Polarization and Issue Consistency Over Time

The polarization of the political and social environment over the past four decades has provided citizens with clearer cues about how their core political predispositions (e.g., group interests, core values, and party identification) relate to their issue opinions. A robust and ongoing scholarly debate has involved the different ways in which the more polarized environment affects mass opinion. Using heteroskedastic regression, this paper examines the effect of the increasingly polarized environment on the variability of citizens’ policy opinions. We find that citizens today base their policy preferences more closely upon their core political predispositions than in the past. In addition, the predicted error variances also allow us to directly compare two types of mass polarization—issue distance versus issue consistency—to determine the independent effects each has on changes in the distribution of mass opinion.     

The determination of psilocin and psilocybin in hallucinogenic mushrooms by HPLC utilizing a dual reagent acidic potassium permanganate and tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) chemiluminescence detection system

This paper describes a procedure for the determination of psilocin and psilocybin in mushroom extracts using high-performance liquid chromatography with postcolumn chemiluminescence detection. A number of extraction methods for psilocin and psilocybin in hallucinogenic mushrooms were investigated, with a simple methanolic extraction being found to be most effective. Psilocin and psilocybin were extracted from a variety of hallucinogenic mushrooms using methanol. The analytes were separated on a C12 column using a (95:5% v/v) methanol:10 mM ammonium formate, pH 3.5 mobile phase with a run time of 5 min. Detection was realized through a dual reagent chemiluminescence detection system of acidic potassium permanganate and tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II). The chemiluminescence detection system gave improved detectability when compared with UV absorption at 269 nm, with detection limits of 1.2 x 10(-8) and 3.5 x 10(-9) mol/L being obtained for psilocin and psilocybin, respectively. The procedure was applied to the determination of psilocin and psilocybin in three Australian species of hallucinogenic mushroom.     

Putrefactive pleural effusions as an alternative sample for drug quantification

In the investigation of drug-related deaths it is occasionally necessary to examine putrefied bodies. In such cases the availability of conventional body fluids for toxicologic analysis is usually limited, whereas blood-stained pleural effusion is often present in adequate quantity in the pleural cavity. Fifty-five cases involving numerous drugs are presented in which pleural effusion drug concentrations are compared with corresponding blood or liver concentrations. More than 90% of comparisons produced coincident interpretations of the role that drugs played in the deaths. In most instances pleural effusion analysis was shown to be a valid alternative to the analysis of blood or other conventional fluids or tissues in cases exhibiting advanced putrefaction.     

Book reviews

William H. Schauer, The Politics of Space: A Comparison of the Soviet and American Space Programs. New York and London: Holmes & Meier, 1976. vii+317 pp. $24.95.

Maureen Perrie, The Agrarian Policy of the Russian Socialist‐Revolutionary Party: From Its Origins Through the Revolution of 1905–1907. London: CUP, 1976. xii+216 pp. £6.75.

Peter Christian Ludz, Ideologiebegriff und marxistische Theorie: Ansätze zu einer immanenten Kritik. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1976. xviii+337 pp.

George R. Feiwel, Growth and Reforms in Centrally Planned Economies: The Lessons of the Bulgarian Experience. New York: Praeger, 1977. xxix+345 pp. £18.50.

Edy Kaufman, The Superpowers and Their Spheres of Influence: The United States and the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe and Latin America. London: Croom Helm, 1976. 208 pp. £7.95.

Jane Shapiro and Peter J. Potichnyj (eds.), Change and Adaptation in Soviet and East European Politics. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1976. 236 pp. $18.50. £12.05.

Jane P. Shapiro and Lenard J. Cohen (eds.), Communist Systems in Comparative Perspective. New York: Anchor Books, 1974. xv+530 pp. $4.95.

Alec Nove, The Soviet Economic System. London: Allen & Unwin, 1977. 399 pp. £10.50, or £4.95 (paperback).

Joseph A. Mikus, Slovakia and the Slovaks. Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press, 1977. xiv+224 pp. $14.00 or $8.00 (paperback).

Yeshayahu Jelinek, The Parish Republic: Hlinka's Slovak People's Party 1939–1945. East European Monographs No. XIV. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. viii+206 pp. $18.75.

William C. Wallace, Czechoslovakia. London: Ernest Benn, 1977. xiv+374 pp. £9.50.

Josef Korbel, Twentieth Century Czechoslovakia. New York: Columbia UP, 1977. xii+346 pp. $18.70.

Vinod Mehta, Soviet Economic Policy: Income Differentials in the USSR. New Delhi: Radiant Publishers, 1977. viii+134 pp. Rs. 45.