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Precedent
Kinds of Precedent Selected AbstractsMisguided Precedent is not a Reason to Use Permuted BlocksHEADACHE, Issue 7 2006Vance W. Berger PhD No abstract is available for this article. [source] Edmund Gibson's Editions of Britannia: Dynastic Chorography and the Particularist Politics of Precedent, 1695,1722HISTORICAL RESEARCH, Issue 182 2000Robert Mayhew Geographical writing has been linked with political discourse as ,advice literature' since the time of Strabo. In the early modern period, geography and related forms of spatial enquiry preserved this role. This article examines the political positioning of William Camden's massively influential chorographical work, Britannia, as updated by a team of scholars led by Edmund Gibson in 1695 and 1722. The 1695 edition is shown to have espoused loyalty to the Anglican church and the Williamite succession through its depiction of Camden and its treatment of the events of the Civil War. This political positioning is shown to have provoked criticism from Francis Atterbury as a minor theme in the convocation controversy. Finally, the second, 1722 edition of Britannia is shown to have shifted to a more blatant Hanoverian loyalism as Gibson and his colleagues grew more fearful of the Jacobites. [source] The Morality of Precedent in LawRATIO JURIS, Issue 2 2001Raphael A. Akanmidu First page of article [source] Inventing Mastery: Patriarchal Precedents and the Legal Status of Indigenous People in AustraliaJOURNAL OF HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2000Pavla Miller The paper discusses some aspects of Aboriginal legal status in Australia from the perspective of survival, transformation and reinvention of early modern legal codifications of household mastery. Traces of masters' and husbands' entitlement to the labour of servants, children and wives, as well as their magistracy over household dependents, not only survive in today's laws and social relations; at times, they have been reinvented in a process which reversed the presumed movement from contract to status. The original dispossession of Australia's Indigenous peoples by British settlers set the stage for a particularly destructive instance of such process. Its legacy continues to shape contemporary struggles for Aboriginal rights. [source] Over the Top Judaism: Precedents and Trends in the Depiction of Jewish Beliefs and Observances in Film and TelevisionTHE JOURNAL OF POPULAR CULTURE, Issue 4 2005Michael GesinArticle first published online: 24 MAR 200 No abstract is available for this article. [source] Honoring the Admiral: Boerhaave-van Wassenaer's syndromeDISEASES OF THE ESOPHAGUS, Issue 3 2006B. D. Adams SUMMARY., Dr. Herman Boerhaave (1668,1738) first described esophageal rupture and the subsequent mediastinal sepsis based upon his careful clinical and autopsy findings and hundreds of references have since been written about Boerhaave's syndrome. Several fine historical accounts of this brilliant scientist have been published over the years and he has received appropriate credit for his valuable contributions. But what about that unfortunate propositus that Dr. Boerhaave attended to, performed necropsy upon, and subsequently received acclaim with? Medical history pays inadequate regard to the Baron Jan Gerrit van Wassenaer heer van Rosenberg, Prefect of Rhineland and Grand Admiral of the Dutch Fleet. This figure was a nobleman and war hero at the peak of the Dutch Golden Age who played his role in steering the course of European history. Without this nobleman's heroic contemporaneous account, Boerhaave's celebrated impact on medical science would never have been realized. Therefore, we offer an overdue recitation of Admiral van Wassenaer's biography. Based on found precedent we propose that spontaneous rupture of the esophagus be henceforth referred to as the ,Boerhaave-van Wassenaer's syndrome'. [source] Elizabeth I as StepmotherENGLISH LITERARY RENAISSANCE, Issue 2 2009Jacqueline Vanhoutte As a number of scholars have shown, Tudor male subjects were able to arrogate to themselves unprecedented powers by playing gender against class hierarchies. This essay considers how tropes of surrogacy furthered this process of political enfranchisement. As Victor Turner suggests, recurrent tropes are dynamic phenomena, which change meaning over time in a way that reveals the "emotional and volitional dimensions" present in social contexts. The prevalence of surrogate mothers in Elizabethan political and literary discourses reflects such a volitional dimension: writers (e.g. Lyly and Shakespeare), courtiers (e.g., Sir Philip Sidney), and politicians (e.g. members of Parliament) used images of stepmothers in consciously manipulative ways. Because of the ambiguous nature of figurative language, these men posited innovative ideas indirectly long before it became possible to articulate