Adolescents’ time use: Effects on substance use,delinquency and sexual activity

Using an integration of social control theory and the routine activity perspective, adolescent time use was examined for effects on problem behaviors. We examined a wide variety of time use categories, including homework, extracurricular activities, sports time, alone time, paid work, housework, television watching, as well as indices of family time and peer time, for their effects on heavy alcohol use, cigarette smoking, illicit drug use, delinquency and sexual activity. The study employed a representative household sample of adolescents (n=606) and took into account important sociodemographic factors – gender, age, race (Black and White), and socioeconomic status. The most important predictors of adolescent problem behaviors were family time and peer time. Family time serves as a protective factor against all five problem behaviors while peer time is a highly significant risk factor for all five problem behaviors. Ph.D. in Sociology from the University at Buffalo. She is a Senior Research Scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, 1021 Main Street, Buffalo, The State University of New York 14203. Her research interests include family influences on the development of adolescent substance use, gambling, and other problem behaviors M.A. in Mathematics from the University of Rochester. He is Project Manager/Data Analyst at the Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, 1021 Main Street, The State University of New York 14203. His current research interests include advanced data analysis techniques for studies of alcohol, other substance use and gambling behaviors among youth and adults. Ph.D. in Psychology from the University at Buffalo. He is a Senior Research Scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, 1021 Main Street, The State University of New York 14203. His research interests include the substance abuse/crime nexus, the epidemiology of substance abuse, and the etiology and epidemiology of pathological gambling. Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University. He is Professor and Chair in the Department of Sociology, University at Buffalo, 430 Park Hall, Buffalo, The State University of New York, 14260. His research interests include interpersonal relations in adolescent, family, friendship, and work groups. M.S. in Epidemiology from the University at Buffalo. She is a retired Research Scientist from the Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, 1021 Main Street, The State University of New York 14203. Her research interests include alcohol and other substance use among adolescents and families     

Ideas, Paradigms and Institutions: Agricultural Exceptionalism in the European Union and the United States

The differing trajectory of agricultural policy reforms in the 1990s in the world's two most important agricultural powers, the United States and the European Community/Union (EC/EU), can only be fully understood by appreciating the role that ideas play in policy outcomes. The idea of agricultural exceptionalism underwrote a paradigm of state assistance in the US and the EC/EU. By the mid-1980s, the state assistance paradigm was under stress, and subject to a number of anomalies in both the US and the EC. But while the paradigm was overthrown and replaced with a market liberal model in the US grain sector in the 1990s, it remained intact in the European Union. Explaining why agricultural exceptionalism and the state assistance paradigm has endured in the EU while it has withered in the US highlights three factors: the importance of the political institutional framework in locking in—or not—policy principles and instruments; the degree of fit of a sectoral policy paradigm with the broader societal ideational framework regarding appropriate relations between the state, the market, and the individual; and the capacity of a paradigm to adjust in the face of challenges and anomalies.     

Congenital atrioventricular block: histological aspects

It is known that maternal immunological factors such as systemic disease are involved in the genesis of cardiac conduction problems in the fetus but the histologic changes in the conduction system are less documented. We report the case of a 33-year-old woman with no significant medical history. Her first pregnancy was induced by Clomifene. At 17 weeks of gestation, the fetus presented sonographic abnormalities characteristic of a complete atrioventricular block. Biological investigations found anti-SSA and -SSB antibodies. Clinical history search for systemic disease was positive for photosensitivity, lasting 10 years, suggesting the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus. The patient was treated with prednisone 20 mg per day but fetal death occurred at 29 weeks of gestation. Histological examination of the fetal heart showed an altered atrioventricular node and bundle of His with fibrosis, calcifications, endocardial fibroelastosis and mononucleated inflammatory cells. The search for these specific lesions can be determinant in establishing the disease pathogenesis; also, it is important to eliminate this diagnosis in an unexplained fetal death.     

The application of Canadian and U.S. trade remedy laws: irreconcilable expectations?

