Substance use,health, and mental health: problems and service utilization among incarcerated women

This article profiles self-reported substance use, health, and mental health problems among a sample of incarcerated women in Kentucky as well as lifetime service utilization. Findings indicate that a high percentage of women reported use of alcohol, cocaine, and multiple substances during the month before incarceration. In addition, participants reported common health problems such as dental, female reproductive, physical injuries, and mental health problems including depression and anxiety. Participants reported moderate use of emergency room and mental health treatment but limited substance abuse treatment utilization. Implications for criminal justice programs and linkages with community-based aftercare services for women are recommended based on findings that health and mental health problems are associated with service utilization before incarceration.     

Ontario: pressure from stakeholders leads to improved access to selected drugs

A campaign spearheaded by the Canadian Treatment Action Council, and involving other disease groups, has convinced the Ontario government to cover the costs of vaccines for HIV-positive children and to speed up access to other subsidized drugs.     

Zaleplon and driving impairment

Zaleplon, a sedative-hypnotic, was identified in the blood of a subject arrested for impaired driving. Symptoms reported were those of central nervous system (CNS) depression. The zaleplon concentration was determined to be 0.13 microg/mL. Symptoms included slow movements and reactions, poor coordination, and lack of balance. Although no quantitative relationship between blood concentrations and degree of driving impairment is currently possible, it is reasonable to conclude that because of its specific activity as a sedative-hypnotic, blood concentrations consistent with doses exceeding therapeutic concentrations of zaleplon have the potential to cause impairment of psychomotor function, and would impair a person's level of consciousness and driving ability.     

Revealing Preferences: Empirical Estimation of a Crisis Bargaining Game with Incomplete Information

We develop an empirical estimator directly from an extensive-formcrisis bargaining game with incomplete information and discussits features and limitations. The estimator makes it possibleto draw inferences about states' payoffs from observationaldata on crisis outcomes while remaining faithful to the theorizedstrategic and informational structure. We compare this estimatorto one based on a symmetric information version of the samegame, using the quantal response equilibrium proposed in thiscontext by Signorino (1999, American Political Science Review93:279–298). We then address issues of identificationthat arise in trying to learn about actors' utilities by observingtheir play of a strategic game. In general, a number of identifyingrestrictions are needed in order to pin down the distributionof payoffs and the effects of covariates on those payoffs.