Structural changes in Central and Eastern European economies: breaking news or breaking the ice?

This paper extends the sparse existing literature on structural breaks in emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe by analyzing structural breaks in the intercept, trend and variance of monthly key macroeconomic variables, such as industrial production, inflation, monetary aggregates, nominal exchange rates and series related to the labor market. Using the Bayesian procedure developed by Wang and Zivot (2000, A Bayesian time series model of multiple structural changes in level, trend and variance. J Busi Econom 18:374–386), we provide strong evidence in favor of multiple structural breaks in the series under study. As most of the existing empirical literature on European emerging markets does not sufficiently deal with structural breaks, the instability found in this paper has important implications for macro-econometric modeling as well as the ensuing recommendations for economic policy.     

Aqua-eroticum: an unusual autoerotic fatality in a lake involving a home-made diving apparatus

The term Aqua-eroticum was first introduced in 1984 by Sivaloganathan to describe the unusual autoerotic death of a man using submersion as an asphyxia method. This was the first case of that kind, and since then, no other case of autoerotic submersion has been reported, nor other autoerotic fatality in open water. Here we report the case of a 25-year-old man, nude under a home-made plastic body suit, overdressed for the season with winter clothes and restrained by complex bondage. He was submersed, tied underwater to a boat and was using a home-made diving apparatus for air supply. Death was ruled as accidental autoerotic asphyxia from rebreathing, caused by the faulty air-supply device.     

Detection and quantification of the age-related point mutation A189G in the human mitochondrial DNA

Mutation analysis in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region is widely used in population genetic studies as well as in forensic medicine. Among the difficulties linked to the mtDNA analysis, one can find the detection of heteroplasmy, which can be inherited or somatic. Recently, age-related point mutation A189G was described in mtDNA and shown to accumulate with age in muscles. We carried out the detection of this 189 heteroplasmic point mutation using three technologies: automated DNA sequencing, Southern blot hybridization using a digoxigenin-labeled oligonucleotide probe, and peptide nucleic acid (PNA)/real-time PCR combined method on different biological samples. Our results give additional information on the increase in mutation frequency with age in muscle tissue and revealed that the PNA/real-time PCR is a largely more sensitive method than DNA sequencing for heteroplasmy detection. These investigations could be of interest in the detection and interpretation of mtDNA heteroplasmy in anthropological and forensic studies.     

La commission parlernentaire: mécanisrne d'imputabilitéà l‘égard des sous-ministres et des dirigeants d'organismes

Sommaire: Plusieurs parlementaires, divers analystes et deux commissions d'étude récentes, l'une au palier fédéral (Lambert) et l'autre au Québec (Bisaillon), ont traité de la possibilité d'implanter un régime d'imputabilité pour les administrateurs publics, particulièrement les sous-ministres et les dirigeants d'organismes. Les modifications apportées, au début de la présente année, aux règles de procédure de l'Assemblée nationale vont permettre une certaine expérimentation à cet égard. Une telle réforme améne l'auteur à examiner diverses contraintes qui pourraient influencer et même jouer contre son implantation, notamment: les principes de la responsabilité et de la solidarité ministérielles, l'évolution des rapports entre le gouvernement et l'administration, les différences de statut entre les sous-ministres et les dirigeants d'organismes et les précédents relatifs à la participation des sous-ministres et des dirigeants d'organismes aux travails de l'Assemblée. Ces contraintes sont assurément sérieuses car elles remettent en cause des éléments majeurs du système politique. Reste à savoir si, comme cela se produit souvent, les hommes politiques réussiront encore une fois à concilier ce qui paraît incompatible. Abstract: Several members of Parliament, various analysts and two recent commissions of inquiry, one federal (Lambert Commission) and the other from Quebec (Bisaillon), have studied the possibility of implementing an accountability system for public administrators, particularly deputy ministers and chief executive officers of agencies. Amendments brought forth earlier this year to the procedures of the National Assembly of Quebec will allow for experimentation in that area. Such a reform leads the author to examine various constraints in its implementation; in particular, the principles of ministerial responsibility and soolidarity; the evolution of relationships between government and administration; the status differences between deputy ministers and chief executive officers of agencies; the precedents concerning the participation of deputy ministers and chief executive officers in the work of the Assembly. Those constraints are of great importance since they challenge some major elements of the political system. It remains to be seen whether politicians will succeed once again in reconciling what appears to be incompatible.     

Distribution of Y chromosome lineages in Jerba island population

We have analysed Y chromosome polymorphism on six STR markers (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, and DYS393) and eight classical UEP markers (SRY10831a, YAP, SRY4064, M2, 92R7, M9, SRY2627 and 12f2) in three distinct ethnical, linguistic and cultural groups of Jerba island (Berbers, Arabs and a Jerban group of Sub-Saharan origin). Fst genetic distance and principal co-ordinate analysis based on STR haplotype frequencies, showed a genetic differentiation between the three Jerban groups and a genetic relationship between Jerban Berbers and Mozabites (a well defined Berber group in Algeria). Compound use of UEP and STR markers have increased discriminatory capacity. The detection of the most common haplotype (H9) in both Berbers and Mozabites may be useful in forensic special cases.     

Identification of alprazolam in hair in two cases of drug-facilitated incidents

The use of a drug to modify a person's behaviour for criminal gain is not a recent phenomenon. However, the recent increase in reports of drug-facilitated crimes (sexual assault, robbery) has caused alarm by the general public. Among the drugs that can be used, alprazolam (Xanax), an anxiolytic benzodiazepine, has been seldom observed. To document two cases involving this drug, we have developed an approach based on hair testing by LC-MS/MS. After pH 8.4 buffer incubation and extraction with methylene chloride/diethyl ether (80/20, v/v), hair extracts were separated on a XTerra MS C18 column using a gradient of acetonitrile and formate buffer. Alprazolam and diazepam-d5, used as internal standard, were detected by electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. In the first criminal case, alprazolam tested positive in two consecutive 2 cm hair segments at 4.9 and 2.4 pg/mg, from a 12-year-old girl, assaulted by her father who had sedated her three or four times. In the other case, alprazolam was detected in four consecutive 1cm hair segments at 3.1-0.4 pg/mg, obtained from an adolescent who had been forced to prostitute herself.     

Women's response to intimate partner violence

The responses of women to a situation of abuse by their partner has hardly been addressed in the literature. Using a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire, 400 women attending three practices in a primary health care center in Granada (Spain) were studied. The women's response to abuse was used as a dependent variable. Sociodemographics, intensity, duration, and combination of the types of abuse were used as independent variables. Lifetime prevalence of any type of partner abuse was 22.8%. Of abused women, 68% showed an active response, attempting to resolve the situation mainly through separation (58.2%). The factors independently associated with a woman's active response were being separated, widowed, or divorced; reporting a greater intensity of abuse; and being younger than age 35 years. The results of this study show that a large majority of abused women in Spain try to resolve their situation, and that they are not passive victims.