Jack,Judy, Sam,Bobby, Johnny,Frank...: An investigation into the alternate history of the CIA‐Mafia collaboration to assassinate Fidel Castro, 1960–1997

The CIA‐Mafia plots to assassinate Fidel Castro in the early 1960s serve, by themselves, as comically horrifying tales, some of the many littered throughout American Cold War history. Yet these events have lived an extraordinary life outside of the textbooks and classrooms; the danger and intrigue of the organized crime underworld mixed with a national fascination with the Kennedy family have kept this story alive through all of its mutations. J. Alan Wolske analyzes the various histories of the assassination plots that have sprung from the government's own attempts to face up to its past deeds, and attempts to reconcile them with the ‘official’ history.     

The Enforcement of the Treaty of Versailles, 1919–1923

This paper uses the episode of the Kapp putsch in March 1920 to isolate and analyze a number of high policy themes that dominated the period from the signature of the Treaty of Versailles through to the Franco-Belgian invasion of the Ruhr. These included: the questions of what mechanisms existed to enforce the treaty; the sanctions available to the victorious governments to enforce their will; the position and problems of the German government; the relationship and suspicions existing between Britain and France and the differing aims, ambitions, and approaches of the major participants.     

Intelligence Studies on the Continent

The study of intelligence is often inward-looking. Scholars focus upon the means of gathering, evaluating, and distributing information with subsequent evaluation of its impact on decision making. Institution-based analysis ignores the role that the intelligence craft plays in the broader social and political context. This is apparent in the case of intelligence failures which reach beyond government to influence public opinion and ultimately the ability of authorities to mobilise support and govern. In the wake of failure, competing elites contest for power with conspiratorial interpretations of events that provide psychological comfort by offering explanations for events, targeting culprits, and fixing blame. This essay considers the intelligence failure of September 11, 2001, and outlines the conspiracy theories of left and right raised in its wake. Among those charged were the usual suspects - Zionists, the anti-Christ, advocates of a New World Order, and members of the military-industrial complex. In response, American government authorities validated their opponents' plot-making by defending themselves with their own cries of conspiracy. Heightened government secrecy, efforts to intensify surveillance, and the rhetoric of fear deepened the intrigue. In such a culture of conspiracy, charges of subversion bring only short-run gain. Public faith in institutions is eroded and paranoia becomes the conventional wisdom.     

Reflections on Devolution: Twenty Years on

May 2019 marks twenty years since the first elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly. This report discusses a paper published by the Institute for Government (IfG) that reflects on the experience to date of devolution, drawing on interviews with thirteen individuals who have served as ministers in the devolved governments. Reflecting the structure of the IfG paper, there are three main themes in this report: governing without a majority, institutional change, and—in the light of Brexit—relationships between the devolved governments, Westminster and the EU. The conclusion is that the report, although limited in coverage, provides a useful addition to the literature on devolution.     

Exclusion of forensically important flies due to burying behavior by the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) in southeast Texas

Very-long-chain acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) dehydrogenase deficiency (VLCADD) (OMIM #201475) is an autosomal recessive disorder of fatty acid oxidation. Major phenotypic expressions are hypoketotic hypoglycemia, hepatomegaly, cardiomyopathy, myopathy, rhabdomyolysis, elevated creatinine kinase, and lipid infiltration of liver and muscle. At the same time, it is a rare cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) or unexplained death in the neonatal period [1-4]. We report a patient with VLCADD whose parents were investigated for infanticide because her three previous siblings had suddenly died after normal deliveries.     

Evaluation of pediatric skull fracture imaging techniques

Radiologic imaging is crucial in the diagnosis of skull fracture, but there is some doubt as to whether different imaging modalities can accurately identify fractures present on a human skull. While studies have been performed to evaluate the efficacy of radiologic imaging at other anatomical locations, there have been no systematic studies comparing various CT techniques, including high resolution imaging with and without 3D reconstructions to conventional radiologic imaging in children, we investigated which imaging modalities: high-resolution CT scan with 3D projections, clinical-resolution CT scans or X-rays, best showed fracture occurrence in a pediatric human cadaver skull by having an expert pediatric radiologist examine radiologic images from fractured skulls. The skulls used were taken from pediatric cadavers ranging in age from 5 months to 16 years. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity for the imaging modalities using dissection findings as the gold standard. We found that high-resolution CT scans with 3D projections and conventional CT provided the most accurate fracture diagnosis (single-fracture sensitivity of 71%) followed by X-rays (single-fracture sensitivity of 63%). Linear fractures outsider the region of the sutures were more identifiable than diastatic fractures, though the incidence of false positives was greater for linear fractures. In the two cases where multiple fractures were present on the same anatomical skull location, the radiologist was less likely to identify the presence of additional fractures than a single fracture. Overall, the high-resolution and clinical-resolution CT scans had the similar accuracy for detecting skull fractures while the use of the X-ray was both less accurate and had a lower specificity.