Europe as International Actor: Maximizing Nation-State Sovereignty. CES Germany & Europe Working Papers, No. 06.3, 1996

The continually increasing literature on foreign- and security-policy dimensions of the European Union (EU) has provided no remedy for the widespread helplessness in gaining a purchase on Europe as an international actor. The basic hindrance to understanding this policy comes from an all-too-literal interpretation of the acronym involved: the CFSP is understood as a total or partial replacement of the nation-states' foreign and security policy. This article aims to point the way to a new understanding of the CFSP in which this policy is not based on the integration of nation­ state foreign and security policy. I suggest that the proper way to grasp the phenomenon of the CFSP is to describe it as an international regime whose goal is to administer links between economic integration and foreign- and security­ policy cooperation in the sense of maximizing the sovereignty of member states. This requires, on the one hand, the prevention of "spillovers" from the economic area that could interfere with the foreign- and security-policy indepen­ dence of member states. On the other hand, it demands applying the EU's economic potential to reinforce the foreign- and security-policy range of member states. Due to the logic of this policy, CFSP priorities and fields of ac­ tion differ profoundly from those of a national foreign and security policy. Expectations on the evolution of the CFSP must be aware of these basic characteristics of this policy

Tick-borne encephalitis presenting as fever without localising signs—a case series

Introduction: Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) presents without neurologic symptoms in 19% in children less than 16years in Switzerland (2000-2008). In these cases, fever can be the only leading manifestation. Case series: We report on four hospitalised children who had TBE and presented as fever without localising signs (FWLS) between 2000 and 2008 in an endemic area in Switzerland. Conclusion: TBE infection has to be considered in the differential diagnosis of FWLS in endemic areas. Foremost, FWLS characterised by a biphasic fever course and accompanied by headache in patients in a reduced general condition. Affirming that in patients presenting as FWLS also cases of TBE are contained, this disease is underreporte

Gout in pediatric renal transplant recipients

Clinical gout has rarely been described after pediatric renal transplantation (RTx), although asymptomatic hyperuricemia is common in these patients. We describe three male pediatric patients who presented with gouty arthritis 7-8.5 years following RTx. Since receiving allopurinol, all patients had been free of gouty symptoms. To prevent severe bone marrow depletion, the dosage of azathioprine, an immunosupressant drug, was reduced by 50% to prevent interaction with allopurinol. Because atypical presentation of gout can occur, a high index of suspicion is needed to allow appropriate diagnosis of this disease in patients with skeletal pain after RT

Randomised trial of oral versus sequential intravenous/oral cephalosporins in children with pyelonephritis

The hypothesis was tested that oral antibiotic treatment in children with acute pyelonephritis and scintigraphy-documented lesions is equally as efficacious as sequential intravenous/oral therapy with respect to the incidence of renal scarring. A randomised multi-centre trial was conducted in 365 children aged 6 months to 16years with bacterial growth in cultures from urine collected by catheter. The children were assigned to receive either oral ceftibuten (9mg/kg once daily) for 14days or intravenous ceftriaxone (50mg/kg once daily) for 3days followed by oral ceftibuten for 11days. Only patients with lesions detected on acute-phase dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) scintigraphy underwent follow-up scintigraphy. Efficacy was evaluated by the rate of renal scarring after 6 months on follow-up scintigraphy. Of 219 children with lesions on acute-phase scintigraphy, 152 completed the study; 80 (72 females, median age 2.2 years) were given ceftibuten and 72 (62 females, median age 1.6years) were given ceftriaxone/ceftibuten. Patients in the intravenous/oral group had significantly higher C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations at baseline and larger lesion(s) on acute-phase scintigraphy. Follow-up scintigraphy showed renal scarring in 21/80 children treated with ceftibuten and 33/72 with ceftriaxone/ceftibuten (p = 0.01). However, after adjustment for the confounding variables (CRP and size of acute-phase lesion), no significant difference was observed for renal scarring between the two groups (p = 0.2). Renal scarring correlated with the extent of the acute-phase lesion (r = 0.60, p < 0.0001) and the grade of vesico-ureteric reflux (r = 0.31, p = 0.03), and was more frequent in refluxing renal units (p = 0.04). The majority of patients, i.e. 44 in the oral group and 47 in the intravenous/oral group, were managed as out-patients. Side effects were not observed. From this study, we can conclude that once-daily oral ceftibuten for 14days yielded comparable results to sequential ceftriaxone/ceftibuten treatment in children aged 6months to 16years with DMSA-documented acute pyelonephritis and it allowed out-patient management in the majority of these childre

Australia’s Need for An Independent Office of Animal Welfare

Each year, Australia raises and slaughters approximately half a billion farm animals, making it one of the world’s largest producers of farm animals. The Australian Government and the agricultural sector claim that Australia is an international leader in animal welfare. Australia has a wide-ranging system of Commonwealth, State and Territory legislation, as well as regulations and industry codes, which regulate farm animal welfare. This paper argues that the existing framework fails to effectively protect farm animals from cruelty, and that an effective way to improve farm animal welfare would be to establish a federal Independent Office of Animal Welfare