them directly. The evil stepdames of Tudor lore form an important precedent for John Locke's enlightened "foster father," whose acquired authority undermines the divine rights of fathers and kings. Stepmother tropes provided an alternative to the dominant analogies between family and state,analogies that aimed at suppressing disobedience and rebellion and at naturalizing the status quo. While men like Sidney and John Stubbs probably intended only limited applications for their stepmother tropes, this essay shows that these tropes called their monarch's absolute rule into question and justified their own political activity. Elizabethan writers thus contributed to the process of unmooring the English monarchy from divine right ideology, a process that culminated, intellectually speaking, in Locke's insistence on the consensual nature of government. (J.V.) [source] H63D homozygotes with hyperferritinaemia: is this genotype, the primary cause of iron overload?EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HAEMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2007Carles De Diego Abstract Objectives:,Hereditary haemochromatosis is a disease that affects iron metabolism and leads to iron overload. Homozygosity for the H63D mutation is associated with increased transferrin saturation (TS) and ferritin levels. Our objective was to find out if the homozygosity of H63D mutation was the primary cause of iron overload. Patients and methods:,We studied 45 H63D homozygotes (31 males and 14 females) with biochemical iron overload and/or clinical features of haemochromatosis. The simultaneous detection of 18 known HFE, TFR2 and FPN1 mutations and sequencing of the HAMP gene were performed to rule out the possible existence of genetic modifier factors related with iron overload. Results:,Values of biochemical iron overload, measured as percentage TS and serum ferritin concentration (SF), in our H63D homozygotes were significantly higher in patients than in controls: TS 55 ± 15% vs. 35 ± 15% and SF 764 (645,883) ,g/L vs. 115 (108,123) ,g/L for patients and controls, respectively. These H63D homozygotes presented extreme hyperferritinaemia and no additional mutations in HFE, TFR2, FPN1 and HAMP genes were detected. Conclusions:,The lack of additional mutations in our H63D homozygotes suggests that this genotype could be the primary cause of iron overload in these patients. Despite our results, we cannot entirely discount the possibility that one or more genetic modifier factor exists, simply because we were unable to find it, although there was a precedent in the HFE gene. Genetic modifier factors have been described for C282Y mutations in the HFE gene, but at the present time they have never been reported in H63D homozygotes. [source] The Extraordinary Cocatalytic Action of Polymethylaluminoxane (MAO) in the Polymerization of Terminal Olefins by Metallocenes: Chemical Change in the Group 4 Metallocene Dimethyl Derivatives Induced by MAO,EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, Issue 20 2005John J. Eisch Abstract In the polymerization of olefins with Group 4 metallocene dichlorides or dimethyl derivatives as procatalysts the use of polymethylaluminoxane (MAO) as the cocatalyst, especially in extreme excess (102,103 times the metallocene equivalent), has been shown to have an extraordinary accelerating effect on the rate of olefin polymerization, when compared with the cocatalytic action of alkylaluminum halides. In attempts at explaining the greatly superior catalytic activity of MAO in olefin polymerization (the MAO conundrum), hypotheses have generally paralleled the steps involved in the cocatalytic action of RnAlCl3,n, namely the alkylation of Cp2MtCl2, ionization of Cp2Mt(R)Cl into the metallocenium cation, [Cp2Mt,R]+, and anion, [Rn,1AlCl4,n], and subsequent ion-pair separation. In order to understand any differences in catalytic action between such cocatalysts, we have studied the individual action of MAO (100 equiv.) and of MeAlCl2 (1,2 equiv.) on each of the Group 4 metallocene derivatives, Cp2TiCl2, Cp2ZrCl2, Cp2Ti(CH3)2 and Cp2Zr(CH3)2. With MeAlCl2 each of the metallocene derivatives appeared to form the cation, [Cp2Mt,CH3]+, with greater (Ti) or lesser (Zr) ease, because an alkyne such as diphenylacetylene was then found to insert into the Mt,CH3 bond stereoselectively. In striking contrast, treatment of each metallocene with MAO gave two reactions very different from MeAlCl2, namely a steady evolution of methane gas upon mixing and a finding upon hydrolytic workup that the diphenylacetylene present had undergone no insertion into the Mt,CH3 bond but instead had been reductively dimerized completely to (E,E)-1,2,3,4-tetraphenyl-1,3-butadiene. To account for this astonishing difference in chemical behavior between MAO and MeAlCl2 in their cocatalytic activation of Group 4 metallocenes to olefin polymerization, it is necessary to