Quality of life in childhood epilepsy with lateralized epileptogenic foci

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Measuring quality of life (QOL) helps to delineate mechanisms underlying the interaction of disease and psychosocial factors. In adults, epileptic foci in the left temporal lobe led to lower QOL and higher depression and anxiety as compared to the right-sided foci. No study addressed the development of QOL disturbances depending on the lateralization of epileptogenic focus. The objective of our study was to examine QOL in children with lateralized epileptiform discharges.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirty-one parents of children with epilepsy filled the Health-Related Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy Questionnaire (QOLCE). Fifteen children had foci in the left hemisphere and sixteen in the right, as verified with Electroencephalography (EEG) examinations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found a significant correlation between foci lateralization and reduced QOL (Spearman's rho = 0.361, p < 0.046). Children with right hemispheric foci exhibited lower overall QOL, particularly in five areas: anxiety, social-activities, stigma, general-health, and quality-of-life.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We demonstrated for the first time that in children left- and right-hemispheric foci were associated with discordant QOL scores. Unlike in adults, foci in the right hemisphere led to worse emotional and social functioning demonstrating that seizures impact the brain differentially during development.</p

The credit crunch: the collapse of Lehman Brothers - and a Hong Kong scheme to handle Lehman claims

Anthony Connerty (Barrister and Chartered Arbitrator) looks at the Lehman collapse - considering the background to the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment bank, claims related to the collapse, an example of a credit crunch claim, a criminal prosecution and a Hong Kong mediation and arbitration scheme aimed at dealing speedily with Lehman Brothers-related claims. Versions of this article have been published in Hong Kong in the January 2010 edition of Asian Dispute Review and in London in the July 9, 2010 edition of New Law Journal. Published in Amicus Curiae – Journal of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by SALS at the IALS (Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London)

Patterns and dynamics of neutral lipid fatty acids in ants – implications for ecological studies

Background: Trophic interactions are a fundamental aspect of ecosystem functioning, but often difficult to observe directly. Several indirect techniques, such as fatty acid analysis, were developed to assess these interactions. Fatty acid profiles may indicate dietary differences, while individual fatty acids can be used as biomarkers. Ants are among the most important terrestrial animal groups, but little is known about their lipid metabolism, and no study so far used fatty acids to study their trophic ecology. We set up a feeding experiment with high- and low-fat food to elucidate patterns and dynamics of neutral lipid fatty acids (NLFAs) assimilation in ants. We asked whether dietary fatty acids are assimilated through direct trophic transfer, how diet influences NLFA total amounts and patterns over time, and whether these assimilation processes are similar across species and life stages. Results: Ants fed with high-fat food quickly accumulated specific dietary fatty acids (C18:2n6, C18:3n3 and C18:3n6), compared to ants fed with low-fat food. Dietary fat content did not affect total body fat of workers or amounts of fatty acids extensively biosynthesized by animals (C16:0, C18:0, C18:1n9). Larval development had a strong effect on the composition and amounts of C16:0, C18:0 and C18:1n9. NLFA compositions reflected dietary differences, which became more pronounced over time. Assimilation of specific dietary NLFAs was similar regardless of species or life stage, but these factors affected dynamics of other NLFAs, composition and total fat. Conclusions: We showed that ants accumulated certain dietary fatty acids via direct trophic transfer. Fat content of the diet had no effect on lipids stored by ants, which were able to synthesize high amounts of NLFAs from a sugar-based diet. Nevertheless, dietary NLFAs had a strong effect on metabolic dynamics and profiles. Fatty acids are a useful tool to study trophic biology of ants, and could be applied in an ecological context, although factors that affect NLFA patterns should be taken into account. Further studies should address which NLFAs can be used as biomarkers in natural ant communities, and how factors other than diet affect fatty acid dynamics and composition of species with distinct life histories

The Private International Law of Access and Benefit-Sharing Contracts

This chapter considers the public—private international law interplay in the context of access and benefit-sharing (ABS) for genetic resources (GRs) and associated traditional knowledge (TK). The public international ABS framework, primarily via the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Nagoya Protocol, obliges contracting parties to ensure that access to GRs and TK is based on prior informed consent (PIC) and based on mutually agreed terms (MAT), and that benefits arising out of the utilization of GRs and TK are shared. This public law framework however leaves it to private ordering via ABS contracts between providers and users to determine nature and scope of benefit-sharing. And while the public law framework sets out a basic “enforcement” structure for ensuring that access is based on PIC and that MAT have been established, enforcing benefit-sharing commitments in ABS contracts is up to providers and users, relying on private law mechanisms. Because of the cross-border nature of most of the provider-user relations, enforcing ABS contracts raises complex questions on the jurisdiction of courts or arbitration tribunals, applicable law, and the enforcement of judgments or arbitral awards. This chapter reviews these private international law questions in light of the normative guidance the public international law ABS framework offers