A unique case of congenital bilateral absence of parietal bones in a neonate

The remains of an unidentified female neonate were discovered in a field in central Missouri. Examination revealed bilateral absence of the parietal bones. A search of the literature describing similar defects suggests that the present case represents a unique condition, described here for the first time.     

治理理论的兴起与行政法的变迁

行政法是关于行政的法,公共行政的改革与发展必然对行政法产生影响,为行政法学提供新的研究课题。20世纪下半叶,治理理论的兴起,受到世界各国的广泛关注,行政主体的多元化和行政行为的非强制性被认为是治理理论两个明显的特征。以传统统治理论为基础形成的行政法不能解释行政主体的多元化和行政行为的非强制性现象,在治理理论的背景下,行政法面临着发展变迁的挑战。     

走出自然权利认识的误区

在自然权利的问题上,存在着人类中心主义与非人类中心主义的尖锐对立,人们遵循着非此即彼的一种思维定势,认为二者水火不容,这是一个认识上的误区。即使作为坚守非人类中心主义立场的观察者也不得不承认发达的人类中心主义是实现自然权利的必由之路。贫穷不是非人类中心主义,只有在与自然和谐的基础上实现人类的生态化的富足,才有实现自然权利的可能。     

论行政诉讼判决形式的重构——从司法权与行政权关系的角度分析

行政诉讼是人为的宪政制度设计的结果,行政权与司法权两种权力运作模式的目标截然不同,这是现实中司法权与行政权关系紧张的根源所在。正视司法权与行政权的差异性是行政诉讼判决形式改革的基础。在现有的裁判方式中,驳回诉讼请求判决应当全面取代维持判决,撤销判决中应规定重作判项,但内容不宜具体,履行判决应当根据不同情况来决定是否应规定具体的内容,变更判决范围不宜过大,确认判决的存在仍有必要。     

Has PPS increased Medicare expenditures on physicians?

We use data from 1983 and 1985 on the volume of Medicare physician services to analyze whether Medicare's Prospective Payment System (PPS), which resulted in a significant decline in hospital spending, led to a partially offsetting increase in real expenditures for physician services. We also analyze the effect of increases in assignment rates, increasing incomes of the elderly, and other factors on real expenditures during this period. Our main conclusion is that PPS has at most a small positive effect on real physician expenditures. Because people spent less time in the hospital, Medicare physician spending declined; but because of incentives to shift radiology and other services out of the hospital, some of this decline was offset. We also conclude that the sharp increase in Medicare assignment rates over this period, along with the rising incomes of the elderly during this period, contributed to the observed growth.     

R before D: the case of post conflict reintegration in Tajikistan1

Reintegration was prioritised over demobilisation and disarmament in Tajikistan's peace process. Inadequate disarmament rates were disregarded, but integration of opposition fighters into military and law enforcement units was relatively swift. This created high levels of trust among the former fighters and commanders. The quick provision of incentives, such as comprehensive amnesties and the offer of government positions and economic assets created stakes in the peace process for a number of actors. Transitional justice was largely overlooked. In this way, the case of Tajikistan runs counter to key elements of what has been termed the ‘post-conflict reconstruction orthodoxy’. At the same time, Tajikistan is a rare example of the emergence of post-war stability. This article provides a detailed account of the DDR process and outlines the incentives that it created for the warring parties. It also assesses the emergence of spoilers and the government's counter strategies. The article concludes by highlighting the consolidation of President Rakhmonov's power since 2001, but also raises some questions regarding the viability of Tajikistan's long-term political and economic development.     

Acidic and neutral drugs screen in blood with quantitation using microbore high-performance liquid chromatography–diode array detection and capillary gas chromatography–flame ionization detection

Blood previously acidified with aqueous saturated ammonium chloride solution was extracted with ethyl acetate. The dried extract was subjected to acetonitrile–hexane partition. The acetonitrile portion was analysed for the presence of acidic and neutral drugs by HPLC–DAD (200 mm×2.1 mm I.D. microbore ODS-Hypersil column) and GC–FID (25 m narrow-bore×0.25 mm I.D. HP-5 column with 0.33 μm film thickness). The protocol was found to be suitable for both clinical toxicology (including emergency toxicology) and postmortem toxicology. At least 66 drugs of interest were unequivocally identified by RRTs (HPLC) and UV spectra (DAD) match while another 12 were unequivocally identified by double RRTs match (HPLC and GC). Quantitation was facilitated by incorporating calibration blood standards in each assay batch. The five drugs most commonly encountered in clinical blood specimens (1150 cases) were: paracetamol (47.4% of the cases); chlormezanone (6.6%), theophylline (1.74%), naproxen (1.65%) and mefenamic acid (1.56%). The following drugs were detected in toxicologically significant quantities in postmortem blood specimens (245 cases): phenobarbitone (1.22% of the cases), naproxen (0.82%), chlormezanone (0.82%), theophylline (0.82%), carbamazepine (0.41%) and paracetamol (0.41%).     

Plasma versus bone marrow desipramine: a comparative study

Correlation between plasma and bone marrow tricyclic antidepressants has not been studied before. Two groups of rabbits were given 10 and 20 mg of desipramine/kg body weight, respectively. Desipramine was administered to the animals once daily by mouth for 5 days. On the fifth day the animals were sacrificed and blood and bone marrow samples were collected and analyzed using a high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method. Data showed that a correlation exists between bone marrow and blood desipramine. The bone marrow desipramine concentration increased as its blood levels increased. The average ratio of bone marrow to blood desipramine +/- S.D. (standard deviation) in both dosage groups was 37.2 +/- 4.46 with a range of 30.99-44.82. This investigation is promising and shows that bone marrow could be used as an alternative tissue in the absence of a suitable blood sample.     

WHEN TO USE AND WHEN TO AVOID MEDIATION

This article examines voluntary mediation and provides suggested criteria for attorneys in deciding whether or not to use mediation. The author discusses what mediation has to offer, what it takes to make it work, and important cautions for attorneys in deciding about the use of this process.