Lecture: Work on Legal Reforms in Student Clinics. The Experience of Juss-Buss

Priloženi rad je predavanje prof. dr. sc. Jon T. Johnsena, Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Oslu, Norveška, održanog na Pravnom fakultetu Sveučilišta u Zagrebu 6. lipnja 2012. godine. Predavanje je izvorno pisano na engleskom jeziku, te je za potrebe objave prevedeno na hrvatski jezik: - prijevod: Mateja Crnković, mag. iur. - redakture: dr. sc. Slađana Aras i Ognjenka Manojlović, dipl. iur. Sažetak predavanja: Naglasak predavanja je na pitanjima koja su važna za razvoj pravnih klinika pravnih fakulteta, posebno njihovih vanjskih klinika u kontekstu rada na pravnim reformama. Kliničko pravno obrazovanje smješteno je u kontekst policy reformi

Lecture: Work on Legal Reforms in Student Clinics. The Experience of Juss-Buss

Priloženi rad je predavanje prof. dr. sc. Jon T. Johnsena, Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Oslu, Norveška, održanog na Pravnom fakultetu Sveučilišta u Zagrebu 6. lipnja 2012. godine. Predavanje je izvorno pisano na engleskom jeziku, te je za potrebe objave prevedeno na hrvatski jezik: - prijevod: Mateja Crnković, mag. iur. - redakture: dr. sc. Slađana Aras i Ognjenka Manojlović, dipl. iur. Sažetak predavanja: Naglasak predavanja je na pitanjima koja su važna za razvoj pravnih klinika pravnih fakulteta, posebno njihovih vanjskih klinika u kontekstu rada na pravnim reformama. Kliničko pravno obrazovanje smješteno je u kontekst policy reformi

A primary health-care intervention on pre- and postnatal risk factor behavior to prevent childhood allergy. The Prevention of Allergy among Children in Trondheim (PACT) study

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a primary prevention intervention program on risk behavior for allergic diseases among children up to 2 years of age. The setting was in ordinary pre- and postnatal primary health care in Trondheim, Norway. Methods: The Prevention of Allergy among Children in Trondheim, Norway (PACT) study invited all pregnant women and parents to children up to 2 years of age in the community to participate in a non-randomized, controlled, multiple life-style intervention study. Interventional topics was increased dietary intake of cod liver oil and oily fish for women during pregnancy and for infants during the first 2 years of life, reduced parental smoking and reduced indoor dampness. A control cohort was established prior to the intervention cohort with “follow up as usual”. Questionnaires were completed in pregnancy, 6 weeks after birth and at 1 and 2 years of age. Trends in exposure and behavior are described. Results: Intake of oily fish and cod liver oil increased statistically significantly among women and infants in the intervention cohort compared to the control cohort. There was a low postnatal smoking prevalence in both cohorts, with a trend towards a decreasing smoking prevalence in the control cohort. There was no change in indoor dampness or in behavior related to non- intervened life-style factors. Conclusions: The dietary intervention seemed to be successful. The observed reduced smoking behavior could not be attributed to the intervention program, and the latter had no effect on indoor dampness

Structure and Mode-of-Action of the Two-Peptide (Class-IIb) Bacteriocins

This review focuses on the structure and mode-of-action of the two-peptide (class-IIb) bacteriocins that consist of two different peptides whose genes are next to each other in the same operon. Optimal antibacterial activity requires the presence of both peptides in about equal amounts. The two peptides are synthesized as preforms that contain a 15–30 residue double-glycine-type N-terminal leader sequence that is cleaved off at the C-terminal side of two glycine residues by a dedicated ABC-transporter that concomitantly transfers the bacteriocin peptides across cell membranes. Two-peptide bacteriocins render the membrane of sensitive bacteria permeable to a selected group of ions, indicating that the bacteriocins form or induce the formation of pores that display specificity with respect to the transport of molecules. Based on structure–function studies, it has been proposed that the two peptides of two-peptide bacteriocins form a membrane-penetrating helix–helix structure involving helix–helix-interacting GxxxG-motifs that are present in all characterized two-peptide bacteriocins. It has also been suggested that the membrane-penetrating helix–helix structure interacts with an integrated membrane protein, thereby triggering a conformational alteration in the protein, which in turn causes membrane-leakage. This proposed mode-of-action is similar to the mode-of-action of the pediocin-like (class-IIa) bacteriocins and lactococcin A (a class-IId bacteriocin), which bind to a membrane-embedded part of the mannose phosphotransferase permease in a manner that causes membrane-leakage and cell death

Symptom-based stratification of patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome: multi-dimensional characterisation of international observational cohorts and reanalyses of randomised clinical trials

Background Heterogeneity is a major obstacle to developing effective treatments for patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome. We aimed to develop a robust method for stratification, exploiting heterogeneity in patient-reported symptoms, and to relate these differences to pathobiology and therapeutic response. Methods We did hierarchical cluster analysis using five common symptoms associated with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pain, fatigue, dryness, anxiety, and depression), followed by multinomial logistic regression to identify subgroups in the UK Primary Sjögren's Syndrome Registry (UKPSSR). We assessed clinical and biological differences between these subgroups, including transcriptional differences in peripheral blood. Patients from two independent validation cohorts in Norway and France were used to confirm patient stratification. Data from two phase 3 clinical trials were similarly stratified to assess the differences between subgroups in treatment response to hydroxychloroquine and rituximab. Findings In the UKPSSR cohort (n=608), we identified four subgroups: Low symptom burden (LSB), high symptom burden (HSB), dryness dominant with fatigue (DDF), and pain dominant with fatigue (PDF). Significant differences in peripheral blood lymphocyte counts, anti-SSA and anti-SSB antibody positivity, as well as serum IgG, κ-free light chain, β2-microglobulin, and CXCL13 concentrations were observed between these subgroups, along with differentially expressed transcriptomic modules in peripheral blood. Similar findings were observed in the independent validation cohorts (n=396). Reanalysis of trial data stratifying patients into these subgroups suggested a treatment effect with hydroxychloroquine in the HSB subgroup and with rituximab in the DDF subgroup compared with placebo. Interpretation Stratification on the basis of patient-reported symptoms of patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome revealed distinct pathobiological endotypes with distinct responses to immunomodulatory treatments. Our data have important implications for clinical management, trial design, and therapeutic development. Similar stratification approaches might be useful for patients with other chronic immune-mediated diseases. Funding UK Medical Research Council, British Sjogren's Syndrome Association, French Ministry of Health, Arthritis Research UK, Foundation for Research in Rheumatology

Abstracts from the NIHR INVOLVE Conference 2017

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The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) - Reforming European Justice Systems - "Mission Impossible?"

My paper concerns the Council of Europe’s (CoE) work to improve justice in Europe. It explains and exemplifies a type of policy that the Council applies in its strive for implementing the demands of the European Human Rights Convention (ECHR) on the judicial systems in Europe. The Convention obliges all member states to put up efficient systems for remedying violations within their own national legal systems. If such systems are missing or do not provide sufficient redress, member states now accept that everyone is free to bring their case before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Over the years the Court has produced extensive case law on violations of the provisions that protect people’s access to justice that develops and concretizes the general wordings used in the text of the ECHR. However, international complaint mechanisms are only one type of instrument for disseminating human rights. In addition to judicial instruments like the ECtHR, CoE also uses policy vehicles for implementation of human rights like the one I will focus upon; namely the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice – usually abbreviated "CEPEJ" – from the French version of its name. As one of several committees of CoE, it focuses on the development of the judicial systems of the member states