Diminished responsibility determinations in England and Wales and New South Wales: whose role is it anyway?

A decade has passed since changes to the Homicide Act 1957, section 2 (under section 52 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009) were implemented. The issues that have arisen since implementation have resulted in significant role confusion in the operation of the partial defence, with the real risk of inconsistent outcomes in practice. The article argues that medicalisation of the partial defence in England and Wales has impacted the role of parties in reaching plea agreements pre-trial, rendered the delineation between legal and medical questions regarding the recognised medical condition requisite unclear and produced significant role confusion between medical experts and jurors in assessing the partial defence. The position stands in stark contrast to the approach under the Crimes Act 1900 (New South Wales) section 23A, where the legislation explicitly outlines the respective role of the medical experts and jurors and prohibits experts from commenting on whether murder ought to be reduced to manslaughter in such cases.

Evolution of Epigenome as the Blueprint for Carcinogenesis

Epigenetics “above or over genetics” is the term used for processes that result in modifications which are stably inherited through cell generations, without changing the underlying DNA sequence of the cell. These include DNA methylation, Post-translational histone modification and non-coding RNAs. Over the last two decades, interest in the field of epigenetics has grown manifold because of the realization of its involvement in key cellular and pathological processes beyond what was initially anticipated. Epigenetics and chromatin biology have been underscored to play key roles in diseases like cancer. The landscape of different epigenetic signatures can vary considerably from one cancer type to another, and even from one ethnic group to another in the case of same cancer. This chapter discusses the emerging role of epigenetics and chromatin biology in the field of cancer research. It discusses about the different forms of epigenetic mechanisms and their respective role in carcinogenesis in the light of emerging research.

Towards an Access Paradigm in Innovation Law?

The article generally discusses today’s meaning of an access paradigm in innovation law. Starting from concrete examples of access problems, it examines future research perspectives and the respective role of an access paradigm in innovation law. This concerns inter alia the possibility of common principles for public interest exceptions, in particular exceptions in the interest of free competition, throughout the different IP rights, as well as a closer look at the possibility of IP-external, sector-specific access regulation and the principles which should guide such approaches in research and policy.

Wisdom in Egypt

Current definitions of “Wisdom” for ancient Egypt often suffer from the influence of categories developed for the Hebrew Bible. Applying emic categories leads instead to a focus on instructions, which have a clear Egyptian term (sbꜣy.t). They are typically stylized as the teaching of a son by his father and authorized by the indication of name and title of the teacher. Often a prologue indicates the setting of the teaching more closely. Some historical development can be recognized, but at the same time, there are also contemporary compositions with different outlooks and social settings. For some periods, the older “classical” texts exist together with more recent ones, and the question of their respective role has still to be studied in more detail. The older compositions often have a casuistic structure of maxims recommending behavior in certain situations, while the younger ones are more loosely organized. The main aim of the texts is to teach how to have success in life.

Innate Cells: The Alternative Source of IL-17 in Axial and Peripheral Spondyloarthritis?

Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a chronic inflammatory rheumatism characterized by inflammation of sacroiliac joints, peripheral joints, and spine. The Assessment of SpondyloArthritis Society describes three disease forms: axial (axSpA), peripheral, and enthesitic SpA. Each may be associated with extra-articular manifestations: psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, and acute anterior uveitis. Genome-wide association studies performed in axSpA and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) have shown a shared genetic background, especially the interleukin 23 (IL-23)/IL-17 pathway, which suggests pathophysiological similarities. The convincing positive results of clinical trials assessing the effect of secukinumab and ixekizumab (anti-IL-17A monoclonal antibodies) in axSpA and PsA have reinforced the speculated crucial role of IL-17 in SpA. Nevertheless, and obviously unexpectedly, the differential efficacy of anti-IL-23–targeted treatments between axSpA (failure) and PsA (success) has profoundly disrupted our presumed knowledge of disease pathogeny. The cells able to secrete IL-17, their dependence on IL-23, and their respective role according to the clinical form of the disease is at the heart of the current debate to potentially explain these observed differences in efficacy of IL-23/IL-17–targeted therapy. In fact, IL-17 secretion is usually mainly related to T helper 17 lymphocytes. Nevertheless, several innate immune cells express IL-23 receptor and can produce IL-17. To what extent these alternative cell populations can produce IL-17 independent of IL-23 and their respective involvement in axSpA and PsA are the crucial scientific questions in SpA. From this viewpoint, this is a nice example of a reverse path from bedside to bench, in which the results of therapeutic trials allow for reflecting more in depth on the pathophysiology of a disease. Here we provide an overview of each innate immunity-producing IL-17 cell subset and their respective role in disease pathogeny at the current level of our knowledge.

Scientific Knowledge, Innovation, and Economic and Social Development

Discussions about innovation in the organizational context were brought up between the mid 18th and 19th centuries; since then, concepts, definitions, and classifications of innovations have been created and incorporated into the academic and organizational contexts. The understanding of such concepts is fundamental for the agents involved to realize the different possibilities for the generation and management of innovation. This chapter, based on a literature review, develops a synthesis of concepts and classifications about innovation and presents a proposal for the analysis of innovative activity based on five dimensions: degree of novelty, object, focus, scope, and development. In addition, based on the assumption that universities are characterized as the most important producer of scientific knowledge in the context of innovation systems, it analyzes the modes of knowledge production and the respective role of scientific knowledge for the generation of innovation.

A comparison of zwitterionic and anionic mechanisms in the dual-catalytic polymerization of lactide

Two different polymerization mechanisms for lactide are selectivity addressed to illuminate the respective role of organobase and Lewis acid component.

Functionalism According to Paul Reuter: Playing a Lone Hand

The true designer of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) might have been a French professor of international law, Paul Reuter (1911–1990). Then working in the shadow of Jean Monnet, he became one of the leading experts in public international law in France from the late 1950s on and also served on the International Law Commission. It was not his style to develop a fully-fledged theory of functionalism, but he paid the utmost attention to the ‘functions’ of international organizations. While demonstrating a certain reluctance towards some consequences associated with functionalism, he expressed no disdain for a lite version of ‘constitutionalism’. Discretely, Reuter outlined a balancing between ‘functionalism’ and ‘constitutionalism’. He more insistently elaborated on the respective role of experts and policy-makers.