The Middle-Income Kingdom

正The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) opened in Beijing on November 8. The first day consisted of the report made by Hu Jintao, General Secretary     

Some proposals for adapting federal-provincial financial agreements to current conditions

Abstract. This paper argues that the federal government should allow provincial governments to levy whatever tax rates they wish, to be applied to the taxbase of the federal personal income tax, and should agree to administer provincial tax credits and surcharges, adopted for the purpose of altering the incidence of provincial taxes. The federal government also should forego attempts to prevent all provincial tax inducements to industrial location, and seek agreement with the provinces OR a list of proscribed measures. Further, the federal government would be ill-advised to attempt to reassert direction over provincial medicare, hospital insurance and post-secondary education programs. The funding arrangements agreed to in 1977 should be continued until the broader issue of the division of functions between the two orders of government is clarified. The paper also argues that a new rationale for equalization payments and a new basis for their calculation should be adopted. The amount of a payment to a province should be determined solely by its real income per capita relative to that of the other provinces. Sommaire: L'auteur de cet exposé présente plusieurs suggestions. Ainsi, le gouvernement fédéral devrait autoriser les gouvernements provinciaux à fixer leurs taux d'impôt comme bon leur semble, taux qui seraient appliqués à l'assiette de l'impôt fédéral sur le revenu personnel, et qu'il devrait accepter d'administrer les surtaxes et créedits d'impôt provinciaux, adoptés dans le but de modifier l'incidence de ces impôts. Le gouvernement fédéral devrait aussi abandonner toute tentative de prohibition des encouragements fiscaux provinciaux destinés à stimuler l'implantation industrielle. Finalement, il devrait chercher à s'entendre avec les provinces sur une liste de mesures d'interdiction. De plus, le gouvernement fédéral serait ma1 venu d'essayer de réorienter l'assurance-maladie provinciale, l'assurance-hospitalisation et les programmes d'éducation post-secondaire. Les dispositions de financement prises en 1977 devraient rester en place jusqu’à ce que la question fondamentale de la division des fonctions entre les deux paliers de gouvernement soit éclaircie. L'auteur affirme également qu'il est nécessaire d'adopter une nouvelle base conceptuelle en ce qui concerne les paiements de péréquation et leur calcul. A son avis, le montant destiné a une province devrait être déterminé uniquement sur la base du revenu individuel réel, par rapport à celui des autres provinces.     

Is New Zealand's regulation of nanomedical products adequate?

This article investigates the adequacy of New Zealand's regulation of medical products produced by nanotechnology and containing nanomaterials. There is concern that the novel and unique properties of some nanoscale chemical substances will bring unforeseen human and environmental health and safety risks. Given the possible market for nanomedicines and the growing evidence of their potential risks, it is important to have adequate regulation of nanomedicines in order to prevent adverse public health ramifications. This article argues that nanoparticles, invisible to the human eye, are illuminating and exacerbating legislative imperfections in the Medicines Act 1981 (NZ). This Act does not include a pre-market approval process for medical devices, nor does it include provisions for combination products. This approach is inconsistent with international norms. The article proposes amendment of the Medicines Act 1981 (NZ) to address these weaknesses and the novel challenges posed by nanomedicines.     

The Effects of Building Strong Families: A Healthy Marriage and Relationship Skills Education Program for Unmarried Parents

This article examines the impacts of Building Strong Families, a healthy marriage and relationship skills education program serving unmarried parents who were expecting or had recently had a baby. Based on a random assignment research design, the analysis uses survey data from more than 4,700 couples across eight research sites to estimate program effects. Results varied across sites, with one site having a pattern of positive effects (but no effect on marriage) and another having numerous negative effects. However, when impacts are averaged across all research sites, the findings indicate that the program had no overall effects on couples’ relationship quality or the likelihood that they remained together or got married.     

Validation of LUCIO-Direct-ELISA kits for the detection of drugs of abuse in urine: application to the new German driving licence re-granting guidelines

LUCIO-Direct-enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests were validated for the screening of drugs of abuse cannabis, opiates, amphetamines and cocaine in urine for the new German medical and psychological assessment (MPA) guidelines with subsequent gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) confirmation. The screening cut-offs corresponding to 10 ng/mL 11-nor-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid (THC-COOH), 50 ng/mL amphetamine, 25 ng/mL morphine and codeine and 30 ng/mL benzoylecgonine were chosen at the point where the number of false negatives was lower than 1%. Due to their accuracy, ease of use and rapid analysis, these ELISA tests are very promising for cases where a large proportion of the tests are expected to be negative such as for abstinence monitoring as part of the driving licence re-granting process.