The Difficult Task of Diagnosing Prostate Cancer Metastases on Dry Bone

The interpretation of pathology on skeletal remains is mandatory for implementing the biological profile and for disease recognition. Prostate cancer is one of the most common tumors, with a high preference for the skeleton as a primary site of metastasis. Its diagnosis on bone is however still ambiguous, due to its “osteoblastic” and resorptive manifestation. This study investigates distribution and appearance of prostate cancer metastases on dry bone on six known cases (selected from the Milano Cemetery Skeletal Collection) and one healthy individual. A macroscopic inspection was performed highlighting the abnormalities observed, describing location, shape, dimension, and aspect. A great amount of proliferative and mixed lesions was noticed, but also cases of pure lytic lesions were displayed. The multiple appearances of the manifestations observed display the difficulty in correctly identifying such a pathology, but also the potential and advantages provided by investigating a study sample with known antemortem history.     

Survival of Atherosclerotic Calcifications in Skeletonized Material: Forensic and Pathological Implications

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease creating calcifying plaques in the arterial walls. Because its paleopathological diagnosis remains little studied on skeletal remains, its impact on forensic and archeological data is completely underestimated. Here, 24 skeletal remains from the Milano Cemetery Skeletal Collection have been studied to evaluate the chance of atherosclerotic calcification survival, retrieval, and identification. Through direct comparison with a known autopsy collection and literature, the identification and categorization of several types of calcifications were performed. Clothing elements such as tights or socks played a definitive role in the preservation of the calcifications; hence they are more likely to be found in forensic cases than in archeological ones. Therefore, vascular calcifications are possible to collect and identify in skeletal remains if sufficient care is given to their recovery. Consequently and as markers of the disease, such identification can provide valuable pathological information for forensic and archeological cases.     

Anti-Discrimination Rights Without Equality

Anti-discrimination rights are nearly always thought to be justified or explained by equality, although the precise nature of this relationship is rarely considered. In this article I consider the two most plausible relationships, both of which are commonly at least implicitly asserted: that anti-discrimination rights are deontic equal treatment norms, and that anti-discrimination rights are instrumentally aimed at achieving telic equality. I try to show that, as a conceptual matter, anti-discrimination rights are not equal treatment norms: they do not require that all people (perhaps in a certain category) are treated the same. They allow for different treatment, but they prohibit different treatment only on some grounds. Although the suggestion that anti-discrimination rights are instrumentally aimed at telic equality (in some dimension) is conceptually plausible (like all instrumental relationships), it is most unlikely that anti-discrimination rights can be justified on this ground.     

Sourcing Brazilian marijuana by applying IRMS analysis to seized samples

The stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios were measured in marijuana samples (Cannabis sativa L.) seized by the law enforcement officers in the three Brazilian production sites: Pernambuco and Bahia (the country's Northeast known as Marijuana Polygon), Pará (North or Amazon region) and Mato Grosso do Sul (Midwest). These regions are regarded as different with respect to climate and water availability, factors which impact upon the isotope fractionations of these elements within plants. It was possible to differentiate samples from the dry regions (Marijuana Polygon) from those from Mato Grosso do Sul and Pará, that present heavier rainfall. The results were in agreement with the climatic conditions of the suspected regions of origin and this demonstrates that seized samples can be used to identify the isotopic signatures of marijuana from the main producing regions in Brazil.     

Reviews

Wendy Brown, States of Injury: Power and Freedom in Late Modernity (Princeton University Press) Princeton, New Jersey, 1995

Anne Edwards and Susan Magarey (eds), Women in a Restructuring Australia: Work and Welfare (Allen & Unwin) St Leonards, NSW, 1994.

Tanya Castleman, Margaret Allen, Wendy Bastalich and Patrick Wright, Limited Access: Women's Disadvantage in Higher Education Employment (National Tertiary Education Union) Melbourne, 1995.

Wendy Weeks (in collaboration with women in women services), Women Working Together: Lessons from Feminist Women's Services (Longman Cheshire) Melbourne, 1993.

Shurlee Swain with Renate Howe, Single Mothers and Their Children: Disposal, Punishment and Survival in Australia (Cambridge University Press) Cambridge, 1995.

