Concentration-time profiles of ethanol in capillary blood after ingestion of beer.

Blood ethanol profiles were determined in experiments with healthy volunteers after they had drunk beer. When 330 ml of light beer (1.8% w/v ethanol) was consumed in 5 min by four men and four women, the average peak blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) reached was 8 mg/100 ml (range 2-11). After nine men had drunk 660 ml of beer (3.0% w/v or 3.6% w/v ethanol) in 25 minutes on an empty stomach, the average peak BAC was 32 mg/100 ml (range 26-44) and 37 mg/100 ml (range 23-54) respectively. When the same two beers were consumed by another nine men together with a meal, the peak BAC was 24 mg/100 ml (range 20-29) and 28 mg/100 ml (range 20-39) respectively. The peak BAC occurred earlier when beer was ingested together with food; mean 32 min (range 30-50) compared with 41 min (range 30-70) with an empty stomach. The rate of disappearance of alcohol from blood (beta-slope) was 12 mg/100 ml/h in the fed state and 15 mg/100 ml/h when subjects were fasted. The apparent volume of distribution of ethanol (Vd) was 0.65 l/kg (SD 0.07) for the empty stomach condition but exceeded unity when beer was ingested together with food. It seems that part of the dose of alcohol when consumed with food never reaches the systemic circulation.     

Postmortem stability of DNA

High-molecular-weight DNA was recovered postmortem in sufficient quantities from various human organ tissues as well as from blood, although not all organs were equally well suitable. Good DNA stability was found in brain cortex, lymph nodes and psoas muscle over a period of three weeks postmortem. Spleen and kidney showed good DNA stability up to five days postmortem but after longer periods, rapid degradation was observed. Yields of DNA from blood were not consistent because of the non homogeneity of samples. Blood clots were rich with DNA. Generally, the amount of degraded DNA correlated directly with the duration of the postmortem period. However in some cases, DNA degradation was already prominent after a short period. However in some cases, DNA degradation was already prominent after a short period. Case histories showed that high environmental temperature at the site of death and/or infectious diseases prior to death were the main factors for rapid autolysis. Gradual disappearance to complete loss of the long fragments (15-23 kb) was observed in DNA fingerprinting using the minisatellite probe 33.15. No extra-bands were noted, thus excluding erroneous conclusions. However, evidentiary value of older samples was lower.     

Relationship between the concentration of ethanol and methanol in blood samples from Swedish drinking drivers

Headspace gas chromatography was used to determine the concentration of ethanol and methanol in blood samples from 519 individuals suspected of drinking and driving in Sweden where the legal alcohol limit is 0.50 mg/g in whole blood (11 mmol/l). The concentration of ethanol in blood ranged from 0.01 to 3.52 mg/g with a mean of 1.83 +/- 0.82 mg/g (+/- S.D.). The frequency distribution was symmetrical about the mean but deviated from normality. A plot of the same data on normal probability paper indicated that it might be composed of two subpopulations (bimodal). The concentration of methanol in the same blood specimens ranged from 1 to 23 mg/l with a mean of 7.3 +/- 3.6 mg/l (+/- S.D.) and this distribution was markedly skew (+). The concentration of ethanol (x) and methanol (y) were positively correlated (r = 0.47, P less than 0.001) and implies that 22% (r2) of the variance in blood-methanol can be attributed to its linear regression on blood-ethanol. The regression equation was y = 3.6 + 2.1 x and the standard error estimate was 0.32 mg/l. This large scatter precludes making reliable estimates of blood-methanol concentration from measurements of blood-ethanol concentration and the regression equation. But higher blood-methanol concentrations are definitely associated with higher blood-ethanol in this sample of Swedish drinking drivers. Frequent exposure to methanol and its toxic products of metabolism, formaldehyde and formic acid, might constitute an additional health risk associated with heavy drinking in predisposed individuals. The determination of methanol in blood of drinking drivers in addition to ethanol could indicate long-standing ethanol intoxication and therefore potential problem drinkers or alcoholics.     

Determination of ethchlorvynol in body tissues and fluids after embalmment

A 54 year-old female expired at her residence. Her husband, a physician, signed a certificate stating that her death was due to cerebrovascular accident (CVA) and released her body to a funeral home, where she was embalmed. Since the deceased had a long history of medical problems and drug abuse, an autopsy was performed and no evidence of CVA was found. Toxicological analyses of body fluids and tissues revealed the presence of ethchlorvynol in high concentration in the bile (112 mg/l). The bloody fluid collected from the heart contained a concentration of ethchlorvynol below the limit for quantitation. Other findings included phenobarbital (32.8 mg/l) in heart bloody fluid and methanol (an ingredient of embalming fluid). The significance of the findings is discussed in relation to embalmment prior to autopsy and toxicological analyses. Ethchlorvynol concentration in the bile is compared to other fatal cases due to ethchlorvynol overdose.     

