Economic influences on legislative elections in multiparty systems: France and Italy

For the United States, the issue of the impact of aggregate economic conditions on legislative election returns has received extensive research. For European countries, however, research is much less plentiful. In particular, multiparty systems such as France and Italy lack study. For both these nations, we find that worsening aggregate economic conditions significantly increase the legislative vote for leftist parties, which have traditionally played an opposition role. Further, these models seem strong enough to provide good prediction of the actual legislative vote share. For example, they manage to forecast the 1981 victory of the left in France, and the 1980 Communist party support in Italy.     

Advantage of affinity histochemistry combined with histology to investigate death causes: indications from sample cases

Mast cell histochemistry has been proposed in addition to classic histological methods to estimate the course of traumatic events before and after death. We have addressed the utility of this approach on nine victims of different types of trauma. Sections of wounded skin were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and with fluorescent avidin to tag mast cells. Mast cell numbers were evaluated by both direct and digitalized counts. Intact skin was used as control. The results on mast cells implemented the findings upon hematoxylin and eosin stain and helped to put the wounds and death in chronological sequence. Digitalized morphometry allowed to reduce intra- and inter-observer variation. We conclude that combined histological and histochemical analyses can be of practical use in forensic pathology, that a preliminary setting of the reference values is needed for each laboratory, and that image analysis can be of help for the quantification of the results.     

Histological diagnosis of myocardial sarcoidosis in a fatal fall from a height

The major issues of medico-legal relevance in fatal falls from a height are the manner of death and the reconstruction of the event. We present a peculiar case of a fatal fall from a height of about 9 m, involving a 27-year-old woman. At the death scene investigation, no suicide notes, housebreaking marks, or signs of fight were found, thus weakening both the suicide and homicide hypotheses. Combining circumstantial, autopsy and toxicology data, the kinematic analysis of the jump/fall, and the histological evidence of a myocardial sarcoidosis involving the left ventricle, we hypothesized that the young woman might have accidentally fallen from the window because of a sudden loss of consciousness related to cardiac disease undiagnosed during life. We believe that our brief report is a good example of the powerful additional information that histological investigations can offer for reconstructing the dynamics of the event in falls from a height and other traumatic fatalities.     

The international macroeconomic picture

Evoluzione dei settori industriali nel 1988 / Confin‐dustria. Centra Studi. ‐ Roma: SIPI, 1989. ‐ 357p. ‐ (Industria italiana). ‐ ISBN 88–7153–051–9.

Guida al 1992 ‐ Roma: Unistampa, 1989. ‐ 4v.

L'idea d'Europa nelpensiero di Altiero Spinelli / Andrea Chiti‐Batelli. ‐ Manduria: Lacaita, copyright 1989. 379p. ‐ (L'ltalia e l'Europa; 15).

Impariamo l'Europa: guida al 1992 / Fabio Cavaz‐za Rossi. ‐ Milano: Fendac Servizio, 1989. ‐ 174p. ‐ (Tempo reale)

1992: Europa senza frontiere? / Pier Virgilio Dasto‐li. ‐ Bologna: il Mulino, copyright 1989. ‐ 179p. ‐(Coritemporanea; 31). ‐ ISBN 88–15–02305–4

Obiettivo Mediterraneo / Piero Baroni. ‐ 2.ed. ‐Trento: L. Reverdito, 1989. ‐ 221p. ISBN 88–342–4047–2.

Perestrojka e ristrutturazione produttiva: esperienze e prospettive economiche in Unione Sovietica e in Italia / edited by Abel G. Aganbegjan ... [et al.]. ‐ Bologna: il Mulino, copyright 1989. ‐ 344p. (Temi e discussioni). ‐ ISBN 88–15–02321–6

La prospettiva euro‐mediterranea: per una cooper‐azione globale nella ‘regione’ del Mediterraneo / Giovanni Bersani. ‐ Bologna: CEFA, [19989]. ‐102p.

I rapporto CSC: progresso tecnico, investimenti e politiche industriali / Confindustria. Centro Studi. ‐ Roma, SIPI, 989. ‐ 95p. (L'industria italiana). ‐ISBN 88–7153–065–9     

Postmortem molecular analysis in victims of sudden unexplained death

Among several conditions that can be responsible for sudden cardiac death (SCD), an important role is played by long QT syndrome (LQTS). LQTS is a congenital electric heart disease that can be asymptomatic or have very severe clinical manifestation, leading to cardiac arrest. In fact, the first manifestation of LQTS can be hyperkinetic ventricular arrhythmias. The presence of LQTS should be considered in all cases of SCD where autopsy is negative for anatomic and histopathological findings. In these cases, after an accurate anamnesis, a genetic screening should always be performed. The screening on LQTS genes is performed on DNA extracted from paraffin-embedded tissues. Making a proper diagnosis in such cases can help to find new affected subjects among the family members of SCD victims and treat them. In these cases, if the pathologist does not make a correct diagnosis, can he or she be sued for malpractice?     

Informal payments for health care: definitions, distinctions, and dilemmas

There is increasing interest in the issue of informal payments for health care in low- and middle-income countries. Emerging evidence suggests that the phenomenon is both diverse, including many variants from cash payments to in-kind contributions and from gift giving to informal charging, and widespread, reported from countries in at least three continents. However, cross-national research is hampered by the lack of consensus among researchers on the definition of informal payments, and the definitions that have been proposed are unable to incorporate all forms of the phenomenon that have been described so far. This article aims to overcome this limitation by proposing a new definition based on the concept of entitlement for services. First, the various forms of informal payment observed in practice are reviewed briefly. Then, some of the proposed definitions are discussed, pointing out that none of the distinctive characteristics implied by these definitions, including illegality, informality, and corruption, is adequate to capture all varieties of the phenomenon. Next, an alternative definition is formulated, which identifies the distinctive feature common to all forms of informal payments as something that is contributed in addition to the terms of entitlement. Then, the boundaries implied by this definition are explored and, finally, the implications for research and policy making are discussed with reference to the lessons developed countries can learn from the experiences of transitional countries.     

Economic concerns in Italian electoral behavior: Toward a rational electorate?

The current paradigm in the study of Italian electoral behavior finds in the ideological attachment and identification with political parties the basic determinants of voting. The relationship between economic conditions and electoral outcomes has not been the object of intense study, since it was assumed that the very predominance of the ideological dimension made any consideration of economic concerns among the electorate irrelevant. Recent research, employing both aggregate and survey data, shows, however, that economic conditions seem to exert an impact on electoral outcomes. Moreover, the emergence of a more rational and secular electorate might further increase the importance of economic voting.     

Neuropathological findings associated with retained lead shot pellets in a man surviving two months after a suicide attempt

We describe the neuropathological findings in a 30-year-old man who died two months after attempting suicide with a shotgun. We focused our study on lesions associated with retained lead shot pellets and distant therefrom, as well as lesions distant from the principal site of injury. At the sites of the retained lead shot pellets, we found macrophage proliferation and astrocyte activation, together with axonal spheroids and signs of neuronal damage. In the remaining white matter we observed axonal swellings, astrocyte activation and rarefaction of the neuropil; regressive phenomena of the neurons were also present. All axonal spheroids immunoreacted with antibodies against APP, alphaB-crystallin, NF subunits and ubiquitin. Most reactive astrocytes were positive for GFAP and alphaB-crystallin immunostaining. Some neurons immunoreacting with alphaB-crystallin were also found. These data indicated that an important local reaction developed at the sites of lead shot retention, and mild signs of diffuse axonal damage were found throughout the brain.