[Proposal of informed consent by representation for treatment with clozapine]. / Propuesta de consentimiento informado por representación para el tratamiento con clozapina.

Clozapine-induced agranulocytosis, a potentially serious adverse effect, is a limiting factor for its therapeutic use, leading to the suspension of the drug. Its annual incidence in Argentina is 0.05%. In 2000, under provision number 935, the ANMAT approved the Monitoring Program for Ambulatory and Inpatient Patients Treated with Clozapine. In this provision arises the obligation to sign the informed consent where the patient is informed of the risks and benefts of the treatment. In psychiatric care practice patients may not possess, because of their altered psychic state, the level of competence necessary to sign informed consent for their treatment with clozapine. The objective of the present work is to analyze the doctrine of Informed Consent by Representation for the users of clozapine, as well as to propose a decision algorithm for its application in clinical practice.

[Poverty and mental disability in the criminal law: The invisibles]. / Pobreza y discapacidad intelectual en el sistema penal: los invisibles.

In recent decades neuroscience research show the negative consequences of poverty in cognitive development. Environmental factors, such as material deprivation, exposure to stressful situations, violence, nutritional deprivation, environmental toxins may shape the developing brain. The changes of the structure and function of the brain since prenatal stages and their consequences can remain stable throughout the life cycle except early interventions are made. Research investigating have found significant link between child poverty and function and structural brain focusing on prefrontal cortex (i.e., executive functions), hippocampus (learning and memory), amygdala (i.e., fear and emotional processing) and Left Occipitotemporal and Perisylvian Regions (Language and Reading) In recent years, international studies show a growing population with intellectual disabilities in prisons. However, in criminal justice, people with mild intellectual disabilities suffer a normalization process. A lack of access to adequate diagnosis operate as an omission this vulnerable group, as a result the State deprive access to support systems guaranteed in international declarations of Human Rights. Furthermore neglect, discrimination, lack of access to comprehensive health and appropriate social interventions deepen in prison. It is for this reason that from a current human rights perspective a person with disability in jail becomes a doubly vulnerable subject.

Adolescent Brain Development and Progressive Legal Responsibility in the Latin American Context.

In this article, we analyze the contributions of neuroscience to the development of the adolescent brain and shed additional light on the minimum age of criminal responsibility in the context of Latin America. In neurobiology, maturity is perceived to be complex because the brain's temporal development process is not uniform across all its regions. This has important consequences for adolescents' behavior; in their search for the acceptance of their peers, they are more vulnerable to pressure and more sensitive to stress than adults. Their affectivity is more unstable, and they show signs of low tolerance to frustration and important emotional reactivity, with a decrease in the capacity to self-regulate. Consequently, risky behavior presents itself more frequently during adolescence, and behaviors that transgress norms and social conventions typically peak between the ages of 17 and 19 years. However, only a small percentage of young offenders escalate their behavior to committing crimes during adulthood. In comparative law, there are considerable differences in Latin American countries' legal dispositions regarding the minimum age of criminal responsibility; Brazil, Costa Rica, and Ecuador regard the age of criminal responsibility to be 12 years, while Argentina accepts this to be 16 years. From a legal viewpoint, however, the debate about the minimum age of criminal responsibility is connected to other circumstances that, because they are still at a developmental stage, are attributed to adolescents' rights in their decision-making and understanding of autonomy (e.g., the minimum ages for voting, alcohol consumption, and medical consent). We argue that research on the development of the adolescent brain does not provide definitive answers about the exact age required for different juridical purposes. Nonetheless, the current state of knowledge does allow for reflection on the development and maturation of adolescents and the implications for considering them criminally responsible. It also validates demands for a system that provides adolescents with greater protection and that favors their healthy integral development. In any case, although a specific minimum age is not evident, this study is disposed not to recommend lowering the age of criminal responsibility, but rather increasing it.

[Neuroscience and criminal law: new perspectives for old problems]. / Neurociencias y derecho penal: nuevas perspectivas para viejos problemas.

The advance of neuroscience has begun to affect different disciplines, one of the most influenced is the criminal law. The new researches add light on what region are in charge of the control and value of our behaviour and which might be the consequences of the dysfunction in these regions. Therefore, the criminal law begin to ask about criminal responsibility in subjects with brain injuries or dysfunction. The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the current neuroscience in criminal responsibility.

Capgras Syndrome associated with the use of psychoactive substances.

INTRODUCTION: Capgras syndrome has originally been described as psychiatric syndrome. However, in the last few years reports of patients with this syndrome has significantly increased in patients with neurological, metabolic, and infectious diseases and those who consume alcohol. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain the neurobiology of this very unusual symptom, such as changes in the dopamine circuit and specific dysfunctions in facial processing. CASE: In this work we present a new case of Capgras syndrome, associated with an acute cocaine overdose, which was transient and reversible. DISCUSSION: The neurobiological bases of this syndrome are analysed, along with their relationship with the changes induced by cocaine use. Thus, Capgras syndrome could be the expression of functional changes at frontal-temporal level, and the paralimbic region secondary to the consumption of psychoactive substances such as cocaine.

Neurociencias y derecho penal: nuevas perspectivas para viejos problemas / Neuroscience and criminal law: new perspectives for old problems

El incesante avance de las neurociencias actuales ha comenzado a impactar en diferentes disciplinas; sin dudas una de las más influenciadas es el derecho. Así, las nuevas investigaciones echan un manto de lucidez sobre qué regiones son las encargadas de controlar y valorar nuestras conductas y cuáles podrían ser las consecuencias de la disfunción en dichas regiones. En consecuencia, el derecho penal comienza a interrogarse sobre la responsabilidad criminal en sujetos con lesiones o disfunciones cerebrales. Así, el objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar el impacto de las neurociencias actuales con relación a la imputabilidad.

The advance of neuroscience has begun to affect different disciplines; one of the most influenced is the criminal law. The new researches add light on what region are in charge of the control and value of our behaviour and which might be the consequences of the dysfunction in these regions. Therefore, the criminal law begins to ask about criminal responsibility in subjects with brain injuries or dysfunction. The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the current neuroscience in criminal responsibility.