bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Physiological mechanisms linking cold acclimation and the poleward distribution limit of a range-extending marine fish
Authors: Wolfe Barrett W , Fitzgibbon Quinn P , Semmens Jayson M , Tracey Sean R , Pecl Gretta T
Published: May 2020

Extensions of species’ geographical distributions, or range extensions, are among the primary ecological responses to climate change in the oceans. Considerable variation across the rates at which species’ ranges change with temperature hinders our ability to forecast range extensions based on climate data alone. To better manage the consequences of ongoing and future range extensions for global marine biodiversity, more information is needed on the biological mechanisms that link temperatures to range limits. This is especially important at understudied, low relative temperatures relevant to poleward range extensions, which appear to outpace warm range edge contractions four times over. Here, we capitalized on the ongoing range extension of a teleost predator, the Australasian snapper Chrysophrys auratus, to examine multiple measures of ecologically relevant physiological performance at the population’s poleward range extension front. Swim tunnel respirometry was used to determine how mid-range and poleward range edge winter acclimation temperatures affect metabolic rate, aerobic scope, swimming performance and efficiency and recovery from exercise. Relative to ‘optimal’ mid-range temperature acclimation, subsequent range edge minimum temperature acclimation resulted in absolute aerobic scope decreasing while factorial aerobic scope increased; efficiency of swimming increased while maximum sustainable swimming speed decreased; and recovery from exercise required a longer duration despite lower oxygen payback. Cold-acclimated swimming faster than 0.9 body lengths sec−1 required a greater proportion of aerobic scope despite decreased cost of transport. Reduced aerobic scope did not account for declines in recovery and lower maximum sustainable swimming speed. These results suggest that while performances decline at range edge minimum temperatures, cold-acclimated snapper are optimized for energy savings and range edge limitation may arise from suboptimal temperature exposure throughout the year rather than acute minimum temperature exposure. We propose incorporating performance data with in situ behaviour and environmental data in bioenergetic models to better understand how thermal tolerance determines range limits.
A Systematic Review of Fecal Microbiota Transplant for the Management of Pouchitis
Authors: Kayal Maia , Lambin Thomas , Pinotti Rachel , Dubinsky Marla C , Grinspan Ari
Published: May 2020

Background

Manipulation of the pouch microbiota via fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) has been theorized to be a promising therapeutic approach for pouchitis. The goal of this systematic review was to summarize the available, high-quality data on the efficacy and safety of FMT for acute and chronic pouchitis.

Methods

A systematic electronic literature search was conducted on Embase, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Cochrane CENTRAL. Randomized controlled trials and observational studies that assessed the efficacy and safety of FMT for the treatment of acute and/or chronic pouchitis in patients with ulcerative colitis who underwent total proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis were included.

Results

Four studies involving the use of FMT for chronic pouchitis were considered eligible for data extraction. No study involving the use of FMT for the management of acute pouchitis was identified. In 1 study, 3/5 (75%) patients achieved sustained clinical remission at 3 months. In the remaining 3 studies, 2/8, 1/11, and 1/5 patients achieved clinical response defined as a decrease in pouchitis disease activity index at least 3. Stool donor engraftment as determined by 16s rRNA gene sequencing occurred only in those patients with clinical response.

Conclusions

The 4 studies that met inclusion criteria for this systematic review indicate FMT is safe in chronic pouchitis, however largely not efficacious. These data are limited by study heterogeneity. Additional studies are required to guide the use of FMT in patients with acute and chronic pouchitis.
GreenCircRNA: a database for plant circRNAs that act as miRNA decoys
Authors: Zhang Jingjing , Hao Zhiqiang , Yin Shuwei , Li Guanglin
Published: May 2020

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are endogenous non-coding RNAs that form a covalently closed continuous loop, are widely distributed and play important roles in a series of developmental processes. In plants, an increasing number of studies have found that circRNAs can regulate plant metabolism and are involved in plant responses to biotic or abiotic stress. Acting as miRNA decoys is a critical way for circRNAs to perform their functions. Therefore, we developed GreenCircRNA—a database for plant circRNAs acting as miRNA decoys that is dedicated to providing a plant-based platform for detailed exploration of plant circRNAs and their potential decoy functions. This database includes over 210 000 circRNAs from 69 species of plants; the main data sources of circRNAs in this database are NCBI, EMBL-EBI and Phytozome. To investigate the function of circRNAs as competitive endogenous RNAs, the possibility of circRNAs from 38 plants to act as miRNA decoys was predicted. Moreover, we provide basic information for the circRNAs in the database, including their locations, host genes and relative expression levels, as well as full-length sequences, host gene GO (Gene Ontology) numbers and circRNA visualization. GreenCircRNA is the first database for the prediction of circRNAs that act as miRNA decoys and contains the largest number of plant species.

