Multiple Symmetric Lipomatosis

A significant number of medicolegal deaths involve ethanol. Deaths may be related to the acute, intoxicating effects of ethanol, either in decedents or within persons responsible for causing the deaths of others. Additionally, deaths may be related to chronic alcoholism. A chronic alcoholic may display characteristic external features which allow an observer, such as a forensic pathologist or other physician, to conclude that he/she is probably an alcoholic. Herein, the authors report two decedents with a rare condition known as “multiple symmetric lipomatosis” (MSL), which has a strong correlation with chronic alcoholism. Identification of the peculiar features associated with MSL should prompt the forensic pathologist to consider chronic alcoholism as a probable diagnosis.     

Effort,incentives, and culture in the Czech Senate

This paper uses the natural experiment of seat allocation in the first Czech Senate to assess the effects of incentives on legislative effort. Contrary to previous work using similar research designs, the incentive of longer terms has little effect on the effort levels of legislators. This may reflect the parliamentary context, the newness of the Czech Senate, or, most interestingly, political culture.