B. Reviews: general

i. ISLAM IN THE WORLD. By Malise Ruthven. London, Penguin Books, 1984. pp.400. £3.95.

ii. ISLAM IN FOREIGN POLICY. Edited by Adeed Dawisha, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press in Association with Chatham House, 1983. pp.181 and index. £17.50.

iii. BAHA'U'LLAH: THE KING OF GLORY. By Hasan Balyuzi. Oxford, George Ronald, 1980. pp.539 with photographs and 1 colour plate. £9.00.

iv. THE GREAT ANATOLIAN REBELLION, 1000/1591–1611. By William J. Griswold. (Islamkundliche Untersuchungen Vol.83). Berlin, Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1983. pp.xxiv, 333, 12 maps.

v. CONSTRUCTION WORK IN OTTOMAN CAIRO. By Nelly Hanna. Supplement aux Annales Islamologiques, Cahier No.4). Cairo, Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1985.

vi. REGIONALE REFORMEN IN OSMANISCHEN REICH AM VORABEND DER TANZIMAT. By Michael Ursinus. (Islamkundliche Untersuchungen, Bd.73), Berlin, Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1982. pp.vii, 327.

vii. NORTH AFRICA, 1800–1900: A SURVEY FROM THE NILE VALLEY TO THE ATLANTIC. By Magali Morsy, London & New York, Longman, 1984. pp.356 with maps, tables and figures.

viii. LETTERS FROM EGYPT. By Lucie Duff Gordon. London, Virago, 1983. pp.xxiv, 383. £4.95.

ix. BRIDE OF THE RED SEA. A 10th/16th CENTURY ACCOUNT OF JEDDAH. (AL SILAH WA‐'L ‘UDDAH FI TARIKH BANDAR JUDDAH). Arabic text edited, translated and annotated by G.Rex Smith and ‘Umar Al‐Zayla'I. (Occasional Papers Series, No.22). Durham, University of Durham. Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, 1984. pp.vi., 153, 4 plates.

x. ARAB HISTORIANS OF THE CRUSADES: Selected and translated from the Arabic sources by Francesco Gabrieli; translated from the Italian by E.J.Costello. London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, reprinted 1984. pp.xxxvi, 362. £6.95.

xi. INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AND THE MIDDLE EAST: OLD RULES, DANGEROUS GAME. By L.Carl Brown. London, I.B.Tauris, 1984, pp.xii, 363. Casebound £29.50., Paper £9.50.

xii. RELIGION AND POLITICS IN IRAN. Edited by Nikki R. Keddie. New Haven & London, Yale University Press, 1983. pp.x, 258. 1 map. £20.00.

xiii. THE STATE AND REVOLUTION IN IRAN, 1962–1982. By Hossein Bashiriyeh. London, Croom Helm, 1984. pp.202. £16.95.

xiv. THE ARABIAN PENINSULA: ZONE OF FERMENT. Edited by Robert W. Stookey. (Hoover International Studies Series). Stanford, Stanford University, 1984. pp.xxxiii, 151, 4 maps. Casebound £20.80, Paper £9.40.

xv. THE PLO: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION. By Jillian Becker. London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984. pp.x, 303, maps.

xvi. SUDAN AT THE CROSSROADS. By Charles Gurdon. London, Menas Press, 1984. pp.vii, 128, 1 map. £6.25.

xvii. THE STRUGGLE FOR SOUTH YEMEN. By Joseph Kostiner. London, Croom Helm, 1984. pp.194, map. £14.95.     

Book Reviews

Book Review in This Article:
THE P olitics of R egulation Edited by James Q. Wilson
T he G reat B illion D ollar M edical S windle By Keith Alan Lasko, M.D.
A merican L aw of M edical M alpractice By Steven E. Pegalis, J.D., and Harvey F. Wachsman, M.D., J.D.
H idden V ictims : T he S exual A buse of C hildren By Robert L. Geiser     

Thiodicarb and methomyl tissue distribution in a fatal multiple compounds poisoning

Abstract:  Thiodicarb is a nonsystemic carbamate insecticide whose acetylcholinesterase activity is related to its main methomyl degradation product. A 40-year-old woman was found dead in her car. Empty packages of medicines and an open bottle of Larvin^® containing thiodicarb were found near her body. No signs of violence nor traumatic injuries were noticed upon autopsy, and police investigations strongly suggested a suicide. Systematic toxicological analysis performed on postmortem specimens revealed the presence of various sedatives, hypnotics, and antipsychotic drugs in blood, urine, and gastric content. Some of the compounds identified were determined at blood concentrations well above the known therapeutic concentrations: zolpidem (2.87 mg/L), bromazepam (2.39 mg/L), nordazepam (4.21 mg/L), and levopremazine (0.64 mg/L). Specific analysis of thiodicarb and of its methomyl metabolite was then performed on all fluids and tissues collected during autopsy by liquid chromatography ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS). The anticholinesterase capacity of blood, urine, and gastric content collected at autopsy was 83%, 82%, and 32%, respectively (normal value: 0%). The presence of thiodicarb in the bottle found near the body corroborates the hypothesis of an intake of that compound. Although thiodicarb was only detected in gastric content (24.3 mg/L), its methomyl metabolite was quantified in most postmortem tissues and fluids: gastric content (19.9 mg/L), peripheral blood (0.7 mg/L), urine (8.5 mg/L), bile (2.7 mg/L), liver (0.7 mg/kg), kidney (1.7 mg/kg), lung (1.5 mg/kg), brain (9.3 mg/kg), and heart (3.6 mg/kg).     

A Non-bipartite Propensity Score Analysis of the Effects of Teacher–Student Relationships on Adolescent Problem and Prosocial Behavior

Previous research suggests a link between the quality of teacher–student relationships and the students’ behavioral outcomes; however, the observational nature of past studies makes it difficult to attribute a causal role to the quality of these relationships. In the current study, therefore, we used a propensity score analysis approach to evaluate whether students who were matched on their propensity to experience a given level of relationship quality but differed on their actual relationship quality diverged on their concurrent and subsequent problem and prosocial behavior. Student/self, teacher, and parent- (only waves 1–3) reported data from 8 waves of the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths (z-proso), a longitudinal study of Swiss youth among a culturally diverse sample of 7- to 15-year-olds were utilized. The initial sample included 1483 (49.4 % female) students for whom information relevant for this study was available. The sample represented families from around 80 different countries, from across all the continents; with approximately 42 % of the female primary caregivers having been born in Switzerland. Following successful matching, we found that students who reported better relationships with their teachers and whose teachers reported better relationships with them evidenced fewer problem behaviors concurrently and up to 4 years later. There was also evidence for an analogous effect in predicting prosocial behavior. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to prevention and intervention practices.     

Informality and Profitability: Evidence from a New Firm Survey in Ecuador

This article estimates the impact of informality on profits using a new survey administered to 1,200 firms with less than 50 employees in four cities in Ecuador. The article proposes a novel definition of informality which explicitly recognises that most firms comply with some regulations but not others. Accounting for firm selection and controlling for a large set of firm, owner and location characteristics, the article finds that more formal firms tend to be more profitable and have higher output per worker. This impact operates, inter alia, through improved access to credit and higher sales through issuance of tax receipts.