Journal articles on the topic 'Drug mule or courier'

Borders and bodies are increasingly regulated by data-capturing mechanisms spread across the world through information and communication technologies. This article traces the features and implications of such a border-body datalogical entanglement through the figure of the drug mule. It analyzes government documents and recorded case studies to argue that this figure emerges from an assemblage of cultural narratives, legal structures, human labor, technical practices, and biological processes. The datalogical drug mule is already implicated in a struggle over what, and how, data is meaningful and actionable. Investigating this figure allows us to begin disentangling the data-driven mechanisms that constitute modern borders and bodies while at the same time accounting for analog continuities in contemporary practices of border security.

Polrestabes satresnarkoba data for the third quarter in surabaya until 2018 in total there are 20 suspects with the drug as a courier. As many as 15 people have as users, dealers and courier 2 3 .So based on the advanced analysis was needed on how the recruitment of children as a courier in the trafficking of drugs and analyzes on efforts to satresnarkoba polrestabes surabaya in reducing activity the recruitment of children as drug couriers .The statute used is research approach , the conceptual approach and empirical legal using interviews as a primary data and the cases handled satresnarkoba polrestabes surabaya as secondary data. The pattern of recruitment carried out to make children as drug couriers is through the use of weak economic conditions of children and the inability of children to work so that children have no other way to get money for drugs other than being couriers. The use of child loyalty to his group colleagues, the use of trap patterns and threats is another way of recruiting children in drug syndicates. The effort to handle the recruitment of children as drug couriers by the Satresnarkoba Polrestabes Surabaya is done in a pre-emptive manner, namely through integrated coordination with BNN Surabaya City by exchanging information about children caught in drugs and drug syndicates detected. The formation of anti- drug student cadres and drug counseling for parents of students is a pre- emptive method carried out by the Satresnarkoba Polrestabes Surabaya. While the repressive method is carried out by the application of criminal procedural law, especially for drug dealers and dealers to break drug networks. Firm and measurable actions and various drug raids operations are expected to break the chain of drug trafficking, especially those targeting children to be used as couriers.

A clinical observation of a patient, a drug courier. smuggling heroin in containers in gastric cavity is described. He was admitted to a multi-field hospital in consequence of acute poisoning. The acute poisoning resulted from a spontaneous violation of the container and outpouring of its content into the gastric cavity. At hospital, diagnostics and a combined treatment including surgical intervention and detoxification were carried out. Results of clinical, laboratory and instrumental investigations as well as treatment outcome are reported.

KRIBB11, an HSF1 inhibitor, was shown to sensitize various types of cancer cells to treatment with several anticancer drugs. However, the exclusive effects of KRIBB11 in preventing the growth of glioblastoma cells and the related mechanisms have not been elucidated yet. Herein, we aimed to examine the potential of KRIBB11 as an anticancer agent for glioblastoma. Using MTT and colony formation assays and Western blotting for c-PARP, we demonstrated that KRIBB11 substantially inhibits the growth of A172 glioma cells by inducing apoptosis. At the molecular level, KRIBB11 decreased anti-apoptotic protein MCL-1 levels, which was attributable to the increase in MULE ubiquitin ligase levels. However, the constitutive activity of HSF1 in A172 cells was not influenced by the exclusive treatment with KRIBB11. Additionally, based on cycloheximide chase assay, we found that KRIBB11 markedly retarded the degradation of MULE. In conclusion, stabilization of MULE upon KRIBB11 treatment is apparently an essential step for degradation of MCL-1 and the subsequent induction of apoptosis in A172 cells. Our results have expanded the knowledge on molecular pathways controlled by KRIBB11 and could be potentially effective for developing an inhibitory therapeutic strategy for glioblastoma.

The major obstacles for tumor vaccine to be surmounted are the lack of versatile property and immunity-inducing effectiveness. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) expressed various antigens the same as multiple types of tumors, providing a promising source of wide-spectrum cancer vaccines. The damaged erythrocyte membrane entrapped by spleen could be developed as antigen deliverer for enhancing acquired immunity. Here, the modified lipid materials were used to dilate erythrocyte membrane to fabricate coalescent nanovector, which not only preserved the biological characteristics of erythrocyte membrane but also remedied the defect of insufficient drug loading capacity. After wrapping iPSC protein, the nanovaccine iPSC@RBC-Mlipo exhibited obvious splenic accumulation, systemic specific antitumor immunity evocation, and effective tumor expansion and metastasis inhibition in mice. Hence, our research may provide a prospective strategy of efficient tumor vaccine for clinical practice.

Drug trafficking networks are formed in a number of ways. The form of the network is structured based on the situations faced by them in the field. The actors involved in the network adapt in forming their network with the main objective of the drug trafficking business which continues to grow and is dynamic. The diversity of drug trafficking networks requires law enforcers to understand the shape and structure of the network so that efforts to destroy the network can be carried out more effectively. This study aims to determine the benefits of the centrality level of actors in a drug trafficking network so that it can be used by law enforcers to damage the network. With a social network analysis approach, researchers can map the interactions of the perpetrators so that it is possible to identify individuals (or groups) who have important positions in the structure of the drug network. The research found that two groups of crime networks in West Kalimantan had a relationship with an actor who served as a bridge between the two networks. Actors with high centrality values are generally leaders in the network as in this study. In addition, even though the position in the network is considered low, for example a courier, it still has an important meaning in assessing the importance of actors in the network.

Investigators have an important role in uncovering the crime of narcotics, one way is to use the technique of covert purchase (undercover buy). In the execution of investigators often encounter obstacles, including: lack of number of factors necessary equipment, limited operating costs, investigators get terror and be a witness in the trial, difficulties in getting the informant, constraints determine the location of purchase veiled, and drug network that uses techniques mines. Thus, efforts should be made to overcome these obstacles, namely: improving human resources and reporting in order to be fulfilled, submit the plan to increase the number of articles of association, the investigator must be professional in performing their duties, to optimize the role of a suspect or a courier who had been caught, locate covert purchases away from the community, and by making use of article 86 paragraph (2).