Database URL: http://greencirc.cn
Highly Bioavailable Curcumin Derivative Ameliorates Crohn’s Disease Symptoms: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Multicenter Study
Authors: Sugimoto Ken , Ikeya Kentaro , Bamba Shigeki , Andoh Akira , Yamasaki Hiroshi , Mitsuyama Keiichi , Nasuno Masanao , Tanaka Hiroki , Matsuura Ai , Kato Masaichi , Ishida Natsuki , Tamura Satoshi , Takano Ryosuke , Tani Shinya , Osawa Satoshi , Nishihira Jun , Hanai Hiroyuki
Published: May 2020

Background & Aims

The new curcumin derivative Theracurmin® has a 27–fold higher absorption rate than natural curcumin powder. Theracurmin® is an inhibitor of nuclear factor-κB, which mediates the expression of inflammatory cytokines. The effect of Theracurmin® on inflammatory bowel disease in humans has not been explored; therefore, we investigated the efficacy and safety of Theracurmin® in patients with Crohn’s disease.

Methods

In this randomized, double-blinded study performed at 5 independent medical centers in Japan, Theracurmin® (360 mg/day, n = 20) or placebo (n = 10) was administered to patients with active mild-to-moderate Crohn’s disease for 12 weeks. The agent’s efficacy was assessed by evaluating clinical and endoscopic remission, healing of anal lesions, and blood levels of inflammatory markers.

Results

In the Theracurmin® group, a significant reduction in clinical disease activity was observed in week 12 relative to that in week 0 (p = 0.005). On intention-to-treat analysis, clinical remission rates were 35%, 40%, and 40% at weeks 4, 8, and 12, respectively, which were significantly higher than those in the placebo group (all 0%; p = 0.033, p = 0.020, and p = 0.020, respectively). Furthermore, reduction in endoscopic Crohn’s disease severity (p = 0.032) was observed at week 12 in the Theracurmin® group. The endoscopic remission rates were 15% and 0% in the Theracurmin® and placebo groups, respectively. Significant healing of anal lesions (p = 0.017) was observed at week 8 in the Theracurmin® group. No serious adverse events were observed in either group throughout the study.

Conclusions

Theracurmin® shows significant clinical and endoscopic efficacy together with a favorable safety profile in patients with active mild-to-moderate Crohn’s disease.

Clinical trial UMIN registration ID

UMIN000015770.
Cost-effectiveness of low-dose colchicine after myocardial infarction in the Colchicine Cardiovascular Outcomes Trial (COLCOT)
Authors: Samuel Michelle , Tardif Jean-Claude , Khairy Paul , Roubille François , Waters David D , Grégoire Jean C , Pinto Fausto J , Maggioni Aldo P , Diaz Rafael , Berry Colin , Koenig Wolfgang , Ostadal Petr , Lopez-Sendon Jose , Gamra Habib , Kiwan Ghassan S , Dubé Marie-Pierre , Provencher Mylène , Orfanos Andreas , Blondeau Lucie , Kouz Simon , L’Allier Philippe L , Ibrahim Reda , Bouabdallaoui Nadia , Mitchell Dominic , Guertin Marie-Claude , Lelorier Jacques
Published: May 2020

Aims

In the randomized, placebo-controlled Colchicine Cardiovascular Outcomes Trial (COLCOT) of 4745 patients enrolled within 30 days after myocardial infarction (MI), low-dose colchicine (0.5 mg once daily) reduced the incidence of the primary composite endpoint of cardiovascular death, resuscitated cardiac arrest, MI, stroke, or urgent hospitalization for angina leading to coronary revascularization. To assess the in-trial period and lifetime cost-effectiveness of low-dose colchicine therapy compared to placebo in post-MI patients on standard-of-care therapy.

Methods and results

A multistate Markov model was developed incorporating the primary efficacy and safety results from COLCOT, as well as healthcare costs and utilities from the Canadian healthcare system perspective. All components of the primary outcome, non-cardiovascular deaths, and pneumonia were included as health states in the model as both primary and recurrent events. In the main analysis, a deterministic approach was used to estimate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for the trial period (24 months) and lifetime (20 years). Over the in-trial period, the addition of colchicine to post-MI standard-of-care treatment decreased the mean overall per-patient costs by 47%, from $502 to $265 Canadian dollar (CAD), and increased the quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) from 1.30 to 1.34. The lifetime per-patient costs were further reduced (69%) and QALYs increased with colchicine therapy (from 8.82 to 11.68). As a result, both in-trial and lifetime ICERs indicated colchicine therapy was a dominant strategy.

Conclusion

Cost-effectiveness analyses indicate that the addition of colchicine to standard-of-care therapy after MI is economically dominant and therefore generates cost savings.
Attracting New Investigators to Alzheimer’s Disease Research: Outcomes of Increased Funding and Outreach
Authors: Katiyar Pragati , Nagy Catherine , Sauma Samir , Bernard Marie A
Published: May 2020

