Hair analysis of opiates in mothers and newborns for evaluating opiate exposure during pregnancy

The increasing interest in toxicological hair analysis as a marker of human exposure to xenobiotics such as illicit substances or therapeutic drugs, has been made feasible by the extension of mass spectrometry, a highly sensitive method of detection. A newborn exposed to drugs in utero can suffer from a varying degree of withdrawal syndrome, a few days after birth. If of opiate origin, the withdrawal syndrome can be treated with morphine, among other therapeutics, but it is not easy to diagnose because of atypical symptoms presented by neonates and especially when maternal drug addiction has not been revealed. To assess and measure toxicological factors linked with the appearance and the severity of this syndrome, maternal and neonatal matrices such as urine, meconium and hair were collected during a protocol approved by the ethical committee. Opiates in particular were measured with GC-MS and potential combined dependences (cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine, LSD and benzodiazepines) and/or substitutive therapeutics (methadone or buprenorphine) were also assessed in 17 mother/neonate couples. Gestational opiate exposure profiles were drawn up and linked with the observed withdrawal syndromes. A withdrawal syndrome seems to appear more frequently after foetal exposure to an association of opiates/substitutive molecules (8 out of 10 withdrawal syndromes observed in this study), although the impact of cocaine and benzodiazepines must also be taken into account. The results obtained in neonatal hair make it possible to affirm foetal drug exposure and are in accordance, for the majority, with the appearance of a neonatal withdrawal syndrome (NWS). Neonatal hair analysis could contribute to assess in utero exposure to opiates, particularly when results in urine and meconium are negative or when these matrices are not available.     

Vehicle-assisted suicide resulting in complete decapitation

A rare case of vehicle-assisted suicide in a 43-year-old man is presented. The man had tied a rope between a fence and his neck and, while seated on the driver's seat, accelerated the vehicle, which resulted in complete decapitation. Earlier that day, the man had tried to bleed himself to death by bottling his own blood in his flat, thus defining the case as secondary complex suicide.     

'Good Faith' in the WTO Jurisprudence - Necessary Balancing Element or an Open Door to Judicial Activism?

The purpose of the article is two-fold: first, it seeks to clarifyand structure those contexts in which the principle of goodfaith has entered the WTO jurisprudence; and second, it presentsan analysis of the potential effects and risks accompanyingthis entrance, such as the allegation of judicial activism onthe part of the panels or the Appellate Body and the viabilityof a distinction between violation and non-violation cases.It attempts to define the framework within which a suitableconcept for the application of good faith must be found andexplores the conclusion that thus far the Appellate Body hasapplied good faith with the necessary caution. However, it cautionsthe necessity of avoiding an overbroad use of the concept andmandates the requirement for the judicial bodies to articulatemore clearly the content attributed to the concept in a particularcase and the legal consequences thereof than it has done thusfar. Finally this article urges the judicial bodies to avoidthe idea of an abstract obligation of good faith that adds somethingto the obligation under the WTO Agreements. This would accordwith the traditional international law understanding of whatthe application of the good faith principle implies.     

Is Biggest Best? A Comparative Analysis of the Financial Viability of the Brisbane City Council

Structural reform through forced mergers has been a dominant feature of Australian local government for decades. Advocates of compulsory consolidation contend that larger municipalities perform better across a wide range of attributes, including financial sustainability. Although empirical scholars of local government have invested considerable effort into investigating these claims, no one has yet examined the performance of Brisbane City Council against other local authorities, despite the fact that it is by far the largest council in Australia. This paper seeks to remedy this neglect by comparing Brisbane with Sydney City Council, an average of six southeast Queensland councils and an average of 10 metropolitan New South Wales councils against four measures of financial performance over the period 2008–2011.     

Has the gender gap in voter turnout really disappeared?

According to conventional wisdom, the traditional gender gap in voting has disappeared or even reversed in most established democracies. Drawing on the existing literature on differences between the sexes in political engagement and on pioneering voter turnout theories, this article questions the conventional assumption and hypothesises that women still participate at a lower rate in less important elections. It systematically tests this hypothesis by exploring the impact of gender on voter turnout in different electoral arenas. The empirical analyses of two cross-national datasets (Making Electoral Democracy Work and the European Election Study) demonstrate that although there is generally no gender gap in first-order elections, women tend to vote less than men in second-order contests. This reflects lower levels of interest in politics among women and their lower levels of knowledge about politics when it comes to second-order elections.