Effects of profound hypothermia on the blood-brain barrier permeability in acute and chronically ethanol treated rats

This study examines the effects of profound hypothermia on the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability in ethanol administrated rats. Vascular permeability to intravenously injected Evans blue (EB) was quantitatively examined in the brain regions of rats. Rats were treated with ethanol acute and chronically. Rectal temperature of rats was dropped into 20+/-1 degrees C during profound hypothermia. Mean arterial blood pressure in both acute and chronic ethanol treatments plus hypothermia significantly dropped into low levels as well as in hypothermia alone (P<0.01). Hypothermia led to a significant increase in the content of EB dye in the brain regions of rats (P<0.05). Both acute and chronic ethanol treatments plus hypothermia did not lead to a significant increase in the BBB permeability against intravenously injected EB dye. We conclude that ethanol intake protects the BBB against the effects of hypothermia.     

The Non-Subversive Function of European Private Law: The Case of Harmonisation of Family Law

Abstract:  This article challenges the widely diffuse view of family law as peripheral to private law. It aims to the de–marginalisation of family legal issues, by showing their ties to the market realm and freedom of contract. In this theoretical framework, the article analyses the process of family law harmonisation in Europe. In particular, it focuses on three steps or aspects in respect to which the presumed peculiarity of family law is proclaimed and reveals, at the same time, its groundlessness: the status/contract dichotomy as a reflection of the family/market divide which seems to influence future developments of the harmonisation of law in Europe; the presumed political character of family law, which represents the leitmotiv in most recent harmonisation projects; and the subsequent strictly national character of family law, which makes EC institutions much more cautious in intervening in these matters than in any other field of private law.     

The Use of Laser Microdissection in Forensic Sexual Assault Casework: Pros and Cons Compared to Standard Methods

Sexual assault samples are among the most frequently analyzed in a forensic laboratory. These account for almost half of all samples processed routinely, and a large portion of these cases remain unsolved. These samples often pose problems to traditional analytic methods of identification because they consist most frequently of cell mixtures from at least two contributors: the victim (usually female) and the perpetrator (usually male). In this study, we propose the use of current preliminary testing for sperm detection in order to determine the chances of success when faced with samples which can be good candidates to undergo analysis with the laser microdissection technology. Also, we used laser microdissection technology to capture fluorescently stained cells of interest differentiated by gender. Collected materials were then used for DNA genotyping with commercially available amplification kits such as Minifiler, Identifiler Plus, NGM, and Y‐Filer. Both the methodology and the quality of the results were evaluated to assess the pros and cons of laser microdissection compared with standard methods. Overall, the combination of fluorescent staining combined with the Minifiler amplification kit provided the best results for autosomal markers, whereas the Y‐Filer kit returned the expected results regardless of the used method.     

Broader Energy Cooperation with Latin America

THE energy policy set out in China’s 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015) is widely expected to swing the door open to cooperation with resource-rich Latin American     

Politiques publiques d'innovation régionale et compétitivité mondiale : une étude comparée Québec-Wallonie

Abstract: The objective of this article is to analyse public initiatives to stimulate regional innovation in Walloon region in Belgium and in the Province of Quebec. The empirical analysis relies on the competitive poles program in Walloon and on the ACCORD project (Action Concertée de Coopération Régionale de Développement) in Quebec. The comparison will allow discussing the implementation and regional embedding of these programs and will reveal the similarities and the differences between the structure, the organization and the deployment of these strategies in the various regions targeted.     

Child Sexual Abuse Perpetrated by Women: Case Series and Review of the Literature

The literature on child sexual abuse (CSA) perpetrated by female sexual offenders (FSOs) is exiguous, and many studies have focused on judicial databases. The present retrospective study, instead, analyzed clinical and judicial data of a group of both victims and alleged FSOs, to additionally include women who have not been convicted by the criminal justice system, but who hold strong clinical suspicions of being perpetrators of CSA. The medical records and the Court files of 11 children and their eight suspected FSOs have been collected and critically reviewed in light of the literature to date. This approach allowed for a deeper understanding of the relationship between child and FSO. The authors hypothesize that the victims’ severe psychopathological outcomes were a result of a failure to develop appropriate attachments with their prospective caregivers, which could have been damaged by the pathological relationship with FSOs, who were the victims’ caregivers.     

Dance of Orientalisms and waves of catastrophes: culturalism and pragmatism in imperial approaches to Islam and the Middle East

This article focuses on a seeming contradiction between ‘Islamophobic’ and ‘Islamophilic’ approaches in contemporary Western policies and discourses on the Middle East. While Islamophobia continues to shape some domestic policies of Western states and provide ideological justification for the wars they wage abroad, ‘Islamophilic’ tendencies in foreign policy have also emerged, especially in responses to the ‘Arab Spring’. Not clearly noted in Western public discourse, this represents a historical continuation of Western support for Islamism common during the Cold War, but is also a shift from the Islamophobic discourse of the post-cold war period, especially since 9/11. While Islamophobic and Islamophilic discourses may appear to be opposites, the paper argues that they represent two sides of the Orientalist logic, continuing to reduce understanding of Middle Eastern societies and politics to a culturalist dimension. Unlike traditional Orientalism, they treat Middle Eastern people as political subjects, but approach them as defined by their culture and religion. They define ‘moderate’ Islamism as the typical (and preferred) politics of the people of the region. Focusing on specific recent developments, the paper suggests that, rather than paving the way to more peaceful relations with the region or to internal peace and stability there, the Islamophilic shift in Western policy may rather lead to new waves of catastrophes by further destabilising and fragmenting the region, threatening to evoke new waves of Islamophobia in the West.