Unjustified Delay Research Articles

Negotiated Agreements as an Alternative to Criminal Trials: Policy Lessons from the Hungarian Example

Abstract This paper looks at ways of speeding up domestic criminal proceedings. Both the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg encourage Member States to ensure that their courts deliver judgments within a reasonable time. The present paper deals with the new Hungarian cooperation system, including the trial waiver and the preparatory session, which is a pre-trial meeting in the court phase. These have achieved significant results in speeding up and simplifying proceedings without limiting the rights of the accused and offer a genuine rule of law solution for efficient criminal proceedings, all while preventing unjustified delays in proceedings. Initial experience in practice has shown that these Hungarian legal instruments could serve as an excellent example for countries facing similar challenges in developing criminal politics and criminal justice policies.

Judicial proceedings within a reasonable time: European experience and Ukrainian realities

The study addresses the increasing number of appeals against Ukraine to the European Court of Human Rights, most of which highlight violations of the right to a fair trial within a reasonable time. The purpose of the study is to clarify the content of procedural time limits for criminal proceedings and conduct a comparative analysis of legislative approaches in European countries to regulate the mentioned issues. The methodological basis of the study is the principle of consistency, within which the methods of comparative and system-structural analysis, synthesis, logical-legal, statistical and heuristic methods were used. The study explores the existing legislative shortcomings related to ensuring reasonable time frames for criminal justice and investigates problematic issues for its improvement. It is noted that the previous criminal procedural legislation did not declare the principle of reasonable time for criminal proceedings and lacked means for its enforcement. The necessity of ensuring judicial proceedings within a reasonable time is declared in Articles 21, 28, and 318 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Emphasis is placed on the interconnection between reasonable time and the continuous nature of judicial proceedings, considering the proceedings as a whole to ensure their prompt conclusion. The absence of procedural safeguards in Ukrainian legislation against unjustified delays in the trial of criminal proceedings in the first-instance court is highlighted. The study analyses the legal provisions of national criminal procedural legislation and the regulatory framework of European countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Italy, Croatia). The necessity of strengthening guarantees for timely justice is substantiated. A set of measures to ensure the time parameters of the trial in the first-instance court is proposed, encompassing both organisational and procedural guarantees. The need for establishing a justified legislative procedure for expediting judicial proceedings in case of violations of the accusedʼs and the victimʼs right to a reasonable time for conducting criminal proceedings is justified. The practical value of the study lies in the fact that its results and recommendations can be utilised for the reform of the judicial system

Certain aspects of the violation of the right to defense at the stage of notification of suspicion

The article focuses on the study of certain aspects of the violation of the right to defense at the stage of notification of suspicion. In the process of investigating the subject it is emphasized that the prosecution's unjustified delay in the notification of suspicion deprives a person of the right to protection against criminal prosecution. It was established that the decision to make a notification of suspicion should be made without delay in order to timely acquire the procedural status of a suspect and, accordingly, provide the suspect with the opportunity to defend himself against criminal prosecution. It was determined that the right to defense at a pre-trial investigation is violated not only as a result of untimely (late) notification of a person of suspicion, but also as a result of premature completion of a pre-trial investigation after notification of a person of suspicion. It is indicated that the quick completion of the pre-trial investigation (immediately after the notification of suspicion) deprives the person, against whom criminal prosecution was carried out, to fully exercise his right to protection against the already actually completed criminal prosecution within the framework of the pre-trial stage. Amendments to part 2 of article 283 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, namely to provide for a mandatory minimum period of 14 days from the moment of notification of suspicion to the day of closing of criminal proceedings; petitioning the court to release a person from criminal liability; appeal to the court with an indictment, a request for the application of coercive measures of a medical or educational nature. Making such changes to the criminal procedural law will allow: to fully guarantee the observance of the right to defense at the stage of pre-trial investigation to persons subject to criminal prosecution; it is more rational to plan the conduct of the pre-trial investigation by the investigator/prosecutor; make a more balanced decision about notifying a person of suspicion. It was concluded that the right to protection violated at the stage of the pre-trial investigation cannot be compensated during the court proceedings, which leads to the unfairness of the criminal proceedings as a whole and the need to acquit the person on all charges.

Transition to selective regulation of retail trade in Ukraine on the basis of EU experience

The article analyzes the causes and consequences of the rapid development of retail trade networks. It is shown that this contributed to increased production efficiency, while retail chains gained market power and began to play a key role in the supply chains of many consumer goods. This allows them to redistribute in their favor part of the value added created in other sectors. For this purpose, they use unfair trading practices: unjustified delays in payments for delivered products, imposing services that do not add value to suppliers, transferring commercial risks to them, etc. The system of regulation of retail trade in European countries has been studied. Differences in the regulation of this sector in 13 countries were analyzed based on the data of the Retail Restrictiveness Indicator. It is shown that the strictest restrictions are enforced in Belarus and in Italy. The regulatory regime in the Baltic states is the most liberal. The authors argue that in the EU countries there is a tendency to move to selective regulation of retail trade, whose object primarily includes "discontinuities" in commodity and financial flows in the systems of vertically adjacent commodity markets. