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This article provides a new account of American job seekers' individualized understandings of their labor-market difficulties, and more broadly, of how structural conditions shape subjective responses. Unemployed white-collar workers in the U.S. tend to interpret their labor market difficulties as reflecting flaws in themselves, while Israelis tend to perceive flaws in the hiring system. These different responses have profound individual and societal implications. Drawing on in-depth interviews with unemployed job seekers and participant observations at support groups in the U.S. and Israel, this article shows how different labor market institutions give rise to distinct job search games, which I call the chemistry game in the U.S. and the specs game in Israel. Challenging the broad cultural explanations of the unemployment experience in the existing literature, this article shows how subjective responses to unemployment are generated by the search experiences associated with institutionally rooted job search games.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder which is the most prevalent cause of dementia in the western world. Currently, it is the most expensive disease in America, costing more than heart diseases and cancer and as the world population is getting older it is expected to become the most expensive medical disorder in the world. AD is characterized by three core pathologies: accumulation of amyloid β (Aβ) plaques, neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) and sustained inflammation. It is now believed that inflammation provides the link between Aβ and NFT. The immune system is therefore, a major player in the pathogenesis of AD. Here we propose that Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) could affect the incidence of AD. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a live attenuated Mycobacterium bovis preparation first developed as a vaccine against M. tuberculosis. It has been shown to be moderately effective in preventing tuberculosis, while noted to induce modifications in inflammatory response and to regulate the immune system. Intra-vesical administration of BCG is used successfully in the past four decades to prevent recurrence of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. In this manuscript we investigate the hypothesis that exposure to BCG decreases the prevalence of AD in elderly population and that this occurs through modulation of the immune system. Our hypothesis is based on several lines of evidence: lower prevalence of AD in countries with high BCG coverage, ability of BCG to ameliorate several conditions involving the immune system like type 1 diabetes mellitus and multiple sclerosis, animal models of AD in which BCG shows therapeutic potential and a plausible molecular mechanism which may be the basis for this hypothesis. Namely, elevated systemic levels of IL-2 (as found when BCG is given intra-vesically) that amplify Treg cells that inhibit AD associated inflammation, decreased plaque formation and restore cognitive function. To test this hypothesis one may study cognition in the large available "natural adult population" exposed to high dose of BCG through the bladder. Bladder cancer survivors not given BCG can serve as control group. This population can be used without adding any medical intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the restriction of civil rights under the U.S. Constitution. Topics include the conflict of laws, judicial review, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. Information is provided on the U.S. Supreme Court's judgments relating to constitutional freedoms and the expansion of civil liberties by U.S. states.

ABSTRACT: Purpose:: Conservative treatment of upper urinary tract tumors has been popularized during the last decade. Like in bladder cancer management, localized adjuvant therapy has been advocated to reduce the risk of disease recurrence or progression. In this study we tested the feasibility of creating vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) using a Double-J stent (Medical Engineering Corp., New York, New York) as a measure of efficacy for intravesical adjuvant treatment of the ureter and renal collecting system. Materials and Methods:: The cohort included 100 consecutive patients in whom a Double-J stent was inserted for renal obstruction. All the patients underwent cystography in the supine position by retrograde filling of the bladder with a 50% dilute solution of 300 mgI/ml iopromide in serial increments of 50 ml up to a maximum of 350 ml. A total of 41 patients underwent cystography immediately following stent insertion (early group) and 59 patients with indwelling stents underwent cystography before further endourological intervention (late group). The presence of VUR and the level along the ureter and renal collecting system were assessed fluoroscopically. Results:: Overall VUR was detected in 56 patients (56%), specifically 11 of the 41 (27%) in the early group and 45 of the 59 (76%) in the late group (p <0.001). There was no correlation between stent diameter or length and VUR, or between patient sex, age or particular side and the likelihood of reflux. Mean minimal intravesical volume required to obtain reflux was 171 ± 11 ml, which was significantly higher in the early (255 ± 21 ml) than in the late (146 ± 11 ml) cystogram group. In 24 of the 56 patients (43%) with VUR, there was complete visualization of the entire ureter and renal collecting system. However, 15 patients (26%) had opacified renal pelves and calices without concomitant visualization of the ureters, whereas 7 patients (31%) had reflux to the ureter without opacification of the renal pelvis. Conclusions:: VUR is not a guaranteed consequence of Double-J stent placement. Therefore, when upper urinary tract instillation with the Double-J technique is considered, a cystogram should be performed first to confirm the occurrence of reflux, determine the intravesical volume required to induce reflux and ascertain that the pertinent section of the ureter or pelvicaliceal system from which the tumor was initially removed is opacified during study. An interval that remains to be defined should be allowed between stent insertion and VUR assessment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article examines the role of political parties in general, and their political orientation and ideology in particular in the case of Israeli unemployment between 1958-1986. "Partisan hypothesis" assumes that the unemployment-inflation relationship follows the traditional Phillips curve, whereby wage and price stability require a relatively high unemployment rate, while low unemployment rates require relatively higher levels of inflation. The second assumption concerns the nature of politics in the United States. The Democratic Party which projects an image of representing both middle and lower income classes, also presents itself as friend of labor. Finally, an analysis of partisan preferences and platform pledges suggests that parties from the Left tend to favor full employment policies, while those from the Right more actively pursue anti-inflation policies. The major theoretical challenge to the "partisan hypothesis" comes from the "administrative thesis." The Israeli case can provide an additional extension to the traditional political economy literature that examines partisan-administrative attitudes toward macro economic outcomes.