Since 2015, the National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), has experienced significant increases in funding for Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD). This analysis assesses the impact of these funds on expanding the AD/ADRD workforce. NIA administered 860 awards to 695 AD/ADRD R01 awardees during fiscal year 2015–2018. Twenty-nine percent of awardees were new or early-stage investigators, while 38% were new to the AD/ADRD research field (NTF). Among these NTFs, 59% were established investigators, that is, experts with NIH funding in another discipline but new to AD/ADRD research. Awards were further analyzed to determine the focus of their research based on International Alzheimer’s Disease Research Portfolio (IADRP) categories. Forty-six percent were focused on Molecular Pathogenesis and Physiology. Other IADRP categories, including Diagnosis, Assessment, and Disease Monitoring and Translational Research and Clinical Interventions, represented 5%–15% of awards. Significantly, NTF investigators received 50%, 42%, and 70% of the total grants awarded in Population Studies, Dementia Care, and Brain Aging, respectively, suggesting that NTF investigators are filling research gaps. While these results suggest that enhanced funding is associated with recruitment of new talent, opportunities for further growth remain, particularly related to care, caregiving, and health disparities.
Facebook Filters, Fundamental Rights, and the CJEU’s Glawischnig-Piesczek Ruling
Authors: Keller Daphne
Published: May 2020

The Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) 2019 ruling in Glawischnig-Piesczek v Facebook Ireland** addresses courts’ powers to issue injunctions requiring internet hosting platforms to proactively monitor content posted by their users. It answers important questions about limitations on such injunctions under the eCommerce Directive (Directive 2000/31/EC). But, as this Opinion explains, it leaves some much thornier questions unresolved.

Glawischnig-Piesczek holds that courts may, consistent with Art. 15 of the eCommerce Directive, require platforms to monitor for and remove specific content. Monitoring orders may not, however, require platforms to carry out an ‘independent assessment’ of the content. The ruling does not closely examine what kinds of injunctions or filtering technologies are permissible, nor does it explore fundamental rights considerations when courts are asked to order platforms to monitor their users. This Opinion lays out the case’s technological, legal, and policy backdrop, and identifies important questions it leaves open for Member State courts. In particular, the Opinion suggests that Glawischnig-Piesczek’s limitation on ‘independent assessment’ will make it difficult for courts to devise injunctions that simultaneously follow the CJEU’s guidance under the eCommerce Directive and meet the requirements of fundamental rights. It lists key fundamental rights considerations for future cases involving potential monitoring injunctions, including procedural considerations in cases affecting the rights of absent third parties.
High Disease Burden Drives Indirect Costs in Employed Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients: The WORK-IBD Study
Authors: van Gennep Sara , Evers Sanne W , Rietdijk Svend T , Gielen Marieke E , de Boer Nanne K H , Gecse Krisztina B , Ponsioen Cyriel I J , Duijvestein Marjolijn , D’Haens Geert R , de Boer Angela G E M , Löwenberg Mark
Published: May 2020

Background

Work productivity (WP) loss includes absence from work (absenteeism) and productivity loss while working (presenteeism), which leads to high indirect costs in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Prior health economic analyses predominantly focused on absenteeism. Here we focus on presenteeism and assess predictors of WP loss, fatigue, and reduced health-related quality of life (HRQL).

Methods

Employed IBD patients completed the following surveys: Work Productivity and Activity Impairment, Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory, and Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire. Predictors were assessed using uni- and multivariable regression analyses. Annual costs were calculated using percentages of WP loss, hourly wages, and contract hours.

Results

Out of 1590 invited patients, 768 (48%) responded and 510 (32%) were included. Absenteeism, presenteeism, and overall WP loss were reported by 94 (18%), 257 (50%), and 269 (53%) patients, respectively, resulting in mean (SD) annual costs of €1738 (5505), €5478 (8629), and €6597 (9987), respectively. Disease activity and active perianal disease were predictors of WP loss (odds ratio [OR] = 6.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.6-12.1); OR = 3.7; 95% CI, 1.5-8.7). Disease activity and arthralgia were associated with fatigue (OR = 3.6; 95% CI, 1.9-6.8; OR = 1.8; 95% CI, 1.0-3.3)) and reduced HRQL (OR = 10.3; 95% CI, 5.9-17.9; OR = 2.3; 95 % CI, 1.4-3.8). Fatigue was the main reason for absenteeism (56%) and presenteeism (70%). Fatigue and reduced HRQL led to increased costs compared with absence of fatigue and normal HRQL (mean difference = €6630; 95% CI, €4977–€8283, P < 0.01; mean difference = €9575; 95% CI, €7767–€11,384, P < 0.01).

