Identification of furosemide in hair in a post‐mortem case by UHPLC‐MS/MS with guidance on interpretation

Testing for drugs in hair raises several difficulties. Among them is the interpretation of the final concentration(s). In a post‐mortem case, analyses revealed the presence of furosemide (12 ng/mL) in femoral blood, although it was not part of the victim's treatment. The prosecutor requested our laboratory to undertake an additional analysis in hair to obtain information about the use of furosemide. A specific method was therefore developed and validated to identify and quantify furosemide in hair by UHPLC‐MS/MS. After decontamination of 30 mg of hair, incubation in acidic condition, extraction with ethyl acetate, the samples were analyzed by UHPLC‐MS/MS. Furosemide was found in the victim's hair at 225 pg/mg. However, it was not possible to interpret this concentration due to the absence of data in the literature. Therefore, the authors performed a controlled study in two parts. In order to establish the basis of interpretation, several volunteers were tested (four after a single 20 mg administration and twenty‐four under daily treatment). The first part indicated that a single dose is not detectable in hair using our method. The second part demonstrated concentrations ranging from 5 to 1110 pg/mg with no correlation between dosage and hair concentrations. The decedent's hair result was interpreted as repeated exposures. In the case of furosemide analysis, hair can provide information about its presence but cannot give information about dosage or frequency of use.     

Intimate partner violence and alcohol problems in interethnic and intraethnic couples

Despite the growing number of interethnic marriages in the United States, few studies have examined intimate partner violence (IPV) in interethnic couples. This article examined past-year occurrences of IPV across interethnic and intraethnic couples and tested correlates of IPV specifically in interethnic couples. Data were from a national survey of couples 18 years of age and older from the 48 contiguous states. Interethnic couples (n = 116) included partners from different ethnic backgrounds, including Black-White, Hispanic-White, and Black-Hispanic couples. White (n = 555), Black (n = 358), and Hispanic (n = 527) intraethnic couples included partners with the same ethnicity. Data analyses were prevalence rates and logistic regressions. The analysis showed that interethnic couples were comparatively younger and had shorter relationships than intraethnic White, Black, and Hispanic couples. Male partners in interethnic couples had higher rates of binge drinking and alcohol problems compared with male partners in intraethnic couples. Past-year prevalence rates for any occurrence of IPV and acts of severe IPV were higher for interethnic couples relative to intraethnic couples. Most occurrences of IPV for interethnic couples were mutual. Factors predicting IPV among interethnic couples included marital status, couples' age, male alcohol problems, and female impulsivity. Mounting evidence points to interethnic couples as a high-risk group for IPV. Interethnic couples may be at greater risk for IPV because of their younger age, binge drinking, and alcohol problems. Future research could build on this study by examining cohort effects and regional differences in IPV for interethnic couples and the risk for IPV across interethnic couples of different ethnic compositions.     

The Phenomenon of Collective Action: Modeling Institutions as Structures of Care

This essay develops a theory of how institutions can work through the web of social relationships that exist in a place rather than through formal, bureaucratic lines of authority. In contrast to models that characterize institutions as organizational structures, roles, and patterns of exchange, this model depicts institutions as constituted primarily through the active working and reworking of relationships. Rather than adopt the network literature's focus on the overall pattern of relationships and exchanges carried out between policy actors, the author focuses directly on the nature of the relationships themselves and portrays the institution as the playing out of these relationships, employing Carol Gilligan's notion of care. The model of care is used to analyze the evolution, unraveling, and restoration of resource management systems on the Turtle Islands in Southeast Asia. The model provides lessons for institution building, especially for community-centered governance.     

A path model of risk factors for intimate partner violence among couples in the United States

The present study was designed to identify the impact of drinking problems, impulsivity, and a history of childhood physical abuse on both male-to-female (MFIPV) and female-to-male intimate partner violence (FMIPV). The data were collected in 1995 from a representative national sample of couples living in the contiguous 48 states. Using a multistage probability sampling design, face-to-face interviews were conducted in respondent' homes, privately with each member of 1, 635 couples. A complex path model building on earlier work was tested for African American, Hispanic, and White couples separately. Multiple-group path analysis demonstrated that impulsivity, alcohol problems, and childhood physical abuse were differentially associated with reports of MFIPV and FMIPV as a function of ethnicity. This study suggests that a history of being physically harmed by parental figures during childhood, impulsivity, and drinking problems are all risk factors for intimate partner violence in the general household population in the United States.     

