Violence-related injury and gender: The role of alcohol and alcohol combined with illicit drugs.

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: The positive relationship between alcohol use, gender and violence-related injury is well established. However, less is known about injuries when alcohol is used in combination with other drugs. DESIGN AND METHODS: Self-report information was collected on alcohol and illicit drug use in the 6 h before a violence-related injury in probability samples of patients presenting to emergency departments (n = 9686). RESULTS: Patients with violence-related injuries reported the highest rates of alcohol use (49% of men; 23% of women) and alcohol use combined with illicit drugs (8% of men; 4% of women) whereas non-violent injury patients reported lower rates of alcohol use (17% of men; 8% of women) and alcohol use combined with drugs (2% for men; 1% for women). Marijuana/hashish was the most commonly reported drug. The odds of a violent injury were increased when alcohol was used [men: odds ratio (OR) = 5.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.6-6.3; women: OR = 4.0, 95% CI 3.0-5.5] or when alcohol was combined with illicit drug use before the injury (men: OR = 6.6, 95% CI 4.7-9.3; women: OR = 5.7, 95% CI = 2.7-12.2) compared with non-users. No significant change in the odds of a violent injury was observed for men or women when alcohol users were compared with alcohol and drug users. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The positive association between alcohol and violent injury does not appear to be altered by the added use of drugs. Additional work is needed to understand the interpersonal, contextual and cultural factors related to substance use to identify best prevention practices and develop appropriate policies. [Korcha RA, Cherpitel CJ, Witbrodt J, Borges G, Hejazi-Bazargan S, Bond JC, Ye Y, Gmel G. Violence-related injury and gender: The role of alcohol and alcohol combined with illicit drugs. Drug Alcohol Rev 2014;33:43-50].

The Political Communication of Independent Regulatory Agencies

Since independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) became key actors in European regulatory governance in the 1990s, a significant share of policy-making has been carried out by organizations that are neither democratically elected nor directly accountable to elected politicians. In this context, public communication plays an important role. On the one hand, regulatory agencies might try to use communication to raise their accountability and thereby to mitigate their democratic deficit. On the other hand, communication may be used with the intent to steer the behavior of the regulated industry when more coercive regulatory means are unfeasible or undesirable. However, empirical research focusing directly on how regulators communicate is virtually non-existent. To fill this gap, this paper examines the public communication of IRAs in four countries (the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland) and three sectors (financial services, telecommunications, and broadcasting). The empirical analysis, based on qualitative interviews and a quantitative content analysis, indicates that the organization of the communication function follows a national pattern approach while a policy sector approach is helpful for understanding the use of communication as a soft tool of regulation.

More Money, Fewer Problems? Cross-Level Effects of Economic Deprivation on Political Representation

While equal political representation of all citizens is a fundamental democratic goal, it is hampered empirically in a multitude of ways. This study examines how the societal level of economic inequality affects the representation of relatively poor citizens by parties and governments. Using CSES survey data for citizens' policy preferences and expert placements of political parties, empirical evidence is found that in economically more unequal societies, the party system represents the preferences of relatively poor citizens worse than in more equal societies. This moderating effect of economic equality is also found for policy congruence between citizens and governments, albeit slightly less clear-cut.

Longitudinal analyses of immune responses to Plasmodium falciparum derived peptides corresponding to novel blood stage antigens in coastal Kenya

We have recently described 95 predicted alpha-helical coiled-coil peptides derived from putative Plasmodium falciparum erythrocytic stage proteins. Seventy peptides recognized with the highest level of prevalence by sera from three endemic areas were selected for further studies. In this study, we sequentially examined antibody responses to these synthetic peptides in two cohorts of children at risk of clinical malaria in Kilifi district in coastal Kenya, in order to characterize the level of peptide recognition by age, and the role of anti-peptide antibodies in protection from clinical malaria. Antibody levels from 268 children in the first cohort (Chonyi) were assayed against 70 peptides. Thirty-nine peptides were selected for further study in a second cohort (Junju). The rationale for the second cohort was to confirm those peptides identified as protective in the first cohort. The Junju cohort comprised of children aged 1-6 years old (inclusive). Children were actively followed up to identify episodes of febrile malaria in both cohorts. Of the 70 peptides examined, 32 showed significantly (p<0.05) increased antibody recognition in older children and 40 showed significantly increased antibody recognition in parasitaemic children. Ten peptides were associated with a significantly reduced odds ratio (OR) for an episode of clinical malaria in the first cohort of children and two of these peptides (LR146 and AS202.11) were associated with a significantly reduced OR in both cohorts. LR146 is derived from hypothetical protein PFB0145c in PlasmoDB. Previous work has identified this protein as a target of antibodies effective in antibody dependent cellular inhibition (ADCI). The current study substantiates further the potential of protein PFB0145c and also identifies protein PF11_0424 as another likely target of protective antibodies against P. falciparum malaria

Violence in primary care: prevalence and follow-up of victims.

BACKGROUND: Primary care physicians underestimate the prevalence of domestic violence and community violence. Victims are therefore at risk of further episodes of violence, with psychological and physical consequences. We used an interview to assess the prevalence of domestic and community violence among Swiss natives and foreigners. In a follow-up study, we evaluated the consequences of the interview for the positive patients. METHODS: We evaluated the prevalence of violence by use of a questionnaire in an interview, in an academic general internal medicine clinic in Switzerland. In a follow-up, we evaluated the consequences of the interview for positive patients. The participants were 38 residents and 446 consecutive patients. Questionnaires were presented in the principal language spoken by our patients. They addressed sociodemographics, present and past violence, the security or lack of security felt by victims of violence, and the patients' own violence. Between 3 and 6 months after the first interview, we did a follow-up of all patients who had reported domestic violence in the last year. RESULTS: Of the 366 patients included in the study, 36 (9.8%) reported being victims of physical violence during the last year (physicians identified only 4 patients out of the 36), and 34/366 (9.3%) reported being victims of psychological violence. Domestic violence was responsible for 67.3% of the cases, and community violence for 21.8%. In 10.9% of the cases, both forms of violence were found. Of 29 patients who reported being victims of domestic violence, 22 were found in the follow-up. The frequency of violence had diminished (4/22) or the violence had ceased (17/22). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of violence is high; domestic violence is more frequent than community violence. There was no statistically significant difference between the Swiss and foreign patients' responses related to the rates of violence. Patients in a currently violent relationship stated that participating in the study helped them and that the violence decreased or ceased a few months later.