Transitional Justice Options for Russia

Over the course of its war in Ukraine, Russian forces have violated numerous principles of just warfare. When the war ends, two questions will arise: 1) how to restore normal diplomatic and economic relations with Russia; and 2) how to hold those guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity accountable. The transitional justice literature sheds light on both issues. Building on the application of transitional justice to relevant postconflict cases, this article suggests how transitional justice principles could be used in postwar Russia

The personal vote and party cohesion: Modeling the effects of electoral rules on intraparty politics

Conventional wisdom suggests that parties in candidate-centered electoral systems should be associated with less cohesive policy preferences among legislators. We model the incentives of party leaders to achieve voting unity without relying on discipline, showing that candidate-centered systems have the counterintuitive effect of promoting party agreement on policies and preference cohesion. These implications derive from the degree of control over list rank held by leaders for cohesion under open lists (OLPR) and closed lists (CLPR). Because discipline is costlier in OLPR due to leaders' lack of control over list rank, leaders seeking voting unity propose policies that promote agreement between members and leadership. Under CLPR, however, leaders can more easily achieve voting unity by relying on discipline and therefore lack incentives to promote internal agreement. We then extend the model to allow the party leader to replace members, showing that preference cohesion itself is greater under OLPR. Further, our baseline results hold when allowing legislative behavior to affect vote share and when accounting for candidates' valence qualities. We interpret our results to suggest that candidate-centered systems result in stronger incentives for developing programmatic parties, compared to party-centered systems

Neurofibromatosis type 1 with interstitial pulmonary lesions diagnosed in adult patient. A case study and literature review

Chory, lat 43 u którego na podstawie kryteriów klinicznych rozpoznano nerwiakowłókniakowatość typu 1 (NF1, choroba van Recklinghausena), został skierowany na oddział chorób płuc w celu przeprowadzenia diagnostyki przyczyn pogorszenia tolerancji wysiłku fizycznego oraz etiologii torbielowatych zmian w płucach uwidocznionych w tomografii komputerowej wysokiej rozdzielczości (HRCT). Od dzieciństwa pacjent był leczony z powodu padaczki, rozpoznano także niedomykalność zastawki trójdzielnej III stopnia, nie stwierdzając nadciśnienia płucnego w trakcie cewnikowania prawego serca. Ostatecznie przyjęto, że w omawianym przypadku zmiany śródmiąższowe w płucach są związane z chorobą zasadniczą i wymagają dalszej obserwacji klinicznej. Obserwowane pogorszenie tolerancji wysiłku fizycznego było związane z towarzyszącym zakażeniem układu oddechowego bakteriami Klebsiella oxytoca i Staphylococcus auresus u chorego za zmianami torbielkowatymi w płucach i niedomykalnością zastawki trójdzielnej bez współistnienia nadciśnienia w tętnicy płucnej. W doniesieniu omówiono kryteria rozpoznania NF1, a także kontrowersje dotyczące współistnienia śródmiąższowych zmian płucnych w obrazie choroby.A case of a 43-year-old man with clinically diagnosed neurofibromatosis type I (NF-1, von Recklinghausen disease), was referred to a lung disease unit in order to diagnosis of worsening tolerance to physical effort, and aetiology of radiological cystic lesions in the lungs, seen in the high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). Since childhood the patient has been treated for epilepsy, and a 3rd degree tricuspid valve incompetence, without pulmonary hypertension was detected during right heart catheterization. Finally, the interstitial pulmonary lesions were attributed to the primary disease, and it was said they need further clinical observation in order to determine their dynamics. The observed deterioration in patient’s tolerance to physical effort was connected to the accompanying infection of the respiratory system with Klebsiella oxytoca and Staphylococcus aureus, with cystic lesions in lungs and tricuspid valve incompetence. The report describes the criteria for NF-1 diagnosis, as well as points out the controversies of coexistence of interstitial pulmonary lesions in the clinical picture of the disease

When Does the Personal Vote Matter for Party Loyalty? The Conditional Effects of Candidate-Centred Electoral Systems

When do candidate-centred electoral systems produce undisciplined parties? In this article, we examine party discipline under open-list proportional representation, a system associated with MPs cultivating personal constituencies. We present a model explaining how legislators’ preferences and support among voters mediate political leaders’ ability to enforce discipline. We show that disloyalty in candidate-centred systems depends on parties’ costs for enforcing discipline, but only conditional on MP preferences. MPs who share the policy preferences of their leaders will be loyal even when the leaders cannot discipline them. To test the model’s implications, we use data on legislative voting in Poland’s parliament. Our empirical findings confirm that disloyalty is conditioned on party leaders’ enforcement capacity and MP preferences. We find that legislators who contribute more to the party electorally in terms of votes are more disloyal, but only if their preferences diverge from the leadership. Our results suggest that the relationship between open lists and party disloyalty is conditional on the context of the party system

