Eosinophilic Coronary Periarteritis with Arterial Dissection: The Mast Cell Hypothesis

A subset of coronary arterial dissections is associated with eosinophilic coronary periarteritis (ECPA); however, the pathogenesis of the process remains unclear. Mast cells normally reside in coronary arterial adventitia and are known mediators of eosinophilic inflammatory conditions such as type I hypersensitivity reactions. We report two cases in which coronary arterial dissection with ECPA was detected at autopsy. Tryptase, CD68, CD4, CD8, and CD1a immunohistochemical staining was performed to better characterize inflammation. While eosinophils represented a prominent periadventitial inflammatory cell, there were slightly more lymphocytes: CD4/CD8 ratios were within expected reference ranges. There were moderate numbers of macrophages, and few neutrophils or dendritic cells. Numbers of mast cells in dissected versus nondissected sections were compared: adventitial mast cell densities were threefold higher in dissected portions and showed a trend toward increased degranulation. These findings suggest that mast cells may play a role in orchestrating inflammation in cases of ECPA.     

Interdependent and Domestic Foundations of Policy Change: The Diffusion of Pension Privatization Around the World

In the last two decades, striking correlations in the location and timing of structural pension reforms have raised important questions about the kind of information used by policy makers in their decisions to adopt such measures. This study tests the hypothesis that the adoption of pension privatization is shaped systematically by an interdependent logic, wherein the decision to privatize pensions in one country is systematically linked to corresponding decisions made by governments in relevant peer nations. Duration analysis with time-varying covariates of data from 59 countries between 1980 and 1999 reveals that the decision to adopt a private pension reform in one country increases systematically as the proportion of peer nations that have adopted corresponding measures rises. Importantly, the effect of this peer dynamic varies across groups of nations, with the most powerful impact of peer decisions being found among Eastern European and Central Asian nations. Peer dynamics likewise contribute powerfully to the adoption of private pension reforms in Latin America, but do not significantly shape the hazard of privatization among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member nations. Even controlling for diffusion mechanisms, the analysis shows that pension reform decisions remain subject to domestic political and economic considerations, including demographic pressures, financial costs and incentives to reform, and constraints delimited by the political institutions in each nation.     

Studies presented to the international commission for the history of representative and parliamentary institutions 1980 — 1985

SUMMARY

In this article Joseba Agirreazkuenaga continues his account of the development of the Basque political institutions to the period following the settlement of the first Carlist war by the Convention of Bergera in 1839. This laid down a process for incorporating the Basque foral institutions into the framework of the new liberal constitution of the Spanish monarchy. It required negotiations between the Spanish Cortes and Basque representatives, which produced the institution of the Basque Conferencias to speak for the three Basque provinces. Once established these developed into the main institutional voice for the developing Basque national movemebt. By the 1860s the Conferencias had virtually acquired the function of a Basque provincial government.     

The reduction of male abusiveness as a result of treatment: Reality or myth?

A 6-month outpatient treatment program for male abusers emphasized honesty, shame reduction, and group support for change. Ratings on the Abusive Behavior Inventory (ABI) obtained before and immediately after treatment demonstrated a significant decrease in physical and psychological abuse as rated by both the abusers and their female partners. This decrease in male abusiveness was maintained 6 months and two years after completion of treatment for those couples who cooperated in followup. No decrease in male abusiveness was observed during treatment, however, for those couples who did not cooperate in the followup. The authors suggest that the noncooperative female partners may have been afraid to rate their partners because of continued abuse. Therefore, the selective attrition of subjects who did not improve is a major problem in evaluating the apparent long-term success of treatment.     

The state as entrepreneur: from CDC to CDIC

Abstract: Focusing upon the case of the Canada Development Corporation, this paper provides a critique of the joint stock company as an instrument of public policy. The corporation's performance is evaluated against three criteria which emerge from a review of the circumstances leading to the creation of the CDC, namely: contributing to diversified industrial development in Canada; establishing the joint stock company as an accepted medium of private/public cooperation in economic activity; and providing income returns to the government. The CDC'S failure as a governing instrument is attributed to the fact that, in resolving its anomolous status as neither clearly state enterprise nor clearly private enterprise, the corporation was forced to distance itself from its major shareholder (i.e., the state) in order to retain the support of the investment community. The analysis in the second part of the paper proceeds through three stages: a review of the circumstances in the creation of the Canada Development Investment Corporation (cdic); identification of its probable rble; and a comparison with two alternative models of the state holding company. While the CDIC is a more tractable governing instrument than was the CDC, the early pattern of the CDIC'S commercial activities suggests a dismal financial future. Sommaire: Cet article, qui étudie le cas de la Corporation de développement du Canada, présente une critique de la société en commandite en tant qu'instrument dapplication de la politique gouvernementale. Le rendement de la Corporation est évalué a partir des trois critères suivants, qui découlent de l'examen des circonstances ayant conduit à la création de la CDC: contribuer à la diversification du développement industriel au Canada; faire de la sociétA en commandite un moyen reconu de favoriser la coopération entre les entreprises publiques et privées dans l'activitééconomique; et fournir des revenus au gouvernement. L'échec de la CDC en tant qu'instrument de gouvernement est attribué au fait que, compte tenu de son statut ambigu dentreprise mi-publique mi-privée, la Corporation a été contrainte à prendre ses distances vis-à-vis de son principal actionnaire (à savoir l'Etat), afin de conserver l'appui des investisseurs. L'analyse presentee dans la seconde partie de l'article se déroule en trois étapes: étude des circonstances ayant amené la création de la CDIC, ou Corporation de développement et d'investissement du Canada; identification de son rôle probable; et comparaison avec deux autres modèles possibles de société H portefeuille contrôlée par I'Etat. Bien que la CDIC soit un instrument de gouvernement plus souple que ne l'etait la CDC, les premières conclusions que I'on peut tirer au sujet de ses activités commerciales tont envisager I'avenir financier avec un profond pessimisme. (The) form of public organization significantly affects the policies they adopt and the kind of management they conduct. Any structure for making decisions encourages certain types of choice and discourages others (emphasis added). Annmarie Hauck Walsh, 1978.     

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND FAMILY COURT REFORM

Creating a unified family court, or any type of family court reform, may have only a minimal impact if it simply changes the structure of how judges do business rather than addresses the structure of the child welfare system itself. The authors argue that family court reform must place social justice at its center. First, they discuss profound flaws in the child welfare system that make poor and minority families especially vulnerable to coercive state intervention. Second, they describe two approaches to child welfare cases–family systems theory and therapeutic justice–that can help to guide reform efforts directed at addressing these structural flaws. Finally, they suggest ways in which family law scholarship can assist in creating a social justice agenda for family court reform.