The revolutionary pacifism of A.J. Muste: On the backgrounds of the Pacific War

Abstract

In the summer of 1977, two journalists, John Barron and Anthony Paul, published a book which in the United States was entitled Murder of a Gentle Land and in Britain Peace with Horror. In both cases the subtitle was The Untold Story of Communist Genocide in Cambodia. The authors are both working at the institution, The Reader's Digest, which publishes a monthly appearing in 32 countries in 13 languages. In February 1977 The Reader's Digest published a summary of their book which thus became available to more than 30 million readers all over the world.     

Sarcomeric gene mutations in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

In developed countries, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) represents the most prevalent cause of death in children between 1 month and 1 year of age. SIDS is a diagnosis of exclusion, a negative autopsy which requires the absence of structural organ disease. Although investigators have confirmed that a significant percentage of SIDS cases are actually channelopathies, no data have been made available as to whether other sudden cardiac death-associated diseases, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), could be responsible for some cases of SIDS. The presence of a genetic mutation in the sarcomeric protein usually affects the force of contraction of the myocyte, whose weakness is compensated with progressive hypertrophy and disarray. However, it is unclear whether in the most incipient forms, that is, first years of life, the lack of these phenotypes still confers a risk of arrhythmogenesis. The main goal of the present study is to wonder whether genetic defects in the sarcomeric proteins, previously associated with HCM, could be responsible for SIDS. We have analysed 286 SIDS cases for the most common genes implicated in HCM in adults. A total of 680 mutations localised in 16 genes were analysed by semi-automated matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDITOF-MS) using the Sequenom MassARRAY(?) System. Ten subjects with completely normal hearts showed mutated alleles at nine of the genetic variants analysed, and one additional novel mutation was detected by conventional sequencing. Therefore, a genetic mutation associated with HCM may cause sudden cardiac death in the absence of an identifiable phenotype.     

Analytical method for the determination of strychnine in tissues by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry: two case reports

This paper describes an analytical method for strychnine determination in biological samples by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and their application in the investigation of two cases involving strychnine ingestion: A fatal case and a clinical one. The strychnine is isolated from biological samples using a liquid-liquid extraction procedure. The clean-up procedure is performed using an acid solution. Papaverine is used as internal standard in the quantification of strychnine. In the analysed specimens, the limits of quantification were 0.1 microg/ml or 0.1 microg/g. The recovery rate ranged from 75.0% to 98.7% and the coefficients of variation ranged from 4.8% to 10.5%.     

Asymmetry and Corrective Public Policy in Contests

The proposal of an inefficient policyusually stimulates a political strugglebetween the affected interest groups. Theresulting wasteful lobbying activities mayreduce welfare, even if the proposed policyis not approved. In this paper weshow that sufficient asymmetry in payoffsnot only tends to reduce lobbying effortsin standard rent-seeking contests, as iswell known, but it is, in fact, a necessarycondition for the implementation of asuccessful effective correctivetax-transfer policy that complements theproposal of the inefficient policy. Such apolicy induces an efficient equilibriumoutcome which is, in addition, optimal fromthe viewpoint of the players that take partin the public-policy game.