We investigate how hardships affect rural politics, considering the case of hospital closures. In the last two decades, more than two hundred rural hospitals have closed their doors or drastically reduced their services. Drawing from resource models of voting, our hypothesis is that personal- and community-level deprivations brought about by hospital closures should reduce election turnout. Empirical tests pair geographic information on the location of open and closed hospitals with data from state voter files to create a panel of over 10 million rural residents for the 2016, 2018, and 2020 national elections. Results show that individuals whose nearest hospital closed prior to the proximate election were less likely to vote than their unaffected counterparts. These effects are strongest for older and lower-income residents, but they decay over time so that voting likelihood resembles a pre-closure baseline within 12 months.

We are now slowly re-discovering the conclusion reached by Alfred Grotjahn in his remarkably prescient Soziale Pathologie, namely that “zwischen dem Menschen und der Natur die Kultur steht.“ [1]. In some measure this maxim affects every branch of modern medicine but to none is it more relevant than psychiatry, which is so closely embedded in the social matrix in which the subject is practiced. A comprehensive study of this matrix would have to touch on a number of disciplines, including history, economics, social anthropology and sociology, but for our immediate purpose these multiple influences can be canalized by reference to the available systems of medical care which exist to deliver the two broad types of service offered by contemporary medicine: on the one hand, the specific products of biomedical research—a surgical operation, say, or a new drug—which are impersonal, often expensive and ideally directed at the cure of disease; on the other hand, the “non-specific” psychosocial contribution of medicine, intensely personal and more often directed towards alleviation or support. These two categories do no more than reflect the derivation of modern medicine from its twin sources of science and magic whose respective attributes were etched so sharply by Malinowski: “Science, even as represented by the primitive knowledge of savage man, is based on the normal universal experience of everyday life, experience won in man's struggle with nature for his subsistence and safety, founded on observation, fixed by reason. Magic is based on specific experience of emotional states in which man observes not nature but himself, in which the truth is revealed not by reason but by the play of emotions upon the human organism. Science is founded on the conviction that experience, effort and reason are valid; magic on the belief that hope cannot fail nor desire deceive. The theories of knowledge are dictated by logic, those of magic by the association of ideas under the influence of desire”. [2]

Advance consent could allow individuals at high risk of stroke to provide consent before they might become eligible for enrollment in acute stroke trials. This survey explores the acceptability of this novel technique to Canadian Research Ethics Board (REB) chairs that review acute stroke trials. Responses from 15 REB chairs showed that majority of respondents expressed comfort approving studies that adopt advance consent. There was no clear preference for advance consent over deferral of consent, although respondents expressed significant concern with broad rather than trial-specific advance consent. These findings shed light on the acceptability of advance consent to Canadian ethics regulators.

Advance consent presents a potential solution to the challenge of obtaining informed consent for participation in acute stroke trials. Clinicians in stroke prevention clinics are uniquely positioned to identify and seek consent from potential stroke trial participants. To assess the acceptability of advance consent to Canadian stroke clinic physicians, we performed an online survey. We obtained 58 respondents (response rate 35%): the vast majority (82%) expressed comfort with obtaining advance consent and 92% felt that doing so would not be a significant disruption to clinic workflow. These results support further study of advance consent for acute stroke trials.

Federalism allows state politicians opportunities to undermine or support for federal policies. As a result, voters often have varied impressions of the same federal programmes. To test how this dynamic affects voting behaviour, I gather data on the severity of the opioid epidemic from 2006–2016. I exploit discontinuities between states that expanded Medicaid and those that did not to gain causal leverage over whether expansion affected the severity of the epidemic and whether these policy effects affected policy feedback. I show that the decision to expand Medicaid reduced the severity of the opioid epidemic. I also show that expanding Medicaid and subsequent reductions in the severity of the opioid epidemic increased support for the Democratic Party. The results imply that the Republican Party performed better in places where voters did not have access to Medicaid expansion and where the epidemic worsened, demonstrating an unintended consequence of federalism on policy feedback.

How do changes in Election Day polling place locations affect voter turnout? We study the behavior of more than 2 million eligible voters across three closely-contested presidential elections (2008–2016) in the swing state of North Carolina. Leveraging within-voter variation in polling place location change over time, we demonstrate that polling place changes reduce Election Day voting on average statewide. However, this effect is almost completely offset by substitution into early voting, suggesting that voters, on average, respond to a change in their polling place by choosing to vote early. While there is heterogeneity in these effects by the distance of the polling place change and the race of the affected voter, the fully offsetting substitution into early voting still obtains. We theorize this is because voters whose polling places change location receive notification mailers, offsetting search costs and priming them to think about the election before election day, driving early voting.

