This book offers a path-breaking, empirically-grounded theory that reframes the study of law and society. It shifts research from a predominantly national context to one that places transnational, ...national and local lawmaking and practice within a single, coherent, analytic frame. By presenting and elaborating a new concept, transnational legal orders, Halliday and Shaffer present an original approach to legal orders that affect fundamental economic and social behaviors. The contributors generate arrays of hypotheses about how transnational legal orders rise and fall, where they compete and cooperate, and how they settle and unsettle. This original theory is applied and developed by distinguished scholars from North America, Europe and Asia in business law (taxation, corporate bankruptcy, secured transactions, transport of goods by sea), regulatory law (monetary and trade, finance, food safety, climate change), and human rights law (civil and political rights, rule of law, right to health/access to medicines, human trafficking, criminal accountability of political leaders).
The epidemiology of invasive fungal disease (IFD) due to filamentous fungi other than Aspergillus may be changing. We analysed clinical, microbiological and outcome data in Australian patients to ...determine the predisposing factors and identify determinants of mortality. Proven and probable non-Aspergillus mould infections (defined according to modified European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer/Mycoses Study Group criteria) from 2004 to 2012 were evaluated in a multicentre study. Variables associated with infection and mortality were determined. Of 162 episodes of non-Aspergillus IFD, 145 (89.5%) were proven infections and 17 (10.5%) were probable infections. The pathogens included 29 fungal species/species complexes; mucormycetes (45.7%) and Scedosporium species (33.3%) were most common. The commonest comorbidities were haematological malignancies (HMs) (46.3%) diabetes mellitus (23.5%), and chronic pulmonary disease (16%); antecedent trauma was present in 21% of cases. Twenty-five (15.4%) patients had no immunocompromised status or comorbidity, and were more likely to have acquired infection following major trauma (p <0.01); 61 (37.7%) of cases affected patients without HMs or transplantation. Antifungal therapy was administered to 93.2% of patients (median 68 days, interquartile range 19–275), and adjunctive surgery was performed in 58.6%. The all-cause 90-day mortality was 44.4%; HMs and intensive-care admission were the strongest predictors of death (both p <0.001). Survival varied by fungal group, with the risk of death being significantly lower in patients with dematiaceous mould infections than in patients with other non-Aspergillus mould infections. Non-Aspergillus IFD affected diverse patient groups, including non-immunocompromised hosts and those outside traditional risk groups; therefore, definitions of IFD in these patients are required. Given the high mortality, increased recognition of infections and accurate identification of the causative agent are required.
For the past 15 years an enormous enterprise of global norm making and related national lawmaking has been underway in many areas of global commerce. This article shows that leading global ...institutions, such as the World Bank, IMF, and United Nations, are building an international financial architecture with law -- including corporate bankruptcy law -- as its foundation. Building on research on international institutions and three national cases (China, Indonesia, Korea), the authors propose a new framework for legal change in a global context -- the recursivity of law. They argue that the globalization of bankruptcy law has proceeded through three cycles: (1) at the national level through recursive cycles of lawmaking, (2) at the global level through iterative cycles of norm making, and (3) at the nexus of the two. Recursive cycles are driven by driven by four mechanisms -- the indeterminacy of law, contradictions, diagnostic struggles, and actor mismatch. Thus the recursivity of law both revives and expands the sociological theory of legal change and offers a basis for an integrated theory of globalization and law. Adapted from the source document.
1. Abundant mid-trophic pelagic fish often play a central role in marine ecosystems, both as links between Zooplankton and top predators and as important fishery targets. In the North Sea, the lesser ...sandeel occupies this position, being the main prey of many bird, mammal and fish predators and the target of a major industrial fishery. However, since 2003, sandeel landings have decreased by > 50%, and many sandeel-dependent seabirds experienced breeding failures in 2004. 2. Despite the major economic implications, current understanding of the regulation of key constituents of this ecosystem is poor. Sandeel abundance may be regulated 'bottom-up' by food abundance, often thought to be under climatic control, or 'top-down' by natural or fishery predation. We tested predictions from these two hypotheses by combining unique long-term data sets (1973-2003) on seabird breeding productivity from the Isle of May, SE Scotland, and plankton and fish larvae from the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey. We also tested whether seabird breeding productivity was more tightly linked to sandeel biomass or quality (size) of individual fish. 3. The biomass of larval sandeels increased two- to threefold over the study period and was positively associated with proxies of the abundance of their plankton prey. Breeding productivity of four seabirds bringing multiple prey items to their offspring was positively related to sandeel larval biomass with a 1-year lag, indicating dependence on 1-year-old fish, but in one species bringing individual fish it was strongly associated with the size of adult sandeels. 4. These links are consistent with bottom-up ecosystem regulation and, with evidence from previous studies, indicate how climate-driven changes in plankton communities can affect top predators and potentially human fisheries through the dynamics of key mid-trophic fish. However, the failing recruitment to adult sandeel stocks and the exceptionally low seabird breeding productivity in 2004 were not associated with low sandeel larval biomass in 2003, so other mechanisms (e.g. predation, lack of suitable food after metamorphosis) must have been important in this case. Understanding ecosystem regulation is extremely important for predicting the fate of keystone species, such as sandeels, and their predators.