One of the unsettling society not only in Indonesia but also in the rest of the world is the circulation of drugs, especially among students. Not only consume, nowadays there are also students and the young generation which helped distribution, ranging from airport to the courier. Drug abuse is a social problem that always comes up in the midst of the community. Drug circulation increasingly bolder worrying; drugs became one of the nation's character Assassin. Indonesia was in a crisis of character. The spread of drug prevention efforts among the younger generation is supposed to be a shared responsibility, in this case all parties including parents, teachers, and the public should be aware of are active in contributing to the threat of drugs towards the younger generation. One way is to establish and improve the character of the young generation is by providing help through counseling. Counseling counselor should be done through a clear procedure, so that the process happens more effectively and right on target. Counselling is not solely the verbal sentence formulation, but also load the roles that run by counsellors and clients, the procedure is, and the behavior of clients that will be transformed in the process. Because of that in providing services to the client whether or not there are nine Sha-counseling model that can be used by counselors.

Background: In Ethiopia, specimens of presumptive drug resistant tuberculosis cases are transported by courier system from district sample collection centers to reference laboratories. It is essential to track the effectiveness of the referral system and identify challenges in order to take timely and appropriate actions. We assessed turnaround time and quality of speci- mens, and explored challenges of the specimen referral system in Amhara region, Ethiopia, 2017. Methods: With mixed methods, we retrospectively examined 385 randomly selected presumptive drug resistance TB speci- mens, and interviewed 53 purposively selected key informants from laboratories and post offices. We calculated median TAT and proportion of acceptable quality. We analyzed qualitative data thematically. Results: Of the 385 specimens, 94.5% (364/385) had acceptable quality at arrival in the reference laboratories. All the 364 specimens had result. Three - fourth (76.1%) of results were dispatched to the referring health facilities within the recom- mended turnaround time. Ineffective communication and lack of feedback among institutions were mentioned as challenges. Conclusion: The postal service was effective in keeping quality and majority of test results were timely delivered. Yet, there were operational challenges. Therefore, effective communication, using dedicated vehicle for specimen shipment and aware- ness creation on specimen collection and handling are recommended. Keywords: Postal service; specimen referral; turnaround time; drug resistance tuberculosis.

Patterns of connectivity among nodes on networks can be revealed by community detection algorithms. The great significance of communities in the study of clustering patterns of nodes in different systems has led to the development of various methods for identifying different node types on diverse complex systems. However, most of the existing methods identify only either disjoint nodes or overlapping nodes. Many of these methods rarely identify disjunct nodes, even though they could play significant roles on networks. In this paper, a new method, which distinctly identifies disjoint nodes (node clusters), disjunct nodes (single node partitions) and overlapping nodes (nodes binding overlapping communities), is proposed. The approach, which differs from existing methods, involves iterative computation of bridging centrality to determine nodes with the highest bridging centrality value. Additionally, node similarity is computed between the bridge-node and its neighbours, and the neighbours with the least node similarity values are disconnected. This process is sustained until a stoppage criterion condition is met. Bridging centrality metric and Jaccard similarity coefficient are employed to identify bridge-nodes (nodes at cut points) and the level of similarity between the bridge-nodes and their direct neighbours respectively. Properties that characterise disjunct nodes are equally highlighted. Extensive experiments are conducted with artificial networks and real-world datasets and the results obtained demonstrate efficiency of the proposed method in distinctly detecting and classifying multi-type nodes in network communities. This method can be applied to vast areas such as examination of cell interactions and drug designs, disease control in epidemics, dislodging organised crime gangs and drug courier networks, etc.

ProblemA call was received out of hours by the specialist PICU pharmacist (SP). A five month old baby with rapidly spreading paralysis of unknown cause had been admitted to the unit. A toxin had been extracted from the stool culture and tested on mice. Within hours all mice had died, confirming a positive result for Botulism toxin. The SP was asked to obtain an urgent supply of Human Botulism Anti-Toxin however the only worldwide manufacturer/supplier, the Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program (IBTPP), is based in California.1 BabyBIG, Botulism Immune Globulin Intravenous (Human) (BIG-IV), is an orphan drug that consists of human-derived anti-botulism toxin antibodies that is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of infant botulism types A and B in patients <1 year old.Pharmacist contributionsDay 1: After confirmation with PHE (Public Health England) that the use of their heptavalent horse botulisum anti-toxin would be inappropriate, it was suggested that a supply should be obtained from the USA. SP phoned the IBTPP on call consultant and discussed need for an urgent supply.Consequently SP ensured the appropriate provision and recording of required information and the seamless transition of relevant paperwork.Day 2: SP liaised with the Clinical Director for Children’s Services, the PHE consultant on call and the Trust Silver on call manager to authorise large out of hours drug expenditure. Prompt authorised signature of contract between the above parties was arranged by SP via email. SP contacted the MHRA duty officer on call to obtain an import permit authorisation letter (Notification of Intent to Import an Unlicensed Medicinal Product) to allow for this unlicensed import of a human medicinal product from outside the EEA, re-affirming this was of urgent clinical need.Trust Chief Pharmacist was alerted to the situation by SP, and access to the to the Trust import/specials licence required by the MHRA was granted to the SP to finalise the MHRA import licence. A courier from California was organised by SP liaising with the on call IBTPP consultant, ensuring all paperwork was accurately completed. Dosing, administration and reconstitution advice was given by SP to PICU medical and nursing staff via email. SP immediately confirmed receipt via phone and provided clarification of this when required. SP remained contactable throughout the weekend to resolve any queries the staff had with regards to BabyBIG.Day 3: The SP attempted contact with border control at Heathrow airport to ensure a timely transition through customs and liaised with the courier in the UK to ensure rapid delivery once BabyBIG had been cleared. Allowing sufficient transit time from Heathrow, the SP then called to confirm receipt of BabyBIG on PICU.Outcome and lessons learnedBabyBIG obtained and patient treated successfully, avoiding potential for serious complications and dramatically reducing PICU and overall inpatient stay. A cost analysis done by SP confirmed treatment with BabyBIG reduced overall Trust spend on this admission by half; accounting for average expected PICU stay for infant botulism cases(∼6 weeks) versus this patient’s stay (∼1.5 weeks).ReferencesDivision of Communicable Disease Control, California Department of Public Health. Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program [online] California Department of Public Health, 2010. (accessed 02 Aug 2018) Available from: http://www.infantbotulism.org/general/babybig.phpSave

