The Politics of Peer to Peer

Whereas Lessig's recent work engages with questions of culture and creativity in society, this paper looks at the role of culture and creativity in the law. The paper evaluates the Napster, DeCSS, Felten and Sklyarov litigation in terms of the new social, legal, economic and cultural relations being produced. This involves a deep discussion of law's economic relations, and the implications of this for litigation strategy. The paper concludes with a critique of recent attempts to define copyright law in terms of first amendment rights and communicative freedom

Submission in Response to the Australian Productivity Commission's Inquiry into IP Arrangements Draft Report

This Submission by nine intellectual property academics responds to the Draft Report in the Inquiry into IP Arrangements published by the Australian Productivity Commission on 29 April 2016 ('Draft Report'). In broad terms, the submission supports many of the goals of, and recommendations of, the Productivity Commission expressed in the Draft Report, but expresses concerns that some recommendations may not achieve the overall goals of the Commission, or reflect misunderstandings of the statutory framework. The submission addresses many of the Commission's draft recommendations concerning copyright, patents, trade marks and geographical indicators, IP and public institutions, and IP's institutional and governance arrangements

Nutrient intake and contribution of home enteral nutrition to meeting nutritional requirements after oesophagectomy and total gastrectomy

Background/Objectives: This study evaluated nutrition after oesophago-gastric resection and the influence of home jejunostomy feeding in the six months after surgery. Subjects/Methods: Data on nutritional intake and physiologic measures were collected as part of a randomised trial with measurements taken before and up to six months after surgery. Results: 41 participants (32 oesophagectomy, 9 total gastrectomy) received home jejunostomy feeding (n=18) or usual care without feeding (n=23). At hospital discharge, oral intakes were adequate for energy and protein in 9% and 6% respectively. By three and six months, these values had increased to 61% & 55%, 94% & 77% respectively. Six participants (26%) who received usual care required rescue feeding. Six weeks after hospital discharge, energy intakes were met in those who received jejunal feeding due to the contribution of enteral nutrition. Jejunal feeding did not affect oral intake, being similar in both groups (fed: 77% estimated need, usual care: 79%). At three months, inadequate micronutrient intakes were seen in over one third. Compared to baseline values, six weeks after surgery, weight loss exceeding 5% was seen in 5/18 (28%) who received feeding, 14/17 (82%) who received usual care and 5/6 (83%) of those who required rescue feeding, p=0.002. Weight loss averaged 4.1% (fed), 10.4% (usual care) and 9.2% (rescue fed), p=0.004. These trends persisted out to six months. Conclusions: Supplementary jejunostomy feeding made an important contribution to meeting nutrition after oesophago-gastric resection. Importantly, oral nutritional intake was not compromised dispelling the assertion that jejunal feeding deincentivises patients from eating

Is copyright blind to the visual?

This article argues that, with respect to the copyright protection of works of visual art, the general uneasiness that has always pervaded the relationship between copyright law and concepts of creativity produces three anomalous results. One of these is that copyright lacks much in the way of a central concept of 'visual art' and, to the extent that it embraces any concept of the 'visual', it is rooted in the rhetorical discourse of the Renaissance. This means that copyright is poorly equipped to deal with modern developments in the visual arts. Secondly, the pervasive effect of rhetorical discourse appears to have made it particularly difficult for copyright law to strike a meaningful balance between protecting creativity and permitting its use in further creative works. Thirdly, just when rhetorical discourse might have been useful in identifying the significance and materiality of the unique one-off work of visual art, copyright law chooses to ignore its implications

Intellectual property enclosure and economic discourse in the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Special legislation associated with mega sporting events has enabled new forms of cultural enclosure, effectively commoditising aspects of cultural expression that previously remained in the public domain. In this article, the authors examine the tension between economic and political justifications for hosting the Olympics and the intellectual property enclosures that are imposed upon host nations. These enclosures extend beyond what is traditionally protected under trade mark law, to include ‘generic’ terms. Enabling market competitors to freely use generic, descriptive language is a core doctrine of trade mark law, seeking to balance monopoly IP rights with free market competition. The authors evaluate the impact of special legislative enclosures on the public interest, and argue that collective access to expression should be more carefully considered in political and economic calculations of the value of the Olympics

Bilateral giant femoropopliteal artery aneurysms: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Popliteal artery aneurysms are the most common peripheral arterial aneurysms, and are frequently bilateral. Acute limb ischemia, rupture and compression phenomena can complicate these aneurysms when the diameter exceeds 2 cm.</p> <p>Case Presentation</p> <p>We report an 82-year-old male patient with two giant femoropopliteal aneurysms, 10.5 and 8.5 cm diameters, managed in our institution. Both aneurysms were resected and a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) femoropopliteal interposition graft was placed successfully. Management and literature review are discussed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We believe this is the first report in the medical literature of bilateral giant femoropopliteal aneurysms.</p

