Fatal pulmonary cement embolism following percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP)

A case of fatal pulmonary embolism with acrylic cement occuring during a percutaneous vertebroplasty on account of a fracture of L1 is described. Autopsy confirmed the presence of large amounts of surgical cement in the paravertebral venous system and in the pulmonary arteries. This rare complication occurred because perivertebral venous cement migration was not recognized during vertebroplasty. To our knowledge, this is the first case of fatal pulmonary embolism caused by surgical cement following a percutaneous vertebroplasty.     

Small firm membership in national trade associations

• Business associations play a significant role in private–public interactions by aggregating company interests and relating these to political decision makers. Associations are particularly important for smaller firms, which generally do not have the resources to pursue political strategies independently. This paper discusses the question of what the motives are for small and medium‐sized firms to maintain their membership in national trade associations at a time when the European business environment is undergoing profound changes. Using the example of the Netherlands, it is argued that associational membership is determined foremost by political considerations. The implication of this conclusion is that national business associations continue to perform an important function in mediating business–government relations. Despite the internationalization of public decision making, these organizations remain important intermediaries for corporate public affairs.
• 1 We would like to thank two anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Becoming an entrepreneurial university? A case study of knowledge exchange relationships and faculty attitudes in a medium-sized,research-oriented university

This paper seeks to contribute to the growing literature on the entrepreneurial university by mapping knowledge exchange relationships of entrepreneurial faculty in a comprehensive manner and also capturing faculty attitudes towards measures taken by the university administration to promote entrepreneurship. We report on an exploratory study of Sussex University, a medium-sized, research-oriented university, which launched technology transfer activities in the mid-1990s. Our results show that, in spite of a comparatively late start, a considerable number of researchers engage in knowledge exchange processes with industry and other non-academic partners. We present evidence that suggests faculty in the social sciences and humanities as well as natural sciences and engineering maintain links to industrial partners, including multinational corporations. Furthermore, our observations indicate that schools differ in the way their faculty engage in university–industry collaborations. Further differences can be observed with respect to faculty attitudes towards technology transfer and awareness of the university’s respective codes of practice.

The distribution of individual cabinet positions in coalition governments: A sequential approach

Multiparty government in parliamentary democracies entails bargaining over the payoffs of government participation, in particular the allocation of cabinet positions. While most of the literature deals with the numerical distribution of cabinet seats among government parties, this article explores the distribution of individual portfolios. It argues that coalition negotiations are sequential choice processes that begin with the allocation of those portfolios most important to the bargaining parties. This induces conditionality in the bargaining process as choices of individual cabinet positions are not independent of each other. Linking this sequential logic with party preferences for individual cabinet positions, the authors of the article study the allocation of individual portfolios for 146 coalition governments in Western and Central Eastern Europe. The results suggest that a sequential logic in the bargaining process results in better predictions than assuming mutual independence in the distribution of individual portfolios.