postulate a novel, unique sequence of reaction steps occurring between MAO and the metallocene. If one starts with the metallocene dichloride, then the free TMA present in the MAO would generate the Cp2Mt(CH3)2. This metallocene dimethyl derivative, complexed with an oligomeric MAO unit, would undergo a transfer-epimetallation with added olefin or acetylene to form a metallacyclopropane or metallacyclopropene, respectively. With added diphenylacetylene the resulting 2,3-diphenylmetallacyclopropene would be expected rapidly to insert a second alkyne to form the 2,3,4,5-tetraphenyl-1-metallacyclopentadiene. Simple hydrolysis of the latter intermediate would generate (E,E)-1,2,3,4-tetraphenyl-1,3-butadiene while alternative workup with D2O would give the 1,4-dideuterio derivative of this butadiene. Both such expectations were confirmed by experiment. In the case of added olefin, similar metallacyclopropane and metallacyclopentane intermediates should be produced until ring opening of the latter five-membered ring leads to an open-chain zwitterion, a process having ample precedent in the research of Gerhard Erker. The solution to the MAO conundrum then, namely the extraordinary cocatalytic activity of MAO in olefin polymerization by metallocenes, lies in the unique catalytic activation of the Group 4 metallocene dimethyl derivative, which occurs by transfer-epimetallation of the olefin monomer by the Cp2Mt(CH3)2,MAO complex. The most advantageous Lewis acidic sites in the MAO,oligomeric mixture for such metallocene,MAO complexation are suggested to be terminal Me2Al,O,AlMe, segments of an open-chain oligomer. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2005) [source] The Regulation of Telecommunications in the Czech RepublicEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 3 2003Andrew Skudder The rapid development of the telecommunications sector was to act as a catalyst for the general improvement of the entire national economy, whilst at the same time helping the country to meet its policy goal of creating the conditions precedent to its successful integration into the European Union. The purpose of this article is to trace the progress of the Czech telecommunications market to date and to assess the regulatory framework adopted by the Czech government in light of its stated policy goals. After giving a brief history of the development of the market and the corresponding development of a regulatory régime this article shall turn to examine the current legal position after the adoption of the recent Law on which came into force on 1 July 2000. As well as suggesting necessary modifications and amendments due to certain flaws or omissions in the Act, modifications arising from the adoption by the EU of its new regulatory framework for communications shall also be suggested. [source] OUT-OF-COURT STATEMENTS BY VICTIMS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE TO MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAMS: A CONFRONTATION CLAUSE ANALYSISFAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 1 2009Jonathan Scher Acknowledging the rapid growth of child sexual abuse in the United States, this Note advocates for the recognition of a limited exception to the blanket-hearsay ban on out-of-court statements made by unavailable declarants set out by the Supreme Court in Crawford v. Washington. In order to protect a criminal defendant's Sixth Amendment confrontation right, Crawford requires that hearsay evidence that is "testimonial" in nature be deemed inadmissible if the witness is unavailable and the defendant does not have a prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness against him. However, Crawford noted that, where nontestimonial hearsay is at issue, cross-examination may not be necessary. Accordingly, where a child sexual abuse victim makes statements during a structured or semi-structured forensic interview to a member of a multidisciplinary team, these statements should be deemed nontestimonial and thus admitted into evidence, without requiring cross-examination of the child. Allowing for this exception to the general hearsay ban in Crawford is not only consistent with current precedent, but it is also warranted to promote public policy and to curb the negative impact such abuse has on society. [source] Valuing the Potential Transformation of Banks into Financial Service Conglomerates: Evidence from the Citigroup MergerFINANCIAL REVIEW, Issue 2 2000Jarrod Johnston G21/G22 Abstract The merger between Citicorp and Travelers Group on April 6, 1998 could have emitted two relevant signals for firms that provide financial services. The first signal is the endorsement by two prominent financial institutions that benefits from cross-selling of bank services with insurance services, brokerage services, and other financial services can be realized. The second signal is that regulators will allow the combination