Report on the analysis of common beverages spiked with gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) using NMR and the PURGE solvent-suppression technique

In forensic evidence, the identification and quantitation of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) in "spiked" beverages is challenging. In this report, we present the analysis of common alcoholic beverages found in clubs and bars spiked with gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL). Our analysis of the spiked beverages consisted of using (1)H NMR with a water suppression method called Presaturation Utilizing Relaxation Gradients and Echoes (PURGE). The following beverages were analyzed: water, 10% ethanol in water, vodka-cranberry juice, rum and coke, gin and tonic, whisky and diet coke, white wine, red wine, and beer. The PURGE method allowed for the direct identification and quantitation of both compounds in all beverages except red and white wine where small interferences prevented accurate quantitation. The NMR method presented in this paper utilizes PURGE water suppression. Thanks to the use of a capillary internal standard, the method is fast, non-destructive, sensitive and requires no sample preparation which could disrupt the equilibrium between GHB and GBL.     

Psychological adjustment in a forensic sample: relationship with approach- and avoidance-coping typologies

Most studies that relate coping strategies with psychological symptoms usually consider a single coping dimension. This means that interpretation of the results is unclear and only partially true as subjects activate different types of coping strategies simultaneously when faced with a stressor. The objective of the present study is to analyze the relationships between coping and psychopathology in young inmates, taking into account the number of approach and avoidance answers simultaneously. The results show that the inmates with above-average scores in avoidance coping and below average in those of approach (coping responses inventory--adult form, [CRI-A]) show higher symptomatology (MMPI-2) than the inmates who obtain above-average scores in both avoidance and approach strategies. It can be deduced that it is not the high use of avoidance coping that is related to psychopathology, but rather the combined use of many avoidance strategies and few approach strategies. The convenience of jointly taking into account both types of coping is discussed.     

Female Perpetrated Dyadic Psychological Aggression Predicts Relapse in a Treatment Sample of Men with Substance Use Disorders

This study examined whether female-to-male (FTM) psychological aggression predicted men’s relapse of substance use disorder (SUD) 6 months following substance use treatment. Men diagnosed with either a substance abuse or dependence disorder who had recently begun an SUD treatment program participated in the study with their female relationship partners (N = 173). Logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between baseline FTM psychological aggression and SUD relapse when controlling for baseline demographic, dyadic, substance abuse- and treatment-related variables, as well as frequencies of other male- and female-perpetrated aggressive dyadic behaviors. Higher frequencies of severe, but not minor, forms of FTM psychological aggression uniquely predicted an increased risk of relapse at 6 months follow-up. These data add to the developing research program highlighting the negative sequelae of female-perpetrated psychological aggression and also provide an empirical basis for targeting specific dyadic behaviors in the context of SUD treatment and relapse prevention.     

NPM Reforms and Professionals in Health and Higher Education in Portugal

The aim of this article is to analyze comparatively how academics, physicians, and nurses positioned themselves in relation to the reconfiguration of power structures and decisional processes, under New Public Management influence, in the hospitals, and higher education institutions. The empirical data are gathered from a survey applied to the three professional groups. Quantitative results show that the three groups have similar positions concerning power concentration at institutions’ top governance. However, relevant differences emerge in their views concerning the organization and control of the social division of work and also of their professional practices.     

Maintaining change programmes for offenders: some suggestions for practice

Abstract

Despite the widespread acceptance that follow-up or maintenance sessions are an important part of the change process for those who have completed offender rehabilitation programmes, there have been few attempts to articulate the basis upon which such sessions might be developed. This paper reviews the current theoretical and empirical literature relating to maintenance programmes, concluding that whilst there are a number of theories which might be relevant to the design of effective maintenance programmes, there is almost no empirical basis from which to make any assessment of their likely value or effectiveness.     

