Breaking the Cycle: Association of Attending Therapy Following Childhood Abuse and Subsequent Perpetration of Violence

Despite “cycle of violence” (Widom Psychological Bulletin, 106, 3–28, 1989, p. 4) theories prevailing for the past 30 years, few studies have looked at the empirical relationship between experiencing childhood physical abuse and becoming perpetrators of violence in adulthood. Those studies that do exist omit consideration of intervening therapeutic experiences. In the present study, archival data from an outpatient mental health clinic was used to examine whether therapeutic experiences mediate the relationship between experiencing childhood physical abuse by a parental figure and subsequent involvement as a perpetrator of physical violence. Treatment-seeking individuals (N?=?816) responded to three items about whether they had experiences of childhood physical abuse, whether they acted violently in adulthood, and whether they had ever before received counseling or therapy. Past counseling/psychotherapy treatment was a significant mediator between experiencing childhood physical abuse and perpetrating physical violence in adulthood, even after controlling for the effect of the victims’ gender. Findings suggest that psychotherapeutic experiences after experiencing childhood physical abuse may decrease the likelihood of perpetrating violence in adulthood. Limitations, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.     

How can perception help us to understand the dynamic between EU member states? The state of the art

The paper reviews literature on perception within the international relations and the European Union (EU) studies in order to find out whether and how this concept can help us shed some light on the mutual relations between the EU member states. It examines the utilisation of perception as an analytical tool within the international relations where it was predominantly included into the foreign policy analysis approaches (image and role theory). Moreover, it was used for examining the views of the EU by other actors at not only bilateral but also multilateral level. Most studies analysed the perception of Asian countries, however, other areas, including Africa, were studied. Perception was utilised also at the EU level, when it was used for scrutinising different EU policies (foreign and security policies, enlargement), examining preference formation and influence of member states or investigating elite and public support for the European integration. The results show that perception is a valuable concept that can help us to analyse mutual relations between the EU member states in the enlarged and changed EU in several ways.     

Fatal Ingestion of Chlumsky Disinfectant Solution

A 32‐year‐old pregnant woman in the 25th week of pregnancy underwent oral glucose tolerance screening at the diabetologist's. Later that day, she was found dead in her apartment possibly poisoned with Chlumsky disinfectant solution (solutio phenoli camphorata). An autopsy revealed chemical burns in the digestive system. The lungs and the brain showed signs of severe edema. The blood of the woman and fetus was analyzed using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry and revealed phenol, its metabolites (phenyl glucuronide and phenyl sulfate) and camphor. No ethanol was found in the blood samples. Both phenol and camphor are contained in Chlumsky disinfectant solution, which is used for disinfecting surgical equipment in healthcare facilities. Further investigation revealed that the deceased woman had been accidentally administered a disinfectant instead of a glucose solution by the nurse, which resulted in acute intoxication followed by the death of the pregnant woman and the fetus.     

Variation of δ2H, δ18O & δ13C in crude palm oil from different regions in Malaysia: Potential of stable isotope signatures as a key traceability parameter

A total of 33 crude palm oil samples were randomly collected from different regions in Malaysia. Stable carbon isotopic composition (δ¹³C) was determined using Flash 2000 elemental analyzer while hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions (δ²H and δ¹⁸O) were analyzed by Thermo Finnigan TC/EA, wherein both instruments were coupled to an isotope ratio mass spectrometer. The bulk δ²H, δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C of the samples were analyzed by Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Orthogonal Partial Least Square-Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA). Unsupervised HCA and PCA methods have demonstrated that crude palm oil samples were grouped into clusters according to respective state. A predictive model was constructed by supervised OPLS-DA with good predictive power of 52.60%. Robustness of the predictive model was validated with overall accuracy of 71.43%. Blind test samples were correctly assigned to their respective cluster except for samples from southern region. δ¹⁸O was proposed as the promising discriminatory marker for discerning crude palm oil samples obtained from different regions. Stable isotopes profile was proven to be useful for origin traceability of crude palm oil samples at a narrower geographical area, i.e. based on regions in Malaysia. Predictive power and accuracy of the predictive model was expected to improve with the increase in sample size. Conclusively, the results in this study has fulfilled the main objective of this work where the simple approach of combining stable isotope analysis with chemometrics can be used to discriminate crude palm oil samples obtained from different regions in Malaysia. Overall, this study shows the feasibility of this approach to be used as a traceability assessment of crude palm oils.