Potential for error when assessing blood cyanide concentrations in fire victims.

The present study explores toxicologic significance of blood cyanide concentrations in fire victims. Headspace gas chromatography was used for cyanide detection. Analysis of blood samples from ten fire victims (postmortem interval = 8 h to 3 to 5 d) detected zero to 11.9 mg/L of cyanide and a large difference in cyanide concentrations among victims. Carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) saturation was in the range of 24.9 to 84.2%. To examine the effects of methemoglobinemia and postmortem interval on blood cyanide concentrations in fire victims, an experiment was carried out using rabbits as the animal model. The rabbits were sacrificed by intramuscular injection of 1 mL/kg 2% potassium cyanide 5 min after intravenous injection of 0.33 mL/kg of 3% sodium nitrite (Group A, n = 3) or physiological saline (Group B, n = 6). Average methemoglobin contents immediately before potassium cyanide administration were 6.9 and 0.8% in Groups A and B, respectively. Average cyanide concentrations in cardiac blood at the time of death were 47.4 and 3.56 mg/L, respectively. When blood-containing hearts of the rabbits (n = 3 for Group B) were left at 46 degrees C for the first 1 h, at 20 to 25 degrees C for the next 23 h and then at 4 degrees C for 48 h, approximately 85 and 46% of the original amounts of blood cyanide disappeared within 24 h in Groups A and B, respectively. After the 72-h storage period, 37 and 10%, respectively, of the original amounts of cyanide remained in the blood. When the other three hearts in Group B were left at 20 to 25 degrees C for the last 48 h without refrigeration, cyanide had disappeared almost completely by the end of the experiment. The present results and those published in the literature demonstrate that the toxic effects of cyanide on fire victims should not be evaluated based solely on the concentration in blood.     

A method for forensic identification of vegetable oil stains--rapid analysis of carboxylic acids with methyl esterification using purge-and-trap gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.

A simple method using purge-and-trap gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (P&T-GC/MS) for forensic examination of oil stains was studied. Carboxylic acids, chosen as target components for discrimination of oil samples, were extracted from stains with ether, methyl esterified by tetramethylammonium hydroxide, and analyzed by P&T-GC/MS. Vegetable oils were discriminated according to their carboxylic acid compositions. Carboxylic acid composition was independent of the substrate material of the stain. Although the carboxylic acid composition of the oil changed on exposure to sunlight, identification of oil was possible for oil stains that had been in the shade, if analysis was made within 20 days.     

Sudden death of an infant with 'an early epileptic encephalopathy'.

This article reports an autopsy case of sudden death of an infant with an infrequent encephalopathy involving epileptic episodes. The infant was a 1-year and 10-month-old boy, who had a history of the first convulsive seizures in the third month after birth. The clinical diagnosis was described as 'an early infantile epileptic encephalopathy with suppression-bursts' (Ohtahara syndrome). On a winter day, he was collapsed following a high fever and was already dead on the arrival at a hospital. The body was small for the age and poorly nourished. The autopsy and postmortem magnetic resonance imaging scan (MRI) of formalin-fixed brain revealed advanced unsymmetric brain atrophy with cortical dysplasia, which were prominent in the left temporal and right occipital lobes, and sclerotic atrophy of the parahippocampal gyri, additionally showing a feature of the olivo-ponto-cerebellar atrophy. However, the cause of death was pathologically and microbiologically determined as bacterial bronchopneumonia following pulmonary infection of the influenza A virus. In sudden death cases of physically handicapped infants, the investigation of viral infection in consideration of an epidemiological survey is important even when the death can be pathomorphologically explained.     

Proportional Representation in the Welsh Assembly

The proposed rule for electing members to the Welsh Assembly gives each voter two votes, to cast at the Parliamentary constituency level, and at the bigger European constituency level. Half of the members are to be elected for the Assembly by a form of proportional representation, where party support is calculated by aggregating the two votes. The voters will be allowed to cast the second vote for a different party than the one for which they voted at the parliamentary level. This additional degree of freedom can frustrate the objective of obtaining better correspondence between party support and the number ofseats.     

News Media and Peace Building in Asymmetrical Conflicts: The Flow of News between Jordan and Israel

This study explores the role of the news media in asymmetrical conflicts after countries have signed a peace agreement. While most research has focused on the inherently negative role the press plays in attempts to bring peace, this study attempts to look at this issue using a more dynamic perspective. The theoretical argument focuses on how political factors affect the quantity and quality of the news flow and some of the ways in which leaders can sometimes overcome the obstacles they face in promoting encouraging news about peace. The model considers two political factors that have a major impact on media performance: the relative level of political power of the two sides and the varying amount of hostility. To illustrate the importance of these factors we focus on the flow of news between Jordan and Israel between 1999 and 2002. The major findings from content analyses of news articles ( N  = 859) appearing in both countries show that while Jordanians are exposed to massive amounts of mostly negative information about Israel, the Israeli public reads almost nothing about Jordan. Despite all this, it was also found that the initiation of diplomatic relations between the former enemies allowed for the creation of important 'news slots' that were previously unavailable. This development created space for less threatening types of news and also allowed leaders from both Jordan and Israel to initiate some positive stories about peace, even during some of the darkest periods.     

Transactional Relations between Motivational Beliefs and Help Seeking from Teachers and Peers across Adolescence

Adolescents often avoid seeking academic help when needed, making it important to understand the motivational processes that support help seeking behavior. Using expectancy-value theory as a framework, this study examined transactional relations between motivational beliefs (i.e., academic self-concept or academic importance) and seeking help from teachers and peers across adolescence (i.e., from approximately age 12 to 17 years). Data were collected from 1479 adolescents (49% female; 61.9% African American, 31.2% European American, 6.9% other race). Analyses were conducted with cross-lagged panel models using three waves of data from seventh, ninth, and eleventh grade. Results indicated that both academic self-concept and academic importance were associated with increases in teacher help seeking in earlier adolescence, but were associated only with increases in peer help seeking in later adolescence. Help-seeking behavior positively influenced motivational beliefs, with teacher help seeking increasing academic self-concept earlier in adolescence and peer help seeking increasing academic importance later in adolescence. These transactional relations differed by adolescents’ prior achievement and racial background, but not by adolescents’ gender.     

Terrorism,Civil Liberties,and Political Rights: A Cross-National Analysis

This article examines the effect terrorism has on civil liberties and political rights across a wide range of democracies and regions. This study includes an analysis of the influence domestic and international terrorist attacks have on civil liberties and political rights in 48 democratic states from 1971–2007. The results from a time series cross-national analysis reveal that terrorism weakens civil liberties and political rights. However, certain types of democracies are more affected by terrorism than others. These findings have important implications for democracy and counterterrorism strategies in democratic states.