"Ecstasy" and sudden cardiac death

A case of an apparently natural death in association with the use of an MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is reported. The pathophysiology of the death and the pharmacology of the drug are presented. An overview of the certification of such cases is briefly presented.     

Drinking from the Talent Pool: A Resource Endowment Theory of Human Capital and Agency Performance

This article advances a resource endowment theory of human capital and performance in government organizations. Building on research on human capital and firm location in business economics and task complexity in public management, the authors argue that an agency's ability to implement policy is determined both by its scale and by the human capital of the population from which it draws its employees. The authors cast labor as a factor of production in public agencies and argue that access to higher‐quality labor improves government effectiveness. The effect of human capital on performance is especially pronounced when agencies are charged with the implementation of technically complex tasks. The empirical subject is U.S. municipal water utilities’ compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. Comparing records of compliance with more and less complex regulatory requirements provides evidence consistent with the general model. The findings carry important implications for public management and policy design.     

Long-term effects of two childhood psychosocial interventions on adolescent delinquency,substance use,and antisocial behavior: a cluster randomized controlled trial

Objectives

Examine the long-term effects of two childhood universal prevention programs on adolescent delinquency, substance use, and antisocial behavior.

Methods

The cluster randomized controlled trial involved 56 schools and 1,675 children in Zurich, Switzerland. Two evidence-based interventions, namely the social-emotional skills program Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) and the cognitive-behavioral parenting program Triple P, were implemented during the first two years of primary school, at ages 7 and 8 years. Outcomes were measured at ages 13 and 15 years, and included youth self-reports and teacher assessments. Multilevel models were used to account for the clustered nature of the interventions. Effects were estimated with the inclusion of baseline covariates.

Results

Across 13 outcomes related to delinquency, substance use, and antisocial behavior at ages 13 and 15 years, only two non-negligible effects were found. The first was a reduced prevalence of police contacts in the PATHS condition [effect size (ES)?=??0.225). The second was a difference in competent conflict resolution skills in the combined PATHS?+?Triple P condition compared to the context (ES?=?0.259), but in the unexpected direction: participants in the combined treatment appeared to be less competent than their control group peers. All other effects were either statistically non-significant or negligible in size (i.e., ES?<?|0.200|).

Conclusions

Even “evidence-based” interventions may have few long-term effects on delinquency, substance use, and antisocial behavior. Our findings add to the small literature on the long-term effectiveness of early universal prevention in field settings.

     

Y-chromosome STR-haplotype typing in El Salvador

Eight Y-chromosome STRs were investigated in a male population sample from El Salvador. Complete Y-chromosomal STRs haplotypes were obtained in 121 individuals, among which 107 different haplotypes were observed. The two most common haplotypes were shared by approximately 4% of the sample, while 100 haplotypes were unique. The gene diversity was 0.9883 and the discrimination capacity was 0.8926. The combined Y-chromosome STR polymorphisms provide a powerful discrimination tool for routine forensic applications.     

Early Childhood Predictors of Teen Dating Violence Involvement at Age 17

The distal relationship between risk factors in childhood and subsequent dating violence in late adolescence has not often been explored using longitudinal data. This study aims to shed light on the problem of dating violence by examining children’s backgrounds at age 7 and the link to the future involvement in dating violence at age 17 using the first and seventh waves of the Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso, n?=?644). The sample consists of 644 multiethnic adolescents (57.14% female, M?=?17.47, SD?=?0.37), mainly Swiss-born (90%), though more than half of their parents (60%) were born in another country. A latent class analysis was applied to identify three different profiles (a) zero (or minimal) involvement in teen dating violence, (b) perpetrators/victims of controlling behaviors, and (c) perpetrators/victims of controlling behaviors and of physical violence. Participants who were corporally punished and/or victims of bullying at age 7 were significantly more likely to belong to the controlling and physical violence profile than children in the non-violent class. These results suggest a certain chronicity of the effects of violent experiences in early childhood on the patterns of romantic relationships at 17 years old.

     

Openness and the International allocation of foreign direct investment

This paper develops an ordinal index to measure the openness of FDI policy regimes for individual countries. There has been a generalised increase in the index between 1990 and 2002. The most important determinants of variations in FDI flows across countries and over time are country size, the level of educational achievement, and growth. The openness index is positively associated with FDI flows, but its explanatory power is low. Liberalising approval procedures and lifting requirements that foreign companies enter into joint ventures with domestic firms encourage FDI. We conclude that the openness of the FDI regime operates as a factor enabling FDI, but that location advantages are paramount in determining the international allocation of FDI. We also turn the question around and ask what countries are more likely to impose restrictions on FDI. We find that lower levels of education and larger domestic markets are associated with greater restrictions on FDI. In addition, there is some evidence that better institutions are associated with lower FDI restrictions.     

Relationship Between Intimate Partner Violence, Depressive Symptomatology, and Personality Traits

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and personality disorder symptoms controlling for depressive state. Victims of IPV (n?=?176) and non-abused women (n?=?193) completed the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire (DAPP-BQ), Index of Spouse Abuse (ISA), and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). IPV victims scored higher than non-abused women on Intimacy Problems, and scored lower on Rejection traits, after adjustment for depressive symptoms. Severity of the IPV was related to Cognitive Distortion, Suspiciousness, Restricted Expression, and Intimacy Problems, and the length of the IPV was negatively associated with Rejection. The current study suggests only modest differences in personality traits between IPV and non-abused women. The DAPP-BQ traits associated with severity of IPV, in a dose-response manner, would partially reflect the symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), although this possibility deserves further study.     

The role of openness in explaining innovation performance in a regional context

We investigate the role of search strategy in shaping firms’ innovation performance. Firms use a wide range of external actors and sources to help them achieve and sustain innovation. In particular, the extension (breadth) and the relevance (depth) of such sources determine firms’ ability to extract and exploit knowledge and new ideas and, thus, to be innovative. Using a sample of firms in a regional context active in R&D, we built separate measures of breadth and depth for local (on a regional scale) and global (outside the regional context) search. This allows us to investigate whether localized or global knowledge spillovers are in place. We find that a wider set of partners increases coordination costs, while greater depth in search strategies contributes to innovation. We find that a more diversified search strategy at the local level (greater breadth of search) results in significant payoffs in terms of innovation, while diversifying the partnership with Italian partners has a smaller, although still positive, effect. In contrast, the benefits of depth of innovation are greatest at the global level. In addition, a broader set of information sources for R&D projects has a significant positive effect on innovation. Finally, firms that resort to R&D subsidies are less innovative.     

Biological variability of the minutiae in the fingerprints of a sample of the Spanish population

The minutiae, a term coined by Galton to refer to the small peculiarities present along the length of every isolated ridge, or characteristic points, a term used primarily by the Spanish Police Scientists, have an inter- and intrapopulation variability which has not been extensively studied. However, these peculiarities constitute the bases for the fingerprint identification of individuals in the field of criminology. Using the adhesive paper and graphite method, the fingerprints of 200 students, 100 males and 100 females, with ages ranging between 20 and 35, have been taken at the University of Alcala (Madrid). From this sample, the distal phalanx of the index finger of the right hand has been studied. The total count of the minutiae, as well as that of each different type, was made of the entire print area, and inside and outside of a circle with a radius of 18 ridges. The highest frequencies were of ridge endings, followed by bifurcations and convergences, all others appearing with frequencies of lower than 5%. The distribution of the minutiae was not homogeneous for the area of the fingerprint (inside and outside the circle). In the study of minutiae statistically significant differences were found between the sexes, and between the different types of general pattern (arches, loops, and whorls).