Abstract: The Canada-United States free trade agreement provides for the creation of a bilateral panel to settle trade disputes between Canada and the United States. Mandated to determine whether existing domestic trade remedy laws have been applied “correctly and fairly,” the bilateral panel has been heralded as ensuring an end to bias, protectionism and political interference in the U.S. trade remedy system. A review of recent decisions with respect to the application of countervailing duties on agricultural commodities in Canada and the United States traces the bias and protectionism in both countries to the considerable discretion allowed trade law administrators. While both systems are defensive of domestic interests, there is more direct political involvement in the U.S. system. The differing degree of political intervention reflects the differing expectations and traditions of the two countries: the Canadian tradition of political independence of administrative tribunals, the U.S. expectation of political direction on trade issues. This contrast, plus the ample interpretive discretion allowed trade remedy authorities in both countries, indicates the potential for appreciable differences in how the United States and Canada are likely to interpret what constitutes a “correct and fair” application of trade relief laws. Sommaire: L'Accord de libre-échange entre le Canada et les États-Unis prévoit la création d'une commission bilatérale pour trancher les conflits commerciaux entre les deux pays. Chargée de déterminer si les lois actuelles visant à corriger une situation estimée injuste dam le domaine du commerce ont été appliquées de façon juste et correcte, cette commission, annonce-t-on, devrait permettre de mettre un terme à la partialité, au protectionnisme et à une ingérence politique dans le système de protection américain. Dans l‘étude qui a été effectuée récemment à propos de l'application des droits de rétorsion sur les produits agricoles au Canada et aux États-LJnis, on indique que la partialité et le protectionnisme sont dus au large pouvoir discrétionnaire dont bénéficie dans les deux pays les administrateurs des lois commerciales. Si les deux systèmes protègent les intérêts de leur pays respectif, la politique joue un rôle beaucoup plus direct dans le système américain. Cette différence au niveau de l'intervention politique reflète les différences existant au niveau des attentes et des traditions entre les deux pays: au Canada, la tradition veut que les tribunaux administratifs soient indépendants alors qu'aux Éats-Unis on s'attend à recevoir des directives du gouvernement en ce qui concerne les questions commerciales. Ce facteur, auquel s'ajoute la grande liberté d'interpétation dont bénéficient dans les deux pays les responsables des mesures de protection, montre qu'il y a de grandes chances pour que le Canada et les États-Unis ne partagent pas le même point de vue sur ce qui constitue une interprétation “juste et correcte” des mesures de protection commerciales.     

La planification stratégique à Ottawa et à Québec: une comparaison de quelques ministères

Sommaire: Douze ministères (six à Ottawa et six à Québec) ont fait l'objet d'une recherche visant àétudier le processus de planification stratégique. Cette planification vise d'abord à identifier les enjeux stratégiques et à déterminer les orientations d'un ministère. Elle vise aussi, dans plusieurs ministères étudiés, à introduire un changement culturel, à mieux intéger les diverses parties de l'organisation, à améliorer l'efficacité et la productivité, à accroître la satisfaction et la qualité de vie au travail, ainsi qu'à améliorer les services à la clientèle et les communications. Au niveau de la gestion du processus, les auteurs ont constaté de grandes différences entre les ministères québécois mais une certaine homogénéité au niveau des ministères fédéraux où le processus semble davantage institutionnalisé. Par ailleurs, à Québec, les plans stratégiques donnent lieu à la préparation de plans annuels d'action élaborés pour l'ensemble du ministère, alors qu'à Ottawa, la responsabilité de la mise en application est laissée aux responsables de secteurs. Enfin, les auteurs ont identifié certaines conditions de succès: l'implication personnelle du sousministre et de l'équipe de direction, l'appui du ministre, la stabilité de la direction, un exercice conçu sur mesure, la simplicité du processus, la capacité de gérer les conflits, la volonté de régler les problèmes urgents sans attendre la fin du processus, la consultation et la responsabilisation des gestionnaires et, enfin, l'intégration de la planification stratégique au processus de prise de décision central du ministère. Abstract: This study designed to analyse the strategic planning process covered twelve departments (six in Ottawa and six in Quebec City). This planning effort is designed primarily to identify the strategic stakes and to determine the orientation of a department. In several departments studied, it also aims to introduce cultural change, to better integrate the various components of the organization, to improve efficiency and productivity, and to raise work satisfaction and the quality of working life, thus improving client services as well as communications. Regarding the management of the process, the authors found major differences between Quebec departments, but a certain homogeneity among federal departments, where the process seems more institutionalized. Moreover, in Quebec, strategic plans involve the preparation of annual action plans developed for an entire department, whereas in Ottawa responsibility for implementation is left to sector heads. Finally, the authors identify certain conditions for success: the personal involvement of the deputy minister and the management team, the minister's support, management stability, a custom-designed exercise, the simplicity of the process, the ability to manage conflict, a willingness to solve urgent problems without waiting for the end of the process, consultation and accountability of managers and, finally, integration of strategic planning into the department's central decision-making process.     

