Identification of biological samples in a case of contamination of a cytological slide preparation

Here we report a case where a discrete section of the cytological slide preparation of a female individual was obviously contaminated with pleura liquid of a female tumor patient. Analysis of the cancerous pleura liquid and the healthy cells of the slide preparation showed different DNA profiles, indicating that the material originated from two different female individuals. The DNA profile of the cell mixture revealed a heterogenous pattern whereby the alleles could be assigned to the healthy and the tumor patient. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) was observed in four of eight short tandem repeat systems for the pleura liquid and the cell mixture. Despite the low amount of DNA on the slide preparation and the occurrence of LOH, it was possible to clarify the case and to support the assumption that a drop of cancerous pleura liquid contaminated the cytological slide.     

Kontrolle der ordentlichen Gerichtsbarkeit zwischen Scylla und Charybdis – eine Nachlese

Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der B-VG-Novelle zur Kontrolle der Gerichtsbarkeit durch die VA. Nach den Vorstellungen der Expertengruppe Staats- und Verwaltungsreform im Bundeskanzleramt sollte diese Funktion ein eigener Justizanwalt übernehmen, weshalb die strukturellen Unterschiede zu den Ausgangsüberlegungen analysiert werden, ferner wird der Umfang der neuen Kontrollmittel dargestellt und verfassungsrechtlich gewürdigt.     

Editorial

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Pathways of Intergenerational Transmission of Advantages during Adolescence: Social Background,Cognitive Ability,and Educational Attainment

Educational attainment in adolescence is of paramount importance for attaining higher education and for shaping subsequent life chances. Sociological accounts focus on the role of differences in socioeconomic resources in intergenerational reproduction of educational inequalities. These often disregard the intergenerational transmission of cognitive ability and the importance of children’s cognitive ability to educational attainment. Psychological perspectives stress the importance of cognitive ability for educational attainment but underemphasize potentially different roles of specific socioeconomic resources in shaping educational outcomes, as well as individual differences in cognitive ability. By integrating two strands of research, a clearer picture of the pathways linking the family of origin, cognitive ability, and early educational outcomes can be reached. Using the population-based TwinLife study in Germany, we investigated multidimensional pathways linking parental socioeconomic position to their children’s cognitive ability and academic track attendance in the secondary school. The sample included twins (N?=?4008), respectively ages 11 and 17, and siblings (N?=?801). We observed strong genetic influences on cognitive ability, whereas shared environmental influences were much more important for academic tracking. In multilevel analyses, separate dimensions of socioeconomic resources influenced child cognitive ability, controlling parental cognitive ability. Controlling adolescent cognitive ability and parental cognitive ability, parental socioeconomic resources also directly affected track attendance. This indicated that it is crucial to investigate the intertwined influences on educational outcomes in adolescence of both cognitive ability and the characteristics of the family of origin.     

How do municipal amalgamations affect turnout in local elections? Insights from the 2015 municipal reform in the Austrian state of Styria

In this paper, we evaluate the effect of municipal amalgamations on election turnout in local elections. Following recent studies, we argue that municipal mergers can lead to less information about the election being made available to citizens and less influence for individual voters. That is, while citizens in the local context usually rely on their own direct contacts in local offices and among political candidates, the subsequent increase in population size due to a merger reduces opportunities for establishing such contacts and for having decisive influence on political decisions. Consequently, voters are less informed and less engaged, resulting in lower levels of electoral turnout in local elections. We test our argument empirically by using aggregate level data from the municipal level from the 2010 and 2015 local elections in Styria, Austria, which followed the amalgamation of some, but not all, municipalities in January 2015. The empirical results support our argument.     

Success in opposition – failure in government: explaining the performance of right-wing populist parties in public office

Drawing on a conceptual distinction between traditional right-wing extremist and right-wing populist parties, this article examines the performance of the latter in public office. The central argument is that the specific populist aspects of such parties allow them to succeed in opposition and to do well at the game of elections. Once in government, their unique strengths turn into disadvantages. Significant structural weaknesses inherent in populist parties pose nearly insurmountable problems that make their long-term success in government questionable. The analysis also shows that the rise of right-wing populism has substantially increased the opportunity structures of conservative parties. Following the theoretical discussion, the article examines the case of the Austrian Freedom Party and draws parallels with the Italian and Dutch cases.     

Reviews

Japan's International Relations, by Takashi Inoguchi. Pinter Publishers, London, 1991. xii + 190 pp. £10.95 paperback, £39.50 hardback. ISBN 0–86187–095–6, 0–86187–076‐X.

