A Minor Hazard: Social Hosts Liability in Washington after \u3ci\u3eHansen v. Friend\u3c/i\u3e

In Hansen v. Friend, the Washington Supreme Court held that a host who furnishes alcohol to a minor in a social setting is liable for all resulting injuries to the minor. In reaching this result, the court limited the cause of action to minors, denying all third parties injured by intoxicated minors a claim against social hosts. Additionally, the court allowed intoxicated minors to bring an action for injuries resulting from any type of hazard they encountered while intoxicated. This Note examines the Hansen decision and proposes that, given the court\u27s decision to impose civil liability upon hosts, the court should extend a cause of action to third parties but limit liability to injuries resulting from automobile accidents

The transformation of South African administrative law since 1994 with particular reference to the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000

South Africa’s constitutional revolution has profoundly affected its administrative law. Since 1994 South Africans have enjoyed constitutional rights to administrative justice as well as a range of other constitutional safeguards. More recently legislation mandated by the 1996 Constitution has been enacted, in the form of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000, to give effect to the constitutional administrative-justice rights. This thesis describes and critically assesses the transformation of South African administrative law since 1994 with particular reference to that legislation. The essential transformative promise of the democratic Constitution is to replace the old, pre-democratic culture of authority with a culture of justification. Drawing on the seminal Breakwater Declaration of 1993, the most serious deficiencies of the pre-democratic law are indentified as consisting in narrow and impoverished grounds of review; restricted access to judicial remedies; an overly formalistic style of judicial reasoning; and an incomplete system of administrative law, the result of a paucity of safeguards apart from judicial review. Conversely, the main aspirations of a transformed administrative law – the law associated with a culture of justification – are identified as well-developed grounds of review; improved access to judicial remedies; the achievement of a more substantive style of judicial reasoning; and the completion of administrative law through the supplementation of judicial review. The transformation of the law in relation to each of these four aspirations is investigated in turn. It is concluded that South African administrative law the transformative promise of the democratic Constitution has been realised to a great extent

Neuroimaging and electroencephalographic (EEG) methods for investigating neural circuits in mental disorders

It is increasingly recognised that dysfunction in neural circuits plays a key role in the neurobiological basis of mental disorders.  The efficacy of pharmacological and behavioural treatments for mental disorders could therefore be improved by targeting dysfunctions in neurocircuits.  However, to achieve this, a better understanding of the specific alterations in neural circuits involved in different mental disorders is required.  Such understanding can be acquired by using advanced neuroscience methods to examine the pathways and function of neurocircuits in both typically developing individuals and in those with mental disorders.  This article provides an overview of currently available neuroscience methods of investigating neural circuits, including advantages and limitations of different techniques, and highlights the importance of using multi-modal imaging in future researchÉ cada vez mais reconhecido que a disfunção nos circuitos neurais desempenha um papel fundamental na base neurobiológica dos transtornos mentais. A eficácia dos tratamentos farmacológicos e comportamentais para os transtornos mentais pode, portanto, ser melhorada por direcionar as disfunções nos neurocircuitos. No entanto, para isso, é necessário um melhor entendimento das alterações específicas nos circuitos neurais envolvidos em diferentes transtornos mentais. Tal entendimento pode ser adquirido usando-se métodos avançados de neurociência para examinar as vias e a função dos neurocircuitos em indivíduos com desenvolvimento típico e naqueles com transtornos mentais. Este artigo fornece uma visão geral dos métodos da neurociência atualmente disponíveis na investigação de circuitos neurais, incluindo vantagens e limitações de diferentes técnicas, e destaca a importância do uso de imagens multimodais em pesquisas futura

Is there any relationship between Neuroscience and Psychiatry

Psychiatry has always been considered a separate field of medicine among other medical specialties. Unlike Cardiology or Oncology, diagnoses of psychiatric disorders are made entirely based on patients’ presenting signs and symptoms. There are no sources of external validity (e.g. laboratory exam, imaging findings) that can be employed reliably to identify individuals with psychiatric disorders. [...

Abnormal Brain Connectivity Patterns in Adults with ADHD: A Coherence Study

Studies based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the resting state have shown decreased functional connectivity between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and regions of the Default Mode Network (DMN) in adult patients with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) relative to subjects with typical development (TD). Most studies used Pearson correlation coefficients among the BOLD signals from different brain regions to quantify functional connectivity. Since the Pearson correlation analysis only provides a limited description of functional connectivity, we investigated functional connectivity between the dACC and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in three groups (adult patients with ADHD, n = 21; TD age-matched subjects, n = 21; young TD subjects, n = 21) using a more comprehensive analytical approach - unsupervised machine learning using a one-class support vector machine (OC-SVM) that quantifies an abnormality index for each individual. the median abnormality index for patients with ADHD was greater than for TD age-matched subjects (p = 0.014); the ADHD and young TD indices did not differ significantly (p = 0.480); the median abnormality index of young TD was greater than that of TD age-matched subjects (p = 0.016). Low frequencies below 0.05 Hz and around 0.20 Hz were the most relevant for discriminating between ADHD patients and TD age-matched controls and between the older and younger TD subjects. in addition, we validated our approach using the fMRI data of children publicly released by the ADHD-200 Competition, obtaining similar results. Our findings suggest that the abnormal coherence patterns observed in patients with ADHD in this study resemble the patterns observed in young typically developing subjects, which reinforces the hypothesis that ADHD is associated with brain maturation deficits.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)National Institute of Mental HealthNovartisJanssen-CilagAbbottEli-LillyShireBristol-Myers SquibbUniv Fed ABC, Ctr Math Computat & Cognit, Santo Andre, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Lab Interdisciplinar Neurociencias Clin, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Psychiat, São Paulo, BrazilHosp Clin Porto Alegre, Child & Adolescent Psychiat Div, ADHD Outpatient Program, Porto Alegre, RS, BrazilNYU, Ctr Child Study, Phyllis Green & Randolph Cowen Inst Pediat Neuros, New York, NY USAInst Nacl Psiquiatria Desenvolvimento, Porto Alegre, RS, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Lab Interdisciplinar Neurociencias Clin, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Psychiat, São Paulo, BrazilNational Institute of Mental Health: R01MH083246Web of Scienc