Kathleen Barry, The Prostitution of Sexuality (New York University Press) New York, 1995.

Susanne Kappeler, The Will to Violence: The Politics of Personal Behaviour (Spinifex) Melbourne, 1995.

Jill Bavin‐Mizzi, Ravished: Sexual Violence in Victorian Australia (University of New South Wales Press) Sydney, 1995.

Leonore Davidoff, Worlds Between: Historical Perspectives on Gender and Class (Polity Press) Cambridge, 1995.

Alison Lewis, Subverting Patriarchy: Feminism and Fantasy in the Works of Irmtraud Morgner (Berg) Oxford, 1995.

Adrian Howe, Punish and Critique: Towards a Feminist Analysis of Penality (Routledge) London, 1994.

Susan Joekes and Ann Weston, Women and the New Trade Agenda (UNIFEM) New York, 1994.

Ruth Frankenberg, White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness (Routledge) London, 1993.     

Corporal Punishment: Examining Attitudes Toward the Law and Factors Influencing Attitude Change

There remains considerable societal support for child corporal punishment, despite much research about its ineffectiveness and potential harm to children. We examined attitudes toward Section 43 of the Canadian Criminal Code which gives parents the right to use reasonable physical force for discipline purposes. We also examined attitude change and predictors of this change. Participants (N?=?212) completed an on-line study, which found that 39.2 % disagreed with ending Section 43. Upon presentation of corporal punishment-related information, the majority (63.8–70.5 %) now indicated being in favor of ending Section 43. Attitude change was highest for information on the potential for child abuse. Socio-demographics (ethnicity, religion), childhood disciplinary experiences (non-punitive discipline), and discipline perceptions (parental warmth/involvement) predicted attitude change. Results indicate that providing information about corporal punishment is key to changing attitudes toward parents’ legal right to its use. Also, parental background and childhood discipline characteristics may differentially influence the amount of attitude change.     

Subarachnoid hemorrhage during sexual activity after sildenafil intake: an accidental association?

We report and describe an autopsy case of a man dead for rupture of cerebral artery aneurysm with subsequent subarachnoid hemorrhage after sexual intercourse. Toxicologic analysis demonstrated that he had consumed sildenafil (Viagra). Although subarachnoid hemorrhage has been reported to be associated with sexual intercourse, it is not among the known adverse effects of sildenafil. However, sildenafil has been found to interact with vascular physiology via multiple mechanisms and in most of the vascular districts of the human body. This case provides an example of a very rare association between this drug and a fatal pathologic event and deserves to be added to the existing clinical knowledge about sildenafil and the pathophysiology of the events involved. This knowledge may be helpful in orienting further investigation into the mechanisms of action of sildenafil and their clinical implications.     

Death by complete decapitation of motorcyclist wearing full face helmet: case report

We describe a case of complete decapitation following a motorcycle accident in which the victim was wearing a full face helmet. A young man lost control of his motorcycle and was thrown about 20 m, hitting his head against the barrier separating a tramline from the road. The resulting trauma caused his decapitation, the only fatal wound ascertained by the various forensic investigations. The authors present this rare case and compare it against the other two cases reported in the literature, providing some observations on the ways in which this injury can come about. The absence of abrasions or signs that the wound edges came into contact with a metal structure, the presence of signs of impact on the side of the helmet and the finding of a transversal fracture at the base of the skull point to the violent action of a side-to-side opposite force, due to the resistance provided by the lower edge of the protective helmet.     

‘C’ is for commercial collaboration: enterprise and structure in the ‘middle market’ of counterfeit alcohol distribution

This article utilising the work of Pearson and Hobbs [1] defines the middle market in counterfeit alcohol. Drugs markets have a resemblance to counterfeit alcohol markets in as much that they share the illicit nature of the product and the need to distribute the product at the ‘street’ level. Drawing on two case studies taken from a European regulator the article details the dynamics of the market, the enterprise actions of the actors and how law enforcement responses can, in certain circumstances, make the task of the distributors easier. The traditional notions of organised crime are challenged and organisation of counterfeit alcohol markets is viewed as being reliant upon those who have legitimate access to the market and are able to develop networks of commercial collaborators who by their position in the legitimate market are able to conceal their illicit actions.