Conclusions

Disease activity and disease burden lead to WP loss in approximately half of the employed IBD population, driving indirect costs. Fatigue is the most important reason for WP loss.
Serious Mental Illness Among Young People Who Inject Drugs: An Assessment of Injection Risks and Healthcare Use
Authors: Adams Monica , Sionean Catlainn , Broz Dita , Lewis Rashunda , Wejnert Cyprian ,   NHBS Study Group, Wortley Pascale , Todd Jeff , Sato Kimi , Flynn Colin , German Danielle , Fukuda Dawn , Doherty Rose , Wittke Chris , Prachand Nikhil , Benbow Nanette , Jimenez Antonio D , Poe Jonathon , Sheu Shane , Novoa Alicia , Al-Tayyib Alia , Mattson Melanie , Griffin Vivian , Higgins Emily , Macomber Kathryn , Khuwaja Salma , Lopez Zaida , Padgett Paige , Sey Ekow Kwa , Ma Yingbo , LaLota Marlene , Schacht John-Mark , Forrest David , Anderson Bridget , Romano Anthony , Smith Lou , Robinson William T , Barak Narquis , Zarwell Meagan C , Neaigus Alan , Reilly Kathleen H , Bolden Barbara , Wogayehu Afework , Godette Henry , Brady Kathleen A , Shpaner Mark , Shinefeld Jennifer , Bayang Lissa , Tovar-Moore Veronica , Raymond H Fisher , Ick Theresa , De León Sandra Miranda , Rolón-Colón Yadira , Jaenicke Tom , Thiede Hanne , Burt Richard , Opoku Jenevieve , Kuo Irene , Abara Winston , Balaji Alexandra , Broz Dita , Cook Jonathan , Cooley Laura , Cribbin Melissa , Denning Paul , Doyle Katherine , Finlayson Teresa , Hageman Kathy , Hess Kristen , Hoots Brooke , Ivy Wade , Le Binh , Lewis Rashunda , Mason Stacey , Nerlander Lina , Paz-Bailey Gabriela , Robbins Taylor , Salo Kathryn , Sionean Catlainn , Smith Amanda , Smith Justin , Spiller Michael , Wejnert Cyprian , Wise Akilah , Xia Mingjing
Published: May 2020

Background

Data on behavioral correlates of mental illness among young people who inject drugs (PWID) are limited. We examine injection risks and healthcare use among young PWID with probable serious mental illness (PSMI).

Methods

People who inject drugs were recruited and interviewed in 20 US cities for 2015 National HIV Behavioral Surveillance. Probable serious mental illness was assessed using the Kessler-6 screening scale. Bivariate analyses using log-linked Poisson regression with generalized estimating equations adjusted for design covariates were conducted to examine associations between PSMI and behaviors among PWID ages 18–29 years.

Results

Of 1769 young PWID, 45% had PSMI. Compared to those without PSMI, PWID with PSMI were more likely to report injecting more than once a day, receptive syringe sharing, sharing of other injection equipment, and unmet needs for medical care and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. Those with PSMI were less likely to use syringe services programs than those without PSMI.

Conclusions

Approximately half of young PWID had PSMI. People who inject drugs with PSMI engaged in high-risk injection behaviors and encountered barriers to healthcare. Human immunodeficiency virus prevention programs such as Syringe Services Programs (SSPs) could benefit from screening for mental illness among young PWID and strong linkage to healthcare, including mental health and SUD treatment.
Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Direct-Acting Antiviral Therapy in Persons With Human Immunodeficiency Virus–HCV Genotype 1 Coinfection Resulting in High Rate of Sustained Virologic Response and Variable in Normalization of Soluble Markers of Immune Activation
Authors: Anthony Donald D , Sulkowski Mark S , Smeaton Laura M , Damjanovska Sofi , Shive Carey L , Kowal Corinne M , Cohen Daniel E , Bhattacharya Debika , Alston-Smith Beverly L , Balagopal Ashwin , Wyles David L
Published: May 2020

Background

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) direct-acting antivirals are highly effective. Less is known about changes in markers of immune activation in persons with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in whom a sustained virologic response (SVR) is achieved.

Methods

We conducted a nonrandomized clinical trial of 12 or 24 weeks of paritaprevir-ritonavir-ombitasvir plus dasabuvir (PrOD) with or without ribavirin in persons with HCV-1/HIV coinfection suppressed with antiretroviral therapy. Plasma HCV, soluble CD14 (sCD14), interferon-inducible protein 10, soluble CD163 (sCD163), interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 18, monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1), autotaxin (ATX), and Mac2-binding protein (Mac2BP) were measured over 48 weeks.

Results

Participants were treated with PrOD for 12 (n = 9) or 24 (n = 36) weeks; the SVR rate at 12 weeks was 93%. At baseline, cirrhosis was associated with higher ATX and MCP-1, female sex with higher ATX and IL-6, older age with higher Mac2BP, higher body mass index with higher ATX, and HIV-1 protease inhibitor use with higher sCD14 levels. In those with SVR, interferon-inducible protein 10, ATX, and Mac2BP levels declined by week 2, interleukin 18 levels declined by the end of treatment, sCD14 levels did not change, and sCD163, MCP-1, and IL-6 levels changed at a single time point.

Conclusions

During HIV/HCV coinfection, plasma immune activation marker heterogeneity is in part attributable to age, sex, cirrhosis, body mass index, and/or type of antiretroviral therapy. HCV treatment with paritaprevir-ritonavir-ombitasvir plus dasabuvir is highly effective and is associated with variable rate and magnitude of decline in markers of immune activation.

