Preventing the Spread of Vancomycin Resistance--A Report from the Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee prepared by the Subcommittee on Prevention and Control of Antimicrobial-Resistant Microorganisms in Hospitals; comment period and public meeting--CDC. Notice

This notice is a request for review and comment of the draft document, Preventing the Spread of Vancomycin Resistance--A Report From the Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) Prepared by the Subcommittee on Prevention and Control of Antimicrobial-Resistant Microorganisms in Hospitals. The draft document was prepared in collaboration with the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), CDC, and representatives of the American Hospital Association, American Society for Microbiology, Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, and Surgical Infection Society.     

Draft guideline for the prevention of surgical site infection, 1998--CDC. Notice

This notice is a request for review of and comment on the Draft Guideline for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infection, 1998. The guideline consists of two parts: Part 1. "Surgical Site Infection, an Overview" and Part 2. "Recommendations for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infections", and was prepared by the Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), the Hospital Infection Program (HIP), the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), CDC.     

Draft guideline for infection control in health care personnel, 1997--CDC. Notice

This notice is a request for review of and comment on the Draft Guideline for Infection Control in Health Care Personnel, 1997. The guideline consists of two parts: Part 1. "Infection Control Issues for Health Care Personnel, an Overview" and Part 2. "Recommendations for Prevention of Infections in Health Care Personnel", and was prepared by the Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), the National Immunizations Program, and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), CDC.     

Empirically enhanced reflections on 20 years of rape research

Using PsychInfo review of rape and sexual assault publications, the period of greatest fertility coincided with the establishment (1975) and demise (1987) of the National Center for the Prevention and Control of Rape. To document what has been learned and when, the era in which new rape concepts entered the literature is summarized and important developments highlighted. Then, new investigations that are urgently needed are elaborated. The author expresses concern that current federal investment is insufficient to sustain and expand a science workforce adequate to the tasks ahead. Since 1995, more than 1 billion US dollars have been awarded to prosecutors, law enforcement, and community agencies to assist victims of violence. In contrast, between 1996 and 2003, only 14 of 178 (7%) of investigator-initiated grants funded by the Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for violence against women had titles pairing the word sexual with assault, violence, abuse, or rape.     

Terror and triage: prioritizing access to mass smallpox vaccination

In response to the threat of a smallpox attack on the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") recommended the establishment of smallpox clinics designed to distribute a vaccine to the entire U.S. population in a ten day period. However, a number of potential obstacles raise questions about the feasibility of this plan. What is needed is a plan that applies principles of triage to smallpox vaccine distribution following a bioterrorism attack. Only in this way can those most vulnerable--the previously unvaccinated--be protected from a significantly increased risk due to delays that might arise in executing the CDC plan.     

Concurrence between complaints procedures in the Dutch healthcare system

There are various ways in which complaints about healthcare providers' performance can be handled in The Netherlands. In practice, situations occur relatively frequently in which one and the same treatment by a provider results in various different complaints procedures being instigated or, in other words, in concurrence between complaints procedures. Dutch periodicals published information on a total of 42 cases of concurrence between 1997 and 2007. Concurrence between complaints procedures prompts a series of questions about how it arises, its legal implications, the possible consequences for those involved and whether it has any added value. This article examines these various issues.     

World Trade Center Health Program; addition of certain types of cancer to the list of WTC-related health conditions. Final rule

Title I of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 amended the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act) to establish the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program. The WTC Health Program, which is administered by the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), provides medical monitoring and treatment to eligible firefighters and related personnel, law enforcement officers, and rescue, recovery, and cleanup workers who responded to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and to eligible survivors of the New York City attacks. In accordance with WTC Health Program regulations, which establish procedures for adding a new condition to the list of covered health conditions, this final rule adds to the List of WTC-Related Health Conditions the types of cancer proposed for inclusion by the notice of proposed rulemaking.     

新冠疾病疫情期间死因不明尸体解剖处置流程和规范

公安法医在疫情期间随时会接触到未知名或疫情史不明确的尸体,尤其是死因不明的尸体需要进行尸体解剖,不可避免地要全程面对新冠病毒感染的高风险,笔者依据《中华人民共和国传染病防治法》等相关法律法规、新型冠状病毒及肺炎的特点、疫情防控工作指引和公安部《关于规范新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情防控期间现场勘查处置工作的指导意见》,结合本地公安法医鉴定工作实际,通过死因不明的尸体解剖工作流程上,对前期准备、人员防护、解剖操作、后期消毒及物资配备等方面进行探索,提出在新冠疾病疫情期间公安法医尸体解剖处置及防护建议,供一线法医和司法鉴定人员参考。     

修订版外显攻击行为量表用于精神疾病患者危险行为评估

目的 探讨修订版外显攻击行为量表(Modified Overt Aggression Scales,MOAS)对精神疾病患者危险行为评估的价值.方法 采用MOAS对隶属公安、卫生、民政系统的3家精神卫生机构(安康监管病区、华西心理卫生中心、德康救治病区)共490名精神疾病患者根据痛史资料进行评估. 结果 无危险行为31...     

From Boundary Drawing to Transitions: the Creation of Normativity under the EU Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control

This article aims to make a contribution to debates about how to conceptualise normativity. It argues that normativity can not be just understood through defining it and in particular through identifying conceptual boundaries around the normative and the non-normative. Instead the article suggests that it is important to explore how transitions between the non-normative and the normative occur in practice. This argument is developed through a critical examination of literature on legal pluralism and an analysis of qualitative empirical data on the drafting of technical guidance documents under the European Union Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (96/61/EC).     

