Terrell on Patents--a patent attorney's perspective

‘A book may be good for nothing; or there may be onlyone thing in it worth knowing; are we to read it all through?’(Samuel Johnson) This section is dedicated to the review ofideas, articles, books, films and other media. It will includereplies (and rejoinders) to articles, the evaluation of newideas or proposals, and reviews of books and articles both directlyand indirectly related to intellectual property law.

Terrell on the Law of Patents By Simon Thorley, QC, RichardMiller,     

Self-Actualization,Human Nature,and Global Social Problems

Abraham Maslow’s classic theory of motivation was in some ways a precursor to modern evolutionary approaches to human behavior, in that he posited multiple independent and universal motivational systems. Maslow’s hierarchical model, often conceptualized as a pyramid of motives, has recently been renovated to fit with the last half century of research and theory at the interface of evolutionary biology and the social sciences. Adopting a modern evolutionary life history approach to human motivation could be useful to understand important social problems.     

Subacute fatal aluminum poisoning in dialyzed patients: post-mortem toxicological findings

The population of Cura?ao, Netherlands Antilles (133,000) shows a very high prevalence of end-stage renal disease (approximately 1 per 1,000). These patients are often treated chronically with haemodialysis. As the drinking water on the island is prepared by distillation of sea water, the haemodialysis fluid used to be prepared with tap water without further treatment. In 1996, the 27 patients of one of the dialysis centers on the island presented with nausea, vomiting, and hypercalcaemia in a short time span, which was initially diagnosed as 'hard water syndrome'. In spite of treatment with low-calcium dialysate, microcytic anaemia and neurological symptoms developed. Ten patients died of convulsions, sepsis, and coma. As aluminum (Al) intoxication was suspected, Al in serum (AlS) was measured. Ante mortem AlS was 808 microg/l (n = 7; range 359-1189); in the survivors AlS was 255 microg/l (n = 17; range 113-490). Normal AlS is < 10 microg/l, and <50 microg/l in asymptomatic dialyzed patients. The court requested post-mortem toxicological analysis of four patients. Al concentrations in liver, bone, and cerebral cortex were significantly increased as compared with background levels. Al intoxication was, therefore, considered to be the most likely cause of death in these patients. Investigations of the tap water supply revealed that a few weeks before the onset of the symptoms, a water conduit pipe to the dialysis unit had been replaced, which was lined with Al- and Ca-rich cement mortar. These ions leached into the distilled water and caused both Ca- and Al-intoxication through uptake from the dialysate into the patients' circulation. The symptoms of the latter were initially not recognized as they were masked by the symptoms of hypercalcaemia.