Clinical Trials Registration

NCT02194998.
Amino acids: key sources for immunometabolites and immunotransmitters
Authors: Miyajima Michio
Published: May 2020

Immune-cell activation and functional plasticity are closely linked to metabolic reprogramming that is required to supply the energy and substrates for such dynamic transformations. During such processes, immune cells metabolize many kinds of molecules including nucleic acids, sugars and lipids, which is called immunometabolism. This review will mainly focus on amino acids and their derivatives among such metabolites and describe the functions of these molecules in the immune system. Although amino acids are essential for, and well known as, substrates for protein synthesis, they are also metabolized as energy sources and as substrates for functional catabolites. For example, glutamine is metabolized to produce energy through glutaminolysis and tryptophan is consumed to supply nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, whereas arginine is metabolized to produce nitric acid and polyamine by nitric oxide synthase and arginase, respectively. In addition, serine is catabolized to produce nucleotides and to induce methylation reactions. Furthermore, in addition to their intracellular functions, amino acids and their derivatives are secreted and have extracellular functions as immunotransmitters. Many amino acids and their derivatives have been classified as neurotransmitters and their functions are clear as transmitters between nerve cells, or between nerve cells and immune cells, functioning as immunotransmitters. Thus, this review will describe the intracellular and external functions of amino acid from the perspective of immunometabolism and immunotransmission.
Inter-Individual Variation in Anti-Parasitic Egg Rejection Behavior: A Test of the Maternal Investment Hypothesis
Authors: Hauber M E , Abolins-Abols M , Kim C R , Paitz R T
Published: May 2020

Synopsis

Hosts of avian brood parasites may reduce or forego the costs of caring for foreign young by rejecting parasitic eggs from the nest. Yet, many host species accept parasitic eggs and, even among rejecter species, some individuals go on to incubate and hatch them. The factors explaining the variation in egg rejection between species have received much theoretical and empirical attention, but the causes of intraspecific variation in different individuals’ propensity for accepting parasitic eggs are less well understood. Here we tested the maternal investment hypothesis, which predicts that hosts with costlier clutches will be more likely to reject parasitic eggs from their nest. We studied variation in the egg rejection responses of American robins (Turdus migratorius), a robust egg-rejecter host of the brood parasitic brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater), to 3D-printed cowbird-sized eggs which were painted dark blue, a color known to induce variable and repeatable egg rejection responses in individual robins. Costlier clutch investment was estimated by earlier laying date, larger clutch size, heavier unincubated yolk mass, and variable yolk steroid hormone concentrations. There was no statistical support for most of our predictions. However, we detected more concentrated and greater overall amount of deoxycorticosterone deposited in egg yolks of rejecters relative to acceptors, although this accounted for no more than 14% of variance in the data. Future work should test experimentally the potential physiological linkage between maternal egg yolk steroid investment and egg rejection propensity in this and other host species of avian brood parasites.
Ten-Month Evaluation of the Routine Application of Patient Moving Average for Real-Time Quality Control in a Hospital Setting
Authors: van Rossum Huub H , van den Broek Daan
Published: May 2020

Background

In recent years there has been renewed interest in patient-based real-time quality control (PBRTQC) techniques. This interest has been stimulated by the availability of new optimization and validation methods. Only a limited amount of research has focused on investigating the true operational value of PBRTQC. Therefore, we have evaluated the performance and value of recently implemented patient moving average quality control (MA QC) procedures.

Methods

The MA QC settings and protocols were as previously described (Clin Chem Lab Med 2019;57:1329–38) and included MA QCs for 10 chemistry and 6 hematological tests, all performed on duplicate analyzer systems. All MA QC alarms that occurred during the first 10 months of routine clinical application were investigated for assay-specific alarm rate and occurrence in time. Furthermore, the causes of these MA QC alarms were investigated, and alarm relevance was determined on the basis of total allowable bias (TBa) and error (TEa) derived from biological variations.

Results

During the 10-month period, 202 individual MA QC alarms occurred, resulting in an overall MA QC alarm rate of 0.030% and a frequency of 4.67 per week. Most alarms were triggered by sodium MA QC. Based on all available fully executed and documented MA QC alarm work-ups, MA QC detected errors that in 26.0% of the alarms exceeded the TBa and in 13.7% the TEa. In 9.2% of the alarms, MA QC alarming triggered instant (technical) corrections.

Conclusions

Routine clinical application of MA QC is feasible with maintaining a manageable number of alarms and enabling detection of relevant analytical errors.
Practice of the Belgian Constitutional Court in the Implementation of the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights: An Insider’s Perspective
Authors: Lambrecht Sarah
Published: May 2020

The Belgian judiciary has a deeply ingrained tradition of openness towards international and European law. This note discusses the implementation practice of the Belgian Constitutional Court with regard to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.
The dilemma of the duplicated cystic duct: a case report
Authors: Harding Tim , Hannan Enda , Brosnan Conor , Duggan William , Ryan David , Stafford Anthony , Maguire Donal
Published: May 2020

We present a rare case of a duplicated cystic duct encountered during an elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a patient with biliary colic. Prompt recognition of an intraoperative bile leak followed by thorough examination and recognition of the source allowed for timely and appropriate management of the affected patient with a satisfactory post-operative outcome. Our case is unique by the lack of availability of intraoperative cholangiogram at the time of surgery, which posed a significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenge, and by how aberrant anatomy was confirmed intraoperatively by reviewing prior cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Unremarkable preoperative imaging does not rule out the presence of abnormal anatomy. Early involvement of a specialist hepatobiliary surgeon is essential in an unexplained bile leak, with a low threshold in converting to an open procedure if there is difficulty in clearly deciphering anatomy.
Oesophageal stenosis caused by giant multilevel anterior cervical osteophytosis
Authors: Ezzy Mohsen , Kraus Thomas , Berkhoff Stefan
Published: May 2020

