The ‘war on drugs’ has failed: Is decriminalisation of drug use a solution to the problem in South Africa?

This article engages in the debate surrounding decriminalisation of drug use and whether this is a possible solution to the problem of druguse in South Africa – a question becoming more prevalent in global discussions about drug policy and its efficacy. We argue that two aspects must be addressed when evaluating a policy: its philosophical justification and its efficacy. We find that criminalising drugs may be justified by the public harm principle, but it does not effectively achieve the purpose of preventing and decreasing drug use and associated burdens. Thus, we argue that prohibition is a constitutional limitation, but does not necessarily achieve its purpose in the least repressive or most effective way. Finally, we suggest that a solution to the drug problem will have to address the health needs of the drug user and the context, particularlysocio-economic, of drug use. Decriminalisation could theoretically do this by changing society’s perception of drug users, thus helping to promote a human rights-based, public health-orientated approach to the drug problem in South Africa

Biochemical evaluation of the nutrition status of urban school children of 12-15 years - riboflavin status

No Abstract

Time since injury influences eccentric hamstring force imbalance in collegiate American football players

Hamstring injuries (HSI) are among the most common non-contact injuries in American football. Understanding effects of duration since injury may inform how coaches, trainers, and athletes approach rehabilitation and return to play decisions. PURPOSE: To compare hamstring imbalance in athletes injured more than 12 months ago to hamstring imbalance in athletes with no HSI and compare hamstring imbalance in athletes injured within the last 12 months to imbalance in those with no HSI. METHODS: Sixty-one collegiate football players (age: 22.5 ± 1.8, height: 187.6 ± 6.2 cm, weight: 105 ± 21.6 kg) rostered in 2022 self-identified as having either (1) no HSI (n=45), or (2) having injured only one hamstring since grade 9. We separated those reporting previous injuries into two groups: those with injury longer ago than 12 months (historical HSI, n=12) and those injured with the last 12 months (recent HSI, n=4). All players performed eccentric hamstring curls on a Nordbord. For the group with no HSI, imbalance between legs was calculated as the stronger minus weaker leg. For both injured groups, imbalance was calculated as the difference between uninjured and injured legs. RESULTS: Analysis of the means was performed via Bayesian methods, assuming separate standard deviations for each group. Analysis of posterior chains indicated all parameters converged appropriately. The posterior mean of imbalance for players with no HSI was 34.7 ± 27.4 N. The posterior mean of imbalance in those with historical HSI was 10.8 ± 51.1 N. The posterior mean of imbalance in players with recent HSI was 48.9 ± 46.4 N. The posterior probability that the difference between imbalance of the no HSI group and the imbalance of the historical HSI group is greater than zero was 0.948, and the posterior probability that the imbalance of those with recent HSI and the imbalance of the no HSI group is greater than zero is 0.767. CONCLUSION: Collegiate football players with no HSI have greater hamstring imbalance than do those with historical HSI, implying healing process, rehabilitation efforts, and habitual movement patterns may reduce imbalance between hamstrings over a period of at least 12 months. As expected, players who have recent HSI demonstrate greater hamstring imbalance than players with no HSI

Evaluating Acute Changes in Joint Range-of-motion using Self-myofascial Release, Postural Alignment Exercises, and Static Stretches

International Journal of Exercise Science 6(4) : 310-319, 2013. This study was designed to compare the acute effect of self-myofascial release (SMR), postural alignment exercises, and static stretching on joint range-of-motion. Our sample included 27 participants (n = 14 males and n = 13 females) who had below average joint range-of-motion (specifically a sit-and-reach score of 13.5 inches [34.3 cm] or less). All were university students 18–27 years randomly assigned to complete two 30–40-minute data collection sessions with each testing session consisting of three sit-and-reach measurements (which involved lumbar spinal flexion, hip flexion, knee extension, and ankle dorsiflexion) interspersed with two treatments. Each treatment included foam-rolling, postural alignment exercises, or static stretching. Participants were assigned to complete session 1 and session 2 on two separate days, 24 hours to 48 hours apart. The data were analyzed so carryover effects could be estimated and showed that no single acute treatment significantly increased posterior mean sit-and-reach scores. However, significant gains (95% posterior probability limits) were realized with both postural alignment exercises and static stretching when used in combination with foam-rolling. For example, the posterior means equaled 1.71 inches (4.34 cm) when postural alignment exercises were followed by foam-rolling; 1.76 inches (4.47 cm) when foam-rolling was followed by static stretching; 1.49 inches (3.78 cm) when static stretching was followed by foam-rolling; and 1.18 inches (2.99 cm) when foam-rolling was followed by postural alignment exercises. Our results demonstrate that an acute treatment of foam-rolling significantly increased joint range-of-motion in participants with below average joint range-of-motion when combined with either postural alignment exercises or static stretching

Real Tax Effects and Tax Perception Effects in Decisions on Asset Allocation

We test the predictions of the theoretical literature initiated by the study of Domar and Musgrave (1944) with a laboratory experiment in which subjects have to decide on the composition of an asset portfolio. Our simple design enables us to distinguish between Real Tax Effects and Perception Effects when a proportional income tax, with and without a full loss offset provision, is introduced. Observed investment behavior is partially inconsistent with the theoretical predictions if we do not control for the Perception Effects. However, if we consider these effects, we find support for the theory. The isolated Perception Effects can explain the unexpected behavior observed in previous studies and has both scientific and political implications

The Impact of Corporate Taxes and Flexibility on Entrepreneurial Decisions with Moral Hazard and Simultaneous Firm and Personal Level Taxation

In this paper we investigate the incentive effects of corporate taxes in an agency setting with a principal facing an investment opportunity including an abandonment option. We are particularly interested in the interplay of taxation and the real option on the principal's incentives to motivate the agent to work hard. First, we extend the well-known studies on tax effects on decision making under uncertainty to moral hazard settings. In a benchmark case we find that, as confirmed in current literature, the corporate income tax has no incentive effect. If the principal accounts for the real option we show that paradoxical tax effects may occur. Also, with respect to the effect of the real option on the incentive problem we show that the option makes it less attractive for the principal to induce the agent to exert a high effort

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead