Genocidal Violence,Nation-Building,and the Bloody Birth of Bangladesh

Why did the Pakistani military carry out genocidal violence against East Pakistani Hindus during the 1971 civil war when the Hindus did not constitute a security threat? This question carries not only theoretical but also important policy and security implications in present-day Bangladesh. A uniquely in-depth analysis of the little-known genocide in East Pakistan in 1971 shows that genocidal violence may be used as an instrument of nation-building. It was designed to mobilize both the Pakistani troops and the Bengali Muslim population against a convenient, well-defined enemy. The logic of othering – and then exterminating – a religious minority was meant to integrate a defiant, and previously marginalized, group into a reimagined community.     

Stress and adjustment in the transition to adolescence: Moderating effects of neuroticism and extroversion

Research on adult populations (P.T. Costa and R. R McCrae [1986] From Catalog to Classification; Murray's Needs and the Five Factor Model, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,Vol. 55, pp. 258–265) has indicated that neuroticism tends to exacerbate the dynamic link between stressful life events and maladjustment, whereas extroversion tends to ameliorate it. The present study examined the developmental relevance of this model during the transition to adolescence. Questionnaire data regarding stressful life events, neuroticism, and extroversion were provided by 51 males aged 10–11 and by 68 males aged 12–13, with parallel data on adjustment provided by homeroom teachers. As expected, regression analyses revealed significant interactions between personality traits and life events in the prediction of adjustment among adolescents, but not preadolescents. Further, significant but low correlations appeared in both age groups between personality traits and the appearance of stressful events as well as adjustment problems. Discussion focused on the dynamically differing processes linking personality, stress, and adjustment during the transition to adolescence.Received doctorate in educational psychology from UCLA. Research interests include stress and coping across the life span, social sources of adolescent self-esteem, and intergroup relations in the junior high school.Received doctorate in clinical psychology from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Research interests include family relations, social and emotional development in children and adolescents, and developmental psychopathology. To whom correspondence should be addressed.Research interests focus on social support in the family.     

Ensuring the safe and effective FDA regulation of fecal microbiota transplantation

Scientists, policymakers, and medical professionals alike have become increasingly worried about the rise of antibiotic resistance, and the growing number of infections due to bacteria like Clostridium difficile, which cause a significant number of deaths and are imposing increasing costs on our health care system. However, in the last few years, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), the transplantation of stool from a healthy donor into the bowel of a patient, has emerged as a startlingly effective means to treat recurrent C. difficile infections. At present, the FDA is proposing to regulate FMT as a biologic drug. However, this proposed classification is both underregulatory and overregulatory. The FDA''s primary goal is to ensure that patients have access to safe, effective treatments—and as such they should regulate some aspects of FMT more stringently than they propose to, and others less so. This essay will examine the nature of the regulatory challenges the FDA will face in deciding to regulate FMT as a biologic drug, and will then evaluate available policy alternatives for the FDA to pursue, ultimately concluding that the FDA ought to consider adopting a hybrid regulatory model as it has done in the case of cord blood.