Dysphagia secondary to osteoarticular disorders is a rare entity. In this report, we present the case of a 76-year-old female patient with progressive dysphagia and recurrent aspiration pneumonia caused by large anterior cervical osteophytes. Osteophytectomy was performed without spinal fusion. The patient reported significant improvement post-operatively, and no recurrence was detected at the 1-year follow-up. Cervical osteophytosis should be suspected as a cause of dysphagia, especially in elderly patients with degenerative osteoarthritic disease when other causes have been excluded.
Arbitration Procedure
Authors: Rubins Noah D , Papanastasiou Thomas-Nektarios , Kinsella N Stephan
Published: May 2020

This chapter provides an overview of international arbitration procedure both under arbitration treaties and contractual arrangements, particularly under the auspices of the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The chapter begins by describing the most prominent international arbitration rules. It then covers the pre-dispute drafting of an arbitration clause. Finally, it offers a guide through a “typical” arbitration, whether initiated pursuant to contract or treaty, from the lodging of a claim and the arbitrator selection process, through written and oral argument, to the issuance and challenge of awards.
Introduction
Authors: Heller Kevin Jon , Mégret Frédéric , Nouwen Sarah M. H. , Ohlin Jens David , Robinson Darryl
Published: May 2020

This introductory chapter considers the state of contemporary international criminal law (ICL). It shows that, on some level, ICL is merely a technique for criminalizing the violation of certain norms and may not have much of a comprehensive project of its own. Indeed, over time ICL has been associated with a variety of substantive projects, such as fighting terrorism, protecting peace, and punishing atrocities. It is impossible, moreover, to discuss ICL without discussing international criminal justice more generally. Furthermore, although ICL has edged ever further towards completeness, tremendous disagreement persists about not just the discipline’s norms, but even its very founding assumptions. The growing implementation of ICL has generated countless dilemmas of its own, after all. In fact, one might even argue that the status of ICL has become more uncertain following, and perhaps as a result of, the proliferation of opportunities—international and domestic—to enforce its normative promise through liberal-legal judicial mechanisms.
Defence Perspectives on Fairness and Efficiency at the International Criminal Court
Authors: Turner Jenia Iontcheva
Published: May 2020

This chapter focuses on the attorneys who represent defendants. On the basis of interviews with 18 defence attorneys at the International Criminal Court (ICC), nearly all of whom had extensive experience at other international tribunals, this chapter assesses whether the rise of ‘managerial judging’—greater judicial control over the conduct of trials in the name of ‘efficiency’—has adversely affected defence perceptions of the fairness of trials. Perhaps surprisingly, most defence attorneys do not believe that judges at the ICC have undermined the fairness of trials through their managerialism. In the majority’s view, the problem with the judges is not excessive emphasis on efficiency but unwarranted deference to the prosecution on a variety of issues, such as failing to demand adequate disclosure or not sufficiently questioning the adequacy of evidence during the confirmation of charges. This chapter thus concludes that, to promote defence perceptions of fairness, limiting managerial judging is less important than promoting equality of arms through, for example, greater legal aid and greater skepticism toward the prosecution’s case prior to trial.
Neither Here nor There
Authors: Jacobs Dov
Published: May 2020

This chapter argues that international tribunals minimize the need to accurately determine the defendant’s guilt by routinely ‘balancing away’ defence rights vis-à-vis other values that are deemed more important, such as ‘combating impunity’ or acknowledging the suffering of the victims. It identifies four different types of such balancing: foundational, procedural, institutional, and systemic. Foundational balancing concerns the (mis)use of the sources of international law. Procedural balancing primarily involves de-emphasizing the importance of defence rights by elevating the (assumed) rights of other actors in the system. Institutional balancing relates to the structural position of the defence at international tribunals. And systemic balancing focuses on how the collective nature of international crimes requires international tribunals to rely on substantive doctrines that make it more difficult to accurately assess the criminal responsibility of individual defendants. Those four types of balancing, this chapter suggests, relegate defendants to the margins of the trial process, significantly increasing the likelihood of unjust verdicts.
Teachings of Publicists and the Reinvention of the Sources Doctrine in International Criminal Law
Authors: Jain Neha
Published: May 2020

This chapter asks what the outsized role ‘publicists’ have played at the International Criminal Court (ICC) says about the methodological coherence of the field and, more generally, about public international law’s formal relegation of the ‘teachings of the most highly qualified publicists’ to a subsidiary status. It explores that question through the lens of the Court’s decision to reject joint criminal enterprise as a mode of liability in favour of indirect perpetration and co-perpetration. Here, the ICC’s overt reliance on German criminal law scholarship indicates that the Court has been much more willing to go beyond the formal sources of international law than the ICTY and ICTR, which adhered closely to classical public international law sources. This chapter suggests that—at least in practice—the work of publicists has been one of the most important legal sources in the development of specific aspects of the ICC’s jurisprudence. The valorization of scholarship is best explained sociologically instead of doctrinally—as reflecting the critical role publicists played in drafting the Rome Statute and continue to play as key members of international criminal law’s ‘new professional elite’.
Legitimacy in War and Punishment
Authors: Dannenbaum Tom
Published: May 2020

