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Notes: In early 1979 Robert B. Cumming recognized the growing need for risk researchers and practitioners to publish their work in a dedicated professional journal. This led to the formation of an organization to support such a journal, with the Certificate of Incorporation for the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) made official on August 28, 1980. The first issue of Risk Analysis: An International Journal appeared in March 1981. This article reviews the history of the SRA's first 25 years. It reviews the SRA's formation and growth, provides analyses of its major products (the journal, newsletter, conferences, and meetings), and discusses its impact. This article relies on published literature and a history of the SRA's first 20 years written by two of the authors. This history covers the SRA's many successes, which demonstrate the strength and vitality of the organization and provide optimism for its future. These successes include this journal, which published over 2,150 papers between March 1981 and this December 2005 issue. The successes also include its stable membership of approximately 2,000 members from 43 countries, well-attended annual meetings, and increasing support for true international growth as demonstrated by international risk forums like the World Congress on Risk held in Brussels in June 2003. Similarly, the history also covers the SRA's challenges and difficulties, with the recognition that these provide both an important context about the organization and the opportunity to learn from past experiences. These include the challenges associated with spin-off organizations that decreased the SRA membership in some disciplinary areas, notably in engineering and exposure assessment. This history also includes quantitative analyses of the contents of the first 25 years of Risk Analysis: An International Journal. The results show significant growth in the number of articles published each year, starting with approximately 30 articles published in the first few years to over 120 articles per year now. They also show a relatively even distribution of articles in the life, physical, and social sciences, which demonstrate the sustained commitment of the SRA and the journal to support interdisciplinary risk-related research. The SRA organizational structure currently includes two sections (SRA-Europe and SRA-Japan), 22 Chapters, and nine Specialty Groups, and the structure remains somewhat in flux. We present this history in five sections that cover major themes: (1) SRA formation, (2) membership and organization, (3) publications, (4) meetings, and (5) thematic issues. Like any organization of its size, the SRA boasts a long and diverse history, and no article can possibly capture it all. We hope that in documenting the first 25 years, we strengthen the SRA by providing some perspective on its roots and a rigorous quantitative analysis of some of its products.

Notes: This article examines factors that predict perceptions of risk associated with global climate change. The research focuses on the perceptions of those associated with climate change policy making in the prairie region of Canada. The data are from an online survey (n= 851) of those policy actors. The analysis integrates several dominant approaches to the study of risk perception: psychometric approaches that examine the effects of cognitive structure; demographic assessments that examine, for example, differences in perception based on gender or family status; and political approaches that suggest that one's position in the policy process may affect his or her perceived risk. Attitudes toward climate change are to a degree predicted by all of these factors, but only when indirect effects are observed. Sociodemographic characteristics have little direct effect on perceived risk, but do affect general beliefs that affect risk perceptions. Perceived risk is related more strongly to these general beliefs or world views than to more specific beliefs about the effects of climate change on weather patterns. Position within the policy process also contributes to our understanding of perceptions, with industry and governmental actors demonstrating similar attitudes, which contrast with environmental groups and university researchers.

Notes: To begin to understand the modulatory role of glutamate in the inner retina, we examined the mechanisms underlying metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5)-dependent Ca2+ elevations in cultured GABAergic amacrine cells. A partial sequence of chicken retinal mGluR5 encompassing intracellular loops 2 and 3 suggests that it can couple to both Gq and Gs. Selective activation of mGluR5 stimulated Ca2+ elevations that varied in waveform from cell to cell. Experiments using high external K+ revealed that the mGluR5-dependent Ca2+ elevations are distinctive in amplitude and time course from those engendered by depolarization. Experiments with a Ca2+-free external solution demonstrated that the variability in the time course of mGluR5-dependent Ca2+ elevations is largely due to the influx of extracellular Ca2+. The sensitivity of the initial phase of the Ca2+ elevation to thapsigargin indicates that this phase of the response is due to the release of Ca2+ from the endoplasmic reticulum. Pharmacological evidence indicates that mGluR5-mediated Ca2+ elevations are dependent upon the activation of phospholipase C. We rule out a role for L-type Ca2+ channels and cAMP-gated channels as pathways for Ca2+ entry, but provide evidence of transient receptor potential (TRP) channel-like immunoreactivity, suggesting that Ca2+ influx may occur through TRP channels. These results indicate that GABAergic amacrine cells express an avian version of mGluR5 that is linked to phospholipase C-dependent Ca2+ release and Ca2+ influx, possibly through TRP channels.

Notes: Abstract.  In this article, we update and expand the measure of voter ideology we originally proposed in this journal in 1998. Our new measure combines party manifesto data most recently updated by Budge et al. (2001) with election return data. Assuming the comparability and relevance of left-right ideology, we estimate the median voter position in 25 Western democracies throughout most of the postwar period. With this measure, we are able to make cross-national comparisons of voter ideology among these countries, as well as cross-time comparisons within individual countries.

Notes: Abstract. In this article, we put forward a continuous measure of government partisanship, which allows meaningful comparisons across countries and across time, for 17 Western democracies for the period of 1945 through 1998. Our measure is predicated upon a manifesto-based measure of party ideology recently developed by Kim and Fording (1998), along with yearly cabinet post data. After discussing the validity of our measure, we replicate one of the most cited works in comparative political economy over the last ten years – Alvarez, Garrett and Lange's (1991) analysis of economic performance – by utilizing our own measure of government partisanship. We conclude that comparativists need to exercise greater caution in interpreting and evaluating the past findings of a large number of multivariate studies in comparative politics.

Notes: Introduction: The implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is commonly used to treat patients with documented sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF). Arrhythmia recurrence rates in these patients are high, but which patients will receive a therapy and the forms of arrhythmia recurrence (VT or VF) are poorly understood. Methods and Results: The therapy delivered by the ICD was examined in 449 patients randomized to ICD therapy in the Antiarrhythmics Versus Implantable Defibrillators (AVID) Trial. Events triggering ICD shocks or antitachycardia pacing (ATP) were reviewed for arrhythmia diagnosis, clinical symptoms, activity at the onset of the arrhythmia, and appropriateness and results of therapy. Both shock and ATP therapies were frequent by 2 years, with 68% of patients receiving some therapy or having an arrhythmic death. An appropriate shock was delivered in 53% of patients, and ATP was delivered in 68% of patients who had ATP activated. The first arrhythmia treated in follow-up was diagnosed as VT (63%), VF (13%), supraventricular tachycardia (18%), unknown arrhythmia (3%), or due to ICD malfunction or inappropriate sensing (3%). Acceleration of an arrhythmia by the ICD occurred in 8% of patients who received any therapy. No physical activity consistently preceded arrhythmias, nor did any single clinical factor predict the symptoms of the arrhythmia. Conclusion: Delivery of ICD therapy in AVID patients was common, primarily due to VT. Inappropriate ICD therapy occurred frequently. Use of ICD therapy as a surrogate endpoint for death in clinical trials should be avoided. (J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol, Vol. 14, pp. 940-948, September 2003)