed by municipalities can mitigate the negative impact of activities and infrastructures on the environment while diversifying revenue sources. Existing studies on ecofiscal instruments in Canadian municipalities, however, have focused primarily on the pricing of water and waste material while neglecting other environmental issues and the potential of taxes and regulatory charges. This article presents a picture of municipal ecotaxation in Québec and includes four new instruments crafted by Québec municipalities.     

The social construction of the legitimacy of Christian healing in Abidjan

ABSTRACT

Based on ethnographic work conducted recently in the city of Abidjan where religious pluralism and medical pluralism intersect, this paper lays out the foundations of Christian healing legitimacy as perceived by some key stakeholders. Against the background of the legal recognition of biomedicine and traditional medicine which with religious healing constitute the three major healing systems in Abidjan, the paper explores the anchorages of the legitimacy of Christian healing which lacks such explicit legal backing. Data are collected through semi-structured interviews of about 240 religious practitioners, medical professionals and beneficiaries of Christian therapies in the city of Abidjan. The major theoretical framework of this paper is the Weberian theory of the triple sources of legitimation complemented with historical and political economy approaches which attempt to link the development and functioning of therapeutic systems in Côte d’Ivoire with broader political, economic and historical processes. The main argument is that Ivoirians construct the legitimacy of alternative therapies in general, and religious therapies in particular, by building on the perceived limits of biomedicine, and its inability to respond to all their therapeutic needs. From a medical pluralism perspective, the pluralisation of offers signals the plurality of needs which has determined in our Ivoirian ethnographic context the appropriation of biomedicine, the resilience of traditional medicine and the current rise of Christian healing.     

B: Reviews and notes: bibliographies and works of reference

WORLD SURVEY OF ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPTS, Volumes III and IV. General editor: Geoffrey Roper. London, Al‐Furqaan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 1994. 716 pp. and 489 pp.

MANUSCRIPTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST: A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF HANDWRITTEN MATERIALS OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND RELATED SUBJECTS, Volume 6 (1992). Edited by François Déroche, Adam Gacek and Jan Just Witkam. Leiden, Ter Lugt Press, 1994. 164 pp. illustrations, facsimiles.

A DICTIONARY OF THE ARABIC MATERIAL OF S. D. GOITEIN'S A MEDITERRANEAN SOCIETY. By Werner Diem and Hans‐Peter Radenberg. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1994. xvi, 241 pp.

GUIDE TO SCHOLARS OF THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF CENTRAL ASIA. Compiled by John S. Schoeberlein‐engel. (Research Publications of the Harvard Central Asia Forum, 1.) Cambridge (USA), Harvard Central Asia Forum, sponsored by Center for Middle Eastern Studies & Russian Research Center, Harvard University, 1995. 313 pp. $15.

OMAN. Compiled by Frank A. Clements. (World Bibliographical Series, Volume 29, revised edition.) Oxford, Clio Press, 1994. xxii, 346 pp. Map. £52.