THE AMBITIONS OF POLICY DESIGN

There is no shortage of warnings concerning the hazards of excessive ambition in consciously-pursued public policy. In the light of these cautions, this paper considers the appropriate ambitions for policy design. The critics have missed the target. There is no need to fear ambition in policy design, provided that openness in communications about policy is secured.     

Incidence and correlates of bulimic behavior in a female high school population

To investigate the incidence and correlates of bulimic behavior, 1268 high school females were surveyed. A 47-item questionnaire was used to identify a group of students that would meet the DSM-III criteria for a probable diagnosis of bulimia. Students were then compared across the four content areas of demographics; body perception and weight information; dieting, exercise and menstrual behavior; and frequency of bingeing and purging behavior. Results indicated that 4.9% of the students met rigorous criteria for the diagnosis of bulimia. Between-group comparisons indicated that body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and chronicity of dieting differentiated the two groups.This work was supported by Biomedical Research Grant #RR5476, the Sears Allstate Foundation, and the George and Tina Barr Foundation.Main interest is eating disorders.     

The spectrum of intramyocardial small vessel disease associated with sudden death

Intramyocardial small vessel abnormalities are not commonly recognized. The best known abnormality is fibromuscular dysplasia involving the sinoatrial or atrioventricular nodal arteries. Small vessel disease has been reported as an isolated cardiac anomaly in individuals with sudden death, and may also be associated with other cardiac conditions including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and mitral valve prolapse. The nature of the association is unknown, and the mechanism causing sudden death is sometimes obscure. We describe pathological changes of the intramyocardial small vessels of three individuals with sudden death. Abnormalities involved small vessels at different levels. In all the cases, the abnormalities were thought to have caused or contributed to the individual's death. The possible mechanisms of this are discussed.