Effects of Capsaicin on the Hemodynamic Responses to Handgrip Exercise: Potential Influence of Race

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Family Structure and Voter Turnout

Abstract We use data from the Voting and Registration Supplement of the Current Population Survey to explore the effects of family structure on turnout in the 2000 presidential election. Our results indicate that family structure, defined as marital status and the presence of children, has substantial consequences for turnout. Married adults are more likely to vote than are those who have never been married; in turn, previously married people are the lightest voters. Children have a smaller but still noteworthy effect on turnout. These results are only partially explained by social and demographic differences

Assessing the Effects of Personal Characteristics and Context on U.S. House Speakers’ Leadership Styles, 1789-2006

Research on congressional leadership has been dominated in recent decades by contextual interpretations that see leaders’ behavior as best explained by the environment in which they seek to exercise leadership—particularly, the preference homogeneity and size of their party caucus. The role of agency is thus discounted, and leaders’ personal characteristics and leadership styles are underplayed. Focusing specifically on the speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives from the first to the 110th Congress, we construct measures of each speaker’s commitment to comity and leadership assertiveness. We find the scores reliable and then test the extent to which a speaker’s style is the product of both political context and personal characteristics. Regression estimates on speakers’ personal assertiveness scores provide robust support for a context-plus-personal characteristics explanation, whereas estimates of their comity scores show that speakers’ personal backgrounds trump context

Investigating the president: Committee probes and presidential approval, 1953-2006

Members of Congress have long sought to combat assertions of presidential power and alleged executive misconduct through committee investigations. But are such investigations mere political theater, or do they have systematic effects on the course of politics? We argue that congressional investigations of the executive branch damage the president's support among the public, making investigations a useful tool in interbranch battles. Marshaling an original data set of more than 3,500 investigative hearings and over 50 years of public opinion data, we show that increased investigative activity in the hearing room significantly decreases the president's job approval rating. A survey experiment both confirms our assertion that investigations decrease public support for the White House and shows that committee-led charges of misconduct have a greater influence on public opinion than identical charges not attributed to a congressional actor. Copyright © Southern Political Science Association 2014

Primary peritoneal carcinoma presenting as a Sister Mary Joseph's nodule: A case report and review of the literature

Sister Mary Joseph's nodule is sometimes the first sign of an internal malignancy, including gastrointestinal, gynecological, or malignancy of unknown primary. It is rarely the sole presentation of a primary peritoneal cancer. In this report, we present the case of a 70-year-old female with umbilical drainage and a computed tomography scan consistent with solitary umbilical nodule. Excision of the nodule revealed adenocarcinoma of likely müllerian origin. Surgical staging did not show any evidence of malignancy with the exception of pelvic washings. She was considered to have primary peritoneal adenocarcinoma and was treated with adjuvant chemotherapy