A fatal dichlorvos poisoning: concentrations in biological specimens

Abstract:  A 54-year-old man was found dead with a bottle containing a brownish fluid near him. A toxicological screening was carried out in blood, urine, and stomach content. Only dichlorvos (2,2 dichlorovinyl O-O dimethylphosphate or DDVP) was found. A simple and rapid method, using DDVP-D₆ as an internal standard, was developed for the determination of DDVP by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The method was linear from 1 to 10 mg/L. Intraday and interday precisions were all <15%. DDVP concentration in cardiac blood was approximately four times higher than in peripheral blood. A high concentration was found in the heart showing a cardiac tropism of DDVP, kidney and lung concentrations being much lower. No DDVP was found in liver. DDVP stomach content was 38 g. The amount presumed ingested was 82 g, c . 1000 mg/kg of body. The oral LD₅₀ for DDVP ranges between 20 and 1090 mg/kg in animals but is not known for humans.     

HAIRVEQ 2006: evolution of laboratories' performance after different educational actions

HAIRVEQ is a proficiency testing program for hair analysis of illicit drugs organized by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Rome, Italy) and the Institut Municipal d'Investigació Mèdica (Barcelona, Spain). The aim of the three exercises performed in 2006 was the evaluation of 32 laboratories' performance when analyzing the same hair sample containing opiates, cocaine and methadone, after carrying out some specific educational interventions. In the first round, the sample was sent to be analyzed following laboratory routine methodology. In the second round, standard operating procedures (SOP) for hair testing including sample preparation, method validation and qualitative and quantitative data evaluation, and an open hair sample for SOP training were also sent together with other hair samples including the one used for performance evaluation. After the second round, a workshop was held with participant laboratories to discuss methodological issues and interpretation of obtained results. An additional amount of open samples was distributed to the laboratories for implementing the SOPs. In the third round, the same unknown sample containing opiates, cocaine and methadone was resent for the final evaluation of laboratory performance. In the first round, 11 incorrect qualitative results (10 false negative and 1 false positive) were reported by seven laboratories (22%), in the second round, a reduction in the number of incorrect results was observed (4 false negatives and 1 false positive were reported by four laboratories, 13%) and in the third round, 5 false positives and 5 false negatives were reported by seven laboratories (22%). Concerning quantitative results, the scatter was similar between the three rounds and similar to the ones reported by other proficiency tests in hair analysis. More educational actions should be addressed to a group of laboratories, which did not yet show satisfying qualitative and quantitative results.     

Characterization of lesions in hanging deaths

Hanging is a common method of committing suicide and a routine task in medico-legal autopsies. The hanging mark is the most relevant external sign and its characteristics are well known, but, for unknown reasons, there are major differences in reports on internal findings. We retrospectively studied 228 consecutive cases of hanging deaths. A complete standard autopsy was performed for every case. We investigated the association between the characteristics of the hanging mark and the frequency of bone, cartilage, soft tissue, and vascular injuries with the mode of suspension. Most cases (75.3%) presented some kind of bone or cartilage fracture, but these were unrelated to any of the variables studied. Vascular lesions are clearly more infrequent: intimal injuries were found in the carotid artery (9.1%), the jugular vein (2.2%), and ruptures of the carotid adventitial layer (21.7%). These could be partially associated with the use of a hard fixed noose and body weight.     

Legal origin and intellectual property rights: an empirical study in the prerecorded music sector

This article aims at identifying differences in copyright protection in prerecorded music markets, and more specifically the impact of the legal system on the demand for original music CDs. To this end, we use a panel of 28 OECD countries in the period 1999–2005. After testing alternative specifications, our results show that differences in legal origin lead to differences in intellectual property rights enforcement. Our results also consistent with previous studies that find that common law countries have more secure property rights.

Making sense of ‘consent’ in a constrained environment

BackgroundThis project investigates patients' and practitioners' experiences and understandings of the consent process, as it is governed by the Mental Health Act in Great Britain.AimsWe aim to illuminate our respondents' experiences of the consent process, and to explore their attempts to make sense of that process.MethodSemi-structured interviews with 5 Responsible Medical Officers, and 7 of their consenting adult patients, were conducted at a medium-secure psychiatric hospital. We approached the analysis from the perspective of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.ResultsOur analysis begins with an account of some of the common phenomenological consequences of the consent process as our participants understand them, but then moves on to discuss some of the contextual constraints which are evident from their negotiation of these understandings.ConclusionsWe conclude by outlining a number of emergent issues relevant to the current development of new Mental Health legislation. These include: mechanisms to allow collaboration with user groups; a more consultative role for users in their own treatment decisions; formal training and support for those conducting competency assessments; and more flexible and transparent legislative frameworks.     

