Nicotine and cotinine levels in body fluids of smokers who committed suicide

Cigarette smoking is associated with a higher risk for suicide. The present study was conducted on the hypothesis that suicide smokers show higher nicotine and cotinine levels in blood and urine than non-suicide smokers. We determined nicotine and cotinine levels in blood and urine of 87 deceased individuals (18 suicides and 69 non-suicides) by gas chromatography. The smoking rate was 77.8% for individuals who committed suicide and 42.0% for those who did not commit suicide. Average nicotine and cotinine levels in blood were significantly higher in the suicide smokers than in the non-suicide smokers (nicotine: 93.2+/-46.6 ng/ml versus 25.8+/-14.4 ng/ml, p<0.0001 and cotinine: 378+/-235 ng/ml versus 201+/-137 ng/ml, p<0.005). Average levels of urinary nicotine and cotinine were also significantly higher in the suicide smokers than in the non-suicide smokers (nicotine: 1980+/-2210 ng/ml versus 394+/-376 ng/ml, p<0.005 and cotinine: 1170+/-1330 ng/ml versus 414+/-290 ng/ml, p<0.05). Twenty-six decedents were intoxicated with alcohol, and they included 7 suicides (7 smokers) and 19 non-suicides (15 smokers). Our data suggest that cigarette smokers who commit suicide smoke more heavily than other cigarette smokers.     

英国-j◆效族奢青年身份认同与促进融合研究

有关少数族群融合问题的讨论,实际上是有关民族国家。如何在保障和维护少数族裔的权利的同时,缓解族群文化差异与统一的公民身份意涵之间矛盾冲突的讨论。作为现在乃至未来的国家公民,青年群体及其社会融合便成为这些讨论的焦点。围绕“公民身份”概念,了解不同族群青年人对此概念的理解,探讨青年人将“公民身份”建构成“问题”的过程,从而揭示缺乏公正、不被认可和自我决策困难等因素怎样影响了英国青年人成员身份感和归属感的形成,并提出了可能的政策建议和改善方法。     

"Volunteering by chance" to promote civic responsibility and civic engagement: does it work?

This study investigated the effectiveness of a program to promote civic responsibility and prevent antisocial behavior in a sample of Italian adolescents. Participants were 83 Italian male adolescents, attending the second year of high school (Mean age = 15.79; SD = 0.87). In order to test the efficacy of different strategies (in-classroom training and service activity in a voluntary organization) we divided students into two experimental groups--one classroom of students participated in both strategies (training + volunteering group) and another classroom only participated in the training (training only group)--and one control group. Process and efficacy evaluations were completed. Data were collected before and following the intervention. The process evaluation revealed that the program was highly accepted and appreciated by students. The efficacy evaluation revealed no intervention effects on civic responsibility. However, the training + volunteering group reported a significant decrease in antisocial behavior after the program. Thus, the program was effective in preventing antisocial behavior but not in promoting civic responsibility in our sample.     

普京的使命:俄罗斯向何处去?——对普京政策的挑战和回应

俄罗斯现有的政治体制是"普京方案",专注于"内部改革",兼顾社会各种利益、问题和挑战,扮演着稳定局面的"保障者"和"危机管理人"的角色,但正在被社会大众所厌倦。因此,普京必须回归"战略管理者"的地位。然而,留给俄罗斯执政精英们用于决定转变的时间越来越少了。因此,当前亟须找到一种政治方略,确保"俄罗斯体系"不再经历新一轮的灾难和破坏性威胁。在此基础上建立社会和国家的"动态平衡"模式,这是俄罗斯历届领导人尚未完成的使命。只有实现国家现代化,重建社会、政治、经济和意识形态模式,使俄罗斯人获得政治民主地位,才是对于当代挑战的回答,其他任何方案都意味着历史悠久的俄罗斯将最终走向衰败和解体。     

印度与阿富汗关系中的中亚因素

中亚地区作为当前地缘政治博弈的中心之一,吸引了众多国家的目光,印度也不例外.其巨大的能源储备、战略性的地缘位置、有待开发的广阔商机都令印度在1998年后执行了明显倾向于积极的政策.尽管印度将中亚作为“扩展的邻国”,但印度和中亚并不直接接壤,于是,连接印度和中亚的阿富汗就成了印度“西北向”战略中的关键一环.美国发动阿富汗战争后,印度对阿富汗展现出积极姿态,不仅恢复了外交关系,而且还全面参与到阿富汗的重建工作中.随着美国撤出阿富汗的最后日期逐渐临近,阿富汗及中亚地区的前景也随之蒙上了一层阴影.确保阿富汗的稳定,反对恐怖主义、极端主义成为印度对阿富汗政策的优先战略目标.作为连接印度与中亚的通道,阿富汗的稳定与否直接关系到印度能否实现在中亚的战略利益.印度近年来在地区和全球的影响力逐步提升,希望能够在中亚地区的“新大博弈”中占有一席之地,以确保本国的国内安全、能源安全并拓展在本地区的经济合作空间.分析和理解哪些因素以及在何种程度上促使印度对作为连接印度和中亚的通道的阿富汗采取积极主动的政策,以及印度在中亚地区有哪些经济和地缘政治利益,是很重要的研究项目.     