of commercial banking with insurance underwriting and full-service brokerage, paving a path for similar combinations in the future. We document a favorable share price response for commercial banks, insurance companies, and brokerage firms, which supports the argument that the merger sets a precedent for other combinations between banks and nonbank financial services that will facilitate cross-selling and efficiencies. [source] Coordination complexes of functionalized pyrazines with metal ions: reagents for the controlled release of flavourant molecules at elevated temperaturesFLAVOUR AND FRAGRANCE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2006Colin Baillie Abstract The potential for stabilization of volatile flavourant molecules such as functionalized pyrazines by coordination to metal ions, and the application of the resultant coordination complexes as controlled release agents at elevated temperatures were explored. New complexes containing the flavourant molecules 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (TMP), 2-ethyl-3-methylpyrazine (EMP) and 2-acetylpyrazine (ACP) with copper(II) and copper(I) salts were prepared and structurally characterized. Representative examples of known copper(II) and calcium(II) complexes containing pyrazine carboxylic acids were also prepared. The complexes were examined by thermal analysis techniques and demonstrated, by a combination of thermogravimetric (TGA) and pyrolysis GC,MS analyses, to act as convenient reagents for the release of the parent pyrazine at elevated temperatures. Thus, pyrolysis GC,MS revealed that the complex [Cu3Cl3(EMP)2]n cleanly releases EMP in 96.5% selectivity at 200 °C. Of particular significance is that the calcium complex [Ca(3-aminopyrazine-2-carboxylate)2·H2O], under ramped pyrolysis conditions, was shown to undergo decarboxylation prior to the release of 2-aminopyrazine (AMP), as essentially the only volatile component, in the temperature range 600,800 °C. This finding provides a precedent for the application of complexes of pyrazinecarboxylate salts with metal ions (of which an almost infinite number of combinations is potentially available) as controlled release agents of the parent pyrazine molecule at elevated temperatures, suitable for exploitation by the foodstuffs, flavour and fragrance industries. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] ,A Literature of Substitution': Vicarious Sacrifice in the Writings of Gertrud Von Le FortGERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 2 2000Helena M. Saward Vicarious sacrifice and substitution are among the central ideas to emerge in Gertrud von le Fort's prose and verse after her conversion to Catholicism in 1926. The doctrine plays an important thematic role in her writing, but this article will demonstrate how le Fort incorporates its theological ramifications into her fiction as a means of developing a ,sacramental realism' within which divine grace is shown to be at work. A precedent for this is to be found in many writings from the French literary renouveau catholique, thus a treatment of Paul Claudel's drama L'Annonce faite a` Marie (1910) will elucidate an analysis of le Fort's use of the doctrine of substitution, taking her inner emigration Novelle Die Abberufung der Jungfrau von Barby (1940) as a sample text. An appreciation of the workings of substitution is prerequisite to a reading of le Fort's creative work, particularly during her inner emigration in the Third Reich, and to an assessment of her overall contribution to twentieth-century German literature. [source] Islam, Slavery and Jihad in West AfricaHISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 5 2006James Searing Modernist readings of Islam exist in different forms, from the Orientalist to the Islamist, but they agree in defining Islam by looking back to the founding period of the Prophet and his immediate successors. Muslim reformers undertook this step to cut out centuries of commentary and precedent that they blamed for the stagnation of the Muslim world, but their influence is now so pervasive that it distorts historical interpretations of Muslim thought by imposing modernist interpretations that erase past debates about contentious issues such as jihad and slavery. This article challenges the assumptions of this modernist consensus by exploring past debates about slavery and jihad in West Africa from 1600 to 1900, and exploring the diversity of positions defended by West African Muslims. For heuristic purposes, these are defined as those of the revolutionary, the jurist, and the mystic. [source] An unconformity in the early Miocene syn-rifting succession, northern Noto Peninsula, Japan: Evidence for short-term uplifting precedent to the rapid opening of the Japan SeaISLAND ARC, Issue 3 2002Kazuhiko Kano Abstract The present paper describes the newly discovered early Miocene unconformity in the northern Noto