UN Security Council referrals are a legally sufficient basis for International Criminal Court (ICC) action under the Rome Statute and the United Nations (UN) Charter. However, the fact that each permanent member of the Security Council can veto any such referral and that three of those states have declined to ratify the Statute poses a legitimacy problem for the Court. Specifically, it undermines the Court’s moral standing to judge and thus its capacity to deliver on its core function. Because of both the structure and function of the Court, the privileged position of the Council’s permanent members is more undermining of ICC legitimacy than it is of Council-authorized military action in response to atrocity, and even than it was of the ad hoc tribunals created by the Council. One way to remedy this situation would be to vest the ICC with universal jurisdiction. Alternatively, the Court’s legitimacy would be enhanced if Security Council referrals were removed from the Statute. Those, however, are unlikely amendments. More modestly, the Prosecutor should decline all Security Council referrals under the ‘interests of justice’ test.
Africa and International Criminal Law
Authors: Gevers Christopher
Published: May 2020

This chapter argues that contemporary accounts of Africa and International Criminal Law (ICL), divergent and acrimonious as may be, generally rely on a foreshortened history of this relationship, one that begins in the 1990s. In contrast, the chapter aims to show that ‘Africa’ and Africans were present at ICL’s inaugural moment in 1919, and that for much of the ensuing period ‘Africa’, Africans (and later African states) have been a ‘present absence’, to use Toni Morrison’s phrase, but present and represented nonetheless. Moreover, by tracing the story of Africa and Africans’ ‘present absence’ in ICL from since 1919, and the continued silencing thereof in historiography of the field today, the chapter aims to highlight three threads of critique—concerning ICL’s racial politics, imperial entanglements and ‘regime of representation’—that weave their way, at times together at times apart, from 1919 until the present. The chapter will end by re-considering the relationship between Africa and ICL in light of this longer history, arguing that when doing so the question becomes not whether ICL (or the ICC) might be a field that operates on neo-colonial and racist lines, but whether it might have been anything else (or might yet be).
‘What is An International Crime?’
Authors: Greenawalt Alexander K.A.
Published: May 2020

This chapter defends a pluralist account of International Criminal Law (ICL). In contrast to other approaches to defining international crimes, I argue, as both a descriptive and a normative matter, that there is no hard and fast distinction between international offences and so-called ‘ordinary’ offences. Instead, there exists a continuum of regulation in which international law asserts varying degrees of non-exhaustive force over the criminal law. This pluralism derives principally from the normative underpinnings of ICL that, I argue, is concerned less with the prosecution of offences that are uniquely international in some qualitative sense than with protecting universal human values through a division of labour between international and domestic institutions. I develop this account through consideration of the historical evolution of ICL, the difficulties associated with competing positive law explanations of international crime, and the diversity of institutional responses that make of use of ICL.
From Aggression to Atrocity
Authors: Moyn Samuel
Published: May 2020

This chapter argues that, although the Nuremberg proceedings, otherwise known as the International Military Tribunal (IMT), were heavily focused on the crime of aggression, international criminal law’s (ICL) emphasis has shifted dramatically. Since the reinvention of ICL in 1990s, it has foregrounded atrocity. ICL is often presented as following a smooth trajectory, but actually there was a reversal or massive shift, from a priority on aggression to its near exclusion. The focus on atrocity—and the aspiration to make war ‘clean’—may humanize war rather than stigmatize it, and perhaps even enable war instead of limit it. This chapter suggests, as an explanatory hypothesis, that Nuremberg took place during a ‘passing window of plausibility’: the USA has generally opposed the criminal prohibition of aggression, either because such a system might demand US intervention or because it might pass judgment on US interventions. Circumstances aligned to allow the Nuremberg proceedings, after which ICL stalled again, and the switch to an atrocity focus helped fill the resulting void.
Immunity and Impunity
Authors: Haque Adil Ahmad
Published: May 2020

This chapter focuses on the relationship between immunity and impunity. Specifically, this chapter traces the arguments made by Hans Kelsen that international principles of immunity protect individuals from prosecution for acts taken in their official capacity. Given international criminal justice’s mandate to target the most culpable perpetrators of international crimes, who are often government leaders, the question of official immunity is the major roadblock to eliminating impunity. However, Kelsen even extended this view to regular soldiers acting on official government orders. Although this position is seemingly out of step with mainstream doctrine that assumes that lawful combatants can be prosecuted for violating jus in bello, this chapter demonstrates that Kelsen’s radical views nonetheless continue to linger today in the margins of the field.
Epistemological Controversies and Evaluation of Evidence in International Criminal Trials
Authors: Klamberg Mark
Published: May 2020

