Development of a harmonized method for the profiling of amphetamines. I. Synthesis of standards and compilation of analytical data

Reference material was synthesised for 21 substances that are frequently present as synthetic impurities, i.e. by-products, in illicitly produced amphetamine. Each of these substances is a typical by-product for at least one of the three approaches most often used to synthesise amphetamine, namely, the Leuckart, the reductive amination of benzyl methyl ketone, and the nitrostyrene routes. A large body of data on the substances was recorded, including the following: mass spectra, ultraviolet spectra, Fourier transform infrared spectra, infrared spectra in gas phase, and 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectra.     

Development of a harmonized method for the profiling of amphetamines. II. Stability of impurities in organic solvents

The present study focused on the stability of 22 amphetamine impurities dissolved in six organic solvents: isooctane, toluene, ethanol, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and diethyl ether. The aim was to find the most inert, and thereby most suitable, solvent for amphetamine profiling. Mixtures of the impurities were prepared in the different solvents, and changes in the concentrations of the individual compounds over-time were monitored by gas chromatographic analysis after 0, 4, 12, 24, 48, and 96 h. Isooctane and toluene provided the most inert conditions, although, a few of the impurities were insufficiently stable in these two solvents. The present experiments were performed as a part of the development of a harmonized method for profiling of amphetamine. The results can be used to support the choice of organic solvents for sample preparation. They also provide information about the stability of the impurities that are found in profiles of illicit amphetamine. This is essential due to the fact, that unstable compounds can have a negative influence on the comparison of profiles.     

Stability of drugs in stored postmortem femoral blood and vitreous humor

The stability of 46 drugs in postmortem femoral blood stored for one year at -20 degrees C was investigated. The drugs included benzodiazepines, antidepressants, analgetics and hypnotics. For seven drugs we found a significant change in the concentration between the first and second analysis. Five substances; ethanol, desmethylmianserin, 7-amino-nitrazepam, THC and zopiclone showed a decrease in the concentration whereas the concentrations of two substances; ketobemidone and thioridazine increased. However, the changes observed were not of such an order that it would affect the interpretation in normal forensic casework. We also investigated the possible influence of potassium fluoride on the concentrations of the 46 drugs in vitreous humor after storage for one year. For two substances, ethanol and zopiclone, there were significantly lower concentrations in the samples without potassium fluoride. Furthermore, we also studied the correlation between the concentrations in femoral blood and vitreous humor. For 23 substances there was a significant difference between the concentrations in the vitreous humor and femoral blood. Significant correlations between the concentrations in these two specimens were found for 23 substances, indicating that vitreous humor can be an alternative specimen when blood samples are not available, provided that such correlation exists for the particular substance. Statistical analysis also revealed a correlation between the degree of protein binding of the different drugs and percentage of vitreous/femoral blood concentrations.     

Fatal intoxications in a Swedish forensic autopsy material during 1992-2002

Compilations of substances detected in fatal intoxications are important in order to observe changes in intoxication patterns, to monitor effects of preventive work and to discover new trends in drug usage. The aim of the present study was to describe the current pattern of substances detected in fatal intoxications in Sweden. Fatal intoxications investigated at the Department of Forensic Chemistry, Link?ping, Sweden, during 1992-2002, were analysed. All suicides, uncertain cases and accidents where the cause of death were fatal intoxications (ICD-9: E950, E980 and E859) were included and substances detected in more than 50 fatal intoxications (in femoral blood) were listed. For each substance, a cut off value was set, above which concentrations were considered toxic. Fatal intoxications were detected by forensic-chemical analyses in 12% (6998/60,314) of the forensic autopsies during the study period. Among the suicides, an average of 3.8 substances were detected per case, the corresponding figure for uncertain cases and accidents were 3.5 and 4.1 substances, respectively. Ethanol was by far the most frequently detected substance, detected in 43% (3039) of the fatal intoxications, of which 32% (960) had toxic concentrations, followed by propoxyphene, detected in 27% (1863) of the fatal intoxications of which 74% (1370) had toxic concentrations. The number of cases where ethanol and propoxyphene were detected decreased during the study period. Moreover, other CNS-active drugs such as antidepressants, analgesics and anxiolytics were also frequently detected. The drugs with high proportions of cases with toxic concentrations detected were propoxyphene, amitriptyline, zolpidem, carisoprodol, alprazolam, thioridazine, methadone and ketobemidone. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and tricyclic antidepressants (TCA) were detected in 12% (833) and 10% (665), respectively. A significantly (P <0.001) higher proportion of cases where TCA were detected had toxic concentrations when compared with cases where SSRI were detected (64% versus 31%).     