Peninsula, on the Japan Sea side, central Japan. The unconformity marks the boundary between an early Miocene non-marine to marine succession and a more extensive, late early to early middle Miocene marine succession, and contains a time gap of an order of 1 million years or less from 18 Ma or earlier to 17 Ma. The early Miocene succession likely represents an early phase of marine transgression and initial slow rifting. The overlying early to early middle Miocene succession records the climax of the opening of the Japan Sea at ca 16 Ma with widespread, rapid subsidence of the Japan Arc. The unconformity between the two transgressive successions may represent a global sealevel fall or, more likely, crustal uplifting because no upward-shallowing or regressive facies remains between the two successions. Early Miocene unconformities that are thought to be correlative with this unconformity in the northern Noto Peninsula occur in places along the Japan Sea coast of Sakhalin and Japan. They are likely to have been produced during rifting in response to upwelling of asthenospheric mantle, although more accurate age constraints are necessary to evaluate this idea. [source] Black Economic Empowerment in the South African Wine IndustryJOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, Issue 4 2005GAVIN WILLIAMS KWV has been at the centre of the South African Wine Industry since 1918. In July 2004, KWV agreed that a broadly based Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) consortium would acquire 25.1 per cent of the shares of the KWV Group. The South African Wine Industry Trust, whose trustees are nominated by the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs and by KWV, facilitated the deal. The agreement has features specific to the wine industry; it is also a milestone and a precedent for black economic empowerment in agriculture. This paper situates the politics of black economic empowerment in the context of the legacies inherited by the wine industry. It examines the complex political processes by which the participants mobilized funds and negotiated decisions to reconcile their objectives and realize their goals. By examining carefully the details of the sequences of events, the paper sheds light on the peculiar features of this case and raises questions about the nature, implications and significance of black economic empowerment in South Africa. [source] Biomedical applications of protein chipsJOURNAL OF CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR MEDICINE, Issue 3 2002Jocelyn H. Ng Abstract The development of microchips involving proteins has accelerated within the past few years. Although DNA chip technologies formed the precedent, many different strategies and technologies have been used because proteins are inherently a more complex type of molecule. This review covers the various biomedical applications of protein chips in diagnostics, drug screening and testing, disease monitoring, drug discovery (proteomics), and medical research. The proteomics and drug discovery section is further subdivided to cover drug discovery tools (on-chip separations, expression profiling, and antibody arrays), molecular interactions and signaling pathways, the identification of protein function, and the identification of novel therapeutic compounds. Although largely focused on protein chips, this review includes chips involving cells and tissues as a logical extension of the type of data that can be generated from these microchips. [source] August 2003: Reflections on a French Summer DisasterJOURNAL OF CONTINGENCIES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2005Why were its medical consequences so serious? The heat wave of August 2003 caused a hecatomb in France. Its extent and consequences (INVS 2003) require analysis in order to understand why such a situation occurred and how to avoid that the same medical disaster will be caused in the future by identical climatic conditions. This natural disaster had no known precedent in France. The heatwave lasted for three weeks in August 2003 and led to 14800 deaths. However, the human toll of this catastrophe cannot be explained solely by the violence of the attack. Any analysis of this dramatic crisis, as for any public health threat, should take into account the agent involved, the population concerned, the specific relation between the agent and the target, and, based upon this, the crisis management needed. The analysis presented in this article, following the described line, shows that the crisis management was far from optimal. Learning from this situation should allow us to do better, next time such a climatic catastrophe occurs. A key factor is promoting adequate citizen response. [source] Comparing money and labour payment in contingent valuation: the case of forest fire prevention in Vietnamese contextJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2007Le