Fatal meningitis and encephalitis due to Bartonella henselae bacteria

Bacterial infection due to Bartonella henselae commonly develops in children and young adults following cat/dog contacts and/or cat/dog scratches. Regional lymphadenopathy is its most common clinical expression. However, encephalitis and Parinaud's syndrome (oculoglandular syndrome) have also been reported as has systemic illness. A review of the international literature in all languages revealed no fatal complications in immunocompetent hosts. A four-year-old white child with no underlying illness began to have seizure-like activity. She was taken to a local hospital and subsequently transferred to a medical center. The child was treated aggressively for seizures and fever of unknown origin. However, her condition rapidly declined and she died without a specific diagnosis. At autopsy there was marked cerebral edema with no gross evidence of acute meningitis. Microscopic exams revealed multiple granulomatous lesions as well as a meningitis and encephalitis. A variety of cultures and stains were negative for acid fast and fungal organisms. Warthin-Starry stains of involved tissue including brain and liver revealed pleomorphic rod shaped bacilli consistent with Barronella henselae. Analysis of brain tissue with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blot for the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was definitive for DNA of Bartonella henselae bacteria.     

Physician participation in Medicaid: background and issues

Most Americans gain entry into the medical care system through office-based primary care physicians. The Medicaid program was created in 1965 in part to increase the access of low-income people to medical services in that mainstream. But, over the years, office-based physicians have reduced their treatment of Medicaid patients, and many have withdrawn from the program altogether. The result is not only that the original programmatic goal has not been fully achieved, but also that the costs of the program are higher than they would be otherwise. In this article, the importance of Medicaid participation by office-based primary care physicians is described, and a number of obstacles to their participation are identified. The obstacles include state policies regarding eligibility, coverage, and provider compensation. The article recommends actions pertaining to these policies that might increase participation.     

Testing the satisficing version of the political business cycle 1905–1984

This paper develops a test of the satisficing version of the political business cycle. Previous tests have focused on maximizing models of political behavior and are not sufficiently general to test for satisficing behavior. Using annual U.S. data for the period 1905 to 1984, we find evidence supporting the satisficing version of the political business cycle model, but we reject the maximizing version. In accordance with the satisficing hypothesis, we find that increasing inflation or unemployment and decreasing monetary base growth in the third year of a presidential term are followed typically by reversals during the election year.We wish to thank Gordon Tullock and two anonymous referees for valuable comments.     

对政府的管制:增加还是减少

本文通过考察对英国政府的管制,简要说明在1997年之前的20年间以及布莱尔政府执政的前两年,对政府的管制极大地增加了,集中体现在1999年《政府现代化》白皮书中。然后针对其中存在的问题,提出了“强制性自我管制”的理念,并重点阐述了把相互关系、监督和评论、竞争和随机性运用到对政府的管制中提高管制质量的建议。     

A Lingering Question of Priorities: Athletic Budgets and Academic Performance Revisited1

Many organization theories suggest that divergent goals can hamper an organization's pursuit of its primary mission. An earlier version of this article analyzed the effect of the pursuit of divergent goals on American public schools. This is an update of the original article that adds two years of data to the original study. Using an educational production function, this article assesses the relationships between athletic budgets and various aggregate measures of academic performance. Controlling for various known components of academic performance, athletic budgets have a significant negative relationship with academic performance. Schools that devote a large amount of resources to athletic budgets have lower levels of academic achievement. A focus on athletics seems to institutionalize goals that conflict with the schools’ academic missions.