Situation16 year old girl admitted with suspected ingestion of ethylene glycol. She was treated with fomepizole and continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT).How the Pharmacy Team ContributedEthanol was prescribed until fomepizole arrived. The volume of ethanol to be administered was calculated wrongly by the consultant due to confusion about the available strength. The Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) pharmacist intervened and the correct dosage information was given.PICU pharmacist used Toxbase to determine the correct treatment of ethylene glycol poisoning and advised on dosing regime, including adjustment due to CRRT. The pharmacist facilitated prescribing on the electronic system (added drug to system, set up administration instructions and assisted with prescribing – pharmacist was not an Independent Prescriber). This allowed medical staff to concentrate on resuscitation, monitoring cardiac function, inserting intravenous lines and obtaining access for CRRT.The PICU pharmacist and pharmacy technician co-ordinated initial supply of fomepizole. Fomepizole is usually ordered directly from the manufacturer during office hours. The patient presented in the early evening so further supply had to be obtained from a hospital hundreds of miles away after referring to the Rarely Used Medicines list. Pharmacist contacted appropriate on-call pharmacist and arranged for transfer of medicines via courier. Pharmacy technician arranged for further supply form the manufacturer the following day.Pharmacy technician arranged supply of additional dialysis fluids for CRRT due to the higher than usual administration rate.Without contribution from the pharmacy team the patient is likely to have been given the wrong dose of ethanol and fomepizole, and there would have been delay in initiation of treatment followed by an interruption, as it was wrongly assumed that it was kept as stock in the adjoining ‘adult hospital’ and subsequent supply from a local hospital would not have been sought by ward staff until original supply ran out.OutcomeEthylene glycol poisoning was confirmed on laboratory testing. Levels of ethylene glycol fell steadily over 36 hours, allowing CRRT and fomepizole to stop. Patient was discharged from PICU after 48 hours with no apparent long-lasting effects, but was referred to various specialities including renal, gastroenterology and psychology.Patient and family denied knowledge of intentional or accidental ingestion. Police investigation was inconclusive.Lessons to be LearnedLarger supplies of fomepizole are now kept in stock within Health Board. Supplies were missing from emergency cupboards when stock was needed, despite being on stock lists, necessitating courier fees to transfer stock from elsewhere. Procedures reviewed to ensure that stock is available in emergency cupboards at all times.This patient demonstrated that current (target) stock levels of fomepizole were inadequate for providing treatment during CRRT as the required doses are substantially higher (administered every four hours rather than every twelve hours) and would have lasted less than 12 hours for this average sized teenager. National Rarely Used Medicines list was updated to reflect actual stock levels and other hospitals increased their stockholding due to the realisation that existing stock was inadequate and that further supplies were hard to obtain out of working hours.

Abstract Introduction: The treatment of human hematologic malignancies has rapidly advanced through the application of genomic platforms that have identified drug-able targets and companion diagnostics (e.g. BCR-ABL, IDH-1) and added new classes of targeted agents to the established compendium of cytotoxics. Despite these advances, the complexity, redundancy and promiscuity of cellular transformation remain incompletely understood at the molecular level. This has led to a renewed interest in whole cell experimental models for drug discovery. Laboratory platforms that measure cellular response to cytotoxic insult at the phenotypic level have been shown to correlate significantly with clinical response, and have the capacity to provide insights into chemotherapy selection and drug development. The Ex Vivo Analysis of Programmed Cell Death (EVA/PCD) uses metabolic and morphologic features of drug induced cell death to measure both cytotoxic and targeted drug effects in human primary cultures. We applied EVA/PCD in 20 heavily pre-treated, drug refractory patients from the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein (HIAE) in Sao Paulo - Brazil. Methods: Peripheral blood, node biopsy or bone marrow aspirates were submitted by overnight courier. Cells isolated by density centrifugation were evaluated by dose response curves that were interpolated to provide LC50 values for comparison with our databases by Z-score. Patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL, N=5) , Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML, N=6), Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL, N=4) or Multiple Myeloma (MM, N=4) had received a mean of 5, median of 4 (range 1-8) prior therapies, 7 with prior bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Results: of 20 specimens, 16 (80%) provided viable tumor for EVA/PCD. A mean of 8, median of 7(range 3-22) cytotoxics and a mean 7, median of 5(range 1-20) targeted agents were evaluated. Findings were reported by day 7. Nine of 16 patients were treatment candidates, with 5 lost to follow up, 3 dying of sepsis before evaluation and 1 achieving complete remission (CR) with radiation plus Rituximab. Of 7 patients who received assay directed therapy there were 3 CR (43%), 2 partial responses (PR: 28%) and 2 progressive disease (PD: 29%) for an overall response rate of 71%. Conclusion: These results establish the feasibility of laboratory directed therapy in heavily pre-treated patients, with 80% of submitted samples providing actionable results. Although the extremely advanced state of these patients limited the capacity to undergo treatment in some cases, the achievement of CR's and PR's in this drug refractory cohort is of interest. Clinical responses by disease, treatment history and drugs received will be reported. Studies correlating molecular profiles with phenotypic analyses are currently under development. Disclosures Evans: Rational Therapeutics: Employment. Nagourney:Rational Therapeutics: Employment.

