West Nile virus encephalitis

West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne virus that has caused a large number of deaths in the United States since the first outbreak in New York City in 1998. The outbreak initially was limited to the northeast but has since spread across the entire continental United States. WNV causes a variety of clinical symptoms, but the most severe consequences result from central nervous system infection, resulting in meningitis, encephalitis, or meningoencephalitis. We present a case of a 62-year-old male with metastatic cancer, who died as a result of WNV encephalitis. This is followed by a discussion on the epidemiology of WNV and a detailed summary of the methods and resources available to make a diagnosis of WNV infection postmortem. The material presented in the discussion should provide the forensic pathologist with all the information necessary to make a diagnosis of WNV infection postmortem. If nothing else, the routine collection and storage of serum, cerebrospinal fluid, and tissue for every case can enable the forensic pathologist to make this diagnosis even in cases in which WNV is not suspected until after autopsy.     

Digital citizenship? Narrative exchange and the changing terms of civic culture

This article explores the possibilities for new forms of ‘digital citizenship’ currently emerging through digitally supported processes of narrative exchange. Using Dahlgren's (Dahlgren, P. 2003. “Reconfiguring Civic Culture in the New Media Milieu.” In Media and the Restyling of Politics, edited by J. Corner, and D. Pels, 151–170. London: Sage; Dahlgren, P. 2009. Media and Political Engagement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.) circuit of ‘civic culture’ as a model for exploring the interlinking preconditions for new acts of citizenship, we discuss the contrasting outcomes of research at three fieldwork sites in the North of England – educational (a sixth form college), civil society (a community reporters' network) and social (a local club). Each site provided clear evidence of the elements of Dahlgren's circuit (some depending on the intensive use of digital infrastructure, others predating it), but there were also breaks in the circuit that constrained its effectiveness. A crucial factor in each case for building a lasting circuit of civic culture (and an effective base for new forms of digital citizenship) is the role that digital infrastructure can play in extending the scale of interactions beyond the purely local.     

‘In Vino Veritas’: Truth and Method in Vinogradoff's Historical Jurisprudence

Sir Paul Vinogradoff is widely regarded as the intellectual heir of Sir Henry Maine. As such, he is implicated with Maine in the failure of historical jurisprudence to displace Austinian positivism at the heart of English legal theory. Yet Vinogradoff was of a different generation and intellectual provenance from Maine. By examining the relationship between Vinogradoff's historical jurisprudence and the work of the celebrated German historian Theodor Mommsen, this article aims to reaffirm the distinctiveness of Vinogradoff's contribution to English jurisprudence. It finds at the core of that contribution a Germanic commitment to ‘science’ and ‘method’ that proves both a strength and a weakness in the common law world of the time, and so reflects something of the character of that broader world itself.     

The impact of TUPE on compulsory competitive tendering: Evidence from employers

The transposing of the 1977 Acquired Rights Directive into UK law has resulted in prolonged uncertainty regarding whether its protection of terms and conditions of employment extends to workers transferred under compulsory competitive tendering (CCT). In this paper we examine briefly the origins and scope of the directive and the development of relevant case law. We then report the results of a survey of employers confirming the existence of widespread confusion over the legal position of transferred employees. We also provide evidence that terms and conditions of employment are commonly being revised following CCT transfers. Concentrating upon the responses of contractors we show that any experience of litigation tends to lead to a less favourable assessment of the overall success of CCT. We conclude by examining both the causes and consequences of the continuing legal confusion associated with CCT transfers and consider the policy implications of our findings.