Russia’s Legal Transitions: Marxist Theory, Neoclassical Economics and the Rule of Law

We review the role of economic theory in shaping the process of legal change in Russia during the two transitions it experienced during the course of the twentieth century: the transition to a socialist economy organised along the lines of state ownership of the means of production in the 1920s, and the transition to a market economy which occurred after the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Despite differences in methodology and in policy implications, Marxist theory, dominant in the 1920s, and neoclassical economics, dominant in the 1990s, offered a similarly reductive account of law as subservient to wider economic forces. In both cases, the subordinate place accorded to law undermined the transition process. Although path dependence and history are frequently invoked to explain the limited development of the rule of law in Russia during the 1990s, policy choices driven by a deterministic conception of law and economics also played a role.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40803-015-0012-

Эффективность адалимумаба при хроническом переднем увеите, ассоциированном с ювенильным идиопатическим артритом и резистентным к терапии метотрексатом: ретроспективное исследование серии случаев

Background: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) associated uveitis may be the cause of not only visual acuity decrement, but also blindness. At the same time, in some patients therapy with methotrexate can not prevent the development of these complications.Objective: Our aim was to investigate the efficiency and safety of using a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (adalimumab) in patients with JIA-associated uveitis.Methods: We conducted a retrospective single-arm study of a series of cases. The results of using adalimumab were evaluated in patients with JIA-associated chronic anterior uveitis, who have been under observation for no less than 1 year before and after starting using adalimumab. The latter was prescribed due to progressing and/or recidivous methotrexate-resistant uveitis.Results: We have analyzed clinical case records of 36 children with JIA-associated uveitis. At the start of therapy with adalimumab, actual uveitis was diagnosed in 30 (83%) patients. Remission was achieved in 29 of 30 cases in 2 (2; 12) weeks in patients with actual uveitis. 11 (31%) patients had a uveitis exacerbation 28 (13; 69) weeks after adalimumab therapy started. Adalimumab reduced the exacerbation frequency from 4 (1; 9) to 0 (0; 1) exacerbations per year for one patient (p < 0,001), and reduced the proportion of patients who were treated with topical glucocorticosteroids (from 83 to 8%). There were no differences (in achieving remission and reducing exacerbation frequency) with regard to patients’ sex, involvement of one or both eyes in the disease onset, antinuclear factor seropositiveness, uveitis type and character of joints affection.Conclusion: Adalimumab promotes fast and long-lasting remission of JIA-associated methotrexate-resistant uveitis.Увеит, ассоциированный с ювенильным идиопатическим артритом (ЮИА), может быть причиной не только снижения остроты зрения, но и слепоты. При этом у некоторых больных терапия метотрексатом не позволяет предупредить развитие этих осложнений.Цель исследования: изучить эффективность и безопасность применения ингибитора фактора некроза опухоли адалимумаба у пациентов с ЮИА-ассоциированным увеитом.Методы. Проведено ретроспективное неконтролируемое исследование серии случаев. Результаты применения адалимумаба оценивали у пациентов с ЮИА-ассоциированным хроническим передним увеитом, которых наблюдали не менее 1 года до и после начала применения адалимумаба. Препарат назначали по причине прогрессирующего и/или рецидивирующего течения увеита, резистентного к терапии метотрексатом.Результаты. Осуществлен анализ историй болезни 36 детей с ЮИА-ассоциированным увеитом. Активный увеит на момент начала терапии адалимумабом был диагностирован у 30 (83%) пациентов. У пациентов с активным увеитом ремиссия была достигнута в 29 из 30 случаев через 2 (2; 12) нед. Обострение увеита развилось у 11 (31%) пациентов через 28 (13; 69) нед от начала терапии адалиму- мабом. Применение адалимумаба привело к снижению частоты обострений с 4 (1; 9) до 0 (0; 1) случаев в год на одного пациента (р < 0,001), уменьшению доли пациентов, получавших местные глюкокортикостероиды (с 83 до 8%). Не обнаружено различий в достижении ремиссии и снижении частоты обострений в зависимости от пола пациентов, вовлечения в дебюте болезни одного или обоих глаз, серопозитивности по антинуклеарному фактору, типа увеита, характера суставного поражения.Заключение. Адалимумаб способствует достижению быстрой и продолжительной ремиссии ЮИА-ассоциированного увеита, резистентного к терапии метотрексатом

Personality profiles and the "russian soul": Literary and scholarly views evaluated

Many domestic and foreign observers have claimed that Russians have a unique constellation of personality traits that mirrors their distinctive historical and cultural experience. To examine the hypothesized uniqueness of Russian personality, members of the Russian Character and Personality Survey collected data from 39 samples in 33 administrative areas of the Russian Federation. Respondents (N = 7,065) identified an ethnically Russian adult or college-aged man or woman whom they knew well and rated the target using the Russian observer-rating version of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. The mean personality profile of Russians was very similar to the international average based on 50 different countries, debunking the myth of a unique Russian soul.The small variations from world norms did not converge with depictions of Russian national character in fiction and the scholarly literature. New items intended to capture distinctive, emic aspects of Russian personality provided no new information beyond the familiar Big Five dimensions. Religion, ethnicity, and beliefs about the uniqueness of the Russian character and the malleability of personality traits had little effect on personality ratings. Perceptions of the Russian soul do not seem to be based on the personality traits of Russians

Memorandum on the Economic Policy of the Russian Federation

1. For approximately the past sixty years, Russia's economy, as part of the USSR economy, has been subjected to strict centralized planning. This system has been undergoing a gradual dismantling since the mid-1980s, but it has not been replaced by any other integral economic mechanism. Macroeconomic disproportions have built up during this same period. As a result, the economy entered the new decade in a state of acute crisis that is manifested in lowered productivity, higher inflation, obsolete fixed capital, gross distortions of price relationships, serious structural disproportions, and a number of grave ecological problems. The transition to a democratic form of government in 1991 created prerequisites for eliminating the basic causes of these negative phenomena. The principal economic goals of the Russian government were articulated in the speech given by the Russian president, B. Yeltsin, on 28 October 1991: the transition to a market economy and the attainment of macroeconomic stabilization. The economic policy of the first months of 1992 and the basic provisions of the program the government intends to carry out in the last three quarters of 1992 are briefly presented below. The Russian leadership hopes that this bold, comprehensive program will receive the appropriate support of the international financial community.