“We can kill striking workers without being prosecuted”: armed bands of strikebreakers in late Imperial Germany

This chapter focuses on the violence perpetrated by armed bands of professional strikebreakers in Wilhelmine Germany. It examines the context in which violent strikebreaking tactics emerged and became part of the social reality and the media reconstruction of it. What makes the activities of armed strikebreakers remarkable is that violent confrontations during labour disputes were some of the most frequently discussed and polarising topics in German newspapers during the decade before the First World War. The Social Democratic press complained on an almost daily basis about legal discrimination against unionised workers and the intensification of violence and intimidation perpetrated by armed strikebreakers, which went largely unpunished. The de facto impunity of armed groups of strikebreakers can be explained as an extra-legal response aimed at protecting the so-called loyal classes after leading conservatives and employers’ associations recognised that the intensification of repressive authoritarian practices against the labour movement could not be legally imposed. The rise of armed strikebreaking was economically motivated by the steady growth in demand for replacement workers and for the protection of non-strikers, but it was also politically motivated in that it was a counterstrategy against “social-democratic terrorism”

Joining Forces against ‘Strike Terrorism’: The Public-Private Interplay in Policing Strikes in Imperial Germany, 1890–1914

This article examines the blurred boundaries between public and private repressive practices in Wilhelmine Germany with a special focus on the legal and administrative framework drawn up to redistribute security tasks and delegate the use of violence to non-state actors. While the rapid escalation of political violence in Central and Eastern Europe after 1917 has been widely discussed in the recent historiography, the structure of violence in the pre-war period remains less explored, especially with regard to the public-private interplay in the policing of popular protests. After the first massive strike by Ruhr miners in 1889, the Prussian authorities began to support the formation of semi-private armed protection groups in an effort to tackle ‘strike terrorism’. The idea of privatizing repressive practices arose as a result of widespread fears of social and political disintegration. Yet, although it may seem paradoxical, the precondition for delegating the use of violence to non-state actors was Prussian administrators’ confidence in the state’s solidity and efficiency. The ambivalence in contemporary discourses concerning the vulnerability of the existing social and political order is crucial to explaining why the Prussian authorities implemented strategies for legally distributing arms to those groups that were considered part of the ‘loyal classes’. The mobilization against ‘strike terrorism’ involved not only officially organized armed groups, such as the Zechenwehren, but also more informal or extra-legal strategies such as private use of the municipal police, the distribution of arms to strike-breakers and the militarization of white-collar workers and supervisors.European Research Council (ERC

Pleomorphic Adenoma of the Parotid: Extracapsular Dissection Compared with Superficial Parotidectomy—A 10-Year Retrospective Cohort Study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the complication rates and effectiveness of extracapsular dissection compared with superficial parotidectomy for pleomorphic adenomas of the parotid gland from 2002 to 2012. The authors carried out a retrospective cohort study of 198 patients with pleomorphic adenomas of the parotid gland. Extracapsular dissection (ED) or superficial parotidectomy (SP) was performed. The recurrence rate and complications of the two surgical techniques were measured with a univariate analysis of each variable using the appropriate statistical analysis (chi-squared test or t-test). A total of 198 patients were enrolled between January 2003 and December 2012. The study included 97 females (48.99%) and 101 males (51.01%) whose mean age was 50.97 years (range 14–75). The type of surgery performed was ED in 153 patients (77.27%, 80 males and 73 females) and SP in 45 patients (22.73%, 21 males and 24 females). The mean follow-up time was 61.02 +/− 4.9 months for the patients treated with ED and 66.4 +/− 4.5 months for the patients treated with SP. Transient facial nerve injury and facial paralysis were significantly more frequent after SP than after ED (P=0.001 and P=0.065, resp.). No significant differences in capsular rupture, recurrence, and salivary fistula were observed after SP or ED: 2.2% versus 3.9%, 2.2% versus 3.3%, and 2.2% versus 0.65%, respectively. Extracapsular dissection may be considered the treatment of choice for pleomorphic adenomas located in the superficial portion of the parotid gland because this technique showed similar effectiveness and fewer side effects than superficial parotidectomy

CLINICAL AND RADIOLOGICAL FEATURES OF MEDICATION-RELATED OSTEONECROSIS OF THE JAWS: COMPARISON OF STAGING SYSTEMS

Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) has been recognized as one of the most disabling comorbidities associated to the assumption of bisphosphonates (BPs) and antiresorptive drugs.To date, several classifications identify the stages of this pathology to propose different protocols for a better management way.This pilot retrospective study aims to compare two of the most used MRONJ classifications (AAOMS vs SIPMO-SICMF), analyzing CT scans and clinical features of patients with documented MRONJ.For each patient, clinical features and radiological findings were analyzed before any therapeutic procedure. The diagnostic differences between the AAOMS and SIPMO-SICMF classification were recorded and analyzed according to the treatment outcomes. These findings highlight different approaches for the patient's treatment related to the MRONJ stages.Our results suggest a continuous update of the international guidelines to uniform the treatment for the improvement of the patients' quality of life

Ulipristal Acetate Before Hysteroscopic Myomectomy

Purpose: The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the literature about the effects of ulipristal acetate (UPA) administration prior to hysteroscopic myomectomy. Methods: We performed a systematic literature search in PubMed/MEDLINE and Embase for original studies written in English (registered in PROSPERO - CRD42018092201), using the terms ‘hysteroscopy’ AND ‘ulipristal acetate’ published up to September 2018. Original articles about UPA treatment prior to hysteroscopic myomectomy (randomized, observational, retrospective studies) were considered eligible. Results: Our literature search produced 32 records. After exclusions, 4 studies were included showing the following results: a) hysteroscopic myomectomy is not negatively affected by UPA pretreatment; b) UPA increases the probability of successfully performing complete myomectomy even in highly complex procedures; c) UPA pretreatment decreases the duration of the procedure and improves patient satisfaction at 3-months post-surgery. Conclusions: UPA pretreatment does not seem to be associated with negative outcomes of hysteroscopic myomectomy and it can improve the surgical outcomes in difficult cases. Once the concerns on the potential hepatotoxicity of UPA are resolved, high-quality prospective randomized controlled trials should be implemented to investigate its efficacy and benefits in a larger patient cohort