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This article traces the path from the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Salduz v Turkey to custodial legal assistance reforms in France, Scotland, Belgium and the Netherlands, and to the recent decision of the Irish Supreme Court in DPP v Gormley. The article attempts to flush out the central role of the ECtHR in effecting national criminal justice reform, while paying attention to considerable variations in national responses. It discusses the thesis that when the ECtHR articulates its rules clearly, as it has arguably done in the Salduz line of cases, it can lead contracting parties to accept its position, even where this might require a significant readjustment of national law and practice. The article also brings into focus the Irish Supreme Court's strong demonstration of common law comparativism, which influenced the outcome in Gormley at least as significantly as Strasbourg jurisprudence itself. This remarkable cosmopolitan vision is contrasted with the Supreme Court's simultaneous unawareness of other Salduz-generated reforms in Europe. The article concludes that comparative law should have an important role to play in shaping national responses to Strasbourg jurisprudence and facilitating its acceptance by contracting parties.

We present a unique case of a 16-year-old male patient who was eventually diagnosed with a large enterolith arising from a Meckel's diverticulum. The enterolith had caused intermittent intestinal symptoms for three years before resulting in small bowel obstruction requiring surgical intervention. Meckel's enterolith ileus is very rare with only few cases described in the literature. To our knowledge, this is only the second case of Meckel's enterolith which had caused intermittent symptoms over a period of time, before resulting in ileus, and the first case where the intermittent symptoms lasted several years before bowel obstruction. The patient had been evaluated with colonoscopy, computerized tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging enterography (MRIE); a calcified pelvic mass had been found, but no further diagnosis other than calcification was established. The patient presented at our emergency department, with symptoms of obstructive ileus and underwent exploratory laparotomy, where a large enterolith arising from a Meckel's diverticulum (MD) was identified, causing the obstruction. A successful partial enterectomy, enterolith removal, and primary end-to-end anastomosis took place; the patient was permanently relieved from his long-standing symptoms. Consequently, complications of Meckel's diverticulum and enterolithiasis have to be included in the differential diagnosis of abdominal complaints.

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Insulinomas are rare tumors of the islet cells of the pancreas and are the most common cause of endogenous hyperinsulinism. Although they usually present with symptoms of hypoglycemia, sometimes they can have vague symptoms. We present the case of a 62-year-old diabetic female who was diagnosed with a large insulinoma after being investigated for the 'cure' of her diabetes. We also review the literature regarding insulinomas in patients with diabetic. A 62-year-old, obese woman with type 2 diabetes mellitus was initially investigated for an unexplained normalization of her blood glucose levels after the cessation of antidiabetic medication due to an episode of severe hypoglycemia. She remained without antidiabetics for three months maintaining normoglycemia, and thereafter, she started experiencing frequent but less severe hypoglycemic episodes. She did not change her diet habits or level of activity and did not lose any weight. The patient underwent further investigation with a supervised 72 h fasting test, which resulted in the biochemical diagnosis of endogenous hyperinsulinism. Imaging studies revealed the presence of a large insulinoma in the head of the pancreas. Finally, the patient underwent a pylorus preserving Whipple procedure, which reversed the aforementioned 'normalization' of glucose levels and the underlying diabetes mellitus reappeared. Insulinomas are rare tumors causing hypoglycemia. Even more rarely are found in diabetic patients, making the diagnosis more challenging and probably delayed, as the symptoms are masked by the presence of diabetes, thereby leading to a more advanced disease diagnosis.