This chapter deals with the epistemological challenges posed by the evaluation of evidence in international trials. Unlike common-law juries, who are insulated from evidence deemed by a judge to be potentially irrelevant or prejudicial, international judges receive free access to all evidence in order to fulfill their role as fact-finders. This chapter suggests how judges should undertake that fact-finding obligation. It gives reference to an ‘alternative hypothesis’ standard of decision for evaluating the massive amounts of evidence presented at trial. Given the high-profile collapse of several recent cases at the International Criminal Court due to lack of evidence presented at trial, this chapter can help bring back standards of decision and other evidentiary issues to the center of the discussion.
From Machinery to Motivation
Authors: Mohamed Saira
Published: May 2020

This chapter considers the lost legacy of the concept of criminal organizations in international criminal law. When the notion of declaring the criminality of organizations, in addition to determining the guilt of individuals, was first proposed in anticipation of the trial before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, organizational criminality was viewed as an opportunity both to recognize the role of organizations in nurturing mass criminality and to facilitate the prosecution of masses of individuals. But by the time the Tribunal was in operation, the first of these goals had faded away, and organizational criminality represented nothing more than a tool to accomplish individual criminality. This chapter argues that treating criminal organizations as a means to secure individual criminal liability represents a loss, a missed opportunity, in international criminal law. The condemnation of organizations that can attend organizational liability could have created within international criminal law an opportunity to expose the role of organizations in the perpetration of mass atrocity, to call attention to and analyze the institutionalized nature of mass atrocity crimes, which makes these crimes not only unthinkably destructive, but also inherently and importantly distinct from criminal wrongdoing in which a person’s conduct diverges from the standards of most of society. The missed opportunity of abandoning criminal organizations liability is particularly acute, this chapter contends, in light of the research in the decades since Nuremberg establishing how organizations affect individual behaviour. With greater understanding about the mechanisms for individuals’ desire to conform with peers, to obey authorities, and to rationalize their own actions, we can now see that organizations contribute to individuals’ decisions to commit crimes by providing forums and creating environments in which individuals come to believe that criminal behaviour is necessary or normal or even good, or in which individuals fail to recognize their own part in a criminal system. The organizations thus provide not only the machinery for atrocity, but also the motivation. By abandoning the substantive core of criminal organizations, international criminal law fails to identify the foundational role of organizations in creating mass atrocity crimes.
Criminal/Enemy
Authors: Douglas Lawrence
Published: May 2020

This chapter argues that the development of the international law of aggression has served to destabilize a dominant narrative based on the distinction between criminal and enemy. The criminal/enemy dyad has long been central to the western legal tradition. By attending to how rival traditions of legal theory have understood the dyad, the chapter illustrates how the criminalization of aggression marks one of the most distinctive developments in the history of international criminal law. This development, however, has proven problematic, as the criminalization of aggression has worked to deconstruct the traditional boundary between criminal and enemy, volatizing the very distinction between war and policing. The criminalization of aggression marks, then, something distinct from simply a growth of international law; it signals a fundamental shift that has left the relations between jus ad bellum and jus in bello in an uncertain state.
The Enemy of All Humanity
Authors: Luban David
Published: May 2020

This chapter focuses on crimes against humanity rather than aggression. Analyzing the notion of ‘enemy of humanity’, the chapter traces it back to tyrants rather than, as per the dominant narrative, pirates. It engages with what it means to label someone an enemy. The chapter argues that as long as the enemy is considered a criminal rather than an outlaw, and is treated in accord with humane law, the metaphor of enemy of humanity is not problematic. Next, the chapter turns to the concept of humanity in the notion of enemy of humanity. It argues that this term does not describe an existing phenomenon, but a normative ideal, and that this ideal lies at the very basis of international criminal law.
Hangman’s Perspective
Authors: Mann Itamar
Published: May 2020

This chapter takes Adolf Eichmann as an object of study in subjecting international criminal trials to three types of critique. First, adopting the perspective of the rule of law, this chapter engages with Hannah Arendt’s writing on the Eichmann trial to argue that international criminal trials are constantly suspected of becoming ‘show trials’. Second, turning to Shoshana Felman’s work, the chapter identifies a genre of critique according to which international criminal justice is premised on an experience of catharsis, in which the trauma of atrocity’s victims is alleviated (constituting a post-atrocity political community). Finally, this chapter analyzes a 2010 film that reveals the trauma of the man who executed Eichmann, to show the unacknowledged risks of wielding the violence of criminal justice. Based on this ‘hangman’s perspective’, the chapter suggests assessing international criminal trials in light of questions about the transnational allocation of such risks and about preexisting inequalities—economic, ethnic, and other—that determine the roles different people will end up playing in trials.
International Criminal Justice and Humanitarianism
Authors: Kendall Sara , Nouwen Sarah M. H.
Published: May 2020

This chapter reflects upon the interaction between international criminal justice and ‘humanitarianism’. Drawing on the work of Didier Fassin, the chapter highlights the degree to which humanitarianism has already gone through many of the same debates that international criminal justice is currently experiencing. On one level the logic of humanitarianism is quite distinct from international criminal justice and may even come in tension with it; both ‘govern’ in distinct ways, and according to different temporalities, objectives, values, and logics, and humanitarians may be wary of the partiality evident in ICL. But these differences may be more superficial than real. The chapter suggests that international criminal justice should learn some lessons from its sister field: in particular, about accountability to its claimed beneficiaries, unintended consequences, and self-reflection.