Russia,the death penalty,and Europe: the ambiguities of influence

Studies of capital punishment worldwide investigate how international influence affects the death penalty. We analyze European influence on the death penalty in Russia over the imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet periods, using two parameters: the changing mechanisms of influence in each period and the death penalty's significance in the broader spectrum of punitive violence. On the first parameter, in the tsarist period, European influence on Russian policy was “productive” – exercised through prestige, moral suasion, and “diffusion.” In the Soviet period, European influence was blocked. In the post-Soviet period, European influence is coercive, as the Council of Europe has unsuccessfully sought to compel Russia to abolish its death penalty. On the second parameter, the death penalty in Russia has always been only one of many forms of state-sanctioned punitive killing. In consequence, the Council's involvement in Russia's death penalty has produced an incoherent policy outcome and has entangled the Council in Russia's authoritarian politics. Russia thus exemplifies the hazards of external involvement in death penalty abolition.     

活血通脉颗粒对真性红细胞增多症患者血栓弹力图K值的影响

目的 观察活血通脉颗粒治疗真性红细胞增多症（polycythemia vera,PV）的临床疗效,及其对血栓弹力图K值的影响。方法 随机将60例PV患者分为试验组、对照组各30例。对照组给予西药羟基脲治疗;试验组在对照组的基础上加用活血通脉颗粒。治疗6个月后,观察和比较两组PV患者临床疗效、中医证候评分、外周血象及血栓弹力图K值。结果 两组患者临床疗效分布比较,差异具有统计学意义（P<0.05）;两组患者治疗后证候评分均较治疗前显著降低（P＜0.05）,试验组治疗前后中医证候评分差值显著大于对照组（P＜0.05）;两组治疗后血常规各项指标均较治疗前显著降低（P＜0.05）,试验组治疗前后血小板计数差值显著大于对照组（P＜0.05）;两组患者治疗后血栓弹力图K值均较治疗前显著升高（P＜0.05）,试验组升高至正常值范围,其升高值显著大于对照组（P＜0.05）。结论 活血通脉颗粒可明显改善PV患者中医证候及外周血象,并通过诱导血小板表面受体表达,改善PV患者凝血功能。     

二参真武汤调控PI3K/AKT/mTOR信号通路抑制心肌纤维化的体外实验研究

目的 探究二参真武汤抑制心肌细胞纤维化的作用机制。方法 采用灌胃给予SPF大鼠二参真武汤、贝那普利7 d的方法制备含药血清,从出生3 d内的乳鼠心脏中提取原代心肌成纤维细胞,采用免疫荧光和台盼蓝染色法鉴定细胞纯度与成活率,采用CCK-8法确定二参真武汤含药血清的最佳给药浓度与给药时间,采用血管紧张素Ⅱ(angiotensinⅡ,AngⅡ)刺激原代心肌成纤维细胞复制心肌纤维化模型,将原代心肌成纤维细胞分为正常组、模型组、二参真武汤组、贝那普利组,采用ELISA法检测胶原蛋白(collagenase, Col)-Ⅰ和Col-Ⅲ含量,采用Western blot法检测平滑肌肌动蛋白(alpha-smooth muscle actin, α-SMA)、Col-Ⅰ、Col-Ⅲ、PI3K、p-PI3K、AKT、p-AKT、mTOR、p-mTOR蛋白表达水平,qRT-PCR法检测α-SMA、Col-Ⅰ、Col-Ⅲ、PI3K、AKT、mTOR mRNA表达水平。结果 提取的原代心肌成纤维细胞纯度与成活率均达到95%以上。与正常组比较,模型组、Col-Ⅰ、Col-Ⅲ含量显著升高(P<0.05),α...     

