CONTAINING REFORM: THE UK STANCE ON THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY ElA DIRECTIVE

After a decade's deliberation, the European Community EIA Directive bccomes operative on July 3, 1988. Member states spent 7 years refining the proposals and were given 3 years to devise implementation procedures. In this paper the attempt by the UK government to contain the impact of the Directive on domestic policy is reviewed. While the UK government was successful in eroding many provisions during formulation, it has been prevented from exempting many projects from mandatory EIA in its im- plementation procedures. The most significant reform is that many projects are subject to formal EIA for the first time.     

Herbert Alexander Simon

Introduction

Herbert Alexander Simon     

Suicide,gender, and age variations in India. Are women in indian society protected from suicide?

A new set of data concerning the pattern of suicide in India between 1991-1997 are presented. Suicide rates rose over this period despite a small decline in the Indian suicide rate in 1995 and 1996. It was found that between 1995 and 1997 there was a modest fall in the suicide rates among under 29-year-olds of both sexes, and an increase among those 30 years and older. The pattern of suicides in India is bimodal: the incidence of suicides is highest for those in the 30-44-year-old category of both sexes and tends to decline in higher age categories. Suicide rates were nearly equal for young women and men, a contrast with the pattern of suicide sex ratios in eight developed countries.     

Antitrust, health care quality, and the courts

Antitrust law represents the principal legal tool that the United States employs to police private markets, yet it often relegates quality and nonprice considerations to a secondary position. While antitrust law espouses the belief that vigorous competition will enhance quality as well as price, little evidence exists of the practical ability of courts to deliver on that promise. In this Article, Professors Hammer and Sage examine American health care as a vehicle for advancing understanding of the nexus among competition, quality, and antitrust law. The Article reports results of a comprehensive empirical review of judicial opinions in health care antitrust litigation between 1985 and 1999, with specific attention to courts' handling of quality and other nonprice concerns. Professors Hammer and Sage conclude that, although antitrust law cannot be expected to serve as the sole oversight mechanism for industries as complex and quality dependent as health care, courts have been successful incorporating some nonprice factors into antitrust analysis.     

A kinetic model describing the pharmacokinetics of ethyl glucuronide in humans

The glucuronide conjugation is a minor pathway of ethanol metabolism. The determination of ethyl glucuronide (EG) in serum and urine has gained importance in forensic and other legal decisions. To prospectively calculate the serum concentration of this non-oxidative ethanol metabolite, the computer program developed includes a parameter fitting routine. Multiple ethanol doses can be handled.The mathematical modeling was based on the following assumptions and simplifications, respectively. A single enzyme system is responsible for ethanol conjugation at one distinct site; the distribution of EG into the systemic circulation is delayed; the elimination of EG follows first-order kinetics.The concentration of EG was calculated using three kinetic parameters: a rate constant for the first-order formation of EG from serum ethanol, a transfer constant for an obstructed transfer of EG from the formation site (FS) into the central compartment (CC) and an exponential elimination constant.The program was applied to the data collected from 21 drinking experiments. The fitting algorithm optimized the three kinetic parameters, until the sum of concentration error squares of the data points was minimized. The means+/-standard deviation of the rate constant for the first-order formation of EG from serum ethanol was 0.0011+/-0.0006 h(-1), the transfer constant for an obstructed transfer of EG from the FS into the CC was 0.43+/-0.1996 h(-1) and the exponential elimination constant was 3.0+/-1.45 h(-1).Using the range of these parameters, it is now possible to calculate minimum and maximum serum concentrations of EG based on ethanol doses and drinking times. The comparison of calculated and measured concentrations can prove the plausibility of an alleged ethanol consumption. This can be crucial when the serum ethanol concentration (SEC) itself is not meaningful.