Masculine honor is an important cultural code in the south of Italy. Italian criminal organizations (COs) manipulate and exploit this code to maintain legitimacy among local populations and exert social control in the territory where they operate. This research tested the hypothesis that different levels of identification-the region and the nation-would have opposite associations with male honor-related values and, indirectly, with intentions to oppose COs collectively. Results from a sample of young southern Italians (N = 170) showed that regional identification positively predicted endorsement of male honor-related values, which in turn were associated with lowered intentions to oppose COs. In contrast, national identification negatively predicted male honor-related values, associated in turn with stronger intentions to oppose COs. These results also held when perceived risk and social dominance orientation were taken into account. Directions for future research are discussed.

regional identification was also positively associated with masculine honour which in turn predicted weaker intentions to oppose COs. The evidence supports the idea that social identity can have opposing effects on collective action in the same context, depending on which beliefs are mobilised.

equivalent treatments. With only 90 participants, the study has insufficient power to permit any valid statement on the equivalence of the treatments, a weakness acknowledged by the authors in the final sentence of their manuscript. 2 Equivalency studies must be designed in accordance with strict methodologic criteria in order for their conclusions to have any statistical validity. 3 The unambiguous outcome of the Barritt and Jordan study and the totality of subsequent medical literature and clinical experience clearly indicate that additional placebocontrolled clinical trials in the treatment of VTED would be highly unethical. 4 The task at the present is to identify safer and more effective antithrombotic agents, not to revisit the past.

Different genotypes of hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been shown to have distinct geographical distribution and to associate with variable clinical features. To evaluate their role in chronic hepatitis in Italian patients, we studied 495 consecutive cases with chronic hepatitis C seen in nine sentinel centres homogeneously distributed over Italy. HCV genotyping was carried out using a dot-blot hybridization assay with genotype-specific probes. Four hundred and eleven patients were viraemic and could be evaluated: 57% were found to be infected with HCV-1, 31% with HCV-2, 8% with HCV-3, 1% showed mixed infection and 3% were ascribed to HCV-2b or HCV-4 by direct sequencing. Geographical distribution showed discrete territorial variations. A history of drug addiction was commoner in patients infected with HCV-3. There were no significant differences in activity of liver disease among different HCV genotypes but the response to interferon therapy was reduced in patients infected with HCV-1 compared to HCV-2 or HCV-3.

What is the role of culture in establishing young people’s pathways into gang membership? Italian criminal organizations (COs) exhibit adherence to codes of honor and masculinity, important values in the context where they originated. Here it is proposed that the embedding of these values at an individual level may lessen young people’s group-based opposition to such organizations, and indirectly, create a space in which such organizations can persist and recruit. In a study of young Southern Italians ( N = 176; Mage = 16.17), we found that those who endorsed ideological beliefs related to the honorableness of male violence reported lower intentions to engage in antimafia activities. Consistent with the hypothesized mechanisms, this relationship was mediated by more positive attitudes toward COs, and lower reported vicarious shame in relation to the activities of COs. Directions for future research and implications for research on gangs are discussed.