Definitive chemoradiation in patients with inoperable oesophageal carcinoma

We performed a retrospective study of 90 consecutive cases with inoperable carcinoma of the oesophagus treated with definitive chemoradiation at a single cancer centre between 1995 and 2002. For the last 4 years, 73 patients have received therapy according to an agreed protocol. This outpatient-based regimen involves four cycles of chemotherapy, cycles 3 and 4 given concurrently with 50 Gy external beam radiotherapy (XRT) delivered in 25 fractions over 5 weeks. Cisplatin 60 mg m-2 day-1 is given every 3 weeks together with continuous infusional 5-fluorouracil 300 mg m-2 day-1, reduced to 225 mg m-2 day-1 during the XRT. In all, 45 (50%) patients suffered one or more WHO grade 3/4 toxicity, grade 3 in 93% cases. Patients received more than 90% of the planned chemoradiation schedule. The median overall survival was 26 (15, >96) months, 51% (41, 64) and 26% (13, 52) surviving 2 and 5 years, respectively. Advanced stage, particularly T4 disease, was associated with a worse prognosis. Patients considered not suitable for surgery for reasons other than their disease, mainly co-morbidity, had a significantly better outcome, median survival 40 (26, >96) months, 2- and 5-year survivals 67% (54, 84) and 32% (13, 79), respectively (P<0.001). This schedule is a feasible, tolerable and effective treatment for patients with oesophageal cancer considered unsuitable for surgery

A randomised controlled trial of six weeks of home enteral nutrition versus standard care after oesophagectomy or total gastrectomy for cancer: report on a pilot and feasibility study.

BACKGROUND: Poor nutrition in the first months after oesophago-gastric resection is a contributing factor to the reduced quality of life seen in these patients. The aim of this pilot and feasibility study was to ascertain the feasibility of conducting a multi-centre randomised controlled trial to evaluate routine home enteral nutrition in these patients. METHODS: Patients undergoing oesophagectomy or total gastrectomy were randomised to either six weeks of home feeding through a jejunostomy (intervention), or treatment as usual (control). Intervention comprised overnight feeding, providing 50 % of energy and protein requirements, in addition to usual oral intake. Primary outcome measures were recruitment and retention rates at six weeks and six months. Nutritional intake, nutritional parameters, quality of life and healthcare costs were also collected. Interviews were conducted with a sample of participants, to ascertain patient and carer experiences. RESULTS: Fifty-four of 112 (48 %) eligible patients participated in the study over the 20 months. Study retention at six weeks was 41/54 patients (76 %) and at six months was 36/54 (67 %). At six weeks, participants in the control group had lost on average 3.9 kg more than participants in the intervention group (95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.6 to 6.2). These differences remained evident at three months (mean difference 2.5 kg, 95 % CI -0.5 to 5.6) and at six months (mean difference 2.5 kg, 95 % CI -1.2 to 6.1). The mean values observed in the intervention group for mid arm circumference, mid arm muscle circumference, triceps skin fold thickness and right hand grip strength were greater than for the control group at all post hospital discharge time points. The economic evaluation suggested that it was feasible to collect resource use and EQ-5D data for a full cost-effectiveness analysis. Thematic analysis of 15 interviews identified three main themes related to the intervention and the trial: 1) a positive experience, 2) the reasons for taking part, and 3) uncertainty of the study process. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that home enteral feeding by jejunostomy was feasible, safe and acceptable to patients and their carers. Whether home enteral feeding as 'usual practice' is a cost-effective therapy would require confirmation in an appropriately powered, multi-centre study. TRIAL REGISTRATION: UK Clinical Research Network ID 12447 (main trial, first registered 30 May 2012); UK Clinical Research Network ID 13361 (qualitative substudy, first registered 30 May 2012); ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01870817 (first registered 28 May 2013)

Staging investigations for oesophageal cancer: a meta-analysis

The aim of the study was to compare the diagnostic performance of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS), computed tomography (CT), and 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in staging of oesophageal cancer. PubMed was searched to identify English-language articles published before January 2006 and reporting on diagnostic performance of EUS, CT, and/or FDG-PET in oesophageal cancer patients. Articles were included if absolute numbers of true-positive, false-negative, false-positive, and true-negative test results were available or derivable for regional, celiac, and abdominal lymph node metastases and/or distant metastases. Sensitivities and specificities were pooled using a random effects model. Summary receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to study potential effects of study and patient characteristics. Random effects pooled sensitivities of EUS, CT, and FDG-PET for regional lymph node metastases were 0.80 (95% confidence interval 0.75–0.84), 0.50 (0.41–0.60), and 0.57 (0.43–0.70), respectively, and specificities were 0.70 (0.65–0.75), 0.83 (0.77–0.89), and 0.85 (0.76–0.95), respectively. Diagnostic performance did not differ significantly across these tests. For detection of celiac lymph node metastases by EUS, sensitivity and specificity were 0.85 (0.72–0.99) and 0.96 (0.92–1.00), respectively. For abdominal lymph node metastases by CT, these values were 0.42 (0.29–0.54) and 0.93 (0.86–1.00), respectively. For distant metastases, sensitivity and specificity were 0.71 (0.62–0.79) and 0.93 (0.89–0.97) for FDG-PET and 0.52 (0.33–0.71) and 0.91 (0.86–0.96) for CT, respectively. Diagnostic performance of FDG-PET for distant metastases was significantly higher than that of CT, which was not significantly affected by study and patient characteristics. The results suggest that EUS, CT, and FDG-PET each play a distinctive role in the detection of metastases in oesophageal cancer patients. For the detection of regional lymph node metastases, EUS is most sensitive, whereas CT and FDG-PET are more specific tests. For the evaluation of distant metastases, FDG-PET has probably a higher sensitivity than CT. Its combined use could however be of clinical value, with FDG-PET detecting possible metastases and CT confirming or excluding their presence and precisely determining the location(s)