Introduction: Tuberculosis remains one of the major public health problems in Nepal and increasing trend of multi drug resistant and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR /XDR TB) is a big challenge. Rapid diagnosis and appropriate treatment of MDR/XDR TB is crucial. Identification and comparison of MDR TB using rapid molecular techniques (for rpob, gyrA, rrs and embB gene mutations) with reference to drug susceptibility test (DST) were the main objectives of this study.Methodology: A cross sectional study was carried out in National TB Centre (NTC). Gene Xpert, proportion method and Line Probe Assay (LPA) were used for first and second line drugs susceptibility testing (FLD-DST and SLD-DST). A total of 29 mucopurulent sputum samples were freshly collected from retreatment TB patients (Female 41.4%, Male 58.6%) with median age of 40 years attending to the four MDR TB treatment centres of eastern and central Nepal (via private courier and directly to National TB Reference Laboratory (NRL) at NTC from April 2013 to October 2017.Results: Among 29 sputum samples (Female 41.4%; all smear+ve, Male 58.6%; 16 smear+ve and 1 smear-ve), Gene Xpert MTB/RIF assay detected 100% M. tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance (rpoB gene resistant) of which, 100% were culture positive by conventional Lowenstein–Jensen (LJ) method. FLDDST was performed on all culture positives of which, 96.6% showed MDR TB and 3.4% showed mono resistance to isonizid only. SLD-DST on 29 MDRTB strains by LPA showed 100%, 58.6%, 44.8% wild type for rrs, gyrA and emb B genes respectively. Mutation for gyrA and emb B genes was 41.4% and 51.2% respectively, rrs genes none. Twelve (Female 6, Male 6) MDR TB strains were identified as pre-XDR-TB. Chi square (χ2) for trend was used to analyze Gene Xpert, smear, FLD-DST and LPA results.Conclusion: From this study, 29(100%) MDRTB were detected from retreatment TB cases by Gene Xpert and FLDDST. Almost 41.4% MDR TB strains were detected as pre-XDR TB by LPA, which were found to be higher in 15-60 years group of females and males. Samples from retreatment TB patients need to be tested by rapid molecular techniques with reference to culture and DST.SAARC Journal of Tuberculosis, Lung Diseases and HIV/AIDS, Vol. 14, No. 2, 2017, Page: 39-50

Abstract.Children have an important role in the life of society and the state, because of their position as the nation's successor. Therefore, children have the potential to play an active role in preserving the life of the nation, in order to realize the goal of forming a government that protects citizens. The abuse of narcotics by children is currently a concern of many people and is constantly being discussed and published. In fact, the problem of narcotics abuse is of concern to various groups, moreover the involvement of children as narcotics couriers which is a series of evil consensus in carrying out illegal drug trafficking. In the capacity of children who are used as couriers is one thing that is so alarming that the child will face the law, and is classified as having committed narcotics crimes. With the limited ability of children and their imperfections, it needs to be a concern of law enforcement officials in the application of punishment for the child who is the perpetrator of the narcotics crime.Keywords: Legal Protection, Children, Narcotics Courier. Abstrak. Anak mempunyai peranan yang penting di dalam kehidupan bermasyarakat dan bernegara, karena kedudukannya sebagai penerus bangsa. Oleh karena itu, anak mempunyai potensi untuk berperan aktif menjaga kelestarian kehidupan bangsa, guna mewujudkan tujuan pembentukan suatu pemerintah yang melindungi warga negara. Penyalahgunaan narkotika oleh anak saat ini menjadi perhatian banyak orang dan terus menerus dibicarakan dan dipublikasikan. Bahkan, masalah penyalahgunaan narkotika menjadi perhatian berbagai kalangan, apalagi adanya keterlibatan anak sebagai kurir narkotika yang merupakan rangkaian permufakatan jahat dalam menjalankan peredaran narkotika secara illegal. Dalam kapasitas anak yang dijadikan kurir merupakan satu hal yang begitu memprihatinkan dimana anak tersebut akan berhadapan dengan hukum, dan tergolong telah melakukan tindak pidana narkotika. Dengan keterbatasan kemampuan anak dan ketidaksesempurnaannya, maka perlu menjadi perhatian aparat penegak hukum dalam penerapan pemidanaan bagi anak pelaku tindak pidana narkotika tersebut.Kata Kunci: Perlindungan Hukum, Anak, Kurir Narkotika.

295 Background: In oncology practices with multiple infusion sites, compliance with USP 797/800 will be difficult to achieve due to increased building costs. Mixing oncology medications in a single-site referred to as “centralized mixing” is an attempt to comply with USP regulations as well to improve safety, quality and decrease costs. Methods: The centralized mixing process was initiated in June 2017 and required patients to have labs drawn 24-48 hours prior to infusion. If results were adequate, infusion nurses contacted the patient to review a symptom checklist to report findings which would preclude treatment. The next day, pharmacists began drug mixing at 6 am and distributed them by courier to five other practice sites by 10am. When patients arrived for treatment, they went directly to the infusion suite. A follow up visit was arranged mid-cycle to see their oncologist prior to the next scheduled infusion. If weekly infusions were required, then follow up visits were scheduled at the discretion of the oncologist. Results: Data from the fourth quarter of 2016 (prior to centralized mixing) was compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. Although physician total work RVUs increased from 12,198 to 16,254, labor costs decreased by $15,194. After implementation of centralized mixing, there were four fewer infusion nurse FTE’s while two registered pharmacists were hired. Labor costs per total work RVU decreased from $38.51 to $27.97 resulting in a quarterly savings of $42,790. Conclusions: Centralized mixing of oncology medication has reduced the cost per physician work RVU of administering chemotherapy by 27.3% and has lead to an annualized savings of $171,160. Increased infusion capacity and improved efficiency were due to streamlining the patient experience: there is no need to wait for drugs to be mixed, for lab results to return or to see their oncologist prior to treatment. The practice is now able to improve environmental safety with USP 797/800 at a single site, improve quality by limiting staff who mix chemotherapy to only two pharmacists, reduce training time for our infusion nurses by six weeks and to delay the need to build additional infusion suites.