Undiagnosed, untreated acute promyelocytic leukemia presenting as a suspicious sudden death

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a subtype of acute myelogenous leukemia frequently associated with clotting abnormalities and severe hemorrhagic diathesis. The disease is associated with a high incidence of early fatal hemorrhage. We report the sudden death of a 40-year-old male without significant medical history in which foul play had been initially suspected. A thorough postmortem investigation performed on the decedent lead to the diagnosis of APL. Cause of death was a cerebellar hematoma. Underlying APL should be considered in the differential diagnosis when unexplained bleeding is encountered in a decedent. This case emphasizes the value of routinely collecting bone marrow during an autopsy to enable accurate testing and diagnosis.     

A case of sudden infant death due to a primary cardiac sarcoma

The case reported herein concerns the unexpected death of a 3-month-old female newborn who suddenly collapsed in her mother's arms and was dead on arrival at the hospital. The clinical histories of the baby and her parents were negative for symptoms or signs of illness, even those of cardiovascular origin. Furthermore, no clinical appearance of a pathologic status was noted by pediatricians after the birth until the last emergency recovery. The autopsy excluded external and internal signs of violence but revealed a large primary cardiac tumor arising from the free wall of the left ventricle, which had totally invaded the heart causing mitral valve deformation. Histological examination showed a low-grade sarcoma that completely infiltrated the myocardial tissue. The pathogenesis of this sudden infant death was postulated as being owing to a fatal ventricular fibrillation combined with a tumor-related restrictive cardiomyopathy obstructing left ventricular filling.     

Treating offenders with mental illness: a research synthesis

The purpose of this research synthesis was to examine treatment effects across studies of the service providers to offenders with mental illness. Meta-analytic techniques were applied to 26 empirical studies obtained from a review of 12,154 research documents. Outcomes of interest in this review included measures of both psychiatric and criminal functioning. Although meta-analytic results are based on a small sample of available studies, results suggest interventions with offenders with mental illness effectively reduced symptoms of distress, improving offender's ability to cope with their problems, and resulted in improved behavioral markers including institutional adjustment and behavioral functioning. Furthermore, interventions specifically designed to meet the psychiatric and criminal justice needs of offenders with mental illness have shown to produce significant reductions in psychiatric and criminal recidivism. Finally, this review highlighted admission policies and treatment strategies (e.g., use of homework), which produced the most positive benefits. Results of this research synthesis are directly relevant for service providers in both criminal justice and mental health systems (e.g., psychiatric hospitals) as well as community settings by informing treatment strategies for the first time, which are based on empirical evidence. In addition, the implications of these results to policy makers tasked with the responsibility of designating services for this special needs population are highlighted.     

Mentally challenged patients in a forensic hospital: a feasibility study concerning the executive functions of forensic patients with organic brain disorder, learning disability, or mental retardation

The past years have seen an increasing number of patients of lower intelligence or with organic brain disorder being committed into our forensic psychiatry. Our clinic has an ongoing scientific project to investigate the possibilities of reducing costs while at the same time guaranteeing adequate treatment and enforcement practice in forensic hospitals. This current project did not take these kinds of patients into consideration initially. This feasibility study is intended to examine if and to what extent these patients can be part of the scientific project. All patients of forensic psychiatry in Rostock (Mecklenburg-Western-Pomerania) with an IQ<80 (learning disorder) or a primary or secondary organic brain dysfunction that have been committed to the clinic since 2009 are included. These patients went through an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests. Furthermore, the treating psychotherapists had to rate the prognoses for criminal re-offending at discharge. Patients affected by lower intelligence or an organic brain dysfunction achieve lower results in neuropsychological testing than other patients participating in the main project. Nevertheless, participation in neuropsychological testing does not appear to overtax them. Future examination of the patients will be conducted to investigate to what extent certain therapeutic methods have been of noticeable benefit to this problematic group.     

Detection of hemorrhage source: The diagnostic value of post-mortem CT-angiography

The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic value of post-mortem computed tomography angiography (PMCTA) to conventional, ante-mortem computed tomography (CT)-scan, CT-angiography (CTA) and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in the detection and localization of the source of bleeding in cases of acute hemorrhage with fatal outcomes. The medical records and imaging scans of nine individuals who underwent a conventional, ante-mortem CT-scan, CTA or DSA and later died in the hospital as a result of an acute hemorrhage were reviewed. Post-mortem computed tomography angiography, using multi-phase post-mortem CTA, as well as medico-legal autopsies were performed. Localization accuracy of the bleeding was assessed by comparing the diagnostic findings of the different techniques. The results revealed that data from ante-mortem and post-mortem radiological examinations were similar, though the PMCTA showed a higher sensitivity for detecting the hemorrhage source than did ante-mortem radiological investigations. By comparing the results of PMCTA and conventional autopsy, much higher sensitivity was noted in PMCTA in identifying the source of the bleeding. In fact, the vessels involved were identified in eight out of nine cases using PMCTA and only in three cases through conventional autopsy. Our study showed that PMCTA, similar to clinical radiological investigations, is able to precisely identify lesions of arterial and/or venous vessels and thus determine the source of bleeding in cases of acute hemorrhages with fatal outcomes.