Sexuality and succession law: beyond formal equality

This article endeavours to open up a dialogue between succession law and the field of gender, sexuality and the law. It presents a detailed analysis of five cases concerning inheritance disputes relating to lesbians or gay men. The sexuality of the parties in the cases is ‘doctrinally irrelevant’ but the analysis demonstrates the significance of sexuality in the resolution of the legal disputes. In doing so it identifies how legal discourse remains a critical site for the production of societal norms and in particular how lesbian and gay perspectives reveal the gendered assumptions underlying a number of key succession law doctrines. It emphasises the importance of taking difference seriously and the limits to formal legal equality

Trick or treat? Australian newspaper portrayal of complementary and alternative medicine for the treatment of cancer

Purpose: Many cancer patients within developed nations cite the media as informing their decisions to use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The present study describes (1) Australian newspaper coverage of CAM use for cancer between 1998 and 2007; (2) trends in reporting frequency and characteristics; and (3) how the Australian press framed stories on CAM use for cancer. Materials and methods: This study is a content analysis featuring quantitative and qualitative techniques, the latter guided by ‘media framing’, of targeted newspaper articles. Results: One hundred nineteen articles focused on CAM use for the treatment of cancer were identified. Quantitative analysis found that biologically based CAMs were most frequently described and breast cancer most mentioned. Two thirds of all articles described CAM use in the context of a cure, with approximately half of these opposing this reason for use. Potential benefits of CAM were discussed more frequently than potential risks, and information on costs and how to access CAM were uncommon. Recommendations: included advice to use complementary, not alternative therapies, yet advice to discuss CAM with a medical doctor was rare. Qualitative analysis found six CAM cancer-related frames, four in support of CAM use for cancer treatment. The dominant frame constructed CAM as legitimate tools to assist biomedicine (even to cure), with others depicting CAM as normal and necessary or as addressing limitations of biomedicine. Negative frames depicted CAM as questionable and risky practices and the industry/practitioners as possessing malevolent intent. Conclusion: These findings have implications for biomedical practitioners attempting to determine, respect and assist patient choices about their treatment.Reegan Mercurio and Jaklin Ardath Eliot

A randomised, blinded, trial of clopidogrel versus aspirin in patients at risk of ischaemic events (CAPRIE). CAPRIE Steering Committee

Many clinical trials have evaluated the benefit of long-term use of antiplatelet drugs in reducing the risk of clinical thrombotic events. Aspirin and ticlopidine have been shown to be effective, but both have potentially serious adverse effects. Clopidogrel, a new thienopyridine derivative similar to ticlopidine, is an inhibitor of platelet aggregation induced by adenosine diphosphate. METHODS: CAPRIE was a randomised, blinded, international trial designed to assess the relative efficacy of clopidogrel (75 mg once daily) and aspirin (325 mg once daily) in reducing the risk of a composite outcome cluster of ischaemic stroke, myocardial infarction, or vascular death; their relative safety was also assessed. The population studied comprised subgroups of patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease manifested as either recent ischaemic stroke, recent myocardial infarction, or symptomatic peripheral arterial disease. Patients were followed for 1 to 3 years. FINDINGS: 19,185 patients, with more than 6300 in each of the clinical subgroups, were recruited over 3 years, with a mean follow-up of 1.91 years. There were 1960 first events included in the outcome cluster on which an intention-to-treat analysis showed that patients treated with clopidogrel had an annual 5.32% risk of ischaemic stroke, myocardial infarction, or vascular death compared with 5.83% with aspirin. These rates reflect a statistically significant (p = 0.043) relative-risk reduction of 8.7% in favour of clopidogrel (95% Cl 0.3-16.5). Corresponding on-treatment analysis yielded a relative-risk reduction of 9.4%. There were no major differences in terms of safety. Reported adverse experiences in the clopidogrel and aspirin groups judged to be severe included rash (0.26% vs 0.10%), diarrhoea (0.23% vs 0.11%), upper gastrointestinal discomfort (0.97% vs 1.22%), intracranial haemorrhage (0.33% vs 0.47%), and gastrointestinal haemorrhage (0.52% vs 0.72%), respectively. There were ten (0.10%) patients in the clopidogrel group with significant reductions in neutrophils (< 1.2 x 10(9)/L) and 16 (0.17%) in the aspirin group. INTERPRETATION: Long-term administration of clopidogrel to patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease is more effective than aspirin in reducing the combined risk of ischaemic stroke, myocardial infarction, or vascular death. The overall safety profile of clopidogrel is at least as good as that of medium-dose aspirin