Use of the "SMITEST" PSA card to identify the presence of prostate-specific antigen in semen and male urine

To determine whether the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) could be identified in semen using the "SMITEST" PSA immunochromatographic membrane test card, we examined semen and other body fluids, including urine. Although PSA activity was detected in semen with high sensitivity using the "SMITEST" PSA card, it was also detected in adult male urine. However, the lower detectable limit in the urine was 1000-fold lower than that in semen. The concentration of PSA in adult male urine was found to be 800 ng/ml using the card. PSA activity usually can be detected in urine of individuals over 14 years old and it has been detected in urine from children as young as 11 years old. Therefore, the appearance of PSA in urine may occur anytime between the age of 12 and 14 years. To determine the stability of PSA activity in urine, dried samples of urine on filter paper were kept at room temperature for up to 3 years. Although the immunoreactive line showing PSA activity became weak after storage, it was still detectable, but faint, after 3 years. In addition, PSA activity was not detected in male serum or saliva and in the urine from human females, male cats or male dogs using the PSA card. We conclude that the PSA card is useful for identification of PSA in both semen and adult male urine.     

Moral development and discipline encounter in delinquent and nondelinquent adolescents

The present study tested whether Hoffman's conceptualization of the relationship between disciplinary techniques and moral development can account for findings that delinquents score lower than nondelinquents on various measures of moral development. Twenty-six delinquent adolescents, 20 middle class nondelinquents, and 20 lower class non-delinquents were assessed on moral development using the following measures: resistance to temptation, moral stage, feelings after offense, judgment about the severity of punishment, and confession. The use of induction by parents was examined with a Q-sort administered to adolescents and their parents. On most measures of moral development delinquents performed lower than nondelinquents. Less induction was found to be used with delinquents than with nondelinquents. Induction was positively related to most moral measures. It was concluded that disciplinary methods may account for differential moral development of delinquent versus nondelinquent adolescents.This research was supported by grant No. 10/B-6 from the Ford Foundation—Israel Foundation Trustees and the School of Social Work Research Committee, University of Haifa.Received Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1977. Current research interests are juvenile delinquency and residential care.Received Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1976. Current research interst is the role of the father in child development and early social development.The contribution of the authors is equal.     

Party Autonomy in the Choice of Law: Some Insights from Australia

Liverpool Law Review - The party autonomy doctrine represents a very central component of international commerce. According to this doctrine, the parties to an international contract have the...     

Abdominal Stab Wounds with Tension Pneumopericardium Confirmed by Autopsy and Postmortem Computed Tomography

We present the first report of pneumopericardium observed by autopsy and on postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) images. The subject was a woman who died of self‐inflicted stab wounds to the abdomen. The PMCT scan revealed air in the pericardial sac, a “flattened heart” sign, and retroperitoneal hemorrhage. Medicolegal autopsy revealed two abdominal stab wounds near the xiphoid process that had cut the apical pericardium and adjacent diaphragm and liver. Examination of the open thorax confirmed that the pericardial sac was distended with air. The wound extended to the abdominal aorta, causing retroperitoneal hemorrhage. PMCT images showed that the pneumopericardial volume was 133 mL. We believe that cardiac tamponade occurred resulting from the tension pneumopericardium; however, the effects were mitigated by hypovolemia secondary to the retroperitoneal hemorrhage as well as obstructive shock. Therefore, the cause of death appears to have been low‐pressure cardiac tamponade.     

A Theory of Frustration and Its Effect

One of the key legal questions that COVID-19 has raised relates to the status of the traditional contractual doctrine of frustration. The pandemic and the ongoing lockdowns across the globe have made it difficult for many contracts to perform. At the same time, there is a deep doctrinal and conceptual confusion with respect to the very essentials of this doctrine and its remedy - i.e., what happens after an adjudicative tribunal declares that a given contract has been frustrated. The paper offers a unified conceptual account of the frustration doctrine and claims that both the doctrine and its remedy crystallize a single unifying idea.

     

Hamas as a Wasati (Literally: Centrist) Movement: Pragmatism within the Boundaries of the Sharia

This article examines Hamas as a test case for the struggle within Islam between two rival ideological streams: wasatiyya, whose principles were formulated by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi (b. 1926), and Salafi-jihadism, which is the wellspring of global jihad. Hamas is a wasati movement, and its wasati principles serve as the basis for its polemic with Salafi-jihadists, who accuse both it and al-Qaradawi of heresy. The article also shows how the principles of wasatiyya afford Hamas flexibility and allow it to adopt pragmatic positions by distinguishing between immutable long-term goals and flexible means of pursuing them. Hamas translates the principles of wasati jurisprudence into practical political and military ones.     

Party autonomy in the choice of law under Indian and Australian private international law: some reciprocal lessons

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the performance of several contracts and is likely to increase the number of disputes before the courts. In agreements with a foreign element, the adjudication of the rights and liabilities will depend on the applicable law. Most legal systems have embraced the doctrine of party autonomy and, accordingly, permit the parties to expressly select the law to govern the disputes that arise from international contracts. India and Australia are no exception to this trend. In general, the courts in both the commonwealth countries have reported having been influenced by judicial practices of one another to develop their own law. Despite their common law roots, the interpretations attached to the doctrine of party autonomy in the choice of law have varied in some respects in these countries. The paper analyses the judicial trends on the subject and demonstrates the role that party autonomy will play in resolving international disputes where the performance has been affected by the eventualities such as the COVID-19 pandemic in India and Australia. The paper delves into the manner in which the courts in India and Australia may offer reciprocal lessons to each another to revolutionise to interpret the doctrine of party autonomy in the choice of law.     

Does appealability foster more citizen-friendly decisions at the street level?

Unbiased conduct is an essential part of the social contract between the state and its citizens. Yet, when tasked with settling disputes between citizens and other state officials, are public administrators truly impartial in their resolutions? Such a question is vital for street-level bureaucrats whom the public perceives as the face of governance. This study investigates the relations between the pro-citizen tendencies in street-level bureaucrats' resolutions, their internal appealability, and the discretionary space under which they are made. Using quantitative analysis of real-world lower-court rulings in Israeli tax disputes between 1980 and 2021, the research findings indicate that unregulated expansion of street-level bureaucrats' discretionary space relates to favoring the state's arguments in their resolutions and may impair procedural fairness. The findings also imply that regulation promoting citizens' right to appeal such resolutions within their agency, can increase street-level bureaucrats' pro-citizen tendencies and potentially counteract such outcomes.     

An economic model of social sensitivity: The case of individual criminal behavior

In general, economists have modeled criminal behavior as a problem in time allocation under uncertainty. Their Friedman-Savage utility models have been based on the binomial probability distribution and then tested using aggregate data on crime rates and neglect the nonpecuniary aspects of crime. This paper overcomes the shortcomings of previous work. Specifically, criminal activity is modeled with an underlying geometric probability process and explicitly accounts for the moral and social compromise involved in becoming a criminal. The empirical model enables the quantification of the criminal's moral and social sensitivity using data based on a consolidated file of police records and a cohort survey of criminals and noncriminals. On the basis of this unique data set, it is found that the included individual criminals are risk averse and that gang membership reduces social sensitivity.