Candidaemia is associated with high mortality. Variables associated with mortality have been published previously, but not developed into a risk predictive model for mortality. We sought to describe ...the current epidemiology of candidaemia in Australia, analyse predictors of 30-day all-cause mortality, and develop and validate a mortality risk predictive model.
Adults with candidaemia were studied prospectively over 12 months at eight institutions. Clinical and laboratory variables at time of blood culture-positivity were subject to multivariate analysis for association with 30-day all-cause mortality. A predictive score for mortality was examined by area under receiver operator characteristic curves and a historical data set was used for validation.
The median age of 133 patients with candidaemia was 62 years; 76 (57%) were male and 57 (43%) were female. Co-morbidities included underlying haematologic malignancy (n = 20; 15%), and solid organ malignancy in (n = 25; 19%); 55 (41%) were in an intensive care unit (ICU). Non-albicans Candida spp. accounted for 61% of cases (81/133). All-cause 30-day mortality was 31%. A gastrointestinal or unknown source was associated with higher overall mortality than an intravascular or urologic source (p < 0.01). A risk predictive score based on age > 65 years, ICU admission, chronic organ dysfunction, preceding surgery within 30 days, haematological malignancy, source of candidaemia and antibiotic therapy for ≥10 days stratified patients into < 20% or ≥ 20% predicted mortality. The model retained accuracy when validated against a historical dataset (n = 741).
Mortality in patients with candidaemia remains high. A simple mortality risk predictive score stratifying patients with candidaemia into < 20% and ≥ 20% 30-day mortality is presented. This model uses information available at time of candidaemia diagnosis is easy to incorporate into decision support systems. Further validation of this model is warranted.
Mucormycosis is the second most common cause of invasive mould infection and causes disease in diverse hosts, including those who are immuno-competent. We conducted a multicentre retrospective study ...of proven and probable cases of mucormycosis diagnosed between 2004–2012 to determine the epidemiology and outcome determinants in Australia. Seventy-four cases were identified (63 proven, 11 probable). The majority (54.1%) were caused by Rhizopus spp. Patients who sustained trauma were more likely to have non-Rhizopus infections relative to patients without trauma (OR 9.0, p 0.001, 95% CI 2.1–42.8). Haematological malignancy (48.6%), chemotherapy (42.9%), corticosteroids (52.7%), diabetes mellitus (27%) and trauma (22.9%) were the most common co-morbidities or risk factors. Rheumatological/autoimmune disorders occurred in nine (12.1%) instances. Eight (10.8%) cases had no underlying co-morbidity and were more likely to have associated trauma (7/8; 87.5% versus 10/66; 15.2%; p <0.001). Disseminated infection was common (39.2%). Apophysomyces spp. and Saksenaea spp. caused infection in immuno-competent hosts, most frequently associated with trauma and affected sites other than lung and sinuses. The 180-day mortality was 56.7%. The strongest predictors of mortality were rheumatological/autoimmune disorder (OR = 24.0, p 0.038 95% CI 1.2–481.4), haematological malignancy (OR = 7.7, p 0.001, 95% CI 2.3–25.2) and admission to intensive care unit (OR = 4.2, p 0.02, 95% CI 1.3–13.8). Most deaths occurred within one month. Thereafter we observed divergence in survival between the haematological and non-haematological populations (p 0.006). The mortality of mucormycosis remains particularly high in the immuno-compromised host. Underlying rheumatological/autoimmune disorders are a previously under-appreciated risk for infection and poor outcome.