Theoretical models of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): a perspective on future approaches

Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common psychiatric condition that leads to significant impairment in everyday life. Advancements in neurobiological investigations contributed to a better understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms behind OCD, leading to the understanding that current models employed to conceptualize OCD are not adequate and might be a significant factor in precluding further advancements in how OCD is treated. In this paper, we will use OCD as a model to discuss the limitations of the current diagnostic systems in Psychiatry and to present the novel perspectives based on neurobiological findings that might lead to considerable advancements in treatments for OCD

Abnormal brain connectivity patterns in adults with ADHD : a coherence study

Studies based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the resting state have shown decreased functional connectivity between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and regions of the Default Mode Network (DMN) in adult patients with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) relative to subjects with typical development (TD). Most studies used Pearson correlation coefficients among the BOLD signals from different brain regions to quantify functional connectivity. Since the Pearson correlation analysis only provides a limited description of functional connectivity, we investigated functional connectivity between the dACC and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in three groups (adult patients with ADHD, n = 21; TD age-matched subjects, n = 21; young TD subjects, n = 21) using a more comprehensive analytical approach – unsupervised machine learning using a one-class support vector machine (OC-SVM) that quantifies an abnormality index for each individual. The median abnormality index for patients with ADHD was greater than for TD agematched subjects (p = 0.014); the ADHD and young TD indices did not differ significantly (p = 0.480); the median abnormality index of young TD was greater than that of TD age-matched subjects (p = 0.016). Low frequencies below 0.05 Hz and around 0.20 Hz were the most relevant for discriminating between ADHD patients and TD age-matched controls and between the older and younger TD subjects. In addition, we validated our approach using the fMRI data of children publicly released by the ADHD-200 Competition, obtaining similar results. Our findings suggest that the abnormal coherence patterns observed in patients with ADHD in this study resemble the patterns observed in young typically developing subjects, which reinforces the hypothesis that ADHD is associated with brain maturation deficits

Podem as técnicas de imagem molecular identificar biomarcadores nos distúrbios neuropsiquiátricos?

Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Neurociências ClínicasInstituto Israelita de Ensino e Pesquisa Albert EinsteinSINAPSE InstituteUNIFESP, Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Neurociências ClínicasSciEL

Measuring network's entropy in ADHD: A new approach to investigate neuropsychiatric disorders

The application of graph analysis methods to the topological organization of brain connectivity has been a useful tool in the characterization of brain related disorders. However, the availability of tools, which enable researchers to investigate functional brain networks, is still a major challenge. Most of the studies evaluating brain images are based on centrality and segregation measurements of complex networks. in this study, we applied the concept of graph spectral entropy (GSE) to quantify the complexity in the organization of brain networks. in addition, to enhance interpretability, we also combined graph spectral clustering to investigate the topological organization of sub-network's modules. We illustrate the usefulness of the proposed approach by comparing brain networks between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients and the brain networks of typical developing (TD) controls. the main findings highlighted that GSE involving sub-networks comprising the areas mostly bilateral pre and post central cortex, superior temporal gyrus, and inferior frontal gyri were statistically different (p-value = 0.002) between ADHD patients and TO controls. in the same conditions, the other conventional graph descriptors (betweenness centrality, clustering coefficient, and shortest path length) commonly used to identify connectivity abnormalities did not show statistical significant difference. We conclude that analysis of topological organization of brain sub-networks based on GSE can identify networks between brain regions previously unobserved to be in association with ADHD. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Pew Latin American FellowshipFed Univ ABC, Ctr Math Computat & Cognit, BR-09210170 Santo Andre, SP, BrazilPrinceton Univ, Dept Psychol, Princeton, NJ 08540 USAPrinceton Univ, Neurosci Inst, Princeton, NJ 08540 USAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Psychiat, Lab Interdisciplinar Neurociencias Clin, São Paulo, BrazilUniv Estadual Campinas, Ctr Mol Biol & Genet Engn, BR-13083875 Campinas, SP, BrazilUniv São Paulo, Dept Comp Sci, Inst Math & Stat, BR-05508090 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Psychiat, Lab Interdisciplinar Neurociencias Clin, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc