Cardiac tamponade caused by migration of a swallowed sewing needle

The case of a 20-year-old female prisoner who died due to cardiac tamponade caused by a swallowed sewing needle migration is reported. According to the autopsy report and complete analysis of medical records, the migration of the swallowed needle was reconstructed: from esophagus and stomach, through diaphragm and pericardium up to the left heart ventricle, where the needle was found at the autopsy. The case is very interesting and unique: there has been no similar case described in medical literature so far.     

Literature, Social Poetics, and Identity Construction in Montenegro

This article outlines the contested nature of identity in Montenegro and elaborates on its phases of development. It also problematizes the nature of the efforts to create mechanisms of civil society in contemporary Montenegro.     

Postmortem production of ethanol in different tissues under controlled experimental conditions

The aim of this study was to follow the postmortem ethanol production phenomenon under controlled experimental conditions (temperature, time interval) in different tissues. Specimens of blood, liver, skeletal muscle and kidney were taken from 30 corpses and no chemical preservatives were used in the specimens collected. Ethanol concentrations were detected by gas chromatography. All specimens stored at -20 degrees C and 4 degrees C did not show any change in ethanol concentration in an eight-day time interval. At 20 degrees C and 30 degrees C, all tissues, except blood, showed statistically significant ethanol production over the time interval tested. However, blood sample kept at 30 degrees C, showed statistically significant increase in ethanol production on the 2nd and 4th day comparing to the controls. Thus, we can state that postmortem ethanol production occurs in different tissues, and is increased at higher temperatures and, in general, it is in accordance with the course of time.     

Determination of polymorphism at eight STR loci in the Croatian population using automated detection

Population study was carried out on the sample of 167 unrelated donors from the wider area of the Croatia's capital, Zagreb, using the short tandem reapet (STR) loci: TH01, VWFA31, FES/FPS, F13A01, D1S1656, D12S391, D18S535 and D22S683.     

Introduction:New perspectives on China – Central and Eastern Europe relations

Asia Europe Journal -     

The Italo–Yugoslav Conflict over Albania: A View from Belgrade, 1919–1939

After the Great War, Yugoslavia found her most dangerous enemy in Italy, which made every effort to destabilise its Adriatic neighbour—Albania played an important role in this policy. This analysis examines the Yugoslav stance towards aggressive Italian policy, arguing that Belgrade firmly believed it a matter of utmost importance to prevent the Italians from creating a foothold in the Balkans from which they could stir Albanian irredentism in Kosovo and menace Yugoslavia in its strategically sensitive southern regions in conjunction with Bulgaria. To prevent Italian interference, Yugoslavia championed the independence of Albania with its 1913 frontiers from the Paris Peace Conference onwards: it dropped Serbia’s—Yugoslavia’s pre-war predecessor’s—territorial ambitions centred on the town of Shkodra. Yugoslav policy-makers, however, could not maintain the allegiance of Ahmed-bey Zogu, a major Albanian chieftain, who took power in Tirana with Yugoslav support; but he then turned to Rome, which was more capable of and willing to provide financial means for the maintenance of the Albanian administration than Belgrade. There were also a number of officials who favoured a more forward policy that would put northern Albania under Yugoslavia’s control and thus more efficiently keep Italian aggressive designs in check.