Distribution of Chemical Phenotypes (Chemotypes) in European Agricultural Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Cultivars

In Europe, more than 50 approved cultivars of fiber hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) are in agricultural production. Their content of psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is legally restricted to <0.2% (%w/w in the dry, mature inflorescences). Cannabis strains with much higher THC contents are also grown, illegally or under license for drug production. Differentiation between these two groups relies on biochemical quantification of cannabinoid contents in mature floral material. For nonflowering material or tissue devoid of cannabinoids, the genetic prediction of the chemical phenotype (chemotype) provides a suitable method of distinction. Three discrete chemotypes, depending on the ratio of THC and the noneuphoric cannabidiol (CBD), can be distinguished: a “THC-predominant” type, a “CBD-predominant” type, and an intermediate chemotype. We present a systematic genetic prediction of chemotypes of 62 agricultural hemp cultivars grown in Europe. The survey reveals the presence of up to 35% B_T allele-carrying individuals (representing either a THC-predominant or an intermediate chemotype) in some cultivars—which is unexpected considering the legal THC limit of 0.2% THC. The fact that 100% of the seized drug-type seeds in this study revealed at least one B_T allele, reflects that plant breeding efforts have resulted in a fixation of the B_T allele in recreational Cannabis. To guarantee a sincere forensic application based on a genetic chemotype prediction, we recommend not to classify material of unknown origin if the samples size is below nine genetically independent individuals.     

Sources,Recognition and the Unity of the Legal System

A critical analysis of Kelsen’s theory leads to a broad concept of custom, which covers diverse types of customary norms, where the always required conviction of legal bindingness depends on different types of factual and normative reasons. In it we should include a strict concept of custom or legal usage, derogating custom, custom of general international law, custom that establishes an unwritten constitution, custom that establishes a new written constitution, judicial custom which creates a rule of precedent and custom newly expressed in the judicial application of customary rules. The basic norm could be formulated as a constitutive norm: ‘If the norms created through the first historical constitution are effective, then the first historical constitution (and all the norms derived from it) are valid.’ It is thus a customary constitutive rule that recognizes the first historical constitution as valid law. Norms which establish sources of law are constitutive rules, they can be customary norms or legislated norms, but if they are legislated, they have their validity recognized by, directly or indirectly, a constitutive customary norm. By using a broad concept of custom as a conventional practice, Hart implies that general recognition of a customary rule, together with the practice that accompanies it, are sufficient conditions of validity. A doctrine of recognition that is arrived at by means of criticism and a rational reconstruction of the doctrines of Kelsen and Hart regains the essential theses of the traditional recognition theory of Bierling and Engisch.

     

Rationality and/as Reasonableness Within Formal-Theoretical and Practical-Dialectical Approaches to Adjudication: Semiotic and Normative Perspectives

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - Rationality and reasonableness can be illustrated as Janus-faced concepts, not only in a...     

Narrating a Global Crisis from Guayaquil in Real Time: Early Literary Responses to the COVID-19 Outbreak in Latin America

This article identifies and provides initial insight into the early literary responses to the COVID-19 outbreak in Latin America. It focuses on the case of Guayaquil, the epicentre of the pandemic in Ecuador, to examine how writers responded to the health emergency in real time by using online platforms. I argue that, while the virus was spreading, the death toll was rising, and the lockdown was at its most severe, a body of writing deeply engaged with the crisis was taking shape in digital outlets. Its study enables a uniquely contextual understanding of the global crisis from a Latin American perspective.     

What Predicts Pre-adolescent Compliance with Family Rules? A Longitudinal Analysis of Parental Discipline,Procedural Justice,and Legitimacy Evaluations

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - During adolescence, individuals make judgements on the legitimacy of authorities to make and enforce rules and they differentiate between various types of rules....