Word: effected
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...violence as playing a persuasive role, whether that means attracting new members or keeping those already involved. "Terrorist violence always acts as a kind of propaganda that is fundamental for maintaining group unity," says terrorism expert Alonso. But with the organization in decline, violence also has an obscuring effect. "Now it's become a way for a considerably weakened ETA to hide the fact that with firm action from the state, an unstoppable process of disintegration would begin," he adds. If the 2006 peace process is any indication, that firm action would have to couple a police crackdown with concessions...
...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...