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.     

A Multilevel Framework for Effective Interagency Collaboration in Mental Health

The difficulty of coordinating service provision in interagency programs is a challenge for many working in public policy. We reflect on lessons learned through evaluating two inter‐agency supported housing programs for people with mental illness and propose a framework outlining components needed for well co‐ordinated service provision. We specify collaborative mechanisms at the policy, agency, service and client level. The key component is the role of an ‘integration coordinator': a person who is able to facilitate relationships and ensure effective information flows. Relationships need to be actively maintained to meet the inevitable challenges that will arise in complex interagency systems. The framework is relevant to policymakers across the public sector, including mental health, drug and alcohol, aged care, and policing.     

Fear of crime and vulnerability: Using a national sample of Americans to examine two competing paradigms

Purpose

A prominent explanation of why certain groups of people fear crime more than others focuses on physical and social vulnerability. Some researchers have argued that physical vulnerability characteristics (e.g., gender, age, health) are more important in determining one's fear of crime while others have argued that social vulnerability characteristics (e.g., race and socioeconomic status) are more important.

Methods

We test the independence of the physical and social vulnerability characteristics through a nationally representative sample of Americans. Using a multilevel path modeling approach, we examine whether the physical or the social vulnerability explanation is more powerful in its explanation, or whether a combination of both vulnerabilities explains fear of crime.

Results

Results suggest that the two explanations are interdependent to some degree; with the direct effects of social vulnerability being most tied to physical indicators of vulnerability through indirect effects. To a lesser degree, the direct effects of physical vulnerability are also tied to fear of crime indirectly through indicators of social vulnerability.

Conclusions

The implications of these results are discussed.     

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.     

‘I Just Wanted Him to Hear Me’: Sexual Violence and the Possibilities of Restorative Justice

The use of restorative justice in cases of sexual violence is highly contentious. Some argue that it may trivialize violence against women, revictimize the vulnerable, and endanger the safety of victim‐survivors. On the other hand, from the perspective of victim‐survivors, it may enable us to hear their stories more holistically, offering greater control and validation, and reduce victim‐blaming. It may also provide an additional opportunity to secure some form of justice. Debate over the validity of these competing claims has largely taken place in an empirical vacuum. This article considers the results of an exploratory study of a restorative justice conference involving an adult survivor of child rape and other sexual abuse. The results, while necessarily tentative, provide good ground to consider afresh the possibilities of restorative justice in cases of sexual violence. We suggest that for those victim‐survivors who wish to pursue this option, restorative justice may offer the potential to secure some measure of justice.     

Law, Diagram, Film: Critique Exhausted

What potential can be found in the work of Deleuze and Guattari for critical legal scholarship? The authors argue that their work can be deployed to re-think ??critique?? by directly addressing the place and role of the ??critic??. It is argued that the continued commitment to a stance of ??resistance?? in CLS is underpinned by never-ending dualisms which, if not confronted and replaced, can only make CLS ever more redundant. The authors ask: ??what is critique beyond the dualism of power and resistance, of state and nomad??? This question arises from a belief that critique is still capable of being effective, but only if there is the courage to experiment, and to think creatively. In this sense, the ??exhaustion?? of critique is framed as an opportunity to re-think and re-engage with the politics of law. The paper diagrams, through image and film, a critical thought: the potential of the artisan. Film is utilised not as representation, nor as illustration, but as a thinking mind in its own right, through which questions relating to the state, political action, and creative thinking can be (re)framed. Such a re-framing is essential, it is argued, for an engagement with the emergence of societies of control.     

Recovery of DNA and fingerprints from touched documents

This study investigated the various factors affecting DNA profiling from DNA recovered from fingerprints deposited on paper before and after fingerprint enhancement treatments. The DNeasy^® plant mini kit (QIAGEN^®) was found to improve DNA recovery from paper by over 150% compared with the QIAamp^® mini kit. A significant decrease in the amount of DNA recovered was observed following treatment with DFO and/or Ninhydrin. This decrease in yield did not have a comparably significant effect on the quality of the SGM Plus™ profiles. Furthermore, this study found that whilst certain paper types, such as newspaper, magazine and filter paper allowed for the good recovery of DNA, common office paper and white card, strongly interfered with the recovery of DNA resulting in poor quality profiles.