Comparative histologic and hormonal studies of the thyroid gland with special reference to sudden infant death (SIDS)

In 53 cases of death - including 12 cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) - where blood samples could be taken within 18 h postmortem, the thyroxines T4, FT4, T3 and FT3 were determined (ELISA and RIA). These hormone values were compared with the corresponding histological thyroid findings in 43 cases (11 SIDS, 32 controls). Nearly identical T4 and FT4 mean values were found in both groups which were within the norms. In contrast to the average values of the control group, the T3 and FT3 concentrations of the SIDS group showed an increase of 3.7-fold and 1.9-fold. Accordingly, histological examination of the SIDS group showed highly activated and extensively released follicles whereas normal colloidal-containing follicle structures were observed in nearly all control cases. The present findings indicate that neither postmortem T4 T3 conversion nor intensified agonal hormone secretion is likely to be the only cause of the increasing T3 and FT3 values. In SIDS cases chronic or recurring chronic stress situations are supposed to be the cause for the hormonal and histological thyroid findings. Some differential diagnoses are discussed. Within 18 h after death, increased concentrations of T3 and FT3, together with simultaneous colloid release, represent a diagnosis of SIDS.     

Ethics and the psychiatric determination of competency to be executed

For the last several centuries, most jurisdictions using capital punishment have had formal or informal rules that prohibit the execution of the mentally ill. In this article, the procedures for such exclusions in Florida are examined. The article begins by attempting to answer the question of why legislators and judges, at least nominally, have prohibited the execution of the mentally ill. Next, Florida's criteria for defining and procedures for excluding mentally ill prisoners are examined and found to be vague. We then turn attention to the ethical problems created by the statute and its implementation that face the participating psychiatrists and the profession. These problems are compounded because the physician's findings are not acted upon by politically neutral authorities and the inmate has no opportunity to challenge the findings with his own panel of experts. Finally, since any exclusion of the mentally ill from execution is temporary and the patient will be executed if he recovers, the dilemmas facing the treatment staff if the death sentence is not commuted to life imprisonment before treatment are discussed.     

The Auction Price of Apartments in Moscow: Hedonic Estimation in Disequilibrium1

The purpose of this paper is to see how economic factors determine prices in the previously communist countries undergoing privatization. This does not concern the auctions of big state enterprises where the prices are found to be rigged. In this paper we estimate hedonic price functions based on a unique data set on auction prices of apartments in Moscow. We collected the data ourselves by attending the auctions and gathered data on the characteristics. We estimated the hedonic equations using a disequilibrium approach because no equilibrium prices were observed for large number of apartments that were withdrawn from the auction. We found that, as the privatization of residential housing was carried out, the hedonic price equations fit the data remarkably well.     

Chloroquine distribution in postmortem cases

Chloroquine concentrations in blood and tissues were examined in overdose and non-overdose cases to determine appropriate ranges for interpretation. Twenty-nine literature overdose cases and 8 non-overdose literature cases were compared with this laboratory's findings. The results indicate significant postmortem redistribution of chloroquine. Combining this laboratory's results and the literature results indicates that using a liver concentration of 150 mg/kg as a cutoff between overdose and non-overdose concentrations properly identified 30 of the 34 published cases containing liver chloroquine and 19 of the 20 presented cases.     

Navigating the currents of change

The river twisted and shrank above the beaver ponds. It neared a mountain. It was small and quiet here, full of snake-bends, oxbows and small cutthroat trout. It entered a grove of virgin Sitka spruce, and the hoof cut-trail entered in beside it. … The grove was like a vast lodge, barked pillars rising to a high mosaic of green and black and sky. A watery light filtered down, as if through stained glass. In the center of the lodge was a hollow, bordered by sword ferns and fallen logs. In the bottom of the hollow was a broad, rocky bowl eerily paved with mosshaired, head-sized stones. Among the stones was a quiet spring. And from the spring brimmed the water, old and clean and untiring. I had reached the source of the Tamanawis.