To P or not to P? The Usefulness of P‐values in Quantitative Political Science Research

This contribution gives a short overview over the mechanics of significance testing in inferential statistics, in particular linear models, and tries to put the discussion about the usefulness of p‐values into a broader perspective of scientific practise. This discussion needs to be embedded into the larger debate about the credibility crises faced by empirical social science research. In particular, it seems of utmost importance to discuss what the profession as a whole, journals, publishers, as well as editors can do to encourage better research practise that generates reliable and useful empirical findings.     

Suicide of a man with known allergy to fish protein by ingesting tinned fish

On a day in November, the body of a 31-year-old man was found near a swimming lake with two open and partly emptied fish tins lying next to him. Further investigations showed that the man had been allergic to fish protein and suffered from severe depression and drug psychosis. Already some days before the suicide, he had repeatedly asked for fish to kill himself. Although the results of the chemical and toxicological examinations were negative, the autopsy findings and histological tests suggest that death was caused by an anaphylactic reaction.     

Postmortem redistribution of fentanyl in the rabbit blood

Postmortem redistribution of fentanyl in the rabbit was investigated after application of the 50-μg/h Durogesic pain patch. Patches were applied for 48 hours. Two cycles of patch administration were used before characterization of the postmortem redistribution. Fentanyl showed marked redistribution into the femoral and pulmonary veins of the rabbit through 48 hours after the animals were humanely killed and the pain patches removed. The plasma concentration of 2.34 ng/mL in the femoral blood before killing the animals increased 5.6-fold by 48 hours after patch removal to 13.2 ng/mL. This postmortem concentration is approximately 3-fold the C(max) determined during antemortem pharmacokinetic analysis, 4 ng/mL, which was achieved 24 hours after the application of the second 50-μg/h Durogesic pain patch. After blood sampling for 48 hours after animal termination with patch removal compared with sampling for 48 hours from animals not terminated and with patch removal, the exposure ratios in the terminated animals were approximately 30-fold, indicating that between the postmortem redistribution of fentanyl and the cessation of hepatic clearance of fentanyl in the rabbit, the postmortem redistribution of fentanyl leads to an elevated measures of postmortem blood concentrations relative to antemortem blood concentrations.     

New Formulas to Estimate Age at Death in Maya Populations Using Histomorphological Changes in the Fourth Human Rib*

Abstract: This study develops new histomorphological algorithms for Maya populations’ human ribs and tests the applicability of published algorithms. Thin sections from the fourth rib of 36 individuals of known age were analyzed under polarized light microscopy. Osteon population density (OPD, the concentration of intact and fragmented osteons per mm²), cortical area (CA), and osteon size (OS) were recorded. Seven algorithms were calculated, using all combinations of variables, and compared to the performance of published formulas. The OPD‐based formulas deviate from the known age 8.7 years on average, while those from OS and CA deviate between 10.7 and 12.8 years. In comparison, our OPD‐based algorithms perform better than the one by Stout and Paine and much better than Cho et al. In conclusion, algorithms should be developed using OPD for different ethnic groups; although Stout and Paine’s can be used for Maya and maybe Mesoamerican individuals.     

Unnatural and Violent Death in Cases with High Blood Alcohol Concentration— Autopsy Study

The use of alcohol increases the risk of dying from unnatural or violent causes. The presented study explored the distribution of age, gender, cause, and circumstances of death in persons who died in an unnatural and violent manner, with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) higher than 0.3 g/dL, and where the cause of death was not alcohol intoxication. We defined the control (0 < BAC < 0.3 g/dL) and study (BAC ≥ 0.3 g/dL) groups, as in subjects with these concentrations, there is a significant risk of gross intoxication, stupor, and death. The subjects from the study group were older, with no difference in gender distribution. Traffic accidents were the most common fatal event in both groups, followed by suicides. Other accidents (choking on food and exposure to fire) were more frequent in the study group. Compared to the control group, subjects from the study group were older persons whose deaths were mainly accidental.     

Depression and parasuicide in refugee and Slovenian adolescents

The association between depression and traumatic experiences, stress, loss, and bereavement is well known. It was expected that Bosnian refugee adolescents who had fled from war zones to Slovenia would develop higher levels of depression than their Slovenian peers without war traumatic experiences. Two years after the beginning of the war in Bosnia, 265 8th-grade refugee students aged 14 to 15 years were assessed with the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and compared with a sample of 195 Slovenian students of the same age. The Bosnian refugees showed significantly lower rates of depressive symptomatology despite very high rates of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Slovenian adolescents showed significantly lower self-esteem and greater feelings of inadequacy in the academic field; they were more likely to have feelings of not being loved and more often expressed the wish to kill themselves. Refugees described more sadness, worried about the future and about physical pains, but they do not show lower school achievement or more behavioral problems. The results indicate that the association between traumatic experiences and depressive symptoms is not inevitable, and that other factors including culture and context influences must be taken into account.     

Mixed drug intoxication involving zaleplon ("Sonata")

Zaleplon ("Sonata") is a pyrazolopyrimidine derivative approved for use in the United States for the treatment of insomnia. To date, there has been little data in the toxicological literature where zaleplon has been implicated as causing a fatal intoxication, either alone or in combination with other drugs. This report documents a case where zaleplon was identified in a suicide by multiple drug ingestion. The following zaleplon concentrations were found: heart blood 2.2mg/l; bile 8.6mg/l and urine 1.4mg/l. Zaleplon was also detected but not quantitated in the kidney and liver.     

Why is There No Race to the Bottom in Capital Taxation?

This article explains the absence of a race to the bottom in capital taxation by analyzing fiscal competition under budget rigidities and tax equity constraints (fairness norms). We outline a political economic model of tax competition that treats the outcome of tax competition as one argument in the governments utility function, the others being public expenditure and tax equity. In accordance with previous theoretical research, tax competition tends to cause a reduction in taxes on mobile capital and an increase in the tax rates on relatively immobile labor in our model. Yet, our model predicts that governments do not fully abolish taxes on mobile capital. Instead, the government being least restricted by budget constraints and equity norms cuts tax rates to levels slightly below the lowest tax rates of those countries, in which governments are more constrained, where effective constraints are country size, budget rigidities and fairness norms. Analyzing data from 23 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries between 1975 and 2004 we find empirical support for the hypotheses derived from our theoretical model.     

Hanging in,stepping up and stepping out: livelihood aspirations and strategies of the poor

In recent years understanding of poverty and of ways in which people escape from or fall into poverty has become more holistic. This should improve the capabilities of policy analysts and others working to reduce poverty, but it also makes analysis more complex. This article describes a simple schema which integrates multi-dimensional, multi-level, and dynamic understandings of poverty, of poor people's livelihoods, and of changing roles of agricultural systems. The article suggests three broad types of strategy pursued by poor people: ‘hanging in’, ‘stepping up’, and ‘stepping out’. This simple schema explicitly recognises the dynamic aspirations of poor people, diversity among them, and livelihood diversification. It also brings together aspirations of poor people with wider sectoral, inter-sectoral, and macro-economic questions about policies necessary for the realisation of those aspirations.