Trong Hung Abstract The contingent valuation method for valuing public goods is a relatively new method in Vietnam. In developed countries, payments are often requested in money, but the form of payment should be more flexible in developing countries that do not have extensive cash economies. Drawing on historical precedent in Vietnam, payment in working days was also used and accepted by the local people; payment in money was less acceptable for the firebreak establishment and maintenance programme. The household mean willingness to pay for the firebreak establishment and maintenance programme was five days a year. The contingent valuation method was found workable at least for a forest fire prevention programme in the Vietnamese context. The lessons learned from this study should be of interest to researchers and policy makers considering applying the contingent valuation method in newly emerging market economies. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Swift,and,Erie: The Trials of an Ephemeral Landmark CaseJOURNAL OF SUPREME COURT HISTORY, Issue 3 2009TONY A. FREYER Like jazz improvisation, the meaning of,Swift v. Tyson,was elusive.1 Justice Joseph Story's 1842 opinion concerning an important commercial-law issue arose from a jury trial.2 When the creditor plaintiff appealed, counsel for the winning debtor raised as a defense Section 34 of the 1789 Judiciary Act. The federal circuit court disagreed about the standing of commercial law under Section 34. Although profound conflicts otherwise divided nationalist and states'-rights proponents, the Supreme Court endorsed Story's commercial-law opinion unanimously.3 New members of the Court and the increasing number of federal lower-court judges steadily transformed the,Swift,doctrine; after the Civil War it agitated the federal judiciary, elite lawyers, and Congress.4 Asserting contrary tenets of American constitutionalism, the Supreme Court overturned the ninety-six-year-old precedent in,Erie Railroad v. Tompkins,(1938).5 The,Swift,doctrine's resonance with changing times was forgotten. The Court and the legal profession established, transformed, and abandoned the doctrine though an adversarial process and judicial instrumentalism. Although the policy of each decision reflected its time, Story's opinion was more consistent with the federalism of the early Constitution than was,Erie.6 [source] "A More Perfect Union": Ableman v. Booth and the Culmination of Federal SovereigntyJOURNAL OF SUPREME COURT HISTORY, Issue 2 2003Michael J. C. Taylor The discourse over federal versus state jurisdiction was ingrained into American politics at the nation's inception. It has been the premise of our most historically significant rivalries,between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster and Robert Hayne. Though this debate remains a contentious topic in contemporary political discourse, the U.S. Supreme Court settled the legal controversy on the eve of America's bloodiest conflagration. Unanimously, the Court ruled that the federal union was of greater importance than the authority of the individual states. The 1859 Ableman v. Booth1 decision was wrought from moral controversy, legal precedent, and political necessity, coupled with the full force of law, and has endured as a compelling pronouncement on the need for continuity and stability in uncertain times. [source] The Battle over Brown's LegitimacyJOURNAL OF SUPREME COURT HISTORY, Issue 1 2003Jeffrey D. Hockett Constitutional scholars have given few Supreme Court rulings the attention that they have lavished upon the celebrated decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Yet the literature of public law is surprisingly unedifying with regard to the process by which the desegregation decision achieved iconic status in American legal culture. Scholarly inattentiveness to the history of Brown's reputation is startling, given that southern politicians were not the only persons in 1954 to characterize the decision as a manifest instance of judicial legislation. Even persons sympathetic to desegregation conceded that the Justices had circumvented traditional legal constraints in rendering Brown. In the years immediately following the ruling, some scholars appealed to the notion of a "living Constitution" to defend Brown against charges that it conflicted with the original understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment and with the "separate but equal" doctrine that the Court had established in Plessy v. Ferguson. But critics, some of whom even accepted the concept of the "living Constitution," also challenged the Court's reading of social fact,that is, its claims regarding the inherent inequality of segregated schools,which supposedly justified judicial recognition of a right that conflicted with precedent and with the intentions of the Framers of the Equal Protection Clause. [source] Beyond Bland: a critique