Violent death

Hewitt, Bill. A Separate Peace Dismayed by Violence on the Streets, a New York Businessman Offers to Swap Ttys for Guns and Starts a Disarmament Crusade Across the Country. People Weekly, vol. 41, January 17, 1994, pp. 84ff. Tells the story of carpet store owner Fernando Mateo, Sr. Dismayed by media reports of violent deaths just before Christmas in 1993, Mateo hit upon the idea of organizing a program to swap toys for... 

Some studies have shown increased risks of violent death and depression in subjects with reduced serum cholesterol concentrations. Serum and membrane cholesterol concentrations, the microviscosity of erythrocyte membranes, and platelet serotonin uptake have been determined in 17 patients with hypercholesterolemia (21). There was a significant increase in serotonin transporter activity only during the first month of simvastatin therapy. This suggests that within this period some patients could be vulnerable to depression, violence, or suicide. This is an important paper, in that it explains why mood disorders are not regularly seen in clinical trials with statins, as has been summarized in a recent review (3). 

We have seen four violent deaths in three days and I barely escaped another. ... 

In clinical studies, Steegmans et al. found that middle-aged men with chronically low serum cholesterol levels (<4.5 mmol/L or 172 mg/dL) have a higher risk of having depressive symptoms, according to scores on the Beck Depression Inventory, when compared with a reference group of men with cholesterol levels between 6 and 7 mmol/L [97]. These data may be important in the ongoing debate on the putative association between low cholesterol levels and violent death in the future. 

Pekkanen J, Nissinen A, Punsar S, Karvonen MJ. Serum cholesterol and risk of accidental or violent death in a 25-year follow-up The Finnish cohorts of the Seven Countries Study. Arch Int Med 1989 149 1589-1591. 

Vartiainen E, Puska P, Pekkanen J, Tuomilehto J, Lonnqvist J, Ehnholm C. Serum cholesterol and accidental or other violent deaths. BMJ 1994 309 445 147. 

Frankenfield, D., Baker, S., Lange, W., Caplan, Y., 8c Smialek, J. (1994). Fluoxetine and violent death in Maryland. Forensic Science International, 64,107-117. 

Some studies have shown increased risks of violent death and depression in subjects with reduced serum cholesterol concentrations. Serum and membrane cholesterol concentrations, the microviscosity of erythrocyte membranes, and platelet serotonin uptake have been determined in 17 patients with hypercholesterolemia... 

More controversial is the extent to which primary prevention (treatment of clinically unaffected patients with moderate elevation of cholesterol levels) should include drugs, and whether secondary prevention should ever start with drugs rather than diet. Dietary treatment can lower cholesterol levels in committed subjects, and is obviously less costly than drug treatment. Unforhmately numerous studies have shown that over any substantial period of time (e.g. one year) diet has no clinically significant influence on plasma cholesterol and the wait for diet to have an effect often results in patients being lost from hospital follow-up after their initial myocardial infarction. Evidence comes from the WOSCOPS stud) in which pravastatin 40 mg/day and placebo were compared in 6590 men age 50-70 with LDL cholesterol 4-6 mmol/1 pravastatin reduced coronary heart disease (fatal and nonfatal events) by 31%. The authors estimated that treatment of 1000 such subjects each year would prevent 20 myocardial infarctions. Concerns that primary prevention could have a net adverse outcome (that cholesterol reduction increased the risk of cancer or violent deaths) have been laid to rest by a number of outcome trials. 

As recreational use of ecstasy has dramatically increased in recent years, deaths related to its use have been reported. In a retrospective review of all violent deaths from 1992 to 1997 in South Australia, six deaths were associated with ecstasy abuse aU occurred after September 1995. Three victims had documented hyperthermia and there was evidence of hyperthermia in another. The authors suggested that individual susceptibility to MDMA may be caused by impaired metabolism by CYP2D6 or through genetically poor metabolism (seen in 5-9% of Caucasians). One woman, who died with a cerebral hemorrhage, had fluoxetine (a CYP2D6 inhibitor) present in her blood. Furthermore, toxicology identified paramethoxyamfetamine (PMA) in all the cases, amfetamine/metamfetamine in four cases, and... 

The most beneficial action of TCAs is their ability to block serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine (NE) uptake. TCAs are shaped so that they lock onto specific uptake transporters, the enzymes that clear neurotransmitters from the synapse (the space between neurons). As discussed in Chapter 1, serotonin is a neurotransmitter that has been shown important for mood regulation. For instance, decreased levels of serotonin receptors have been found in suicide victims who died violent deaths. Norepinephrine is another neurotransmitter important in depression, but more associated with the brain s reactions to stress. Once the neurotransmitter uptake transporters are bound by TCAs, serotonin and norepinephrine levels begin to build up inside the synapse. The longer serotonin and norepinephrine stay in the synapse, the more often the receptors are activated. Receptor activation causes negative feedback loops to adjust the overall amount of transporters and receptors. This feedback adjustment can take several weeks, which is why depression doesn t go into remission until a few weeks pass. 

Uranus in the eighth house Your sex life has a remarkable, even outrageous, aspect to it, and the same is true for your finances (and those of your spouse). You benefit from unusual investment. You re also drawn to metaphysical subjects, including the idea of reincarnation. And though 1 hesitate to mention this, you may as well know When it coexists with a rare pileup of especially tough aspects, this placement can indicate the possibility of sudden, accidental death — not necessarily your own. Should you worry No. Keep in mind that literally one out of every twelve people has this placement. For further information, see the J nearby Violent death and Princess Diana sidebar. 

Or look at the Times editorial for February 28, which comments on the fact that while we shudder at the violent deaths of a few people in airplane accidents, we accept modern weapons with considerable serenity. It is opined that emotionally we value human life more than any other generation before us. Intellectually, we contemplate a situation in which life might be worth hardly anything. ... 

Fear. Are individuals free from debilitating fear Normally, significant stress from fear is associated with combat activities and/or other occasions where sudden and violent deaths or traumatic injuries may have occurred. 

The air in this country is temperate and good, as we were able to learn from their accounts that there are never any pestilences or epidemics caused by bad air. Unless they meet with violent deaths, their lives are long. I believe this is because a southerly wind is always blowing, a south wind to them being what a north wind is to us. They are expert fishermen, and the sea is full of all kinds of fish. They are not hunters I think because here there are many kinds of wild animals, principally lions and bears. 

Vlasic, B., Bunkley, N. (2009). Scars of an ailing industry. The New York Times, July 31. Wallace, R. (1990). Urban desertification, public health and public order Planned shrinkage , violent death, substance abuse and AIDS in the Bronx. Social Science [Pg.1883]

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