Integrating Voting Theory and Roll Call Analysis: A Framework

Scholars of legislative studies typically use ideal point estimatesfrom scaling procedures to test theories of legislative politics.We contend that theory and methods may be better integratedby directly incorporating maintained and to be tested hypothesesin the statistical model used to estimate legislator preferences.In this view of theory and estimation, formal modeling (1) providesauxiliary assumptions that serve as constraints in the estimationprocess, and (2) generates testable predictions. The estimationand hypothesis testing procedure uses roll call data to evaluatethe validity of theoretically derived to be tested hypothesesin a world where maintained hypotheses are presumed true. Wearticulate the approach using the language of statistical inference(both frequentist and Bayesian). The approach is demonstratedin analyses of the well-studied Powell amendment to the federalaid-to-education bill in the 84th House and the Compromise of1790 in the 1st House.     

Sex differences in suicidal ideation in a community sample from China

In a large sample of over 4,000 Chinese residents in the Wuling and Sino-Vietnamese border regions of China, females had a higher incidence of ever wishing that they were dead. This sex difference was found regardless of marital status, age, and occupation.     

Polyclonal systemic immunoblast proliferation: an unusual hematologic entity presenting as a medical examiner case

A 43-year-old woman who was receiving oral antibiotics for several days for a superficial foot infection developed a persistent rash, fever, and lymphadenopathy, despite discontinuation of the antibiotic and administration of steroids for a presumed drug reaction. Hours after a subsequent visit to the emergency room for worsening symptoms, she died at home. At autopsy, there was a florid, systemic proliferation of polyclonal plasma cells and immunoblasts infiltrating nearly every organ and tissue of the body, most notably the lymph nodes and spleen. The polyclonal nature of the process was confirmed by immunofixation electrophoresis and immunohistochemistry. Cases of fatal polyclonal systemic immunoblast proliferations are extremely rare, and the trigger for such proliferations is not always known. We review the literature on this unusual entity and discuss the clinical and pathologic findings.