of the BMA guidance on withholding and withdrawing medical treatmentLEGAL STUDIES, Issue 1 2000John Keownz MA (Cantab) D Phil (Oxon) In Bland1 the House of Lords held it lawful to withdraw tube-feeding from a patient in a ,persistent vegetative state' (pvs), even with intent to kill him. The British Medical Association (BMA) recently published guidance on the withholding and withdrawal of ,medical treatment', so defined as to include food and water delivered by tube. The guidance endorses the withholding/withdrawal of tube-delivered food and water not only from patients in pvs but also from other non-terminally ill patients, such as those with severe dementia or serious stroke. The underlying justification appears (as in Bland) to be that such lives lack worth. This article offers three major criticisms of the guidance. First, its argument that tube-feeding is medical treatment rather than basic care is weak. Secondly, its reasons for not treating or tube-feeding undermine the BMA's longstanding opposition to active euthanasia and active assisted suicide. Thirdly, it relies heavily on legal precedent at the expense of ethical reasoning. [source] Price-setting power and information asymmetry in sealed biddingMANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, Issue 6 2006Article first published online: 18 SEP 200, James E. Parco Diverging from the historical precedent of using a midpoint rule (k=˝) to experimentally structure two-person bargaining under incomplete information, extreme values of k (k={0, 1}) are invoked in an asymmetric information environment endowing one player with exclusive price-setting power and the other player with veto-only power. Theoretical analysis suggests that regardless of who possesses an information advantage, expected profits for a seller (buyer) decrease (increase) in k. Yet, experimental results show that under conditions of dramatic information asymmetry, not only is the observed share of the surplus is much smaller than predicted for the player with price-setting power, but also the player with the information advantage is unable to garner a greater share of the surplus as has been consistently demonstrated in previous studies providing a boundary test of Daniel et al.'s Information Disparity Hypothesis (1998). Published in 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Eliminating unconscionability in assessing mandatory clauses by deploying the ,vantage point of public policy'ALTERNATIVES TO THE HIGH COST OF LITIGATION, Issue 3 2006Paul Bennett Marrow Paul Bennett Marrow, of Chappaqua, N.Y., describes why analyzing arbitration clauses with an unconscionability standard doesn't provide useful precedent, and why courts should look to public policy in reviewing contract terms. [source] A novel lysis system in PM2, a lipid-containing marine double-stranded DNA bacteriophageMOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 6 2007Mart Krupovi Summary In this study we investigated the lysis system of the lipid-containing double-stranded DNA bacteriophage PM2 infecting Gram-negative marine Pseudoalteromonas species. We analysed wt and lysis-deficient phage-induced changes in the host physiology and ascribed functions to two PM2 gene products (gp) involved in lysis. We show that bacteriophage PM2 uses a novel system to disrupt the infected cell. The novelty is based on the following findings: (i) gp k is needed for the permeabilization of the cytoplasmic membrane and appears to play the role of a typical holin. However, its unique primary structure [53 aa, 1 transmembrane domain (TMD)] places it into a new class of holins. (ii) We have proposed that, unlike other bacteriophages studied, PM2 relies on lytic factors of the cellular origin for digestion of the peptidoglycan. (iii) gp l (51 aa, no TMDs) is needed for disruption of the outer membrane, which is highly rigidified by the divalent cations abundant in the marine environment. The gp l has no precedent in other phage lytic systems studied so far. However, the presence of open reading frame l-like genes in genomes of other bacterial viruses suggests that the same system might be used by other phages and is not unique to PM2. [source] The U.S. Policy and Strategy toward DPRK: Comparison and Evalution of the Clinton and Bush AdministrationsPACIFIC FOCUS, Issue 2 2002Hun Kyung Lee This article focuses on studying and evaluating the Clinton and Bush administrations' policies and strategies toward North Korea. The Clinton administration's policy toward North Korea was a continuation of the abandonment of containment and confrontation strategies of the Cold War era. That policy was based on a strategic transfer of power for the purpose of preventing a war, through a combination of aid and deterrence in the Korean peninsula by its engagement policy. The Administration believed that additional food aid and easing of economic sanctions would make a