ABSTRACT The role of major mergers in galaxy and black hole formation is not well-constrained. To help address this, we develop an automated method to identify late-stage galaxy mergers before ...coalescence of the galactic cores. The resulting sample of mergers is distinct from those obtained using pair-finding and morphological indicators. Our method relies on median-filtering of high-resolution images to distinguish two concentrated galaxy nuclei at small separations. This method does not rely on low surface brightness features to identify mergers, and is therefore reliable to high redshift. Using mock images, we derive statistical contamination and incompleteness corrections for the fraction of late-stage mergers. The mock images show that our method returns an uncontaminated ( ) sample of mergers with projected separations between 2.2 and 8 out to . We apply our new method to a magnitude-limited ( ) sample of 44,164 galaxies from the COSMOS HST/ACS catalog. Using a mass-complete sample with and , we find of systems are late-stage mergers. Correcting for incompleteness and contamination, the fractional merger rate increases strongly with redshift as , in agreement both with earlier studies and with dark matter halo merger rates. Separating the sample into star-forming and quiescent galaxies shows that the merger rate for star-forming galaxies increases strongly with redshift, , while the merger rate for quiescent galaxies is consistent with no evolution, . The merger rate also becomes steeper with decreasing stellar mass. Limiting our sample to galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts from zCOSMOS, we find that the star formation rates and X-ray selected active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity in likely late-stage mergers are higher by factors of relative to those of a control sample. Combining our sample with more widely separated pairs, we find that of star formation and of AGN activity are triggered by close encounters ( ) or mergers, providing additional evidence that major mergers are not the only channels for star formation and black hole growth.
Introduction
The social and economic consequences of COVID‐19 have the potential to affect individuals and populations through different pathways (e.g., bereavement, loss of social interaction).
...Objective
This study adopted a solicited diary method to understand how mental health was affected during England's first lockdown. We also considered the experiences of diary keeping during a pandemic from the perspective of public participants.
Methods
Fifteen adults older than 18 years of age were recruited from northwest England. Diarists completed semistructured online diaries for 8 weeks, which was combined with weekly calls. A focus group captured participants' experiences of diary keeping.
Findings
Four key factors influenced mental health, which fluctuated over time and in relation to diarists' situations. These concerned navigating virus risk, loss of social connections and control and constrictions of the domestic space. Diarists also enacted a range of strategies to cope with the pandemic. This included support from social networks, engagement with natural environments, establishing normality, finding meaning and taking affirmative action.
Conclusion
Use of diary methods provided insights into the lived experiences of the early months of a global pandemic. As well as contributing evidence on its mental health effects, diarists' accounts illuminated considerable resourcefulness and strategies of coping with positive effects for well‐being. While diary keeping can also have therapeutic benefits during adversity, ethical and practical issues need to be considered, which include the emotional nature of diary keeping.
Public Contribution
Members of the public were involved in interpretation of data as well as critiquing the overall diary method used in the study.
Book review(s) of 'Law's wars' and 'Law's trials' by Richard Abel. There are defining moments in the trajectory of a nation-state. A civil war, an economic depression, an ethnic cleansing, an ...uprising, a war, a wave of xenophobia, civil unrest, a spike of intolerance. There are also decisive moments in the career of a scholar. A point of academic entry, an influential mentor, a creative collaborator, a revisionist opening, an orchestration of peers, a breakthrough idea, the discovery and exploration of new data, a moral cry. On occasion these two coincide - the crisis for the state stimulates the boldness and creativity of a notable scholar in ways that promise both sober reflection on the pathologies of the past and thoughtful imagination about adaptations for the future. 'Law’s wars' and 'Law’s trials' instantiate such a conjunction., Book review(s) of 'Law's wars' and 'Law's trials' by Richard Abel. There are defining moments in the trajectory of a nation-state. A civil war, an economic depression, an ethnic cleansing, an uprising, a war, a wave of xenophobia, civil unrest, a spike of intolerance. There are also decisive moments in the career of a scholar. A point of academic entry, an influential mentor, a creative collaborator, a revisionist opening, an orchestration of peers, a breakthrough idea, the discovery and exploration of new data, a moral cry. On occasion these two coincide - the crisis for the state stimulates the boldness and creativity of a notable scholar in ways that promise both sober reflection on the pathologies of the past and thoughtful imagination about adaptations for the future. 'Law's wars' and 'Law's trials' instantiate such a conjunction.
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