以生命为代价的法律思考--举案以论《消防法》第51条的修改

“2 .15”吉林大火不仅应引起行政管理部门的深思 ,而且对法学界而言 ,也是值得研究和反思的典型案例。首先从法理的角度深入分析了火灾发生的制度原因 ,提出对《消防法》第 5 1条在行政处罚实施主体的权责分配上、在重大停产停业处罚对象的范围界定上存在的立法缺失 ,并提出了相应的立法完善建议。此外 ,还对制度层面之外关于行政理念的转变问题进行思索 ,以求为理论和实践提供借鉴。     

Increasing jurors' participation in trials

A field experiment is reported that examines the advantages and disadvantages of two juror participation procedures: Allowing jurors to take notes during the trial, and allowing jurors to direct questions to witnesses. The presence or absence of both procedures was randomly assigned to 34 civil and 33 criminal trials in Wisconsin circuit courts. Following the trials, questinnaires were administered to judges, lawyers, and jurors. Overall, no evidence is found to support the hypotheses that juror notetaking would serve as a useful memory aid, would assist the jury with recall of the judge's instructions, or would increase the jurors' confidence in their verdict. The hypothesis that juror notetaking would increase juror satisfaction with the trial was supported. None of the findings supported the conclusion that juror notetaking was distracting, that notetakers were overly influential during the deliberations, that the jurors' notes were inaccurate, that the notes favored the plaintiff, or that the notes heightened juror disagreement about the trial evidence. It was hypothesized, but not found, that allowing juror questions of witnesses would uncover important issues in the trial and would increase the jurors' satisfaction with the trial procedure. However, juror questions did serve to alleviate juror doubts about the trial testimony, and provided the lawyers with feedback about the jurors' perception of the trial. No evidence was found to support the expectations that juror questions would slow the trial, would upset the lawyers' strategy, or that the question-asking procedure would be a nuisance to the courtroom staff. Furthermore, the lawyers did not appear overly reluctant to object to inappropriate questions from jurors, and jurors did not report being embarassed or angry when their questions were objected to.Dispute Resolution Research Center, Northwestern University     

World Trade Center Health Program requirements for the addition of new WTC-related health conditions. Final rule

Title I of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 amended the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act) to establish the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program. Sections 3311, 3312, and 3321 of Title XXXIII of the PHS Act require that the WTC Program Administrator develop regulations to implement portions of the WTC Health Program established within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The WTC Health Program, which is administered by the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), provides medical monitoring and treatment to eligible firefighters and related personnel, law enforcement officers, and rescue, recovery and cleanup workers who responded to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, Shanksville, PA, and at the Pentagon, and to eligible survivors of the New York City attacks. This final rule establishes the processes by which the WTC Program Administrator may add a new condition to the list of WTC-related health conditions through rulemaking, including a process for considering petitions by interested parties to add a new condition.     

Chinese scholars call for AIDS rules based on respect for individual rights

In June 2002, the UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS in China published a comprehensive situation analysis and needs assessment of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The report, entitled "HIV/AIDS: China's Titanic Peril", also describes and analyzes current HIV/AIDS legislation and policies. It notes that "laws and regulations that are based on fear and prejudice have contributed to fuelling the epidemic instead of curbing it." The report observes that the targets and goals established in China's five-year Plan of Action (2001-2005) are not consistent with the commitments endorsed in June 2001 at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS. It states that the Plan "continues to present HIV/AIDS as a medical problem, and fails to understand the epidemic as a broader development issue." Even where laws could assist, enforcement remains a huge challenge. For example, in 1998 the National People's Congress passed a law prohibiting commercial blood donations for medical purposes. Nonetheless, the illicit and unregulated blood trade, which has rapidly accelerated the spread of HIV infection in China, has continued. When the alarm was sounded by Dr. Wan Yanhai, coordinator of the AIZHI (AIDS) Action Project, the government response was to arrest him. In the following article, Nick Young, editor of China Development Brief, reviews the findings of three studies commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on the role of the law in response to HIV/AIDS.     

Nigeria: HIV-positive woman launches suit after being denied treatment

A 39-year-old woman who was denied treatment at a hospital in Lagos simply because she is HIV-positive is fighting back through the courts. The Center for the Right to Health has filed a lawsuit on her behalf, seeking damages as well as an injection to prevent further discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS who seek treatment.     

COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY,MINORITY THREAT,AND POLICE BRUTALITY: AN EXAMINATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS CRIMINAL COMPLAINTS*

A growing body of evidence shows that minorities are disproportionately the targets of police brutality, but important theoretical questions about the causes of that inequity remain unanswered. One promising line of research involves structural‐level analyses of the incidence of police brutality complaints; however, existing studies do not incorporate variables from alternative theoretical explanations. Drawing on the community accountability hypothesis and the threat hypothesis, we tested the predictions of two prominent structural‐level explanations of police brutality in a study of civil rights criminal complaints. The study included cities of 150,000+ population (n = 114). The findings reveal that two community accountability variables—ratio percent Hispanic citizens to percent Hispanic police officers and the presence of citizen review—were related positively to police brutality complaints, partially supporting that perspective. Two threat hypothesis measures of threatening people—percent black and percent Hispanic (in the Southwest)—were related positively to complaints, as predicted. The relative degree of support for the two hypotheses is assessed.     

Criminal law and HIV/AIDS: strategic considerations

Richard Elliott's paper on criminal law and HIV/AIDS, an edited and updated version of his presentation at "Putting Third First," sets out five guiding principles for criminal law policy and HIV/AIDS; briefly outlines the rationales for criminalization; discusses three strategic legal questions regarding the criminalization of HIV transmission/exposure; and offers a number of recommendations for consideration of those needing to articulate a well-considered perspective on the ethical, legal, human rights, and public health dimensions of the criminalization of HIV transmission/exposure.