Right to a Trial by Jury - The Controlled Substances Forfeitures Act

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that the owner of property seized pursuant to the Controlled Substances Forfeitures Act is entitled to a trial by jury. Commonwealth v One (1) 1984 Camaro Coupe, ___ Pa ___ ,610 A2d 36 (1992)

Forming Lawyers who can Contribute to Equitable Access to Justice in South Africa

Drawing on Amartya Sen, this paper proposes that clinical legal education and training should be evaluated in the light of contributions to wellbeing and agency freedoms, foregrounding people’s capabilities as an appropriate metric for judging access to justice. The context is post-apartheid South Africa and aspirations towards transformative Constitutionalism which seeks to operationalize values of dignity, equality and freedom for all. The role the legal system, mediated by legal practitioners, should support Constitutional values and the public good as envisaged by the National Standards for university legal education. This challenge is explored in the article, drawing on a qualitative interview study. The researchers interviewed candidate attorneys across six University Law Clinics to identify the professional capabilities they valued for the purposes of contributing to enabling people to flourish in their everyday lives. Transformative Constitutionalism further suggests a set of capabilities which legal practice should enable. Through the perspectives and voices of practitioners, valued legal capabilities and the corresponding university education and training practices are also identified. The idea of legal capability is developed and broadened both conceptually and empirically, building on work both by Atkins and Habbig and Robeyns. The claim is made that legal education, lawyers’ professional capabilities, and transformative Constitutionalism should be grounded normatively in a capabilities metric of justice and hence what matters for people’s wellbeing and agency freedoms

Montara Well Release: Report on necropsies from birds collected in the Timor Sea

• Necropsies were collected from 16 birds (13 common noddy, 1 lesser frigatebird, 1 wedge-tailed shearwater, 1 brown booby) collected in the Timor Sea during and following the Montara well release. • A total of 72 samples (38 samples of lungs, breast tissue or gizzard contents, 32 swab samples from feathers and trachea, 2 bile samples) were analysed for the presence of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH - gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH – gas chromatography-mass spectrometry). • Expert examination of the chromatographic pattern produced in the TPH analysis allowed the qualitative assessment of whether the source of the compounds was petroleum hydrocarbons and/ or biological co-extractives (e.g., fatty acids, cholesterol).• One common noddy (collected deceased) from the vicinity of the Montara incident had crude oil on its feathers, in its gizzard contents, in its lungs and in its breast tissue indicating significant exposure to crude oil. Since this bird was very decomposed upon receipt (thoracic cavity open and intestine missing) such exposure could have been pre- and/ or post-mortem. • One common noddy collected at Ashmore Reef had crude oil in its lungs but in no other samples (feather swab, trachea swab, breast tissue, gizzard). The fact that external swabs and intestinal tract samples were negative for the presence of crude oil suggests non-recent exposure. • The remaining 14 birds submitted for analysis had no signs of crude oil in the feathers, in the gizzard contents, in the lungs or in the breast tissues. • The majority of birds submitted for analysis appeared in poor physical condition and are likely to have died of natural causes

Montara Well Release: Report on necropsies from a Timor Sea horned sea snake

• One horned sea snake (Acalyptophis peronii) was collected in the Timor Sea on 29th September 2009 and transported to Curtin University for dissection and necropsy. • A total of five samples (1 muscle tissue sample, 1 gut content sample, 1 bile sample, 1 swab sample from skin and 1 swab from the inner lung ) were analysed for the presence of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs, by gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry). • Expert examination of the chromatographic pattern produced in the TPH analysis allowed the qualitative assessment of whether the source of the compounds was petroleum hydrocarbons and/ or biological co-extractives (e.g., fatty acids, cholesterol). • The horned sea snake had petroleum hydrocarbons in its stomach contents but none in any other necropsies (muscle, skin, trachea, lung). This indicates exposure through prey ingestion. The absence of petroleum hydrocarbons in the trachea and in the lung suggests that inhalation of floating crude oil did not occur

Montara Well Release: Olfactory analysis of Timor Sea fish fillets

This report was prepared by Christopher Rawson and Marthe Monique Gagnon from the Department of Environmental and Agriculture, Curtin University and Hannah Williams from the Food Science & Technology Program, School of Public Health, Curtin University. This report describes the results of the olfactory analysis of fish samples collected in the Timor Sea following the Montara well release. The olfactory analysis was conducted in March 2011, in the Sensory Evaluation laboratories located in the School of Public Health, Curtin University

Extracellular vesicles from a muscle cell line (C2C12) enhance cell survival and neurite outgrowth of a motor neuron cell line (NSC-34)

Introduction: There is renewed interest in extracellular vesicles over the past decade or 2 after initially being thought of as simple cellular garbage cans to rid cells of unwanted components. Although there has been intense research into the role of extracellular vesicles in the fields of tumour and stem cell biology, the possible role of extracellular vesicles in nerve regeneration is just in its infancy. Background: When a peripheral nerve is damaged, the communication between spinal cord motor neurons and their target muscles is disrupted and the result can be the loss of coordinated muscle movement. Despite state-of-the-art surgical procedures only approximately 10% of adults will recover full function after peripheral nerve repair. To improve upon such results will require a better understanding of the basic mechanisms that influence axon outgrowth and the interplay between the parent motor neuron and the distal end organ of muscle. It has previously been shown that extracellular vesicles are immunologically tolerated, display targeting ligands on their surface, and can be delivered in vivo to selected cell populations. All of these characteristics suggest that extracellular vesicles could play a significant role in nerve regeneration. Methods: We have carried out studies using 2 very well characterized cell lines, the C2C12 muscle cell line and the motor neuron cell line NSC-34 to ask the question: Do extracellular vesicles from muscle influence cell survival and/or neurite outgrowth of motor neurons? Conclusion: Our results show striking effects of extracellular vesicles derived from the muscle cell line on the motor neuron cell line in terms of neurite outgrowth and survival

Structural studies of Perfluoroaryldiselenadiazolyl Radicals: Insights into Dithiadiazolyl Chemistry

Synopsis Diselenadiazolyls exhibit a stronger tendency to dimerize in the solid state than their corresponding dithiadiazolyl (DTDA) radicals, reflected in a range of dimerization modes for (p-XC6F4CNSeSeN)2, which contrast with those of the monomeric DTDA radicals, p-XC6F4CNSSN. The structure of (p-NCC6F4CNSeSeN)2 reflects a buildup of molecular strain in order to accommodate both dimerization and structure-directing CN···Se contacts, whereas the suppression of dimerization releases molecular strain yet retains structure-directing CN···S contacts for the corresponding DTDA radical

Age and Prostate-Specific Antigen Level Prior to Diagnosis Predict Risk of Death from Prostate Cancer.

A single early prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level has been correlated with a higher likelihood of prostate cancer diagnosis and death in younger men. PSA testing in older men has been considered of limited utility. We evaluated prostate cancer death in relation to age and PSA level immediately prior to prostate cancer diagnosis. Using the Veterans Affairs database, we identified 230,081 men aged 50-89 years diagnosed with prostate cancer and at least one prior PSA test between 1999 and 2009. Prostate cancer-specific death over time was calculated for patients stratified by age group (e.g., 50-59 years, through 80-89 years) and PSA range at diagnosis (10 ranges) using Kaplan-Meier methods. Risk of 10-year prostate cancer mortality across age and PSA was compared using log-rank tests with a Bonferroni adjustment for multiple testing. 10.5% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer died of cancer during the 10-year study period (mean follow-up = 3.7 years). Higher PSA values prior to diagnosis predict a higher risk of death in all age groups (p < 0.0001). Within the same PSA range, older age groups are at increased risk for death from prostate cancer (p < 0.0001). For PSA of 7-10 ng/mL, cancer-specific death, 10 years after diagnosis, increased from 7% for age 50-59 years to 51% for age 80-89 years. Men older than 70 years are more likely to die of prostate cancer at any PSA level than younger men, suggesting prostate cancer remains a significant problem among older men (even those aged 80+) and deserves additional study

Biomarkers in rock oysters (Saccostrea mordax) in response to organophosphate pesticides

Chlorpyrifos is a xenobiotics contaminants that threats the marine environment and the living organism within the habitat. Although several marine bivalve species have been used as the indicator of marine pollution, the used of Saccostrea mordax is remaining unknown. This study aimed at investigating the suitability of lysosome membrane integrity, carboxylesterase activity, 8-oxo-2′-deoxyguanosine and condition index as biomarkers in adult S. mordax following their exposure to 0.0, 5.0 and 500 μg.L-1 of Chlorpyrifos for 21 days under laboratory conditions. Results indicated that the lysosome membrane integrity showed a dose-dependent response with a significant statistical number of destabilized cells between all the treatment groups. Carboxylesterase activity was significantly inhibited in 500 μg.L-1 chlorpyrifos treated group, while the environmentally relevant concentration (5 μg.L-1) did not induce a significant inhibition with reference to the control. Similarly, the condition index showed a dose-dependent response with the oysters exposed to 500 μg.L-1 chlorpyrifos exhibiting a significantly reduced growth rate. There was no statistical significance in the means of both 8-oxo-2′-deoxyguanosine in all treatment groups. The reaction of S. mordax to chlorpyrifos contamination demonstrates that the species can potentially be used as sentinel organisms in environmental monitoring programs. Lysosome membrane integrity was a single out as a sensitive biomarker for exposure to chlorpyrifos and is therefore suitable for environmental monitoring for sublethal concentrations of chlorpyrifos contaminations. Additionally, the use of multiple biomarkers was found to be robust in this study and can be extrapolated to other ecotoxicological studies

Assessment of wastewater and recycled water quality: A comparison of lines of evidence from in vitro, in vivo and chemical analyses

We investigated water quality at an advanced water reclamation plant and three conventional wastewater treatment plants using an “ecotoxicity toolbox” consisting of three complementary analyses (chemical analysis, in vitro bioanalysis and in situ biological monitoring), with a focus on endocrine disruption. The in vitro bioassays were chosen to provide an appropriately wide coverage of biological effects relevant to managed aquifer recharge and environmental discharge of treated wastewater, and included bioassays for bacterial toxicity (Microtox), genotoxicity (umuC), photosynthesis inhibition (Max-I-PAM) and endocrine effects (E-SCREEN and AR-CALUX). Chemical analysis of hormones and pesticides using LCMSMS was performed in parallel to correlate standard analytical methods with the in vitro assessment. For two plants with surface water discharge into open drains, further field work was carried out to examine in situ effects using mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) as a bioindicator species for possible endocrine effects.The results show considerable cytotoxicity, phytotoxicity, estrogenicity and androgenicity in raw sewage, all of which were significantly reduced by conventional wastewater treatment. No biological response was detected to RO water, suggesting that reverse osmosis is a significant barrier to biologically active compounds. Chemical analysis and in situ monitoring revealed trends consistent with the in vitro results: chemical analysis confirmed the removal trends observed by the bioanalytical tools, and in situ sampling did not reveal any evidence of endocrine disruption specifically due to discharge of treated wastewater (although other sources may be present). Biomarkers of exposure (in vitro) and effect (in vivo or in situ) are complementary and together provide information with a high level of ecological relevance. This study illustrates the utility of combining multiple lines of evidence in the assessment of water quality