Common mitochondrial DNA deletion associated with sudden natural death in adults

One of the most frequent causes of death in developed countries is sudden natural death (SND), which is the most common indication for medico-legal autopsies. Cardiac diseases are frequently detected among SND. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is easily damaged by reactive oxygen species, and it may cause dysfunction in tissues, leading to early events in cardiovascular disease. A specific mtDNA deletion of 4977 bp is associated to aging, myocardial dysfunction, and bioenergetic deficit. The potential link between mtDNA damage and SND has not been investigated before. Our aim was to evaluate the accumulation of the common mtDNA4977-deletion in cardiac muscle samples from autopsies of SND in adults (n = 14) in comparison to control samples from unnatural deaths (n = 12). Serial dilution-polymerase chain reaction method was performed to estimate the proportion of the total mtDNA harboring the mtDNA4977-deletion. Coefficient variation intra-assay was 8%, and inter-assay was 12%. MtDNA4977-deletion percentage was higher in samples obtained from victims of SND than in those from subjects who died of unnatural causes (p < 0.05). No differences in mtDNA4977-deletion were found between SND victims 39-51 years old, and no correlation was found between these samples and age, r = 0.30, p = 0.29 while it was significant among control samples, r = 0.68, p < 0.05. The association between mtDNA4977 deletion with SND victims might offer a tool to provide additional information to clarify complex SND investigations.     

Dublin Declaration on HIV/AIDS in prisons launched

On 23 February 2004, the Dublin Declaration on HIV/AIDS in Prisons in Europe and Central Asia was launched. The Declaration focuses on prisons in Europe and Central Asia, but it is also relevant for prisons in other countries, including Canada, which are still far from having adopted a comprehensive approach, based on public health and human rights principles, to HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C in prisons.     

“出卖”海岛的法律问题探析

“出卖”无居民海岛表明国家在海岛管理政策上的变化,但“出卖”海岛的实质是设定海岛利用权。同时,为了规范海岛利用权的运作,法律对海岛利用权的基本内容和主要规则作出明确规定是必须的。     

Indigenous voters and party system fragmentation in Latin America

This article shows that ethnic cleavages have contributed to electoral fragmentation in Latin America, but not in the way that the social cleavages literature would expect. It finds that party system fragmentation in the region is not correlated with ethnic diversity, but rather with the proportion of the population that is indigenous. The failure of the main parties to adequately represent indigenous people, it argues, has led indigenous voters to shift their support to a variety of smaller populist and leftist parties, which has produced high levels of party system fragmentation in indigenous areas. Where a significant indigenous party has emerged, however, indigenous voters have flocked to that party, which has reduced party system fragmentation. Analyses of sub-national electoral data from Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Peru provide support for these arguments.     

Politische Institutionen und die Entwicklung generalisierten Vertrauens. Ein internationaler Vergleich

Trust functions as an instrument for establishing long-term and mutually beneficial cooperative relationships. In this paper we investigate the sources of generalized trust. The main focus of the research is the role of the political-institutional context in allowing trust-based relationships to form, controlling for the attributes and motives of individual agents. The central contention of the paper is that political institutions that support norms of fairness, universality, and the division of power contribute to the formation of inter-personal trust. Using data from the World Values Survey we run multi-level models to test for links between differences between the responses of individuals in various countries and the trust-supporting context, in terms of different institutional configurations. Alongside individual resources and attitudes, aspects of social integration and other sociodemographic characteristics, we test for significant effects of contextual factors — such as the influence of formal rule-of-law institutions, social inequality, and the division of power or pluralistic democratic procedures. The study comes to the conclusion that universalistic, impartial and power-sharing institutions increase the prospects for the development of generalized trust.     

中小企业集群发展中的政府干预

中小企业集群很多都是自发形成的,但实践证明,地方政府在中小企业集群的形成中可以发挥较大作用。中小企业在发展中面临着许多自身无法克服的劣势与风险,因此,在集群的发展过程中,需要政府进行干预,即通过多种途径发挥其对集群的引导和扶持作用。     

Contests with an unknown number of contestants

This paper studies rent-seeking contests where the contestants do not know the number of actively competing contestants. Two models are compared. In the first, all players are risk neutral; in the second, all have constant absolute risk aversion. If the expected fraction of active contestants is low, an increase in the number of potential contestants increases individual rent-seeking efforts. This effect is in contrast to the complete information case where individual rent-seeking efforts decrease in the number of contestants. The effect is more likely under risk neutrality, but also possible under risk aversion. Equilibrium rent seeking efforts are lower under risk aversion if and only if the expected fraction of active contestants is low.     

From the Morality of Living to the Morality of Dying: Hunger Strikes in Turkish Prisons

Political hunger strikes have been part of the debates on human rights in many countries around the world. This paper explores the preconditions for and motives behind hunger strikes in Turkey by conceiving the hunger strikers as a part of citizenship politics through which strikers not only express their views against certain common issues, but also declare total opposition to an unjust condition within their political community. The paper focuses on the question of why some such “citizens” choose to participate in hunger strikes, which appears as an individual commitment to achieve a certain common objective. In doing so, the meaning of the experiences of hunger strikers and their universal right to live are elaborated in relation to their political and moral views. Hunger strikes are suggested to be seen as voluntary fasting, undertaken as a means of civil disobedience against an injustice within the context of citizenship. As examples of non-violent political acts, hunger strikes are not only part of citizenship politics but also expressions of commitment to achieving one's goals through non-aggressive means for the common good of all citizens. Moreover, they can also be considered examples of martyrdom/heroism because hunger strikers altruistically risk their life for a public cause. As a particular altruistic act, hunger strikes can also be viewed as an effective form of communication directed toward fellow citizens. Moreover, they are expressions of self-determination for having control over and for one's own life conditions. Finally, hunger strikes can be conceptualized as a struggle for transforming the configuration of structures and practices of citizenship about which one is passionately concerned. In this context, hunger strikes seem to be struggles for recognition in a relationship between two subjects, in which one subordinates the other.