Word: effect
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...Nations, that as a democracy matures, special interests grow more entrenched. Their intense dedication to their own specific needs, Olson wrote, often trumps the broader, but less focused, interests of society. And that was before the rise of cable news and talk radio. It was before the utterly corrupting effect of televised advertising on politicians really kicked in - the need to raise money (from interest groups, mostly) and to exercise extreme caution lest one of your votes be used to decapitate you in a 20-second ad. It was before the Democrats and Republicans transformed themselves into more strictly ideological...
Despite such anecdotal successes, so far there is little scientific data in humans to support them. Past studies in animals suggest that baclofen does have a powerful anticraving effect, however, and two large, randomized controlled trials of high doses of baclofen are under way. Meanwhile, more and more American doctors are prescribing baclofen for their alcoholic patients, based on experiences like Ameisen's. And yet even if the apparent anti-addiction benefits of the drug - which is currently approved by the government to treat muscle spasms - are borne out in human trials, it might do little to persuade most American...
Franklin is now studying the effect of baclofen on nicotine cravings. In one nine-week controlled trial involving 60 smokers, she found that those who worked up to a daily 80 mg dose of baclofen were able to reduce their smoking from 20.5 cigarettes a day to eight, a significant improvement over the placebo group, which was able to cut down to 12. And there was a distinct point at which the effect appeared to turn on - just like the switch discussed by alcoholics...
Still, not all research has been conclusive. While it was baclofen's effect in a crack-addicted patient that first got Penn scientists interested (the patient, a paraplegic named Edward Coleman who was taking baclofen for muscle spasms, reported that it also cut his cravings for crack), a recently published multisite trial of the drug in cocaine addicts did not produce significant results. "We think one of the reasons is the dose," says Franklin, noting that most alcoholics who have reported the switch tend not to experience it at less than 80 mg per day; the cocaine trial used...
...policy note its negative social consequences, particularly sex discrimination. With boys being viewed as culturally preferable, the practice of female infanticide - which had been common before 1949 but was largely eradicated by the 1950s - was resumed in some areas shortly after the one-child policy went into effect. The resulting gender imbalance widened after 1986, when ultrasound tests and abortions became easier to come by. China banned prenatal sex screening in 1994. Nonetheless, an April study published in the British Medical Journal found China still has 32 million more boys than girls under the age of 20. The total number...