Sudden unexpected death resulting from hypothalamic sarcoidosis

The authors report a case of sudden death in a 23-year-old woman in whom autopsy by the medical examiner revealed hypothalamic sarcoidosis. The decedent had experienced 6 months of amenorrhea and a 50-pound weight gain. She sought medical attention when she experienced headache, and after imaging and laboratory studies, she was suspected of having neurosarcoidosis. She appeared to respond well to corticosteroid therapy. However, 6 weeks after the beginning of therapy, she was found dead on the floor of her residence. Autopsy showed extensive granulomatous inflammation of the hypothalamus and adjacent structures. Previously reported cases of hypothalamic sarcoidosis are reviewed. A hypothesis for the mechanism of sudden death is presented.     

STR data for nine Y-chromosomal loci in Guinea Equatorial (central Africa)

Allele and haplotype frequencies for nine Y-specific STR loci (DYS19, DYS389-I, DYS389-II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS393, DYS434, DYS437, and DYS439) were obtained from a sample of 57 males from Guinea Equatorial.     

The role of race in predicting job attitudes of patrol officers

This study examines the differences in selected work-related attitudes of black and white patrol officers in Detroit, Michigan, and Oakland, California. Previous research has noted significant differences in work-related attitudes between black and white employees. Results of this data revealed significant differences in such attitudes between black and white officers, as well as variations between the Detroit and Oakland samples. Findings from this study suggest that future studies of racial differences in occupational studies will need to be very specific as to the occupation and work environment studied.     

Estimation of age in adolescents --the basilar synchondrosis

The state of fusion of the basilar synchondrosis as a biological age indicator was assessed in a sample of 91 cadavers of both sexes whose ages ranged between 8 and 26 years. The correlation between the degree of closure and chronological age was investigated. Although the female population sample was very small (n = 21), the data indicate a tendency of differences in age between the "open" and "closed" groups. In the male population (n = 70), no significant differences were detected between the "open" and "closed" categories; in fact, the mean age of the two groups was the same (p = 0.9). These findings indicate that the stage of fusion of the basilar synchondrosis is not a good indicator of age in male cadavers, while in females the feature could be useful when estimating age of unknown human remains, although further investigation on a larger sample is advocated.     

Just as you like it: How allocators decide in cases of conflict between own and recipients' views of justice

The present study examined how people, who are instructed to make just allocations, decide in situations of conflict when their personal views of what constitutes the appropriate justice standard are partly at variance with the opinions and preferences of the recipients of the allocations. We expected, in line with recent theories, which stress that justice behavior is at least partly motivated by the desire to get one's actions accepted and approved, the allocation decisions to be influenced not only by the allocators' own ideas of what constitutes a just solution but also by the preferences they perceive to exist for the recipients. It was predicted that the likelihood that allocators will abandon their personally preferred justice standards and allocate in accordance to recipients' preferences will increase with increasing numbers of cues suggesting an alternative allocation. Subjects having a strong personal preference for the equality over the equity standard of justice were asked to make just allocations of payments among two workers. Availability vs. lack of explicit information about the recipients' allocation preferences and expectation of future interaction with one of the recipients were used to operationalize differing amounts of pressure exerted on the allocators' decisions. Results showed a considerable readiness on the part of the allocators to abandon their own views of justice, the amount of readiness varying with the amount of pressure that was weighing upon them.     

A Divided Family: Race,the Commonwealth and Brexit

Abstract

The Commonwealth has long been conceptualised as ‘a family of nations’ in a reflection of the size, diversity and shared values of the organisation. As the discussion in post-Brexit Britain engages with questions of race and immigration, it is important to consider the role the Commonwealth played in the referendum campaigns. The combination of the Leave campaign’s promises to reinforce ties with ‘kith and kin’ in Commonwealth countries with the xenophobia that defined the campaign prompts the question what exactly does the Commonwealth mean in modern Britain? The EU referendum revealed two Commonwealths—one reflecting the backgrounds of Britain’s ethnic minorities, and one centred on the three majority white nations of Australia, New Zealand and Canada. This article will offer an investigation of these conflicting visions of the Commonwealth in the referendum, as well as the voting motivations of Commonwealth nationals and British citizens of Commonwealth descent.     

Deregulation,property rights,and legal system

During regulation the regulator carries out an intermediary role between shareholders and managers, consequently affecting property rights and the agency relation between the two. Deregulation implies that this intermediary role ceases to exist. This article analyses how government deregulation changes property rights, differentiating between firms of network and non-network structures. Changes in property rights affect the agency relation between shareholders and managers, increasing information asymmetry and agency costs. I argue that the way to reduce agency costs depend to a great extent on the country’s legal system classified as of common or civil law tradition.

Inzidentfeststellung der Vaterschaft im Unterhaltsregressverfahren

Voraussetzung für die erfolgreiche Durchsetzung eines (Unterhalts-)Regressanspruches des Scheinvaters gegen den wahren Vater war bislang die Feststellung der Vaterschaft in einer eigenen und gegenüber allen wirkenden gerichtlichen Statusentscheidung. Dies war insofern problematisch, als der Scheinvater hierfür kein eigenes Antragsrecht hatte. So wie in Deutschland war in ?sterreich eine Beurteilung der Vaterschaft als Vorfrage im streitigen Unterhaltsregressverfahren nicht m?glich. Nunmehr hat der BGH eine solche inzidente Feststellung unter gewissen Voraussetzungen erlaubt. Der Beitrag analysiert die Beweggründe des BGH in dieser richtungsweisenden Entscheidung und geht der Frage nach, ob und inwieweit die Inzidentfeststellung auch in ?sterreich m?glich oder sogar geboten ist.     

Why we need bricoleurs to foster robust governance solutions in turbulent times

The public sector frequently confronts a heightened societal turbulence triggered by an increasing number of unpredictable and disruptive economic, political, and environmental crises. How can the public sector respond to this challenge? This article argues, first, that to continue to provide relevant solutions, public governance must be robust in the sense of adapting and innovating policies, programs, and services in ways that facilitate the achievement of basic public ambitions, functions, and values in the face of challenges, stressors, and threats. Second, to build robust governance, public managers must engage in bricolage and become bricoleurs in order to flexibly combine elements from competing and co-existent public governance paradigms. Doing so necessitates the construction of institutions conducive to bricolage, that is, institutions that are characterized by a high degree of flexibility that allows for experimentation; institutions that foster inclusive deliberation, knowledge sharing and joint learning; and institutions that balance centralization with distributed agency.     

The democratizing impact of governance networks: From pluralization,via democratic anchorage,to interactive political leadership

Initially, governance networks were intended as tools for making public governance more effective. Yet, scholars have argued that governance networks also have the potential to democratize public governance. This article provides an overview of theoretical arguments pertaining to the democratizing impact of governance networks. It claims that the initial celebration of the pluralization of public governance and the subsequent call for a democratic anchorage of governance networks should give way to a new concern for how governance networks can strengthen and democratize political leadership. Tying political leadership to networked processes of collaborative governance fosters ‘interactive political leadership’. The article presents theoretical arguments in support of interactive political leadership, and provides an illustrative case study of a recent attempt to strengthen political leadership through the systematic involvement of elected politicians in local governance networks. The article concludes by reflecting on how interactive political leadership could transform our thinking about democracy.