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Unconscionability has long been a troublesome area in Canadian jurisprudence. This is of significant concern given unconscionability’s pre-eminence as a protection of contractual fairness. This article elaborates a much-needed reorganization and rationalization of unconscionability in Canada. Under current law, a single doctrine hopelessly targets two divergent purposes. I set out here a proposed redevelopment rather of separate common law doctrines, each fit-for-purpose: (1) An English-style unconscionable bargains doctrine for avoiding bargains that exploited disability, and (2) an American-style unconscionable clauses doctrine to control unfair terms in standard form contracts. Extensive Canadian precedent supports this solution, assuring its feasibility and legitimacy. To manage the doctrines’ coexistence and clarify this universally confounding area of law, I recommend further a distinctly Canadian approach: Recognizing unconscionability as an “organizing principle”. Alongside that of good faith which governs performance, this one would address enforceability in abuse of power situations, elevating fairness in Canadian contract law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy research and particularly social policy analysis have increasingly drawn upon the concept of framing. A number of contributions have demonstrated its usefulness for building explanations of policy change and its consequences. However, the adoption of the concept has also been accompanied by a considerable conceptual ambiguity. It is not only understood in quite different ways, at times its use is also rather vague and far removed from a narrow definition of framing. This paper discusses different ways in which framing is adopted within the field of policy research and the conceptual and epistemological stumbling blocks that follow from them. It argues that the most problematic use occurs where framing is used to characterize policy action and even more so in combination with public opinion changes that framing allegedly brought about. Finally, some ways forward for achieving a more rigorous use of the framing concept in policy research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Nanomedicines, since the approval of the first one in the 1950s, have been accompanied by expectations of higher efficiency and efficacy, compared to less complex drugs. The fulfilment of those expectations has been slower than anticipated, due to the high complexity of nanomedicine drugs combined with a lack of scientific understanding of nanomedicine interactions with biological systems. The unique properties of their size and their surface composition create difficulties in their physicochemical characterization, and as a consequence, difficulty in assessing the similarity of follow-on products (nanosimilars) to originator nanomedicines. During the 2018 European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences (EUFEPS) annual meeting "Crossing the barrier for future medicines" in Athens, there were several sessions on nanomedicines organised by the EUFEPS Nanomedicine Network. This review focuses on the session "Nanomedicines and nanosimilars: how to assess similar?", discussing the nature of nanomedicines, the regulatory aspects of the topic and the impact of practical use and handling of such medicinal products. Emphasis is put on the consequences their nanosize-related properties have on the establishment of their critical quality attributes and how this affects the demonstration of bioequivalence of nanosimilars to their originator products. The lack of an appropriate and harmonized regulatory evaluation procedure and the absence of corresponding education are also discussed, especially the uncertainty surrounding the practical use of nanosimilars, including the higher healthcare cost due to less than satisfactory number of safe and efficacious nanosimilars in the market. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discovery of antibiotics as specific and effective drugs against infectious agents has generated the belief that the famous Paul Erlich theory on magic bullet should be applied to cancer as well. However, after around 60 years of failures in finding a magic bullet against cancer, a question appears mandatory: does the magic bullet against cancer really exist? In trying to understand more on the issue, we propose three discoveries are coming from a nonmainstream approach against cancer. Tumor is acidic, and tumor acidity impairs drugs entering within tumor cells and isolates tumors from the rest of the body. Proton pumps are key in allowing tumor cells to live in the acidic microenvironment. A class of antiacidic drugs, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), were shown to have a potent anti-tumor effect, through inhibition of proton pumps in tumor cells. PPIs are indeed prodrugs needing acidity to be activated into the active molecule. So they use protonation by H+ as an activating mechanism, while the vast majority of drugs are totally neutralized by protonation. An anti-tumor therapy based on PPI showed to be effective bothin vitroandin vivo. Differently from normal cells, cancer cells meet their energy needs in great part by fermentation, and it appears conceivable that hypoxia and low nutrient transform tumor cells into fermenting anaerobes. This suggests that cancer cells are more similar to unicellular organisms, aimed at surviving in a continuous fighting, rather than cooperating, with other cells, as it occurs in the normal homeostasis of our body. We have shown that cancer cells take their fuel by “cannibalizing” other cells, either dead or alive, especially when starved and in acidic condition. This finding led to the discovery of a new oncogene TM9SF4 that human malignant cell shares with amoebas. The evidence is accumulating that almost all the cells release extracellular vehicles (EVs), from micro- to nanosize, which shuttle a variety of molecules. Tumor cells, particularly when stressed in their hostile microenvironment, release high levels of EVs, able to interact with target cells in various ways, within an organ or at a distance. They may represent both valuable tumor biomarker and shuttles for drugs with anti-tumor properties. This article wants to burst a real change in future anti-cancer strategies, based on the idea that tumors are much more common features than specific molecular targets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Inflammatory diseases are considered to be highly dreadful ones responsible for higher mortality in the developed countries. This includes cancer, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease. The tremendous strides in the area of drug development to find newer molecules like non-steroidal and steroidal agents and immunosuppressant agents delivered by conventional formulation. These therapy have enhances the life expectancy of patient, but it provide the therapeutic benefits only to a limited extent. Recent advancement in liposomes based nanomedicines has led to the possibility of improves the efficacy and safety of the pharmacotherapy of inflammatory disorders. Of late, liposomes have been highly explored as one of the promising systems for delivering numerous anti-inflammatory drugs for attaining enhanced therapeutic outcomes. Over the conventional carriers, liposomal systems have numerous drug delivery merits including advantages in both passive and active targeting of drug molecules to the inflammatory lesions. The current review article, therefore, endeavors to provide a bird’s eye view account on the success of liposome-based therapeutic systems in the management of dreadful inflammatory disorders along with updated knowledge to pharmaceutical scientists in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The promises of nanotechnology have been framed by a variety of metaphors, that not only channel the attention of the public, orient the questions asked by researchers, and convey epistemic choices closely linked to ethical preferences. In particular, the image of the 'therapeutic missile' commonly used to present targeted drug delivery devices emphasizes precision, control, surveillance and efficiency. Such values are highly praised in the current context of crisis of pharmaceutical innovation where military metaphors foster a general mobilization of resources from multiple fields of cutting-edge research. The missile metaphor, reminiscent of Paul Ehrlich's 'magic bullet', has framed the problem in simple terms: how to deliver the right dose in the right place at the right moment? Chemists, physicists and engineers who design multi-functional devices operating in vitro can think in such terms, as long as the devices are not actually operating through the messy environment of the body. A close look at what has been done and what remains to be done suggests that the metaphor of the 'therapeutic missile' is neither sufficient, nor even necessary. Recent developments in nanomedicine suggest that therapeutic efficacy cannot be obtained without negotiating with the biological milieu and taking advantage of what it affords. An 'oikological' approach seems more appropriate, more heuristic and more promising than the popular missile. It is based on the view of organism as an oikos that has to be carefully managed. The dispositions of nanocapsules have to be coupled with the affordances of the environment. As it requires dealing with nanoparticles as relational entities (defined by their potential for interactions) rather than as stable substances (defined by intrinsic properties) this metaphor eventually might well change research priorities in nanotechnology in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Today, the information and communication technology (ICT) is vital for a successful and on-going operation and as support in the decisionmaking process of an organization. ICT used to serve merely as a data processing support and later as a management information system but it is nowadays becoming understood as a strategic information system, which is no longer separated from an organization's business strategy. The new functionality requires that an organization does not treat ICT in its business plan separately. Such a role requires a change of business processes, different organizational approaches and a skilled workforce. Knowledge in an organization has been a competitive advantage and not an asset for quite some time now, therefore ICT must also be observed and applied in the light of creating the organizational knowledge. However, there is a risk of the role of ICT being overestimated, both in current operations as well as in the introduction of changes in an organization. The article studies the impact of ICT on the operations of an organization in the context of creating organizational knowledge and introducing changes. Moreover, it points out the traps which the management is exposed to whilst introducing such changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation examined the boundaries of inoculation theory by examining how inoculation can be applied to conspiracy theory propaganda as well as inoculation itself (called metainoculation). A 3-phase experiment with 312 participants compared 3 main groups: no-treatment control, inoculation, and metainoculation. Research questions explored how inoculation and metainoculation effects differ based on the argument structure of inoculation messages (fact- vs. logic-based). The attack message was a 40-minute chapter from the 9/11 Truth conspiracy theory film, Loose Change: Final Cut. The results indicated that both the inoculation treatments induced more resistance than the control message, with the fact-based treatment being the most effective. The results also revealed that metainoculation treatments reduced the efficacy of the inoculation treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most executives have not heard of human performance technology (HPT), but a recent Google search showed 25 times more Google hits for 'lean six sigma' than for 'human performance technology.' This article describes five factors that make HPT a hard sell: (1) HPT is not part of standard business jargon, (2) organizational executives associate performance improvement practices with HR, (3) managers think they are the primary problem solvers, (4) executives seek subject-matter expertise rather than performance improvement, and (5) managers want magic bullets. Approaches that practitioners can use to make HPT easier for organizations to accept include using managers' language instead of HPT jargon; not working for HR; identifying and working for general managers-start with defined tasks, incorporate analytic steps, and move toward outcome-oriented tasks; cultivating your relationship with general managers by helping them get meaningful results; and using managers' interest in magic bullets as a springboard to exploring desired outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses and analyzes the dialectic between so-called cultural imperialism and globalization of culture perspectives in global communication and media studies. At an extreme, cultural imperialism is cast as the international extension of the long-discredited hypodermic needle theory which views cultural consumers as passive automatons. At the other end of the extreme, the globalization of culture perspective is cast as a wildly postmodern standpoint in which free-floating individuals are said to be able to make an infinite set of localized meanings from cultural products. There has been a growing trend among many global communication and media scholars to locate a productive middle ground between cultural imperialism and globalization of culture. In this author's view, the most effective melding of the two perspectives would situate local, creative appropriation of cultural objects against the backdrop of larger, hegemonic regional and global macro-forces. This approach ought also to acknowledge the many complexities that characterize the intersections among globalization, culture, and media, including the ways in which the local, national, regional, and global constitute one another and the ways in which resistance to local hegemony can paradoxically fuel national or global hegemony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At this time, no "magic bullet" for solving the aflatoxin contamination problem in maize and cottonseed has been identified, so several strategies must be utilized simultaneously to ensure a healthy crop, free of aflatoxins. The most widely explored strategy for the control of aflatoxin contamination is the development of preharvest host resistance. This is because A. flavus infects and produces aflatoxins in susceptible crops prior to harvest. In maize production, the host resistance strategy has gained prominence because of advances in the identification of natural resistance traits. However, native resistance in maize to aflatoxin contamination is polygenic and complex and, therefore, markers need to be identified to facilitate the transfer of resistance traits into agronomically viable genetic backgrounds while limiting the transfer of undesirable traits. Unlike maize, there are no known cotton varieties that demonstrate enhanced resistance to A. flavus infection and aflatoxin contamination. For this reason, transgenic approaches are being undertaken in cotton that utilize genes encoding antifungal/anti-aflatoxin factors from maize and other sources to counter fungal infection and toxin production. This review will present information on preharvest control strategies that utilize both breeding and native resistance identification approaches in maize as well as transgenic approaches in cotton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Intravitreal drug injections and implants are generally safe but do carry some risk, from both the procedure itself and adverse effects of the medications. We report a case of an eccentric macular hole after dexamethasone implant (Ozurdex®) administration. Ex vitro force testing was performed to evaluate dexamethasone implant injection force. Methods. Five dexamethasone implant (Ozurdex) applicators were placed 16 mm from a force plate and the force of the injected dexamethasone pellet was recorded in Newtons. Four dexamethasone implant applicators were placed 16 mm from a force plate in a basic saline solution and the force of the pellet was recorded. Results. Average maximum