Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this issue. Carlos Eduardo Poggio Teixeira, Brazil, the United States, and the South American Subsystem: Regional Politics and the Absent Empire. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2014. Abbreviations, bibliography, index, 169 pp.; hardcover $80, paperback $36.99, ebook $22.07. Matthew E. Carnes, Continuity Despite Change: The Politics of Labor Regulation in Latin America. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2014. Tables, figures, bibliography, index, 256 pp.; hardcover $65. Tasha Fairfield, Private Wealth and Public Revenue in Latin America: Business Power and Tax Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Figures, tables, acronyms, appendixes, bibliography, index, 364 pp.; hardcover $99, ebook $79. Eduardo Moncada, Cities, Business, and the Politics of Urban Violence in Latin America. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2016. Bibliography, index, 248 pp.; hardcover $65, ebook. Teri L. Caraway, María Lorena Cook, and Stephen Crowley, eds., Working Through the Past: Labor and Authoritarian Legacies in Comparative Perspective. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2015. Photographs, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index, 296 pp.; hardcover $79.95, paperback $27.95. Elin Skaar, Camila Gianella Malca, and Trine Eide, After Violence: Transitional Justice, Peace, and Democracy. New York: Routledge, 2015. Figures, tables, index, 232 pp.; hardcover $145, paperback $54. David A. Steinberg, Demanding Devaluation: Exchange Rate Politics in the Developing World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2015. Illustrations, figures, tables, appendix, notes, bibliography, index, 288 pp.; hardcover $45. UN Women, Progress of the World's Women 2015–16: Transforming Economies, Realizing Rights. New York: United Nations, 2015. Figures, tables, maps, notes, index, bibliography, 342 pp.; web version, http://progress.unwomen.org/en/2015     

Fluorescence test to identify deep smokers

The lungs of deep smokers contain large numbers of alveolar macrophages with pigment granules in the cytoplasma that are demonstrable by means of fat stains and a distinct green-yellow inherent fluorescence at a wave length range of 350-450 nm. Systematic examinations to test the eluting effect of different solvents on the substances contained in the smoker cells revealed that only extraction in the polar solvent tetrahydrofurane and Folch's solution leads to a reduction of the inherent fluorescence of the pigment granules. Centrifugation of cell or tissue specimens of smoker lungs with Folch's solution results in the fluorescent substances passing into the chloroform phase of the extracting medium, which fluoresces milky-orange-green at a wave length of 366 nm under an ultraviolet lamp. As the fluorescence test is also independent of the degree of freshness of the corpse, extraction of the cell sediments of only a few milliliters of expressed lung tissue fluid or lung tissue mash allows to quickly establish a dead person's smoking habits to help identify the deceased.     

Fatal accidental mixed poisoning of 3 men at the same time]

The case history presented reports on three 30- to 40-years-old men, who were found dead in a party like situation in the living room. The toxicological investigation proved alcohol and THC as well as therapeutic Flunitrazepam- and Pentobarbital levels and toxic 7- Amino-Flunitrazepam concentrations. The background of this surprising scene led up to the conclusion of an accidental death caused by a mixed intoxication.