For decades, drug trafficking was a serious offence in Singapore potentially punishable by mandatory death. In 2012, Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) was amended to give the courts sentencing discretion if the accused can first prove that he was merely a courier, and to better reflect the moral culpability accorded as between mules and kingpins in the hierarchy of drug syndicates. However, there are some complications in proving this. Not only must the accused show that he was merely a courier, he must also show that he had substantively assisted the authorities in disrupting drugtrafficking activities in Singapore. This raises an evidential quagmire as it is for the prosecution to certify that such assistance had indeed been rendered – the accused is therefore incentivised to admit to some form of guilt from the outset rather than to remain silent, since he may be precluded from adducing evidence of his role as a courier once the judge is satisfied that a drug-trafficking charge has been made out. Questions of self-incrimination and presumption of innocence are thus engaged. In addition, it is questionable if prosecutorial discretion should be further fortified by placing the certification power in the hands of the prosecutor. Finally, the MDA only states the preconditions of when there may be a discretionary death penalty, but does not state under what circumstances it should be preferred. Part 1 of this article establishes the background to Singapore’s historical approach towards drug-trafficking. Part 2 provides a synopsis of the first major High Court decision that addressed the amended MDA provision, while Part 3 analyses the decision as well as related case law. Concluding observations reside in Part 4.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to gain in-depth understandings of the stages involved in the case of a romance scam victim who was unknowingly used as a drug mule. The work compares this case with established research in this field. It also seeks to learn more about the strategies used by these cybercriminals. Design/methodology/approach The research presents a case study of a victim of a romance scam who was arrested for drug trafficking. The research involves a grounded theory analysis of interviews with the victim, legal team and family members and analysis of her instant messenger chat logs and email communications. Findings The analysis identified a variation on previous stage models of romance scams and re-names this as the “romance scammers” strategy model. It also replicates previous work on scammers’ techniques and highlights some new strategies, including positively and negatively framing messages, unconditional positive regard, activating norms of romantic relationships, cognitive immersion, manipulating role, sleep deprivation and signing is believing. Practical implications These findings could be used to help guide future similar court cases. Moreover, they can be drawn upon to advance future research on romance scams, as well as scams in general. Originality/value This is the first in-depth case study of a romance scam victim involved in drug trafficking and is the first research on romance scams to examine in depth a case, taking into account textual exchanges. While not undermining previous research, this paper provides valuable insights that are lacking in previous qualitative work on cyber scam victims.

This study is an exploration of motives among female drug smugglers held under custodial control in a Caribbean prison. This exploratory study provided some insight into why women engaged in the risk associated with smuggling drugs. While past research has primarily focused on the economic hardships women tried to address by engaging in drug smuggling, other research has emphasized the glorification of drug culture in some communities, past victimization and abuse, and the need to improve one’s status. This research revealed some additional reasons that are not typically examined in extant research. In particular, some women rather than making a rational choice to smuggle drugs, were simply tricked or bamboozled into schemes to smuggle and that in many instances, women became involved in smuggling because of their desire to please or help a male figure in their lives.

AbstractEmerging evidence indicates the role of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in tumor relapse and therapeutic resistance in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To identify novel targets against liver CSCs, an integrative analysis of publicly available datasets involving HCC clinical and stemness-related data was employed to select genes that play crucial roles in HCC via regulation of liver CSCs. We revealed an enrichment of an interstrand cross-link repair pathway, in which ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 T (UBE2T) was the most significantly upregulated. Consistently, our data showed that UBE2T was upregulated in enriched liver CSC populations. Clinically, UBE2T overexpression in HCC was further confirmed at mRNA and protein levels and was correlated with advanced tumor stage and poor patient survival. UBE2T was found to be critically involved in the regulation of liver CSCs, as evidenced by increases in self-renewal, drug resistance, tumorigenicity, and metastasis abilities. Mule, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, was identified to be the direct protein binding partner of UBE2T. Rather than the canonical role of acting as a mediator to transfer ubiquitin to E3 ligases, UBE2T is surprisingly able to physically bind and regulate the protein expression of Mule via ubiquitination. Mule was found to directly degrade β-catenin protein, and UBE2T was found to mediate liver CSC functions through direct regulation of Mule-mediated β-catenin degradation; this effect was abolished when the E2 activity of UBE2T was impaired. In conclusion, we revealed a novel UBE2T/Mule/β-catenin signaling cascade that is involved in the regulation of liver CSCs, which provides an attractive potential therapeutic target for HCC.

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Indonesia’s main policy in dealing with drug problems has been try to reduce abuse and dealing in drugs through enforcement of a number of law. The main problem of the current law is the children are not well protected and it does not distinguish between a child and an adult.However, the newly child protection Act No.23/2003, defines children’s involvement in the production, sale and trafficking of drugs as an act of victimization. Most children are in the situation because of adult pressure and/or wider social factors. Some children become a courier because their parents sell drugs for themselves. Peer pressure and pressure from adults in the community is very important. At same time, the communities do not see the issue as significant.Key words : child drugs trafficking (CDT), social work service, victimization.

Body packing is the process of smuggling illicit drugs in the form of packages concealed within the gastrointestinal tract via ingestion or inserting into body orifices. These individuals are described as “body packers”, “stuffers”, “mules” or “swallowers” and resort to carrying drugs like heroin, cocaine and cannabis. They present to the hospital following the development of complications or brought dead due to the rupture of packets or directly from detention for further investigations. This case illustrates a suspected case detained from the airport who was found to be carrying 93 pellets of an illicit drug, heroin, weighing 900 grams, one of the highest quantity carried by any body packer in the country till date. This case further sheds light on the fact that a meticulous history, detailed clinical examination and radiographic investigations like abdominal radiograph and imaging are the keys to diagnose body packers in a resource limited setting.