Policy under siege: supply management in agricultural marketing

Abstract: National supply management in the Canadian dairy and poultry sectors is under siege. Its inherent protectionism is increasingly labelled anachronistic in the contemporary, globally competitive economy. This article probes the origins and political economy of the crisis in supply management. It argues that the pragmatism that led to the creation of private interest governments in the dairy and poultry sectors was not accompanied by the necessary degree of broader support in the Canadian political community for the goals and instruments of supply management. Canada's predominantly “business liberalism” norms have never been fully hospitable to the instruments and structures of supply management. Moreover, the legitimacy of poultry marketing agencies, in particular, has been further eroded by two features of their institutional design which have impeded their effective functioning: the inordinate influence they give producers viz-a-viz state and other interests within the sector; and their decision-making rules and procedures, which undermine the incentives for producers to compromise and which encourage parochialism at the expense of the interest of the sector as a whole. As the latter causes national marketing agencies to haemorrhage internally, they are simultaneously faced by an altered domestic and international political economy which gives the advantage to antagonistic interests and ideas. While reform of supply management and the private interest governments within which it is embedded appears inevitable, and is certainly defensible, it will be important for decision-makers to bear in mind that the public will not be well served by reforms that tip the balance of power unevenly in favour of processor and trade liberalization interests. Sommaire: La gestion de l'offre nationale dans les secteurs laitier et de la volaille au Canada est assaillie de toute part. Dans le cadre de l'économie actuelle, concurrentielle au niveaub mondial, on considère de plus en plus que son protectionnisme inhérent est anachronique. Le présent article examine les origines et l'économie politique de la crise qui frappe la gestion de l'offre. En outre, il soutient que le pragmatisme qui a menéà l'établissement de gouvernements d'intérět privé dans les secteurs du lait et de la volaille, n'avait pas un appui suffisant de la part de la communauté politique canadienne en ce qui concerne les objectifs et instruments de la gestion de l'offre. Lespréceptes canadiens dominés par le «libéralisme d'affaires» n'ont jamais ététout à fait favorables aux outils et aux structures de la gestion de l'offre. De plus, le caractère légitime des organismes de commercialisation de la volaille, en particulier, a été sapé davantage par deux caractéristiques de sa conception měme, qui en ont empěché le fonctionnement efficace. La première de ces caractéristiques est l'influence excessive que ces organismes procurent aux producteurs relativement aux intérěts étatiques ou autres dans le secteur; deuxièmement, leurs règles et procédures décisionnelles font que les producteurs sont peu enclins au compromis et qu'ils favorisent leurs intérěts les plus étroits aum dépens des intérěts du secteur dans son ensemble. Pendant que ce dernier effet entraǐne une hémorragie interne au sein des organismes nationaux de commercialisation, ces derniers doivent simultanément faire face à une économie politique nationale et internartionale modifiée, qui favorise des intérěts et idées s'opposant à la gestion de l'offre. Bien qu'une réforme de la gestion de l'offre et des gouvernements d'intérět privé au sein desquels elle est ancrée semble inévitable (et elle est certainment justifiable), il importe que les décideurs sachent bien que le public sera mal servi par des réformes qui feraient pencher la balance des pouvoirs public sera mal servi par des réformes qui feraient pencher la balance des pouvoirs de manière inégale en faveur des intéréts des processeurs ou de la libéralisation du commerce.     

Congressional responsiveness to presidential popularity: The electoral context

A number of recent studies have reported that the influence of the president's public approval rating on congressional support is not substantial. We hypothesize that this unexpected finding might be the result of the inappropriate application of an approval-driven model of legislative voting to the entire Congress. Specifically, we argue that members from certain kinds of electoral contexts—constituencies where the president's, or their own, electoral standing is in doubt—should be especially likely to vary their support for the president with changes in his approval rating. Although the patterns of presidential support scores between 1977 and 1991 do not confirm our specific hypotheses, they do suggest that the electoral context from which a legislator emerges does shape his or her responsiveness to changes in national presidential approval.     

Quantification of mitochondrial DNA in human blood cells using an automated detection system

The 4977 bp deletion of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) accumulates in postmitotic tissues with advancing age. The purpose of our study was to detect and quantify these deletion even in blood cells with a high turnover activity. Whole venous blood, isolated human platelets and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected from 10 unrelated donors aged 20-71 years and total DNA was extracted. PCR was performed for total and mutated mtDNA using two different primer pairs and two fluorogenic probes labeled with the fluorescent dyes FAM and VIC. Specific PCR products were generated, detected and quantified in a real-time PCR. The amplification products of total and deleted mtDNA could be detected in each sample and did not exhibit any differences in the amount of the deleted mtDNA in whole blood, human platelets or PBMCs. Our data did not show any accumulation of the 4977 bp deletion with increasing age as it was observed for several other tissues.