The Dating Preferences of Liberals and Conservatives

American politics has become more polarized. The source of the phenomena is debated. We posit that human mate choice may play a role in the process. Spouses are highly correlated in their political preferences, and research in behavioral genetics, neuroscience, and endocrinology shows that political preferences develop through a complex interaction of social upbringing, life experience, immediate circumstance, and genes and hormones, operating through one’s psychological architecture by Hatemi et al. (J Theor Politics, 24:305–327, 2012). Consequently, if people with similar political values produce children, there will be more individuals at the ideological extremes over generations. This said, we are left with a mystery: spousal concordance on political attitudes does not result from convergence over the course of the relationship, nor are spouses initially selecting one another on political preferences. We examine whether positive mate assortation—like seeks like—on non-political factors such as lifestyle and demographics could lead to inadvertent assortation on political preferences. Using a sample of Internet dating profiles we find that both liberals and conservatives seek to date individuals who are like themselves. This result suggests a pathway by which long-term couples come to share political preferences, which in turn could be fueling the widening ideological gap in the United States.     

Thai social movements and the anti-ADB campaign

This article examines the desacralisation of royal charisma in contemporary Thailand. Over the past few years an underground discourse has emerged among critics of royal ideology and supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that directly confronts the power of the monarchy. The images, metaphors and linguistic devices used in the process are difficult to study because they rarely appear in public. This article focuses on an unprecedented demonstration of rage against the monarchy on September 19, 2010, when red-shirted demonstrators painted anti-royal graffiti on a construction hoarding at Ratchaprasong intersection in downtown Bangkok. In analysing the Thai political crisis as a battle of different charismatic groups, the article will present the September 19 event as the first open strike against the sacred charisma of the Thai monarchy. This charisma has hitherto been protected by royalists from all walks of life who were “working towards the monarchy.” With their attacks on the monarchy the red-shirts were challenging a legitimacy-conferring system which had benefited wide sections of the Bangkok populace in the past. At the same time, a competing charismatic movement has emerged around Thaksin, who himself has to take into account the charisma he conferred upon his followers.     

Fostering Economic Growth through a “European” Debt

Economic growth in the EU area is one of the European Union's tasks and the Union's budget should be used to finance actions aimed at development. It is hard to imagine that an increase in budget revenues or a significant reduction in spending in other areas can provide the resources for this purpose. The proposal put forward is to allow for debt financing of investment spending and to downgrade the current constitutional status of the rule regarding a balanced budget. A “European” debt, it is suggested, could strengthen the international role of the euro. If such a reform were not to find consensus within the Union as a whole, it could, alternatively, be adopted in the Eurogroup.     

Charity as Resistance: Connections between Charity,Contentious Politics,and Terror

This article explores two ways of conceptualizing ties between charity, contentious politics, political violence, and terrorism. The first half of the article discusses how social and political exclusion serve as motivations for within-group philanthropy, political activism, and political violence. Using this conceptualization, charity and terrorism can be seen as two activities among a range of possible actions that address grievance and exclusion. The second half of the article discusses how terrorist organizations and political insurgents use charity as a tool to move community members along a “continuum of community support” toward greater acceptance of and participation in violent activities.     

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms,Relationship Adjustment,and Relationship Aggression in a Sample of Female Flood Victims

This study tested a model examining the interrelationships among posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, intimate relationship adjustment, and intimate relationship aggression in a sample of 205 adult female flood victims. At the bivariate level, higher PTSD symptoms were associated with higher physical and psychological aggression victimization, poorer relationship adjustment, and higher physical and psychological aggression perpetration. Results from structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses indicated that relationship aggression victimization influenced aggression perpetration directly, and in the case of physical aggression, indirectly through its relationship with PTSD symptoms and relationship adjustment. The influence of PTSD symptoms on physical aggression perpetration was fully explained by poorer relationship adjustment. These findings extend prior work from other traumatized populations documenting associations between variables reflecting PTSD symptomatology and indices of relationship functioning, and indicate a need for further investigation in this area of inquiry. This research was supported in part by a grant to Patricia A. Resick from the National Institute of Mental Health (1-R01-MH55542).