Gender mainstreaming and the framing of women's rights in Europe: The contribution of the Council of Europe

Drawing on published materials from the Committee of Ministers, Assembly and expert working groups of the Council of Europe, this paper investigates the distinctive contribution made to the framing of women's rights over the last two decades by this regional organisation, which recent studies of the `Europeanisation' of public policies have largely neglected. Elements of congruence are identified between the major mobilising themes of second wave feminism and the Council's emphasis on protecting individual rights, and its sensitivity to the incompleteness and shortcomings of `actually existing' democratic institutions and practices. The relative openness of its agenda-setting processes is also underlined. The Council's flag ship policies for women are shown to have centred since the mid-1980s on a `politics of presence' frame and the (contested) concept of `parity democracy', and the tensions between these and the more recent turn to gender mainstreaming are explored. But the paper also points to the Council's role in diffusing into the E.U. governance arena women's claims to equal participation and presence in the policy process, and notes recent French and U.K. legislation as testifying to the continuing salience of these claims at the national level. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Proteinase K challenged by a novel protease

Proteinase K is used in forensic DNA extraction methods for cell lysis and degradation of proteins. Here we compare Proteinase K with a novel protease. We conclude that there is no need to exchange Proteinase K in our methods.     

Does court-supervised reorganization work? Evidence from post-confirmation firm failure

Unlike the US Chapter 11, the Belgian reorganization legislation requires that distressed firms remain temporarily under court-supervision during the post-confirmation stage. Using a hand-collected sample of firms, we analyze the likelihood of business failure and the time to failure during this period. Less viable firms are more likely to fail and do faster so, indicating relatively effective reorganization proceedings. Firms that are indebted to highly secured banks or owe high sums of unpaid taxes are more likely to fail. Judicial discretion affects the likelihood of failure only in a subsample of sole proprietorships.     

A simple identification method of saliva by detecting Streptococcus salivarius using loop-mediated isothermal amplification

We previously reported that detection of Streptococcus salivarius is feasible for proving the presence of saliva in a forensic sample. Here, a simple and rapid method for the detection of S. salivarius in forensic samples was developed that uses loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). The LAMP primer set was designed using S. salivarius-specific sequences of glucosyltransferase K. To simplify the procedure, the sample was prepared by boiling and mutanolysin treatment only, and the entire analytical process was completed within 2.5 h. The cut-off value was set at 0.1 absorbance units, measured at 660 nm, upon termination of the reaction. S. salivarius was identified in all saliva samples, but was not detected in other body fluids or on the skin surface. Using this method, S. salivarius was successfully detected in various mock forensic samples. We therefore suggest that this approach is useful for the identification of saliva in forensic practice.     

The impact of court errors on liability sharing and safety regulation for environmental/industrial accidents

We focus in this paper on the effects of court errors on the optimal sharing of liability between firms and financiers, as an environmental policy instrument. Using a structural model of the interactions between firms, financial institutions, governments and courts we show, through numerical simulations, the distortions in liability sharing between firms and financiers that the imperfect implementation of government policies implies. We consider in particular the role played by the efficiency of the courts in jointly avoiding Type I (finding an innocent firm guilty of inappropriate care) and Type II (finding a guilty firm not guilty of inappropriate care) errors. This role is considered in a context where liability sharing is already distorted (when compared with first best values) due not only to the courts’ own imperfect assessment of safety care levels exerted by firms but also to the presence of moral hazard and adverse selection in financial contracting. There is also not congruence of objectives between firms and financiers on the one hand and social welfare maximization on the other. Our results indicate that an increase in the efficiency of court system in avoiding errors raises safety care level, thereby reducing the probability of accident, and allowing the social welfare maximizing government to impose a lower liability [higher] share for firms [financiers] as well as a lower standard level of care.     

Corrupt reciprocity - Experimental evidence on a men's game

Why are women regarded to be more resistant towards corruption? We address this question by letting students allotted the role of public servants receive a bribe and choose between reporting (whistleblowing), opportunism and reciprocity (delivery of a contract to the briber). Those acting as businesspersons choose whether or not to publicize at the end of the game. Male businesspersons more often depart from maximizing payoffs and allocate resources to punishing opportunistic public servants. Instead of acting opportunistically, some public servants tend to reciprocate or report. We find that female public servants are less inclined to reciprocate. Their resistance towards corruption is found to relate less to a willingness to report. Survey data from international households shows that men are more confident that bribes will be reciprocated, supporting our results.