After the cold war: New strategies in Latin American-United States relations

Eds. Note: This article was written in the early 1990s, during the last year of George Bush's presidency. Since then NAFTA negotiations have been completed and the treaty is now in operation. An updating of the article would require considerable statistical revision, as well as further analysis of events. Neither the statistics nor the events; however, require a revision of the interpretative perspective advanced in the article.     

Population data on the D1S1656 and D12S391 STR loci in Andalusia (south Spain) and the maghreb (north Africa).

Allele and genotype frequencies for two tetrameric short tandem repeat (STR) loci were determined in two population samples, from Andalusia (S Spain; n = 127) and the Maghreb (N Africa; n = 40). After denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, 14 alleles were identified for D12S391 and 13 alleles for D1S1656. No deviations from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were detected. Some statistical parameters of forensic interest (H, PD, EC) were also calculated, and the data obtained for both populations were compared. Sequencing data of several intermediate D12S391 alleles designated 17.3, 18.3, and 19.3 are also presented.     

Increased responsiveness of electric precipitation (electrosynerese) by means of a chemical method.

Electric precipitation is a method in serological diagnostics (determination of species-specificity). Since serum protein fractions (especially immunoglobulins) and extracts from blood stains migrate in agar-gel at pH 8.2--8.6 towards the cathode they cannot be used for the determination of the species specificity. By a chemical method using glutaraldehyde authors have produced an albumin-immunoglobulin complex, altering in this way the direction of electrophoretic mobility. Treatment of the blood samples with glutaraldehyde increases the sensitivity and realiability of the method.     

Support for emergency department screening for intimate partner violence depends on perceived risk

Emergency department (ED) screening for intimate partner violence (IPV) faces logistic difficulties and has uncertain efficacy. We surveyed 146 ED visitors and 108 ED care providers to compare their support for ED IPV screening in three hypothetical scenarios of varying IPV risk. Visitor support for screening was 5 times higher for the high-risk (86%) than for the low-risk (17%) scenario. Providers showed significantly more support for the need for ED IPV screening than visitors. Controlling for confounding by gender, race, experience with IPV, hospital, and marital status did not affect comparisons between groups. These responses indicate greater support for IPV screening in the ED for high-risk than for low-risk cases, particularly among visitors.     

Structural changes in Central and Eastern European economies: breaking news or breaking the ice?

This paper extends the sparse existing literature on structural breaks in emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe by analyzing structural breaks in the intercept, trend and variance of monthly key macroeconomic variables, such as industrial production, inflation, monetary aggregates, nominal exchange rates and series related to the labor market. Using the Bayesian procedure developed by Wang and Zivot (2000, A Bayesian time series model of multiple structural changes in level, trend and variance. J Busi Econom 18:374–386), we provide strong evidence in favor of multiple structural breaks in the series under study. As most of the existing empirical literature on European emerging markets does not sufficiently deal with structural breaks, the instability found in this paper has important implications for macro-econometric modeling as well as the ensuing recommendations for economic policy.     

Autosomal microsatellite data from Northwestern Colombia

Allele frequencies and some forensic parameters for 12 autosomal microsatellites (CSF1PO, TPOX, THO1, VWA, D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, D5S818, F13A1, FESFPS, F13B, LPL) were estimated from three departments from Northwestern Colombia. The total number of samples analysed was 1045 individuals. Comparative analysis among the three studied departments and with other published Colombian populations were also performed and discussed.     

Evaluating the forensic informativeness of mtDNA haplogroup H sub-typing on a Eurasian scale

The impact of phylogeographic information on mtDNA forensics has been limited to the quality control of published sequences and databases. In this work we use the information already available on Eurasian mtDNA phylogeography to guide the choice of coding-region SNPs for haplogroup H. This sub-typing is particularly important in forensics since, even when sequencing both HVRI and HVRII, the discriminating power is low in some Eurasian populations. We show that a small set (eight) of coding-region SNPs resolves a substantial proportion of the identical haplotypes, as defined by control-region variation alone. Moreover, this SNP set, while substantially increasing the discriminating efficiency in most Eurasian populations by roughly equal amounts, discloses population-specific profiles.     

One-hundred cases of suicide in Budapest: a case-controlled psychological autopsy study

The authors performed a case-controlled psychological autopsy study of 100 successive suicides in Budapest, examining the presence of major depression, alcohol, and drug and/or medicament dependency/ abuse according to DSM-IV. The presence of somatic diseases, psychosocial stress, oppressive experiences, and interpersonal relationship disorders within the period of 1 month previous to death was also examined. The control group of 100 people who died of natural causes was identical with the suicide group in respect of number, sex, and age. RESULTS: Among those committing suicide, psychosocial stress, oppressive experiences, and interpersonal relationship disorders were much more frequent and behavioral changes occurred more often in the weeks preceding death compared to the control group. A single suicide attempt during one's life span did not prove to be predictive for a later fatal action, but multiple attempts did. Major depression was diagnosed in 36% of the cases in the suicide group and 17% in the control group. Half of major-depressed suicides (18 persons) and almost all in the control group (16 persons) suffered from reactive (secondary) major depression as a result of somatic disease. Severe alcoholism was found in 33% of the suicide cases and in 44% of the control group. Drug and/or medicament consumption (misuse and/or abuse) occurred in 14% and 8% of the cases, respectively. The data emphasize again that alcoholism seems to be one of the most serious problems in Hungary both in psychological and somatic illnesses.