contribution to North Korean survival, and hence, a reduction in its bellicose disposition. Providing that this policy continued, it would be possible not merely to lead North Korea's change, but also to help it enter into international society by breaking down its self-imposed isolation. To the contrary, the Bush administration points out that the Clinton administration's engagement policy did not lead to North Korea's change, and even left the wrong precedent in nuclear and missile negotiations. Focusing on nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction with an emphasis of transparency, monitoring, and verification, the Bush administration has claimed a broad agenda. This includes an improved implementation of the Agreed Framework relating to North Korea's nuclear activities, verifiable control over North Korea's missile programs and a ban on its missile exports, and a less threatening conventional military posture. With the different views of these two administrations as a background, this article explores the U.S. efforts for achieving such policy goals as freezing North Korea's nuclear weapons program and halting its missile development and sales, together with looking at North Korea's response. American efforts for supporting the necessities for life, easing of some economic sanctions toward DPRK are also described. At the same time, the U.S. policy toward DPRK is evaluated on the whole in considering U.S. policy limits for nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the lack of effort by North Korea for peacemaking and survival, and inconsistency on U.S. assistance. Lastly, this article suggests a way for an alternative solution by thinking about some dilemmas for the U.S. and the DPRK. [source] The Brief Pain Inventory and Its "Pain At Its Worst in the Last 24 Hours" Item: Clinical Trial Endpoint ConsiderationsPAIN MEDICINE, Issue 3 2010Thomas M. Atkinson PhD Abstract Context., In 2006, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a draft Guidance for Industry on the use of patient-reported outcomes (PRO) Measures in Medical Product Development to Support Labeling Claims. This draft guidance outlines psychometric aspects that should be considered when designing a PRO measure, including conceptual framework, content validity, construct validity, reliability, and the ability to detect clinically meaningful score changes. When finalized, it may provide a blueprint for evaluations of PRO measures that can be considered by sponsors and investigators involved in PRO research and drug registration trials. Objective., In this review we examine the short form of the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and particularly the "pain at its worst in the last 24 hours" item in the context of the FDA draft guidance, to assess its utility in clinical trials that include pain as a PRO endpoint. Results and Conclusions., After a systematic evaluation of the psychometric aspects of the BPI, we conclude that the BPI and its "pain at its worst in the last 24 hours" item generically satisfy most key recommendations outlined in the draft guidance for assessing a pain-reduction treatment effect. Nonetheless, when the BPI is being considered for assessment of pain endpoints in a registration trial, sponsors and investigators should consult with the appropriate FDA division early during research design to discuss whether there is sufficient precedent to use the instrument in the population of interest or whether additional evaluations of measurement properties are advisable. [source] The detection of antibacterial actions of whole herb tinctures using luminescent Escherichia coliPHYTOTHERAPY RESEARCH, Issue 12 2007Kathryn Watt Abstract Two whole cell Escherichia coli luminescent biosensors were used to determine the antibacterial actions of 16 herbal tinctures. These bioassays can detect genotoxic (strain DPD2794) and general oxidative stress (DE135) events when challenged with antibacterial substances. Many of the herbal tinctures were active against these Gram-negative bacteria, affecting their metabolism without, in some cases, arresting cell growth or causing cell death. Antibacterial activity ranged from undetectable for Curcuma longa, Cinnamomum zeylanicum and Apium graveolens to highly effective against both E. coli strains in the case of Rosmarinus officinalis. Some of the results were unexpected. Althaea officinalis affected microbial metabolism in spite of the lack of literature precedent, and Cinnamomum zeylanicum did not appear to be antimicrobial, as claimed in some literature. It is concluded that studies using luminescent bacterial biosensors can provide important new insights into the potency and modes of the lethal and sub-lethal antibacterial action of whole herbs, and thereby provide crucial evidence for efficacy demanded by modern science and medicine. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||