Does Universal Coverage Improve Health? The Massachusetts Experience

In 2006, Massachusetts passed health care reform legislation designed to achieve nearly universal coverage through a combination of insurance market reforms, mandates, and subsidies that later served as the model for national reform. Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we provide evidence that health care reform in Massachusetts led to better overall self‐assessed health. Various robustness checks and placebo tests support a causal interpretation of the results. We also document improvements in several determinants of overall health: physical health, mental health, functional limitations, joint disorders, and body mass index. Next, we show that the effects on overall health were strongest among those with low incomes, nonwhites, near‐elderly adults, and women. Finally, we use the reform to instrument for health insurance and estimate a sizeable impact of coverage on health.     

Monitoring compliance to therapy during addiction treatments by means of hair analysis for drugs and drug metabolites using capillary zone electrophoresis coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Capillary electrophoresis coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry was used in the present work for the determination of therapeutic and abused drugs and their metabolites in the hair of subjects undergoing addiction treatments, in order to monitor their compliance to therapy. For this purpose a rapid, qualitative drug screening method was adopted based on capillary electrophoresis hyphenated with time-of-flight mass spectrometry, which had earlier been developed and validated for the forensic-toxicological analysis of hair, limitedly to illicit/abused drugs [1]. Sampling of hair was carried out in order to refer to a time window of about two months from the date of sampling (i.e. 2cm ca. from cortex). A single extraction procedure was applied, allowing the determination in the hair matrix of "drugs of abuse" referred to the past abuses, and therapeutic drugs prescribed in the detoxification program as well as their metabolites. Analyte identification was based on accurate mass measurements and comparison of isotope patterns, providing the most likely matching between accurate mass value and elemental formula. Small molecules (<500Da) of forensic and toxicological interest could be identified unambiguously using mass spectrometric conditions tailored to meet a mass accuracy ≤5ppm. In the present study, the proposed approach proved suitable for the rapid broad spectrum screening of hair samples, although needing further confirmation of results by using fragmentation mass spectrometry.     

Young adults and civic behavior: the psychosocial variables determining it

The present work has a two-fold aim: (a) to verify the difference in civic behavior enacted by socially engaged young people in a lasting and structured form, sealed by membership in an organization, on the one hand, and in non-engaged young people, on the other hand; (b) to identify a pattern of characteristics (personal, social, and familial) able to explain civic behavior. Participants, 577 young adults from ages 19 to 29, filled out a self-report questionnaire. The results of the t test for independent samples confirm the presence of the difference between means of scores on the civic behavior. Moreover, data confirm a model in which civic behavior is predicted by personal identity, engagement values, family discussion of current events, the quality of previous membership experiences in socially oriented groups (membership), and finally, in a mediator position, by sense of community. The present study has many implications for researchers and practitioners.     

Suicide and Psychiatrist's Liability in Italian Law Cases

The aim of the study is to analyze the factors that are most frequently associated with a verdict of guilty delivered to the psychiatrist in cases of a patient's suicide in Italian law. Twenty‐six sentences (1975–2009) were analyzed according to the claim of malpractice, patient characteristics, circumstances of the suicide, and reasons for the court's judgment. The court held the psychiatrist guilty in 12 cases, considering that the act of suicide was predictable and could have been avoided. Predictability was mainly related to errors in surveillance (7 cases), therapy (1 case), or both (2 cases). An error in diagnosis was considered to be related to the patient's death in two cases. Analysis of medical behavior considered to be erroneous and associated with a verdict of guilty provides an opportunity to discuss the topics relevant not only to practicing psychiatrists but also to experts assessing medical liability in cases of patient suicide.     

In-Group Love Versus Out-Group Hate: Which Is More Important to Partisans and When?

Political Behavior - Recent evidence indicates that partisans discriminate against those from the opposing party. However, it is still unclear whether partisan out-group prejudice reveals a desire...     

The death of Adolf Hitler--forensic aspects

The death of Adolf Hitler is one of the unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century. Numerous historians and journalists have attempted to piece together the details, but despite the interest in the forensic literature regarding the identification of the body, there has not been much scientific debate about the alleged cause of death--cyanide poisoning, gunshot injury, or both. The available literature concerning Hitler's cause of death is incomplete because the toxicological analysis has not been performed and because the skull bone fragment with a gunshot wound possibly from Hitler's corpse has not been properly examined. This has given basis for various theories, which are reviewed. We believe that mtDNA analysis of the skull fragments and of Hitler's jaw, now filed in Moscow, and samples from maternal relatives of Hitler are crucial linking the skull fragment with the gunshot wound to Hitler.     

Rules and Speeches: How Parliamentary Rules Affect Legislators' Speech‐Making Behavior

By extending existing theories of legislative speech making, this study explores the importance of parliamentary rules governing floor debates for government and opposition parties. An original data set including speeches of members of the Italian Chamber of Deputies between 2001 and 2006 is used to test two hypotheses under different institutional scenarios, that is, rules either restricting or granting open access to the floor. Parliamentary rules are found to affect allocation of speaking time within both governing and opposition parties. Governing parties' leaders exploit their agenda control to a higher degree when allocating speaking time. Under restrictive rules, government party leaders control their MPs by essentially limiting the number of speeches and allocating them to frontbenchers. Restrictive rules give opposition party leaders an important chance to select MPs who are closer to their own position.