Postmortem redistribution (PMR) refers to the changes that occur in drug concentrations after death. It involves the redistribution of drugs into blood from solid organs such as the lungs, liver, and myocardium. Drug properties such as volume of distribution, lipophilicity, and pKa are important factors. Basic, highly lipophilic drugs with a volume of distribution greater than 3 l/kg are most likely to undergo PMR. Examples include the tricyclic antidepressants, digoxin, and the amphetamines. The anatomical location of blood sampling can influence the drug concentration. The ideal site is a ligated or clamped femoral vein. Medical toxicologists participating in forensic cases involving drugs likely to undergo PMR must be aware of its potential contribution to the postmortem drug concentration. Correlation with laboratory data and any available antemortem or perimortem clinical information is necessary to render an appropriate opinion on the cause of death.

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Abstract:We study the impact of bride kidnapping, a form of marriage practiced in Central Asia and elsewhere, on infant birth weight. Considerable debate exists as to whether kidnapping is merely ritualized elopement, or whether it involves bride coercion. To the extent that it is non-consensual, we expect adverse consequences from such marriages, working through poor spousal matching quality and subsequent psychosocial stress. Remarkable survey data from rural Kyrgyzstan enable us to explore differential outcomes for kidnapped women. We apply several estimation models, including an IV estimation in which we instrument kidnapping among young women with the district-level prevalence of kidnapping among older women and an OLS regression with district fixed effects. Our findings indicate that children born to kidnapped mothers are of a substantially lower birth weight than children born to mothers who are not kidnapped. We further find less positively assorted mating among spouses in kidnapped marriages than in other types and higher divorce rates among kidnapped women. These findings have important implications for children's long-term development; they also discredit the ritualized-kidnapping-as-elopement view.

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