International Environmental Disputes and the Need for Court-Commissioned Independent Experts

In complex environmental disputes the International Court of Justice should utilize its investigatory powers to identify long-term environmental impacts before reaching legal conclusions. Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay highlights the ICJ’s current reluctance to utilize its investigatory powers—instead, the court relies on the parties’ contentious scientific submissions and fails to verify all potential environmental harms. In so doing, the court fails to conform to the international principle of sustainable development. This Comment identifies the Rules of Court and past cases that demonstrate that justices have the power to question expert witnesses and request independent investigation when evaluating questionable or incomplete scientific evidence. Additionally, this Comment argues that such ICJ-ordered independent investigations will bolster growing international support for the principle of sustainable developmen

Constitutionalizing an Enforceable Right to Food: A Tool for Combating Hunger

Although international treaties recognize a right to food, few nations have established a domestic, legally enforceable right to food. A justiciable national right to food can provide a basis for legal redress, national food policies, and state aid programs. India, South Africa, and Brazil pro-vide insight and lessons that can be applied to other nations, like Mexico, to identify effective means for creating a national right to food. This Note compares effective national right to food efforts and identifies essential elements underlying a justiciable national right to food. By evaluating the development of a right to food within in the international and national systems it is clear that the right to food is most effective when national constitutions provide justiciable means for legal redress and enforcement of that right

Anatomy of a Reversed Foreign Divestment Decision: General Motors and Its European Subsidiary, Opel.

During this recent period of economic crisis andrising unemployment, General Motors, the US multinational,announced its decision to sell off Opel, its loss-making Europeanoperations. Foreign divestment (FD) decisions are notoriouslysecret, and often very controversial, arousing strong opposition.Whilst such decisions are difficult to make, they are an essentialaspect of corporate international business strategy. Plantclosures that involve substantial lay-offs attract scrutiny fromgovernments and policy-makers. This paper explores the recentmajor divestment proposals by these two global auto producersand the subsequent negotiations with governments in the homeand host nations

NOD-like receptors and inflammation

The nucleotide-binding and oligomerization domain, leucine-rich repeat (also known as NOD-like receptors, both abbreviated to NLR) family of intracellular pathogen recognition receptors are increasingly being recognized to play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of a number of rare monogenic diseases, as well as some more common polygenic conditions. Bacterial wall constituents and other cellular stressor molecules are recognized by a range of NLRs, which leads to activation of the innate immune response and upregulation of key proinflammatory pathways, such as IL-1β production and translocation of nuclear factor-κB to the nucleus. These signalling pathways are increasingly being targeted as potential sites for new therapies. This review discusses the role played by NLRs in a variety of inflammatory diseases and describes the remarkable success to date of these therapeutic agents in treating some of the disorders associated with aberrant NLR function

Book Reviews

HOW ARBITRATION WORKS (3rd Edition). By Frank Elkouri and Edna Asper Elkouri. Washington: Bureau of National Affairs, 1973. Pp. 797. $17.50. DEVIANCE-IN SOVIET SOCIETY-CRIME, DELINQUENCY AND ALCOHOLISM. By Walter D. Connor. New York: Columbia University Press. 1972. Pp. 327.$12.50. LEGAL RIGHTS OF CHILDREN: STATUS, PROGRESS AND PROPOSALS. A Symposium of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review. Fairlawn: R. E. Burdick, Inc., 1973. Pp. 212. $9.00

Periodic fever syndrome and autoinflammatory diseases

The concept of autoinflammatory disease as a new disease classification has resulted in a paradigm shift in our understanding of the the broad spectrum of immunological diseases. The effectiveness of interleukin-1 blockade in a variety of disorders has resulted in a marked reduction in suffering for many of these patients

Brazil and Biofuels for Autos: A Model for Other Nations

This paper examines the evolution ofgovernment policies in Brazil to encourage the switch frompetrol to ethanol, and the response of auto producers. It isshown that the USA and other nations are encouraging theuse of ethanol as an energy source, and suggests that thesuccess of Brazil may be repeated in other key automarkets

The Use of PET-CT in the Assessment of Patients with Colorectal Carcinoma

Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer, accounting for 53,219 deaths in 2007 and an estimated 146,970 new cases in the USA during 2009. The combination of FDG PET and CT has proven to be of great benefit for the assessment of colorectal cancer. This is most evident in the detection of occult metastases, particularly intra- or extrahepatic sites of disease, that would preclude a curative procedure or in the detection of local recurrence. FDG PET is generally not used for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer although there are circumstances where PET-CT may make the initial diagnosis, particularly with its more widespread use. In addition, precancerous adenomatous polyps can also be detected incidentally on whole-body images performed for other indications; sensitivity increases with increasing polyp size. False-negative FDG PET findings have been reported with mucinous adenocarcinoma, and false-positive findings have been reported due to inflammatory conditions such as diverticulitis, colitis, and postoperative scarring. Therefore, detailed evaluation of the CT component of a PET/CT exam, including assessment of the entire colon, is essential