force in air was 0.77 N and 0.024 N in a basic saline solution (BSS). Conclusion. We present a case report of an eccentric macular hole after dexamethasone implant administration. We hypothesize a mechanical injury to the retina during insertion caused the macular hole. Force testing done in air demonstrated sufficient force from the pellet injection to cause retinal damage though injections done in BSS showed reduced forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advocates of cultural imperialism theory have continued to argue that indigenous cultures, especially of African societies, are daily eroded in the age of globalisation. Their argument is based on Schiller's debatable notion that a society is brought into a modern world system when its dominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced, cajoled and sometimes bribed into accepting its traditional system and values as inferior, outdated and mundane; and shaping such system and values to correspond to, or even promote, the values and structures of the dominating centre of the system. This paper submits that this argument is no longer tenable in the age of globalisation. This is because the major arguments of the cultural imperialism theory now strike a discordant note with global-village and media-convergence tunes. Second, the theory - as suggested - builds on mass- society and magic-bullet perspectives that have long been discredited both in media practice and in scholarship because they do not acknowledge audiences' ability to process information and interpret cultural messages differently based on their cultural environment. The paper therefore concludes that cultural imperialism theory needs a re-examination in line with the contemporary realities of today's world as a global village made possible by the advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the timing of counterarguing effects in resistance. Specifically, it investigated the persistence of counterarguing output in resistance across time and explored inoculation message strategies designed to boost the persistence of counterarguing. Results indicated that contrary to what one might expect, the counterarguing output elicited by inoculation treatments was stable across time. The counterarguing output did not increase in the days following treatment, suggesting that inoculation messages require a minimal delay following recipient exposure to elicit counterarguing output, and it proved to be surprisingly robust across time, sustaining itself for much longer periods than early inoculation research had intimated. Also, the results revealed that inoculation-different treatments and reinforcement (booster) messages boost the persistence of the counterarguing output over time. Inoculation-same treatments were initially best in generating counterarguing output, but their effects deteriorated over time. By contrast, inoculation-different messages emerged as being superior in sustaining counterarguing output. Finally, reinforcement messages, administered from five to twenty-one days following inoculation, sustained counterarguing output for as long 44 days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the agenda-setting theory of mass media communication. It mentions that the agenda-setting theory says that mass media influences how people view specific features of the public scene and assign an importance to public matters in a way that resembles the emphasis given by the media. It notes that agenda-setting of mass media resembles the hypodermic-needle theory, the 1984 view, but follows the diffusion, or multiple-step flow, model, which takes into consideration the role of personal influence in changing human behavior. It explores research focusing on uses and gratifications approach to mass media and use of media during campaigns.

The article focuses on the agenda-setting hypothesis of the mass media which influenced their audiences. It states that the initial formulation of the agenda-setting model of media effects recalls the old hypodermic-needle theory which has been discredited and discarded by the more sophisticated observers of the social scene. It says that the hypodermic-needle model carried an immediate, direct, and powerful impact of media. It mentions that the hypothesis indicates that there is no mere randomness to news reporting in the surveillance of the media for the body politic. It adds that the agenda-setting behavior of the mass media influenced the agenda of issues of individuals.

Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) offer new avenues for HIV prevention and cure strategies. Three recent papers, published in Science and Nature, highlight the broad applicability of bNAbs in HIV cure and prevention and in boosting immunity against HIV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corrections to several articles including "Computer-Assisted Therapy for Medication-Resistant Auditory Hallucinations," "Magic Bullet Thinking - Why Do We Continue to Perpetuate This Fallacy," and "Risperidone-Induced Hypersexuality" in the previous issues are presented.

The author discusses the importance of the journal based on lessons from the misguided deputy sheriff character in the 1960s sitcom "The Andy Griffith Show." He explains the magic bullet theory of communication which two communication scholars describe as a frightening take on the power of mass media. He also examines problems associated with the magic bullet theory, particularly in the area of risk communication.