Optionen der Übergangsjustiz für Russland

Im Laufe des Krieges in der Ukraine haben die russischen Streitkräfte zahlreiche Grundsätze der rechtmäßigen Kriegsführung verletzt. Nach dem Ende des Krieges werden sich vor allem zwei Fragen stellen: 1) Wie können normale diplomatische und wirtschaftliche Beziehungen zu Russland wiederhergestellt werden? und 2) Wie können die Schuldigen für Kriegsverbrechen und Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit zur Rechenschaft gezogen werden? Die Literatur zur Übergangsjustiz ist in Bezug auf beide Fragen aufschlussreich. Wir schlagen in diesem Artikel vor, wie die Grundsätze der Übergangsjustiz im Nachkriegsrussland angewendet werden könnten, indem wir uns auf die Anwendung von Grundsätzen der Übergangsjustiz im Zuge der Konfliktbewältigung in einschlägigen historischen Fallbeispielen stützen

Nursing care for a patient after an ischemic stroke

Introduction and aim of the study. More than half of ischemic strokes occur above the age of 65, so a stroke is above all a disease of an old age. The problem of a stroke is crucial, because apart from a high mortality rate it also entails a disability. The aim of the study was to determine the scope of nursing care for the patient after an ischemic stroke. Methods and materials. The study was based on the case study method with the use of the following research techniques: documentation analysis, an interview, measurement and observation. Moreover, the study tools applied comprised: an individualized nursing care plan, Barthel Scale, Glasgow Scale, Dutch Scale, the authors’ own test examining the patient’s knowledge. Criteria for the care categories. Findings. After the interview, the biopsychosocial status of the patient was assessed. Nursing diagnoses were made using the empirical data for this purpose. Conclusions. The sudden occurrence of the disease, hospitalization and lack of support from relatives is a difficult and critical situation for the patient, and it disturbs normal functioning in all spheres: biological, psychological and a social one

Selective Depletion of CREB in Serotonergic Neurons Affects the Upregulation of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Evoked by Chronic Fluoxetine Treatment

Neurotrophic factors are regarded as crucial regulatory components in neuronal plasticity and are postulated to play an important role in depression pathology. The abundant expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in various brain structures seems to be of particular interest in this context, as downregulation of BDNF is postulated to be correlated with depression and its upregulation is often observed after chronic treatment with common antidepressants. It is well-known that BDNF expression is regulated by cyclic AMP response element-binding protein (CREB). In our previous study using mice lacking CREB in serotonergic neurons (Creb1TPH2CreERT2 mice), we showed that selective CREB ablation in these particular neuronal populations is crucial for drug-resistant phenotypes in the tail suspension test observed after fluoxetine administration in Creb1TPH2CreERT2 mice. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular changes in the expression of neurotrophins in Creb1TPH2CreERT2 mice after chronic fluoxetine treatment, restricted to the brain structures implicated in depression pathology with profound serotonergic innervation including the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus. Here, we show for the first time that BDNF upregulation observed after fluoxetine in the hippocampus or PFC might be dependent on the transcription factor CREB residing, not within these particular structures targeted by serotonergic projections, but exclusively in serotonergic neurons. This observation may shed new light on the neurotrophic hypothesis of depression, where the effects of BDNF observed after antidepressants in the hippocampus and other brain structures were rather thought to be regulated by CREB residing within the same brain structures. Overall, these results provide further evidence for the pivotal role of CREB in serotonergic neurons in maintaining mechanisms of antidepressant drug action by regulation of BDNF levels

Lying or Believing? Measuring Preference Falsification from a Political Purge in China 1

Abstract Despite its wide usage in explaining some nontrivial regime dynamics in nondemocracies, preference falsification remains an empirical myth for students of authoritarian politics. We offer the first quantitative study of this phenomenon in an authoritarian setting using a rare coincidence between a major political purge in Shanghai, China, and the administration of a nationwide survey in 2006. We construct two synthetic measures for expressed and actual political support from a set of survey questions and track their changes over time. We find that after the purge there was a dramatic increase in expressed support among Shanghai respondents, yet the increase was paralleled by an equally evident decline in actual support. We interpret this divergence as evidence for the presence of preference falsification. We further show that falsification was most intense among groups that have access to alternative information but are vulnerable to state sanctions, and use two additional surveys to explore the intertemporal dynamics of falsifying behaviors

ADAPTING LEGISLATIVE AGENDA SETTINGMODELS TO PARLIAMENTARY REGIMES: EVIDENCE FROM THE POLISH PARLIAMENT

This paper draws on Cox and McCubbins’ comparison of floor and cartel agenda models and adapts it to the context of multi-party parliamentary regimes with the goal of clarifying some important differences between the legislative consequences of cohesion and discipline, on the one hand, and the effects of agenda setting, on the other. Internal party discipline and/or preference cohesion receives the bulk of emphasis in comparative studies of empirical patterns of legislative behavior, generally without considering the role of the agenda. In a series of stylized models, this paper highlights important differences between having more unified parties and/or coalitions as a result of discipline and/or cohesion and the successful use of agenda control. We show that cohesion or discipline - understood as the ability to achieve voting unity - does not produce the same patterns of legislative behavior as negative agenda control. Data on legislative voting in the Polish Sejm are used to illustrate some points