Autonomous but interdependent: constitutional traditions on judicial protection and the general principle of effective judicial protection

The EU general principle of effective judicial protection is the epitome of the EU liberal-constitutionalism. The creative force of this principle has emerged, among others, in connection with the protection of the rule of law and the introduction of procedural guarantees both at the national and EU level. It is well established that effective judicial protection stems from the ECHR and the constitutional traditions common to the Member States. While existing scholarship has explored the influence of the ECHR over the development of this principle, less attention was paid to the impact of constitutional traditions from the Member States. Yet, exploring the role of constitutional traditions in shaping effective judicial protection, the primus inter pares among the general principles of EU law, goes at the heart of the conundrum of the EU: the latter is an autonomous legal system, which is inevitably shaped by the legal concepts and traditions existing in the Member States. This exploration is particularly timely. Some Member States affected by the rule-of-law backsliding have recently invoked constitutional traditions on judicial protection to delimit the application of EU standards of effective judicial protection, thus questioning the relationship between the EU principle and national conceptions of judicial protection

LawGPT? How AI is reshaping the legal profession

Generative AI is causing many fields of expert and professional knowledge to reassess fundamental practices and their value. Taking law, a field that has long been warned of potential threats of automation, as a focus, Giulia Gentile outlines the socio-technical challenges facing the discipline and considers how new technology may rebalance relationships between lawyers, technologists and clients

The digitisation of justice risks blurring the lines between public and private actors

Justice systems across Europe are increasingly becoming ‘digitised’, with greater use of technology in the administration of the law. But does this process have a downside? Drawing on experiences in Italy and the UK, Giulia Gentile and Giovanni De Gregorio argue that over-reliance on private technology companies risks undermining the ‘publicness’ of justice systems

Deficient by design? The transnational enforcement of the GDPR

Four years following the entry into force of the EU data protection framework (the GDPR), serious questions remain regarding its enforcement, particularly in transnational contexts. While this transnational under-enforcement is often attributed to the role of key national authorities in the GDPR’s procedures, this paper identifies more systemic flaws. It examines whether the GDPR procedures are deficient-by-design and, if not, how these flaws might be addressed. The conclusions reached inform our understanding of how to secure effective protection of the EU Charter right to data protection. They are also of significance to EU law enforcement more generally given the increasing prevalence of composite decision-making as the mechanism of choice to administer EU law

Possible Role of the Transglutaminases in the Pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases

Transglutaminases are ubiquitous enzymes which catalyze posttranslational modifications of proteins. Recently, transglutaminase-catalyzed post-translational modification of proteins has been shown to be involved in the molecular mechanisms responsible for human diseases. Transglutaminase activity has been hypothesized to be involved also in the pathogenetic mechanisms responsible for several human neurodegenerative diseases. Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, supranuclear palsy, Huntington's disease, and other polyglutamine diseases, are characterized in part by aberrant cerebral transglutaminase activity and by increased cross-linked proteins in affected brains. This paper focuses on the possible molecular mechanisms by which transglutaminase activity could be involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, and on the possible therapeutic effects of selective transglutaminase inhibitors for the cure of patients with diseases characterized by aberrant transglutaminase activity

First data on microflora of loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) nests from the coastlines of Sicily

Caretta caretta is threatened by many dangers in the Mediterranean basin, but most are human-related. The purposes of this research were: (i) to investigate microflora in samples from six loggerhead sea turtle nests located on the Sicilian coast and (ii) to understand microbial diversity associated with nests, with particular attention to bacteria and fungi involved in failed hatchings. During the 2016 and 2018 summers, 456 eggs and seven dead hatchling from six nests were collected. We performed bacteriological and mycological analyses on 88 egg samples and seven dead hatchlings, allowing us to isolate: Fusarium spp. (80.6%), Aeromonas hydrophila (55.6%), Aspergillus spp. (27.2%) and Citrobacter freundii (9%). Two Fusarium species were identified by microscopy and were confirmed by PCR and internal transcribed spacer sequencing. Statistical analyses showed significant differences between nests and the presence/absence of microflora, whereas no significant differences were observed between eggs and nests. This is the first report that catalogues microflora from C. caretta nests/eggs in the Mediterranean Sea and provides key information on potential pathogens that may affect hatching success. Moreover, our results suggest the need for wider investigations over extensive areas to identify other microflora, and to better understand hatching failures and mortality related to microbial contamination in this important turtle species

Algorithms, rule of law, and the future of justice : implications in the Estonian justice system

This policy brief outlines the prospects, challenges, and potential directions for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the judiciary, using Estonia as a case study. It summarises various perspectives on the use of technology and especially AI in the justice sector drawing on the experience of Estonian judges, administrators, and academics. It further offers policy recommendations for the development, implementation, and use of AI tools and automated decision making (ADM) systems in the judiciary. This policy brief is based on a recent seminar with key stakeholders including Estonian judges and academics held in Tartu (Estonia) on March 24, 2023. Despite the rapid digital transformation of the Estonian public administration, the digitalisation of its judiciary has been slower due to resistance from stakeholders, technical challenges, and concerns over the ethical implications of AI in judicial decision-making

Is this the real time for genomics

In the last decades, molecular biology has moved from gene-by-gene analysis to more complex studies using a genome-wide scale. Thanks to high-throughput genomic technologies, such as microarrays and next-generation sequencing, a huge amount of information has been generated, expanding our knowledge on the genetic basis of various diseases. Although some of this information could be transferred to clinical diagnostics, the technologies available are not suitable for this purpose. In this review, we will discuss the drawbacks associated with the use of traditional DNA microarrays in diagnostics, pointing out emerging platforms that could overcome these obstacles and offer a more reproducible, qualitative and quantitative multigenic analysis. New miniaturized and automated devices, called Lab-on-Chip, begin to integrate PCR and microarray on the same platform, offering integrated sample-to-result systems. The introduction of this kind of innovative devices may facilitate the transition of genome-based tests into clinical routine. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/)