Under-recording of ethanol intoxication and poisoning in cause-of-death data: causes and consequences

In the present study we examined how consistently and completely the role of acute alcohol (ethanol) intake as a cause of death is reported on death certificates, how complete and specific the statistical recording of cause-of-death data on acute alcohol-induced deaths is, and how the information ultimately appears in the national mortality statistics. Data on all alcohol-positive deaths with blood alcohol concentration of ≥ 0.5‰ (g/kg) in Finland in 2005 (N = 2348) were reviewed. Overall, a concentration-dependent association was found between forensic-toxicologically determined blood alcohol concentrations and acute alcohol-specific cause-of-death diagnoses. Based on a medico-legal re-evaluation of death certificates, acute alcohol-specific causes were found to be underreported nationally at a rate of 8%. For accidental alcohol poisonings alone, the figure was about 1%. This underreporting was not corrected during recording of the cause-of-death data, though individual corrections and changes were observed. Especially, recording of multiple causes suffers from this underreporting of acute alcohol-specific causes. ICD-10 seems to do well in fulfilling the demands for a specific classification of uncomplicated alcohol poisoning. In combined alcohol-drug poisonings, however, ICD-10 shows a bias towards drugs over alcohol, even when alcohol has been specified and reported as the most toxic component by the medico-legal pathologist. Since the national statistics is based on the underlying causes, this state of affairs is likely to result in the underestimation of the role of acute alcohol intake as a cause of death. This observation of underreporting of acute alcohol-specific causes on death certificates should result in a harmonisation of education and principles and practices used in death certification. To increase the coverage and specificity of mortality statistics, based on the underlying causes of death, the coding of all components of alcohol-drug combinations and their classification according to the most important intoxicant or combination of intoxicants is recommended.     

Detection of ethyl glucuronide in blood spotted on different surfaces

This study aims to show that sensitive detection of ethyl glucuronide in dried blood spotted onto various surfaces after a period of 24h is feasible. At present, there is insufficient information how tightly ethyl glucuronide (EtG) binds to various materials and how easily it can be eluted. 4ml aliquots of blood samples obtained from seven volunteers after consumption of alcoholic beverages were applied to six different surfaces. After drying and a 24h-storage at 20±2°C the samples were re-dissolved in water, and EtG was subsequently analyzed by a LC-MS Paul-type ion trap. A comparison was made between dried and corresponding fluid samples. EtG was detectable in all subjects' samples following consumption of alcohol. EtG was also detectable after a storage time of four weeks at 4°C in whole blood that had been preserved with EDTA. EtG was detectable in all samples dried on different surfaces and its concentration remained relatively constant irrespective of the particular condition of the material. Detection of EtG in blood spots from the scene may indicate recent alcohol consumption in cases where collection of blood remained undone or could not be performed.     

DNAc: A clustering method for identifying kinship relations between DNA profiles using a novel similarity measure

After decades of refinement, DNA testing methods have become essential tools in forensic sciences. They are essentially based on likelihood ratio test principle, which is utilized specifically, by using as prior knowledge the allele frequencies in the population, to confirm or refute a given kinship hypothesis made on two genotypes. This makes these methods ill suited when allele frequencies or kinship hypotheses are unavailable. In this paper, we introduce DNAc, a new clustering methodology for DNA testing based on a new similarity measure that allows an accurate retrieval of the degree of relatedness among two or more genotypes, without relying on kinship hypotheses or allele frequencies in the population. We used DNAc in analyzing microsatellite DNA sequences distributed among 12 genotypes from normal individuals from two distinct families. The results show that DNAc accurately determines kinship among genotypes and further gathers them in the appropriate kinship groups.     

欧盟专利产品平行进口规则研究

在专利领域,欧盟把平行进口分为两类:一是共同体内成员国间的平行进口;二是自共同体外向共同体内的平行进口.为了确保商品在共同体内的自由流动和市场的正常竞争,对成员国间专利产品的平行进口,欧盟所坚持的态度是允许和促进平行进口.但是,对共同体外的专利产品的平行进口,由于共同体尚未存在类似<商标指令>那样协调成员国问专利立法的条约,因此,共同体外专利产品的平行进口规则通常取决于成员国的法律或判例,共同体本身并没有有关这一问题的统一规则.     

美国印第安学校中学女生的未来——基于"可能自我"的个案研究

本质化研究以美国中学的四位印第安女生为个案,重点阐释了她们的中学课堂受教经历对其今后成长的影响。本文采用可能自我理论,对访谈资料进行了审视和分析,所涉主题包括学校问题、教师、关系的重要性及未来计划这样四大方面。结果表明,可能自我理论有助于人们理解这些中学女生是怎样看待她们自己和筹划她们未来的,同时也为解决和预防中学生的辍学问题,提供了一种可能的路径。     

马来西亚和本地区历史上的移居模式

今天,每当我们谈到人口的迁移,都是指一种全球性的现象。人口迁移的类型是如此之多,以至于在过去的二十多年期间,有关研究文献的数量增加得非常之快。由于移居现象发生在世界各地,因此它现在是必须由地理学家、人口统计学家、社会学家、人类学     

论城市化过程中被征地农民的参与管理权

在城市化进程中，农民“无权”、“失权”的弱势地位导致自身合法权益严重受损。本文基于组织行为学的参与管理理论、当代行政法学“行政权——公民权”的平衡理论和西方发达国家在发展中国家实施扶持项目的过程中形成的村民参与管理理论，结合我国的村民自治制度提出赋予城市化进程中被征地农民参与管理权，并由被征地农民会议享有和行使等对策，以保障征地过程中的行政权与农民的合法的财产权之间的制衡，从而维护广大被征地农民的合法权益。     

Hair analysis to document non-fatal pesticide intoxication cases

We reported two non-fatal cases of intoxication with pesticides namely alachlor and carbofuran. Hair stand samples were collected from two men approximately 1 year after alachlor intoxication for case 1, and 14 days after the last exposure for case 2. Hair analysis was performed using a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method. In case 1, alachlor was detected in the 5 analysed hair segments (concentrations between 12 and 136 pg/mg) and its metabolites were not detected. In case 2, carbofuran and its main metabolite (3-hydroxycarbofuran) were detected in the hair strand (global analysis) at the concentrations of 207 and 164 pg/mg, respectively. However, additional data are required in order to interpret such results.