Sudden death from saccular laryngeal cyst

Laryngeal cysts are benign, uncommon lesions of the larynx that have been reported on rare occasions to cause sudden death in infants and adults by acute airways obstruction. In this report, we document the sudden death of a 36-year-old woman from a previously undiagnosed, asymptomatic laryngeal saccular cyst that presented with acute, and consequent fatal, airway obstruction. Difficulty during intubation, both in theater and in emergency settings, is a frequent presenting problem. This can have significant medicolegal implications in determining possible negligence. The diagnosis, classification, and management of such cysts, and their importance to both the forensic pathologist and clinicians are discussed.     

Policy-Motivated Candidates,Noisy Platforms,and Non-Robustness

This paper develops a model of a two-candidate election inwhich the candidates are mainly office-motivated but also tosome (arbitrarily small) extent policy-motivated, and theirchosen platforms are to some (arbitrarily small) extent noisy.The platforms' being noisy means that if a candidate haschosen a particular platform, the voter's perception is thatshe has, with positive probability, actually chosen some otherplatform. It is shown that (i) an equilibrium in which thecandidates play pure exists whether or not there is aCondorcet winner among the policy alternatives, and (ii) inthis equilibrium the candidates choose their own favoriteplatforms, which means that the platforms do not converge.     

Political systems and distortions: An empirical study

This paper studies empirically why price distortions are more prevalent in some countries than in others. We find no significant difference between democracies and dictatorships, but frequent regime changes reduce distortions. Political systems (factional-subordinate) that encourage redistributive activities (RDA) tend to have more distortions. Allowing for different effects of RDA in democracies and dictatorships, there is a positive and significant effect of RDA on distortions in dictatorships. In democracies, “distortions-destroying” lobbying seems more important since no significant relation between RDA and distortions can be found.     

Future generations as rightholders

Many people believe that we have obligations with respect to future generations concerning the state of the environment that we pass on to them. Apart from the practical problem of people not really acting on such beliefs, there are also conceptual or philosophical issues that make these obligations problematic. The so-called non-identity problem is especially difficult: depending on which courses of action we adopt, different people will be born in the future, which means that even future people who due to our behavior will live under fairly poor circumstances might not have any ground for complaint. Had we not behaved as we did, they would not even have existed. It is argued here that, at least within a rights-theoretical approach, the non-identity problem can be solved by moving from considering individual rights to generational rights, rights which future generations hold qua generations.     

Dynamics of regime personalization and patron–client networks in Russia, 1999–2014

Many comparative scholars classify personalist regimes as a distinct category of nondemocratic rule. To measure the process of regime personalization, and to distinguish such a process from overall authoritarian reversal, is difficult in comparative context. Using the Russian political regime in 1999–2014 as a case study, we examine the dynamics of regime personalization over time. Relying on original data on patron–client networks and expert surveys assessing the policy influence of the key members of the ruling coalition, we argue that having more clients, or clients who are more powerful, increases the power of patrons – and that where the patron is the ruler, the resulting measure is an indication of the level of personalization of the regime. We trace regime personalization from the changes in political influence of the president's associates in his patron–client network versus that of other elite patron–client networks. We find that as early as 2004, the Russian regime can be regarded as personalist, and is strongly so from 2006 onward.