Business group drops opposition to drug users' health centre

A legal intervention by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users has forced the Community Alliance to abandon a petition against a health contact centre in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.     

Suicide due to oral ingestion of lidocaine: a case report and review of the literature

The Authors describe a rare case of suicide in a 31-year-old woman, due to oral ingestion of lidocaine; the histological and toxicological findings are discussed to provide useful information to the present experience with this particular modality of death. Histological examination revealed generalized stasis. In the myocardium we observed segmentation of the myocardial cells and/or widening of intercalated discs and associated group of hypercontracted myocardial cells with "square" nuclei in line with hyperdistended ones. Non-eosinophilic bands of hypercontracted sarcomeres alternating with stretched, often apparently separated sarcomeres, small foci of paradiscal contraction band necrosis, and perivascular fibrosis were observed too. Lidocaine was detected in the subject's urine through immunoenzymatic screening. Toxicological analysis by solid-liquid extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, was carried out to identify and quantify the individual substances present in the biological fluids and organs. Lidocaine concentrations were as follows: blood 31 microg/mL, gastric content 2.5 g, liver 10 microg/g, kidney 12 microg/g, brain 9 microg/g, spleen 24 microg/g, lung 84 microg/g, heart 9 microg/g, urine 9 microg/mL, and bile 6 microg/mL. No other drugs or alcohol were detected. When blood lidocaine reaches toxic levels, serious toxic symptoms associated with the central nervous system and cardiac system are noted. The overdose of lidocaine produces death from ventricular fibrillation or cardiac arrest. In this case, according to macroscopic and microscopic findings, the cause of death was most likely cardiac and possibly related to ventricular fibrillation.     

Study of the brainstem, particularly the arcuate nucleus, in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and sudden intrauterine unexplained death (SIUD)

Complete examination of the brainstem involves transverse serial 5-microm sections made throughout the entire brainstem. The number of serial sections varies from 360 in sudden intrauterine unexplained death (SIUD) to 600 in term fetuses to over 1400 sections in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) victims. The procedure is not applicable in all histopathological laboratories, owing to the need for additional technical personnel. The simplified procedure allows a remarkable reduction of the number of sections. The brainstem is divided into 3 blocks. The first, cranial block, extends from the border between the medulla oblongata and pons up to the upper pole of the olivary nucleus. The second, intermediate block, corresponding to the submedian area of the inferior olivary nucleus, has as reference point the obex and extends 2 to 3 mm above and below the obex itself. The third, caudal block, includes the lower pole of the inferior olivary nucleus and the lower adjacent area of the medulla oblongata. Examinations of the brainstems from 106 SIDS victims, 30 controls, and 51 stillborns underlined a remarkable variability, particularly of the arcuate nucleus. The simplified examination of the brainstem makes it possible to evaluate the structures, examining 3 specific levels, defined by morphologic reference points.     

IPSASB’s Conceptual Framework: Coherence with Accounting Systems in European Public Administrations

Accounting and reporting systems in public administrations of European countries have deeply changed in the last 20 years due to the new public management wave and the trend toward international harmonization. This research aims to examine the possibility of implementing International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board’s (IPSASB’s) Conceptual Framework (CF), by observing accounting and reporting systems in the different governmental levels of countries selected and taking into account the embedded traditional characteristics of European countries. Results highlight how many structural differences still occur within and among countries, showing that much work is still necessary to obtain harmonization as implied in the IPSASB’s CF.     

Strategies for homeless research in the 1990s

Abstract

Existing empirically based knowledge about homelessness is neither extensive nor well grounded. Proper policy formation and program design that address homelessness are badly served by knowledge deficiencies. This paper lays out a strategy that will develop appropriate research methodology and generate better empirically based knowledge. It proposes a program of technical research, as well as moditica‐tions to several national data collection programs, such as the Current Population Survey, to collect data on the literal homeless and the precariously housed. It also presents a rationale for starting longitudinal studies that focus on the processes that lead into and out of the homeless state. Finally, it proposes evaluation research to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of promising programs.     

意大利行政程序法评述

意大利行政程序法于1990年获得通过后,已接受了37次部分性修改和解释,目前仍在发展、变化中。它的主要内容包括:原则、行政程序负责制、行政程序的参与、简易行政程序和行政知情权。这部法律既有运作良好的方面,也有实践效果较差的方面。意大利立法部门正在积极制定配套法律,以便能够与现有规定相协调,从而改变实施现状。