NIPPON: New Superpower, Japan since 1945, by William Horsley and Roger Buckley. BBC Books, London, 1990. x + 278 pp., 24 pp. plates. £15. ISBN 0–563–20875–9.

Korea Briefing, 1990, edited by Chong‐Sik Lee. Westview, Boulder, CO, 1991. viii + 175 pp. £9.95 paperback. ISBN 0–8133–8010–3.

Britain and the Korean War, by Callum MacDonald. Blackwell, Oxford, 1990. viii + 112 pp. £17.50 hardback, £8.95 paperback. ISBN 0–631–16769–2, 0–631–16771–4.

The Future of South Korean‐U.S. Security Relations, edited by William J. Taylor Jr., Young Koo Cha, John Q. Blodgett, and Michael Mazarr. Westview Press, Boulder CO, 1989. £22.50. ISBN 0–8133–7889–3.

The Cambodian Crisis and U.S. Policy Dilemmas, by Robert G. Sutter. Westview Press, Boulder, CO, 1991. vi + 135 pp. £15.50, paperback. ISBN 0–8133–8047–2.

Opium and Foreign Policy: The Anglo‐American Search for Order in Asia: 1912–1954, by William O. Walker III. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London, 1991. xvi + 345 pp. $43.95. ISBN 0–8078–1970.

Beautiful Imperialist: China Perceives America, 1972–1990, by David Shambaugh. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1991. 326 pp. £25, $35. ISBN 0–691–07864–5.

Building Sino‐American Relations: An Analysis for the 1990s, edited by William T. Tow. Paragon House, New York, 1991. vii + 327 pp. $18.95 paperback. ISBN 0–88702–061–5.

Molding the Medium: The Chinese Communist Party and the Liberation Daily, by Patricia Stranahan. M. E. Sharpe, Armonk NY and London, 1991. x + 189 pp. $39.95 ISBN 0–87332–662–8.

The Privatization of China: The Great Reversal, by William Hinton. New York, Monthly Review Press, 1990; Earthscan Publications, London, 1991.191 pp. £7.95 paperback. ISBN 1–85383–098–4.

Rural Reform and Peasant Income in China, by Zhu Ling. Macmillan, Houndmills and London, 1991. xiv + 204 pp. £35 hardback, £14.99 paperback. ISBN 0–333–49743–0, 0–333–49744–9.

China's Defence Modernisation and Military Leadership, by Ngok Lee. Australian National University Press, Sydney, 1989. xxi + 395 pp. ISBN 0–08–033046–0.

Taiwan: China's Last Frontier, by Simon Long. Macmillan, Houndmills and London, 1991. xix + 264 pp. £40 hardback, £14.99 paperback. ISBN 0–333–51292–8, 0–333–51293–6.

Party‐Military Relations in the PRC and Taiwan: Paradoxes of Control, by Cheng Hsiao‐shih. Westview Special Studies on China and East Asia, Boulder, CO, 1990. xiv + 178 pp. £18.50. ISBN 0–8133–7738–2.

Modern Taiwan in the 1990s, edited by Garry Klintworth. Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence No. 75. Australian National University, Canberra, 1991. 216 pp. A$15. ISBN 07315–11689.

Shanghai, by Harriet Sergeant. Jonathan Cape, London, 1991. xi + 371 pp., 16 pp. plates, maps. £16.99. ISBN 0–224–02816–2.

An Illustrated History of Hong Kong, by Nigel Cameron. Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 1991. 362 pp., maps, illus. £25. ISBN 0–19–584997–3.

Hong Kong 1977: dans la gueule du Dragon rouge, by Jules Nadeau with Mathieu‐Robert Sauvé and Judith Bélanger. Editions Québec/Amérique, Montreal, 1990. 306 pp., maps, illus. Can$26.95. ISBN 2–89037–513–7.

Australia in the International Economy in the Twentieth Century, by Barrie Dyster and David Meredith. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990. xvi + 362 pp. £39.50 hardback, £15.00 paperback. ISBN 0–521–33496–9, 0–521–33689–9.

Art and Identity in Oceania, edited by F. Allan Hanson and Louise Hanson. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1990. viii + 315 pp., illus. £37. ISBN 0–8248–1304–0.

The Pacific, by Simon Winchester. Hutchinson, London, 1991. xi + 501 pp. £19.99. ISBN 0–09–173485–1.