Legal protection of the genetic heritage in Brazil (comments on the new "Biosafety Law" of March 24, 2005)]

The purpose of the current article is to outline and comment the most important aspects of the regulation of Brazil's criminal legislation about the protection of the human genome, which establishes crimes related to genetic manipulation and to the dissemination of transgenics in the environment. It also refers to the problems related to the application of the old legal text (Law 8.974/1995), which punished conducts that stayed without the enough development. These gaps complicated so much the application of those rules that the Brazilian Parliament has recently proposed the complete modification of the present legislation by a new Biosecurity Law (Law 11.105/2005). This law for the first time authorizes research with human embrionyc stem cells in Brazil, trying thus to solve in this way the problem of cryoconserved human embryos produced by in vitro fertilization programmes. The new law is analyzed here from a legal and ethical view point.     

With the fourth sentence of the First Chamber on wrongful birth: is it possible to start talking about "jurisprudence"?]

Chamber number 1 of the Spanish Supreme Court of Justice has announced its fourth wrongful birth case decision dated December 18, 2003. The issue is whether we can state that with these four rulings there is a genuine law of precedent, that is, reiterated doctrine of the Supreme Court of Justice on this matter (Article 1.6 of the Civil Code).     

Application of Empore C-8 extraction disks for screening urine in systematic toxicological analysis.

Solid-phase extraction (SPE) by means of disposable columns has become a widely accepted technique for sample pretreatment in toxicology, both for directed analyses and for screening analyses. However, the sample capacity in SPE is usually limited to a few millilitres. Therefore, we have investigated to what extent these problems can be overcome by using Empore extraction disks, consisting of chemically modified C-8 reversed-phase silica, embedded in an inert polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) matrix. Human urine was selected as the matrix and dexetimide and mepyramine were initially used as test drugs because these drugs were available in tritiated form. Additional drugs investigated included codeine, hexobarbital, imipramine, methamphetamine, and nitrazepam. In these investigations, the sample capacity for untreated urine was at least 25 mL, and analyte quantities up to 250 micrograms could be retained by these filters. Washing with water/methanol mixtures was successful in removing substantial amounts of endogenous interferences, and methanol proved to be an acceptable eluent. Thus, these disks seem to have interesting potential for toxicological analysis in that sample concentration and cleanup can be achieved at the same time.     

Pā $$ \underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{n}$$ ini,s kārakas: Agency,animation and identity

Journal of Indian Philosophy -     

Accepting Conflict and Experiencing Creativity: Teaching "Concertation" Using La Francilienne CD-ROM

This article discusses the use of the La Francilienne CD-ROM, which I developed with my colleague Alain Lempereur, law professor at ESSEC Business School, near Paris. As a professor in the ESSEC Department of Environment, I use the CD-ROM as the basic tool for my course "Concertation, Decision, and Local Democracy." The CD-ROM's simulation of a public negotiation process for a highway project allows me not only to teach basic concepts and methods of negotiation and mediation but also to enhance two important concepts in public decision processes in planning and environment: conflicts and creativity. The students are given the opportunity first to experience, and then to discuss, conflict and creativity in a quasi-real setting. These experiences and discussions encourage an internal change process for the students and help them to integrate the negotiation and mediation concepts and methods taught. This internal change will be conceptualized in this article according to two educational theories: transitional thinking theory and experiential learning theory.