Cook’s Petrel Pterodroma cookii is an endemic New Zealand seabird that has experienced a large range decline since the arrival of humans and now only breeds on two offshore islands (Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island and Whenua Hou/Codfish Island) at the extreme ends of its former distribution. Morphological, behavioural, and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) sequence data led a previous study to recognise the two extant populations as distinct conservation management units. Here, we further examine the genetic relationship between the extant populations using two nuclear introns (β-fibint7 and PAX). Using one mitochondrial locus (CO1), we also investigate the past distribution of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) that differentiates the modern populations using bone and museum skins sourced from within its former range across New Zealand’s North and South Islands. We found significant population genetic structure between the two extant Cook’s Petrel populations for one of the two nuclear introns (β-fibint7). The mitochondrial DNA CO1 analysis indicated that the SNP variant found in the Codfish Island population was formerly widely distributed across both the North and South Islands, whereas the Little Barrier Island variant was detected only in North Island samples. We argue that these combined data support the recognition of the extant populations as different subspecies. Previous names for these taxa exist, thus Cook’s Petrel from Little Barrier Island becomes Pterodroma cookii cookii and Cook’s Petrel from Codfish Island becomes P. c. orientalis. Furthermore, we suggest that both genetic and non-genetic data should be taken into consideration when planning future mainland translocations. Namely, any translocations on the South Island should be sourced from Codfish Island and future translocations on the North Island should continue to be sourced from Little Barrier Island only.

There is a paucity of published information about conceptions of Aboriginal child rearing and development among urban dwelling Nyoongar/Aboriginal people in Australia. We detail the unique findings from an Aboriginal early child development research project with a specific focus on the Nyoongar/Aboriginal community of Perth, Western Australia. This research significantly expands the understanding of a shared system of beliefs and values among Nyoongar people that differ in important ways from those of the broader Australian (Western) society. Consistent with the findings of research with other Aboriginal groups in Australia, and internationally, our work challenges assumptions underpinning a range of early childhood development policies and highlights the implications of cultural biases and misunderstandings among non-Aboriginal professionals in child and family services, education and other settings.

State-of-the-art nanopore sequencing enables rapid and real-time identification of novel pathogens, which has wide application in various research areas and is an emerging diagnostic tool for infectious diseases including COVID-19. Nanopore translocation enables de novo sequencing with long reads (> 10 kb) of novel genomes, which has advantages over existing short-read sequencing technologies. Biological nanopore sequencing has already achieved success as a technology platform but it is sensitive to empirical factors such as pH and temperature. Alternatively, ångström- and nano-scale solid-state nanopores, especially those based on two-dimensional (2D) membranes, are promising next-generation technologies as they can surpass biological nanopores in the variety of membrane materials, ease of defining pore morphology, higher nucleotide detection sensitivity, and facilitation of novel and hybrid sequencing modalities. Since the discovery of graphene, atomically-thin 2D materials have shown immense potential for the fabrication of nanopores with well-defined geometry, rendering them viable candidates for nanopore sequencing membranes. Here, we review recent progress and future development trends of 2D materials and their ångström- and nano-scale pore-based nucleic acid (NA) sequencing including fabrication techniques and current and emerging sequencing modalities. In addition, we discuss the current challenges of translocation-based nanopore sequencing and provide an outlook on promising future research directions.

Although the majority of research on revolving-door lobbyists centers on the influence they exercise during their postgovernment careers, relatively little attention is given to whether future career concerns affect the behaviors of revolving-door lobbyists while they still work in government. We argue that the revolving-door incentivizes congressional staffers to showcase their legislative skills to the lobbying market in ways that affect policymaking in Congress. Using comprehensive data on congressional staffers, we find that employing staffers who later become lobbyists is associated with higher legislative productivity for members of Congress, especially in staffers’ final terms in Congress. It also is associated with increases in a member’s bill sponsorship in the areas of health and commerce, the topics most frequently addressed by clients in the lobbying industry, as well as granting more access to lobbying firms. These results provide the systematic empirical evidence of pre-exit effects of the revolving-door among congressional staff.

A method for determining the sex of live adult Laricobius nigrinus Fender (Coleoptera: Derodontidae) is described. Beetles were briefly chilled and positioned ventral-side-up under a dissecting microscope. Two forceps with blunted ends were used to gently brace the beetle and press on the centre of the abdomen to extrude its terminal segments. Male beetles were distinguished by a sclerotised, reticulate ninth abdominal sternite. In females, the distinct ovipositor (tergite, valvifers (ninth sternite), and laterotergites of the ninth abdominal segment) was visible. The procedure was rapid and harmed only a small number of individuals (fewer than 5%).