Exporting Environmental and Human Rights Abuses – Where Does Responsibility Lie

‘First world’ countries export their industries, manufacturing and production to ‘developing’ countries, thereby exporting their carbon emissions and other elements detrimental to biodiversity and the environment. Products manufactured for United States, United Kingdom and European Union corporations are produced in China, Bangladesh, India, Mexico and countries of Africa and, increasingly, South America. This creates low-paid jobs to the benefit of corporate profits, whilst increasing pollution and associated negative environmental consequences as well as exploiting labour and promoting human rights abuses. Countries such as the US export nuclear and chemical waste, too, transferring their blight to other parts of the globe. In the 1980s the US sought to export nuclear waste to Johnson Atoll in the Pacific, however, protest (principally from Australian activists) sought to put an end to this proposal, albeit chemical waste continues to afflict Johnson Atoll and the Pacific, it island nations people, flora, fauna and land. In the 2020s, the risks created by nuclear waste export are being multiplied with the AUKUS agreement between Australia, the UK and the US, including the prospect of US nuclear waste being disposed of in Central Australia where facility for storing the waste with any possible safety measures is lacking due to the nature of the terrain. In the 1970s, nuclear testing in the Pacific was banned when Australia went to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Now, the potential for and reality of environmental and human damage and degradation from the nuclear industry will be not on Australia’s doorstep, but effectively in the middle of the living room. What prospects are there for international law action in relation to the export of environmental damage and human rights abuse? What prospects for legal action to ensure that corporations exporting industry and outsourcing manufacturing and production contribute proportionately to environmental protections and an end to global warming and climate change? Furthermore, can legal action ensure the implementation of proper industrial conditions and payment for labour in countries taking on manufacture, production, outsourcing and supply of ‘first world’ goods

The US Constitution – A Very Short Introduction

The Oxford University Press began its very short introduction series in 1995 and now, two decades into the 2000s, comprises some 500 volumes translated into more than forty-five different languages, covering ‘everything from Psychology and Philosophy of Science to American History and Relativity’. The aim of the series, says Oxford University Press, is to provide ‘a stimulating and accessible way into a new subject’ for readers unfamiliar with the topic. David Bodenhamer’s The US Constitution – A Very Short Introduction fulfils this aim, yet does far more than this and its title may imply

Book Review

Title: Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and Conspiracy to Protect Predators Author: Ronan Farrow Publisher: Fleet/Little, Brown & Company, London Date of Publication: 2019 Hard Back, pp 448 (including endnotes) Title: She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story that Helped Ignite a Movement Authors: Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey Publisher: Bloomsbury Circus/Bloomsbury, London Date of Publication: 2019 Hardback, pp 310 (including index) Title: Brave – A revealing and empowering memoir Author: Rose McGowan Publisher: HarperCollins Date of Publication: 2018 Hardback, pp. 245 (plus Author’s Note & Preface ix-xvi

Superheated Microdrops as Cold Dark Matter Detectors

It is shown that under realistic background considerations, an improvement in Cold Dark Matter sensitivity of several orders of magnitude is expected from a detector based on superheated liquid droplets. Such devices are totally insensitive to minimum ionizing radiation while responsive to nuclear recoils of energies ~ few keV. They operate on the same principle as the bubble chamber, but offer unattended, continuous, and safe operation at room temperature and atmospheric pressure.Comment: 15 pgs, 4 figures include

Effect of Age and Diabetes on the Response of Mesenchymal Progenitor Cells to Fibrin Matrices

Mesenchymal stem cells are showing increasing promise in applications such as tissue engineering and cell therapy. MSC are low in number in bone marrow, and therefore in vitro expansion is often necessary. In vivo, stem cells often reside within a niche acting to protect the cells. These niches are composed of niche cells, stem cells, and extracellular matrix. When blood vessels are damaged, a fibrin clot forms as part of the wound healing response. The clot constitutes a form of stem cell niche as it appears to maintain the stem cell phenotype while supporting MSC proliferation and differentiation during healing. This is particularly appropriate as fibrin is increasingly being suggested as a scaffold meaning that fibrin-based tissue engineering may to some extent recapitulate wound healing. Here, we describe how fibrin modulates the clonogenic capacity of MSC derived from young/old human donors and normal/diabetic rats. Fibrin was prepared using different concentrations to modulate the stiffness of the substrate. MSC were expanded on these scaffolds and analysed. MSC showed an increased self-renewal on soft surfaces. Old and diabetic cells lost the ability to react to these signals and can no longer adapt to the changed environment

Baseline characteristics of the 3,096 patients recruited into the 'Triple Antiplatelets for Reducing Dependency after Ischaemic Stroke' (TARDIS) trial

Background: The risk of recurrence following ischaemic stroke (IS) or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) is highest immediately after the event. Antiplatelet agents are effective in reducing the risk of recurrence and two agents are superior to one in the early phase after ictus. Design: The Triple Antiplatelets for Reducing Dependency after Ischaemic Stroke (TARDIS) trial was an international multicentre prospective randomised open-label blinded-endpoint trial that assessed the safety and efficacy of short-term intensive antiplatelet therapy with three agents (combined aspirin, clopidogrel and dipyridamole) as compared with guideline treatment in acute IS or TIA. The primary outcome was stroke recurrence and its severity, measured using the modified Rankin Scale at 90 days. Secondary outcomes included recurrent vascular events, functional measures (cognition, disability, mood, quality of life) and safety (bleeding, death, serious adverse events). Data are number (%) or mean (standard deviation, SD). Results: Recruitment ran from April 2009 to March 2016. 3,096 patients were recruited from 106 sites in 4 countries (Denmark 1.6%, Georgia 2.7%, New Zealand 0.2%, UK 95.4%). Randomisation characteristics included: age 69.0 (10.1) years; male 1945 (62.8%); time onset to randomisation 29.4 (11.9) hours; stroke severity (National Institutes for Health Stroke Scale) 2.8 (3.6); blood pressure 143.5 (18.2)/79.5 (11.4) mmHg; IS 2143 (69.2%), TIA 953 (30.8%). Conclusion: TARDIS was a large trial of intensive/triple antiplatelet therapy in acute IS and TIA, and included participants from four predominantly Caucasian countries who were representative of patients in many western stroke services