Invasion of the 'body snatchers': burglary reconsidered

The victim of crime has become the focus of increasing concern in recent years, particularly in the context of the impact crime has on its victims. This article takes a novel approach within this debate contending that the conceptualization of victimization remains underdeveloped with respect to the experience of crime for victims. In particular, this article explores elements of threat to or loss of property and physical safety that impinge on personal and communal well-being. Further, we draw together perspectives on `well-being' that focus on the boundaries of body, home and personal space as key constituents of a sense of both identity and safety. We argue for a richer conceptualization of victimization developing existing approaches with discussions of fear, embodiment and personal/spatial `privacy'

Risk of recurrence after a first episode of symptomatic venous thromboembolism provoked by a transient risk factor: a systematic review.

We aimed to determine the risk of recurrence for symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE) provoked by different transient risk factors. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Collaboration Registry of Randomized Trials databases were searched. STUDY SELECTION: Prospective cohort studies and randomized trials of patients with a first episode of symptomatic VTE provoked by a transient risk factor and treated for at least 3 months were identified. DATA EXTRACTION: Number of patients and recurrent VTE during the 0- to 12-month and 0- to 24-month intervals after stopping therapy, study design, and provoking risk factor characteristics were extracted. DATA SYNTHESIS: Annualized recurrence rates were calculated and pooled across studies. At 24 months, the rate of recurrence was 3.3% per patient-year (11 studies, 2268 patients) for all patients with a transient risk factor, 0.7% per patient-year (3 studies, 248 patients) in the subgroup with a surgical factor, and 4.2% per patient-year (3 studies, 509 patients) in the subgroup with a nonsurgical factor. In the same studies, the rate of recurrence after unprovoked VTE was 7.4% per patient-year. The rate ratio for a nonsurgical compared with a surgical factor was 3.0 and for unprovoked thrombosis compared with a nonsurgical factor was 1.8 at 24 months. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of recurrence is low if VTE is provoked by surgery, intermediate if provoked by a nonsurgical risk factor, and high if unprovoked. These risks affect whether patients with VTE should undergo short-term vs indefinite treatment

Postoperative phlegmasia caerulea dolens: a case report and consideration of potential iatrogenic factors

While the haemorrhagic consequences of anti-coagulants are well and frequently described in the surgical literature, the paradoxical prothrombotic tendencies of these drugs tend to be under-recognised due, perhaps, to their clinical infrequency. However, when these effects pertain, their consequences can be devastating. Here, we present a postoperative oncology patient who suffered a massive recrudescence of his lower limb venous thrombosis immediately after discontinuation of his heparin infusion, despite seemingly being adequately anticoagulated by warfarin therapy (INR > 2.0). We intend this case to graphically illustrate the theoretical considerations that must govern the perioperative use of these drugs in high-risk patients