ObjectiveThis abstract proposes a poster presentation aimed at explaining rhetorical framing as a technique for articulating and identifying cases in healtchare policy.IntroductionPolitical discourse surrounding matters of public health is exigent because human life is at stake—this is unquestionably the case with respect to widespread opioid addiction. While intravenous drug use itself is described as a health concern, the spread of diseases such as hepatitis C and HIV through the sharing of needles is a disease surveillance emergency. This research centers on municipal-level decision making in the community of greater Lafayette, Indiana. Here, the mayors of sister cities West Lafayette and Lafayette hold different positions regarding a clean needle exchange program operated by the county health department.MethodsAs scholars of harm reduction note, “harm reduction disputes are the results of participants placing different weight on moral foundations that drive typical public health discourse” (Alderman et al., 2010). The methodology of rhetorical framing includes vocabulary and tactics for navigating the spaces of different weights and competing values. Articulated by George Lakoff as, “mental structures that shape the way we see the world,” framing deliberately selects vocabulary built around a platform of values in order establish the parameters of a discourse (2004). In the case of harm reduction and needle exchange, two different frames compete.The rule of law and order is a frame that prioritizes civil stability through a fair and unyielding adherence to civil and criminal law. This frame corresponds closely to what Lakoff calls the “strict father” frame which takes a rigid paternalistic approach to responsibility and a binary approach to morality (2004). For the needle exchange program, this frame asserts that the fundamental issue at hand is criminal drug use and that no conciliatory actions should take place to accommodate lawbreaking of any kind.A different frame can be described as the healthcare and risk reduction frame. This frame seeks to prioritize the healthcare risks associated with drug use and act to abate them. On this view, drug use and addiction is a treatable medical condition. This frame corresponds to what Lakoff calls the “nurturant parent model” (2004). Here nurturance is taken to include responsibility and empathy. In this light, the healthcare frame recognizes the pain and damage caused by drug use for individuals and communities. It holds people responsible by helping them break drug habits rather than simply punish them for being addicted.This project focuses on a series of radio-broadcast interviews in which the mayor of Lafayette expresses his support of the exchange while the mayor of West Lafayette voices his concerns. I argue the reason for the difference in opinion, despite both mayors agreeing on the essential facts, rests on the problem of invoking conflicting frames. On one hand, the healthcare and risk reduction frame sees the needle exchange as a form of harm reduction and something that generally improves public health. At the same time, the frame of rule of law and order interprets the needle exchange as a government complicity in illegal drug use.ResultsRhetorical framing in health communication is a strategy for effectively reaching expert and non-expert audiences alike. Rhetorically framing disease communication achieves two key functions: it identifies a specific focus and it usually minimizes situational features that are outside of the focus. In this case study, both mayors previously had careers as police officers in the local police department. One mayor adheres to the rule of law and order frame to maintain ties with his colleagues in law enforcement while the other is willing to split and adopt the healthcare and risk reduction frame. This commonality permits another remarkable discussion—what does it take to persuade someone to adopt a different frame?Beyond shaping policy opinion toward the needle exchange and disease prevention, rhetorical framing establishes the types of surveillance and data that policy makers consider meaningful in terms of measuring success. Whereas the healthcare risk and reduction frame is willing to consider qualitative reports of opioid users who visit the exchange and seek further treatment, the rule of law and order frame is inclined to insist on quantitative data such as the rate of return for needles exchanged or reductions in drug use or the spread of hepatitis C and other diseases transmitted through the use of shared needles. In addition to differences in data types, rhetorical framing also helps to explain differences in methodological approach to data collection and surveillance.ConclusionsIn this case, political support by the mayors depends on which interpretive frame takes precedence and the rhetorical delivery and framing of available data often determines which frame dominates. Whereas some data (anecdotal evidence) can be modulated and delivered through appropriate framing, other types of data (the rates of return for needles) cannot be so easily reframed. At minimum, rhetorical framing is capable of determining whether public policy concerning needle exchange is communicated primarily as a public health issue or as a matter of criminal law. For disease surveillance more broadly, rhetorical framing provides not only specialized vocabularies for describing observations, but also helps to identify research perspectives including points of overemphasis and potential blindness.ReferencesAlderman, Jess, et. al., “Commentary: Understanding the Origins of Anger, Contempt, and Disgust in Public Health Policy Disputes: Applying Moral Psychology to Harm Reduction Debates,” Journal of Public Health Policy, vol. 31, no. 1, Apr. 2010, pp. 1-16Dennis, John “Ask the Mayor: West Lafayette’s John Dennis on Leading a Disposable City.” Ask the Mayor, by Stan Jastrzebski, 2 November 2017.Dennis, John “Ask the Mayor: West Lafayette’s John Dennis on Paths (Walking, Driving and to Recovery).” Ask the Mayor, by Stan Jastrzebski, 13 December 2017.Harm Reduction International. Global State of Harm Reduction 2016, https://www.hri.global/files/2016/11/14/GSHR2016_14nov.pdf . Accessed 15 February 2018.Lakoff, George, Don’t Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate. Chelsea Green, 2004.Paul, Joseph. “Needle exchange to open its doors Friday near downtown Lafayette.” Journal & Courier. 9 August 2017. Updated 2:50 p.m. ET.Roswarski, Tony “Ask the Mayor: Lafayette’s Tony Roswarski on Affordable Housing and Needle Numbers.” Ask the Mayor, by Stan Jastrzebski, 14 December 2017.Roswarski, Tony “Ask the Mayor: Lafayette’s Tony Roswarski on Crossings, Water Bills and Softball Numbers.” Ask the Mayor, by Stan Jastrzebski, 18 September 2017

Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen argue that in “contemporary Western visualization central composition is relatively uncommon” (Reading Images 203). In fact, “most compositions polarise elements as Given and New and/or Ideal and Real” (Reading Images 203). This is the regular situation on the front pages of Australia’s national and capital city dailies; but not on May 28. Rather than the favoured front page structures of left (Given) and right (New) and/or top (Ideal) and bottom (Real), on this morning the layouts in the newspapers centralised the Schapelle Corby judgment. While this is not unprecedented, it is the type of coverage usually kept for major issues such as 9/11 or the Bali Bombing. Even the recent release of Douglas Wood, which was arguably as, if not more, important for the Australian public in terms of the issues it raised about Australia’s involvement in the war in Iraq, did not receive the same type of treatment. Although further study needs to be undertaken, I believe this centralising of issues, that is the running of one story only, on front pages is a growing trend, particularly among the tabloids. The effect of this centralising layout structure is to reduce the news choice for the reader on front pages that they would normally approach with an attitude of scanning and selecting. While this approach could still be taken across the whole paper, the front-page choices are minimised. This essay will examine the coverage of the Corby verdict in the tabloids The Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun, The Advertiser, The Mercury, and The West Australian, because it is here that the greatest impact of centralisation on the encoded reading paths can be found. Although the broadsheets The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Courier-Mail, and The Canberra Times also centralised the issue, there is not room here to cover them in detail. May 28 was the peak of the media frenzy in the Corby coverage, or at least one of the peaks. As the story is ongoing—turning into something of a soap opera in its call to readers and television news viewers to tune in and see the latest bizarre development, such as the chief lawyer admitting he’s a crook—it could peak again, particularly if on appeal a heavier sentence is handed down. On May 28, the focus moved from Corby’s guilt or innocence to the horror of the twenty-year sentence. In each category—broadsheet and tabloid—the layouts were remarkably similar. At a glance, three of the tabloids are so similar that side-by-side on a newsstand they could have been mistaken for the same. Apart from the fact that Corby’s beauty gave her cultural salience, it is not clear why the Australian media was so taken with her story in the first instance when there are and have been many Australians on drug charges in Asia. My interest here is not so much why or how she became news—that’s an issue for another time—but that once she had captured the attention of the Australian print media, how did they visually treat the material and what are the implications of that treatment. I will argue that the treatment elevated her story, giving it the same weight as the war on terror coverage since 9/11. One of the first elements that draws the eye on any newspaper page is the photograph. Tim Harrower suggests photographs “give a page motion and emotion” (28), arguing however that it is the headline “that leaps out, that grabs you” (37). In reality, it is most likely a combination of both that draws a reader’s attention. Both encode the importance of a story with a dominating photograph or a large headline signalling a story’s significance. The varying size of headlines and photographs and their placement signal the page designer’s order of importance. Six of the ten major Australian newspapers chose the same photograph for their front pages on May 28: a picture of Corby with her head held in her left hand and a look of despair on her face. Four of them—The Daily Telegraph, The Mercury, The Advertiser, and the Herald Sun—used the full photograph, while it was heavily cropped into a horizontal picture on the front pages of The West Australian and The Age. The Australian’s choice was similar but the photograph was taken from a slightly different angle. Only one of these newspapers, The West Australian, acknowledged that Corby did not just hang her head in her hand in despair but rather was slapping her head and sobbing as the verdict was read. The television footage gives a different impression of this moment than the still photograph run in the newspapers. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Courier-Mail, in contrast, chose a photograph of Corby struggling with the courtroom police. The Sydney Morning Herald more closely cropped their version so that the emphasis is on Corby. More of the struggle is depicted in The Courier-Mail. The only newspaper making a substantially different choice was The Canberra Times. In this publication, the central vertical photograph was a close up of Corby with tears in her eyes. Her mien is more composed than in the photographs on the other front pages. The source for the photographs, with the exception of The Australian’s choice from Associated Press, was Reuters. Given that the event was in Indonesia and in a crowded courtroom, the array of photographs may have been limited. Of interest was the use of the photograph. The Daily Telegraph, The Mercury, and the Herald Sun ran it full-page, like a poster shot, with the mastheads and headlines over the top. In contrast, The Advertiser maintained a white background for their masthead with the photograph underneath enclosed in a heavy frame and the headlines imposed on top. The other newspapers ran the photograph to the edge of the page without an added frame. The Advertiser, The Mercury, and the Herald Sun chose to forgo their normal front-page teasers. This restricted the scan and select for the reader. Normally readers would have at least two stories, sometimes three, as well as two to three teasers or pointers (usually across the top of the page under the masthead) to scan and select their reading matter. On May 28, however, Corby was centralised with a similar reading path encoded for each of these newspapers. The photograph is the most salient element and the eye moves from this to the main headline at the bottom of the page. As the masthead is known and familiar, unless the reader is selecting the newspaper from a newsstand rather than picking it up from their front yard, it is likely they would only subconsciously register it. These layouts, with a reading path from photograph to headlines down the page, are closer to linear in design, than the normal non-linear format and more interactive front pages. Therefore, the coding is for reading “left to right and from top to bottom, line by line” (Kress and van Leeuwen 218). Newspapers are not normally read in a linear way, but “selectively and partially . . . Their composition sets up particular hierarchies of the movement of the hypothetical reader within and across their different elements. Such reading paths begin with the most salient element, from there move to the next most salient element and so on.” (218) There is also sameness in the headlines and their implications. The Mercury, the most unadorned of the layouts, has “20 Years” in block capitals with a subhead and pointer reading “Corby’s Nightmare Sentence, pages 