Police custody detainees and forensic medicine: use of medical resources in the cell block.

Various Dutch reports show that medical usage among those detained in police cells is many times higher than among the average population. Many visits by forensic physicians (some 36%) are due to the fact that many police custody detainees are addicted. Also, many visits are carried out as a result of the fact that the police must frequently put into custody individuals who suffer intoxications and/or injuries (some 13%) or psychiatric problems (6%-17%). In addition, many visits are for the benefit of detainees who cannot cope with conditions during their detention (21%-30%). Only a minority of the visits are to help police custody detainees who are (chronically) ill. Because of all this, a forensic physician's work mainly consists of writing repeat prescriptions, prescribing methadone, referring detainees to other assistance services and giving advice to guards or police officers on duty. This makes forensic medicine a profession in a class of its own.

Different types of plasminogen activator activity in human brain tumours: relation with peritumoral oedema?

In 20 tissue samples from human brain tumours the concentrations were measured of (1) total plasminogen activator activity, (2) tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) activity, (3) urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) activity, and (4) t-PA antigen. Most tumours contained a considerable amount of t-PA, but a high interindividual and in a few cases even an intra-individual variability was observed. A weak but significant negative correlation was found between t-PA concentration and the oedema/tumour ratio, as calculated from the preoperative computerized tomography (CT) brain scanning. No correlation was found with u-PA activity. It is concluded that t-PA and u-PA are probably not important factors in the production of peritumoral cerebral oedema, but a correlation between locally different amounts of t-PA or u-PA and the locally different extent of surrounding oedema has not yet been excluded.