A rapid method for the extraction of cocaine and benzoylecgonine from body fluids

A method has been developed for the rapid extraction of cocaine and benzoylecgonine from post-mortem blood and urine samples. Solid phase columns containing C8 packing material gave clean, emulsion free extracts from body fluids. The total time for each extraction was approx. 10 min and the system has the capacity for the simultaneous extraction of up to 10 samples. Urine can be extracted directly, blood samples were sonicated before extraction to allow for their easy passage through the columns. The method gave excellent recoveries of cocaine (98-100%) from spiked samples at concentrations of between 50 ng/ml and 10 micrograms/ml. Analysis of the extracts was by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).     

The Capitalocene Part II: accumulation by appropriation and the centrality of unpaid work/energy

This essay – Part II – reconceptualizes the past five centuries as the Capitalocene, the ‘age of capital’. The essay advances two interconnected arguments. First, the exploitation of labor-power depends on a more expansive process: the appropriation of unpaid work/energy delivered by ‘women, nature, and colonies’ (Mies). Second, accumulation by appropriation turns on the capacity of state–capital–science complexes to make nature legible. If the substance of abstract social labor is time, the substance of abstract social nature is space. While managerial procedures within commodity production aim to maximize productivity per quantum of labor-time, the geo-managerial capacities of states and empires identify and seek to maximize unpaid work/energy per ‘unit’ of abstract nature. Historically, successive state–capital–science complexes co-produce Cheap Natures that are located, or reproduce themselves, largely outside the cash nexus. Geo-managerialism’s preliminary forms emerged rapidly during the rise of capitalism. Its chief historical expressions comprise those processes through which capitalists and state-machineries map, identify, quantify and otherwise make natures legible to capital. A radical politics of sustainability must recognize – and seek to mobilize through – a tripartite division of work under capitalism: labor-power, unpaid human work and the work of nature as a whole.     

Dual-Credit Courses and the Road to College: Experimental Evidence from Tennessee

Dual-credit courses expose high school students to college-level content and provide the opportunity to earn college credits, in part to smooth the transition to college. With the Tennessee Department of Education, we conduct the first randomized controlled trial of the effects of dual-credit math coursework on a range of high school and college outcomes. We find that the dual-credit advanced algebra course alters students’ subsequent high school math course-taking, reducing enrollment in remedial math and boosting enrollment in precalculus and Advanced Placement math courses. We fail to detect an effect of the dual-credit math course on overall rates of college enrollment. However, the course induces some students to choose four-year universities instead of two-year colleges, particularly for those in the middle of the math achievement distribution and those first exposed to the opportunity to take the course in eleventh rather than twelfth grade. We see limited evidence of improvements in early math performance during college.     

Behavioral symmetry,rent seeking,and the Republic of Science

The Olsonian distinction between roving and stationary bandits outlines the rationale behind the transition from anarchy to the emergence of the predatory state. This two-bandit model may, however, be expanded to include more bandit types. In the case of Viking Age England, local English kings were unable to monopolize violence and defend their realms against competing Viking raiders. As the Vikings’ time horizon grew, so did the accumulated value of more formal taxation, and bandit types evolved in four steps. The first step is the Olsonian roving bandit, who executed Viking hit-and-run attacks and plunders during the second half of the tenth century. The second step is the gafol bandit; gafol is payment for leaving, paid to, among others, Swein Forkbeard. The third step is the heregeld bandit; heregeld is a tax to support an army for hire; most notably Thorkell the Tall’s. The fourth step is the Olsonian stationary bandit, i.e. the strongest military leader among the Vikings, Cnut the Great, settled down as the new king. Overall, the Olsonian two-bandit model can be expanded to a four-bandit staircase model, in which the new gafol and heregeld bandit types explain the steps from anarchy and short-run raiding to long-run formal taxation in a predatory state.

     

Economic Segregation and Unequal Policy Responsiveness

Political Behavior - As levels of residential economic segregation increase in the United States, politicians may have greater incentives to focus their attention on the demands of those living in...     

Reframe policymaking dysfunction through bipartisan-inclusion leadership

Policy Sciences - Persistent policy failures have been examined in recent years with a focus on the role of political systems. We evaluate the growth of dysfunctional policymaking in the U.S. and...