2-6”. The implication is clear, Corby’s sentence is 20 years in jail and it is pronounced a “nightmare”. The Herald Sun also chose “20 Years” with a subheading of “Shock and tears over jail sentence”. Consolidating this notion of “shock and tears” were three smaller photographs across the bottom of the page depicting crying and sobbing women. No male sympathy was depicted, thus tapping into and reinforcing Australian cultural stereotypes that it is the Australian women rather than the men who cry. The Advertiser’s main headline declared “20 Years in Hell”. Beside this was a smaller underlined headline and pointer “Guilty Corby, sent to jail, Australians react in anger Pages 8-15”. There are slight distinctions in these three pages but essentially the encoded reading path and message is the same. That is not to say that some people may read the pages in a different order. As Kress and van Leeuwen argue “newspaper pages can be read in more than one way” (“Front Page” 205), however, the choice on these pages is limited. The Daily Telegraph uses headlines with different emphasis and includes text from the main story imposed over the photograph. Pointers square-off the pages at the bottom. A kicker head at the top of the page, below the masthead, and set against a photograph of Abu Bakir Bashir, declares: “This terrorist planned the murder of 88 Australians and got two years. Yesterday Schapelle Corby got 20”. This comparison does not appear on the already examined pages. Towards the bottom of the page, the main headline set over two lines reads “Nation’s Fury”. To the right of the “Nation” is a smaller headline, which says “20 years in hell and prosecutor’s still demand life”. The story begins beside the second line “Fury”. The message on this page is more strident than the others and was analysed by the ABC TV show Media Watch on May 30. Media Watch declared the “spin on the verdict” used by The Daily Telegraph as “truly a disgrace”. The criticism was made because Bashir was not convicted in court of masterminding the bombing therefore the word “planned” is problematic and misleading. As the Media Watch report points out, the three Indonesians convicted of masterminding the bombing are on death row and will face the firing squad. The final tabloid, The West Australian, presented a similar message to The Daily Telegraph with a headline of “Bomb plotter: 2½ years / Dope smuggler: 20 years”. The visual impact of this page, however, is not as striking as the other pages. The visual designs of The Advertiser, The Daily Telegraph, The Mercury, and the Herald Sun make it immediately clear that the Corby verdict is the central issue in the news and that all other stories are so marginal they are off the page. In contrast, The West Australian ran its normal teasers just below the masthead, offering four choices for the reader as well as weather and home delivery details at the bottom. The heavily cropped central photograph of Corby leaves in only her wrist and central facial features; it is not even immediately apparent that the photograph is of Corby. The story runs in an L-shape around it. Although Corby is central, the reading path is not as clear. The reader’s eye will most likely be drawn from photograph to caption and to headline or headline, photograph, caption. Whatever the path, the story text is always read last, that is, if the reader chooses this story at all (Kress and van Leeuwen, “Front Pages” 205). The story opens by announcing that Corby’s lawyers want the Australian authorities to “launch an investigation” into the case and Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has offered the help of two Australian QCs in preparing an appeal. This introduction does not support the headline. The comparison with Bashir comes in paragraph three. While Corby still has salience, the inclusion of teasers on the front of The West Australian brings back the choice for the reader, albeit in a small way. Kress and van Leeuwen argue that newspapers “are the first point of ‘address’ for the readers” presenting “the most significant events and issues of the day for the paper and its readers” (“Front Page” 229). In the Corby coverage on May 28, the newspapers presented the court verdict as the most important of all stories on offer and her image became the most salient element, the “nucleus” of the front pages. All newspapers make choices for their readers in their capacity as gatekeepers (see David Manning White and Glen Bleske), but not, I would argue, to the extent that it appeared in the Corby case. A centralising approach to news can be understood with stories such as 9/11 or the Bali Bombing but does one woman’s plight over drug charges in Bali truly deserve such coverage? As a single event maybe not, but the Corby verdict again raised the issue of Australia’s uneasiness about the laws and culture of its Asian neighbours, feelings amplified in the wake of the Bali Bombing. The rhetoric used in the front pages of The Daily Telegraph and The West Australian clearly state this when they compare Corby’s sentence to Bashir’s. They demonstrate a paranoia about the treatment of “our girl” in a foreign judicial system which appears to deal more leniently with terrorists. Thus, one girl’s story is transformed into part of a much larger issue, a fact reinforced through the visual treatment of the material. There remain some questions. What does it say about the newspaper’s attitude to their readers when they centralise issues so strongly that reader choice is removed? Is this part of the “dumbing down” of the Australian media, where news organisations move towards more clearly dictating views to their reading public? Is it attributable to media ownership, after all four of these tabloids belong to News Corporation? These questions and others about the trend towards the centralising of issues are for a bigger study. For now, we watch to see how much longer Corby remains in the nucleus of the news and for further indication of a growing trend towards centralising issues. References Bleske, Glen K. “Mrs Gates Takes Over: An Updated Version of a 1949 Case Study.” Social Meanings of News. Ed. Dan Berkowitz. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1997. Harrower, Tim. The Newspaper Designer’s Handbook. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1998. Kress, Gunther, and Theo van Leeuwen. Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London and New York: Routledge, 1996. Kress, Gunther, and Theo van Leeuwen. “Front Page: (The Critical) Analysis of Newspaper Layout.” Approaches to Media Discourse. Ed. Allan Bell and Peter Garrett. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2003. Media Watch. May 30, 2005. http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1380398.htm>. Sellers, Leslie. The Simple Subs Book. Oxford: Permagon Press, 1968. White, David Manning. “The ‘Gate Keeper’: A Case Study in the Selection of News.” Social Meanings of News. Ed. Dan Berkowitz. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1997. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Delaney, Elizabeth. "Scanning the Front Pages: The Schapelle Corby Judgment." M/C Journal 8.4 (2005). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0508/08-delaney.php>. APA Style Delaney, E. (Aug. 2005) "Scanning the Front Pages: The Schapelle Corby Judgment," M/C Journal, 8(4). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0508/08-delaney.php>.