Identification of adrafinil and its main metabolite modafinil in human hair. Self-administration study and interpretation of an authentic case

For several years, the misuse of stimulant substances is increasingly observed both in the field of sport, to improve the functions of the body and therefore to be more performant, and also by non-athletes to make life more tolerable on a daily basis. Adrafinil, 2-((diphenylmethyl)sulfinyl)-N-hydroxyacetamide, is a drug designed for the treatment of narcolepsy by promoting an awakened state, and to treat alertness and neurological symptoms in the elderly. It is primarily metabolized in vivo to an active form, i.e. modafinil, 2-((diphenylmethyl)sulfinyl)acetamide. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned these two drugs in sports in 2004. The authors report an authentic case involving adrafinil and modafinil. The laboratory was requested to test for adrafinil in a hair strand collected from a woman found in possession of vials of adrafinil and suspected of trafficking. A specific method was developed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Unlike modafinil (varying from 6.8 to 13.9 ng/mg), adrafinil was not identified in the strand. The interpretation of the results was difficult because this is the first case describing human hair analysis. In order to be able to interpret the results, a self-administration study was conducted after an oral administration to a volunteer (200 mg) whose beard hair was collected 10 days after administration. The analysis of this specimen highlighted the presence of adrafinil at 0.8 ng/mg and modafinil at 0.5 ng/mg. These results demonstrate the dual identification of both compounds after a single consumption, even after administration of a low dose. According to these results, the analysis of the hair strand from the authentic case does not match with a consumption of adrafinil, in accordance with abuse of modafinil alone. Intelligence considered that this was a trafficking case of adrafinil, with no self-consumption.     

About the Meaning of the Legal Aspect of Practical Semantics in Estonian Legal Order

This article is aimed at regarding, from the author’s viewpoint, one possible jurisprudential theory for rational understanding of legal order – the structuring theory of law. It is very important that cognition of a legal order should be based on the rules which could be designated as “laws of jurisprudence”. Naturally, this does not mean legislation within the concept of objective law. Rather, these laws can be referred to as certain regularities, ignorance of which would, however, either impossibly or substantially complicate the legal process of decision-making, both in law-making (as the so-called decisional function is contained in law itself¹) or the practical legal process of making decisions (the application of law). In recent years, a conception involving cooperation between linguists and jurists has emerged in the discussion of jurisprudential methodology. This constitutes an interdisciplinary approach to motivation of legal decision-making and involves, on the one hand, “practical semantics” and researchers thereof,² and on the other hand, representatives of the so-called structuring theory of law.³ In specialist literature, the structuring theory of law has also been referred to as the Müller Schoo1.⁴ The role of language and linguistic arguments in the discussion and practice of legal working methods serves as a connective principle in such interdisciplinary approach (co-operation).     

Varieties of Radicalism: Examining the Diversity of Radical Left Parties and Voters in Western Europe

Radical left parties (RLPs) are diverse and several RLP subtypes have been distinguished in the literature. However, the degree to which these subtypes are linked to significantly different policy proposals has not been analysed, and little is known about whether subtypes are associated with differences in their respective voters’ characteristics. This article analyses the policy positions of RLPs across a number of issues, using manifesto and expert survey data, allowing insights into the differentiation between types of RLPs. RLPs differ in the extent to which they adopt New Politics issues, and the article proposes a classification of Traditional and New Left RLPs. Using cross-national survey data from the European Election Studies series and multilevel multinomial models, the article examines the ideological, policy and social differences in the electorates of the various types of RLPs. It finds socio-demographic and attitudinal differences between the voters of Traditional and New Left RLPs that are consistent with the programmatic differences of the parties.     

Mission impossible in Cyprus? Legitimate return to the partnership state revisited

Cyprus has been divided for far longer than it has been united. There have been many attempts to reconcile conflicting parties but without remarkable success. The two communities – Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots – see the solution to the “Cyprus problem” in opposite terms. Although recent public opinion surveys have concluded that the most preferred option for the Turkish Cypriots would be “independence of the TRNC” and “reunification of the country”, for the Greek Cypriots, there is much less information about the legitimacy of these competing regimes and their respective claims. This paper seeks to fill this gap by identifying different legitimacy sources and their effect on the course of conflict settlement. Somewhat paradoxically it appears that those most strongly identifying themselves with the Republic of Cyprus, and approving the regime legitimacy of the Greek Cypriot government, are actually for status quo and not for the reunification of the country which makes the return to the partnership state mission impossible.     

Ricochet of a Bullet in the Spinal Canal: A Case Report and Review of the Literature on Bullet Migration

Abstract: Ricochet of a bullet in the spinal canal is well known by neurosurgeons but relatively not a common event in usual medico‐legal autopsy practice. This article presents a homicide case of a penetrating gunshot injury of the lumbar spine through the T12‐L1 intervertebral foramen with active movement of the projectile within the spinal canal to the L5‐S1 level. This case illustrates a bullet intradural and intramedullary active movement because of a ricochet of the body of T12 with active redirection of the path. In the current literature, different types of migration in caudal or cranial direction, intradural, or intramedullary are reported. If spontaneous migration of T10 to S1 seems to be more frequent, some authors reported a C1 to S2 migration. Such migration could be asymptomatic or induce neurological impairment. The medico‐legal consequences of these migrations within the spinal canal are described.