Homicide by insulin administration

This report describes a case of homicide by insulin administration and a study of the effects of storage conditions on insulin in serum. The study revealed insulin to be remarkably stable at refrigerator temperatures. Therefore, for forensic science purposes, insulin immunoassay data are interpretable even when serum is not stored by the standard laboratory method of freezing.     

The Role of Psychological Climate on Public Sector Employees' Organizational Commitment: An Empirical Assessment for Three Occupational Groups

ABSTRACT

In an effort to understand how proximal work environment shapes public sector employees' work attitudes, this study examined how perceptions of psychological climate were related to the extent of affective commitment in three occupational groups: clerical, professional, and managerial/executive. Data were gathered from 267 employees in 11 New York State agencies. Results indicated that the strength of association between measures of psychological climate and affective commitment varied across occupational groups. Implications of these results with respect to developing effective strategies for enhancing public sector employees' organizational commitment are discussed in detail.     

Incongruity in 360-Degree Feedback Ratings and Competing Managerial Values: Evidence from a Public Agency Setting

ABSTRACT

This study examined the sources, patterns, and implications of incongruence in 360-degree feedback ratings in public organizations using the Competing Values Framework for organizational effectiveness. Performance self-ratings from 68 high-performing, middle-level public sector managers, as well as parallel ratings provided by their supervisors, peers, and subordinates, were assembled and analyzed. Results indicated that rating incongruence existed across organizational roles and resulted from raters' unique role perspectives. Implications of incongruence in 360-degree feedback ratings with respect to developing effective systems for management development in public organizations are discussed in detail.     

An unusual accidental death from positional asphyxia

Death from postural or positional asphyxia takes place in circumstances when the victim's body assumes an abnormal position compromising the process of respiration. The diagnosis is usually based on circumstantial evidence in conjunction with excluding other significant underlying causes of death. This case report is about a 37-year-old man who had been drinking the previous night and was found dead in the morning in a knee-chest position. The forensic medical examiner had the opportunity to examine and photograph the scene of death while the body was still in its original position. Apart from a blood alcohol level of 290 mg/100 mL, marked congestion of the face, and petechial hemorrhages on the conjunctivae, autopsy findings were unremarkable. There were no injuries or pathological findings to account for his death. Death was certified as due to postural asphyxia secondary to intoxication by alcohol.     

Deaths due to jambia-inflicted lesions in a domestic environment

Domestic violence is a significant health problem affecting women all around the world by causing a wide range of physical and psychological traumas. Yemen has a very high percentage of women experiencing intimate partner violence (up to 50%) and a high mortality rate. In this article, we are presenting 3 particular cases of domestic violence deaths in which the weapon used was a jambia (jambia, jambiah, jambiya, djambia), a special dagger specific to Yemen and the surrounding areas. We are also summarizing the main characteristics of jambia-inflicted lesions and their thanatology.     

The use of cyclohexanone as a "derivatizing" reagent for the GC-MS detection of amphetamines and ephedrines in seizures and the urine

A GC-MS method has been developed for the detection of amphetamine, methamphetamine, and the ephedrines, in seizures and the urine, based on on-GC condensation (derivatization) with cyclohexanone. The method is simple: the dried seizure material or the urine extract was mixed with cyclohexanone and injected into the GC-MS. The method was found to be superior to the methods based on acyl and trimethylsilyl (TMS) derivatization. Unlike for the acyl and TMS derivatives, the molecular and fragment ions of the cyclohexanone condensation products (cyclohexanone derivatives) were of substantial abundance, a useful property in unambiguous compound characterization. Furthermore, the high stability of the "derivatizing" reagent, cyclohexanone, compared with acyl and TMS derivatizing reagents, is a useful property in method development. The present method has proved selective and, tentatively, sensitive enough in the following areas (where methods based on acyl and TMS derivatization, as tested in this laboratory, have failed): (a) detection of amphetamine as a metabolite of methamphetamine; (b) detection of norpseudoephedrine as a metabolite of pseudoephedrine; (c) detection of amphetamine as an impurity of methamphetamine; (d) detection of cathine (norephedrine) as a constituent of Khat leaves; and (e) differentiation of Khat use from phenylpropanolamine use.