Paying their Way: Local Associations, the Constituency Quota Scheme and Conservative Party Finance

The nature and role of political parties is changing in contemporary Britain. There has been a decline of both party identification among voters and of ideological commitment linked to class, coupled with the growth of alternative political agenda. But government in Britain is dependent on success in an electoral system which relies heavily not only on a party's general level of support but also on the geography of that support. Voters have to be mobilized locally, by party organizations run by activists. The Conservative Party appears to have increasing problems doing this.     

The determination of psilocin and psilocybin in hallucinogenic mushrooms by HPLC utilizing a dual reagent acidic potassium permanganate and tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) chemiluminescence detection system

This paper describes a procedure for the determination of psilocin and psilocybin in mushroom extracts using high-performance liquid chromatography with postcolumn chemiluminescence detection. A number of extraction methods for psilocin and psilocybin in hallucinogenic mushrooms were investigated, with a simple methanolic extraction being found to be most effective. Psilocin and psilocybin were extracted from a variety of hallucinogenic mushrooms using methanol. The analytes were separated on a C12 column using a (95:5% v/v) methanol:10 mM ammonium formate, pH 3.5 mobile phase with a run time of 5 min. Detection was realized through a dual reagent chemiluminescence detection system of acidic potassium permanganate and tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II). The chemiluminescence detection system gave improved detectability when compared with UV absorption at 269 nm, with detection limits of 1.2 x 10(-8) and 3.5 x 10(-9) mol/L being obtained for psilocin and psilocybin, respectively. The procedure was applied to the determination of psilocin and psilocybin in three Australian species of hallucinogenic mushroom.     

Public hospitals in China: privatisation, the demise of universal health care and the rise of patient-doctor violence

Ensuring the safety of staff and patients has become a major problem for hospitals in China. This article examines whether one of the reasons for this violence may be the emerging injustice and inequality that have manifested in the Chinese health care system as a result of privatisation reforms since the early 1980s. It considers approaches to these issues that may assist the Chinese Government, and other nations contemplating similar policy changes, to create efficient but equity-based health care systems that minimise collateral trauma to patients and their families.     

The retina in forensic medicine: applications of ophthalmic endoscopy: the first 100 cases

The retina reflects a variety of diseases in the living patient. However, the retina is not routinely examined in deceased persons, and therefore it is unknown if routine retinal examination would be a useful adjunct to the forensic autopsy. To examine this issue, the retinae of routine medical examiner cases were examined utilizing an ophthalmic endoscope. The results of the first 100 examinations are reported. Specific attention was given to changes that reflected the postmortem interval, the development of petechiae as related to cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and the association of retinal hemorrhages to subconjunctival hemorrhages. The procedure was helpful in cases of suspected shaken baby syndrome, exsanguination, and carbon monoxide poisoning and in cases with sudden increased intracranial pressure (Terson syndrome). It appears that lividity patterns exist in the retina, and this may be potentially useful in determining body position after death. Some natural disease processes, such as hypertension, were also identified. Finally, the utility of the ophthalmic endoscope as a means of circumventing the problem of corneal clouding is discussed, and ideas for further research using this technology are presented.     

Eyewitness Identification Accuracy and Response Latency

Eyewitness identification research has reliably shown that accurate identifications are faster than inaccurate identifications. Recently, D. Dunning and S. Perretta (2002) claimed that an identification latency of 10-12 s not only best discriminates between accurate and inaccurate identifications but also produces extremely high accuracy rates, approaching 90%. Consistent with predictions from recognition memory theory, however, we show that the optimum time boundary varies with overall response latency under manipulations of retention interval and nominal lineup size, and that the accuracy rate inside the optimum time boundary is much less impressive than previously reported. We outline directions for clarifying the accuracy and latency relationship to assist the reliable diagnosis of identification accuracy.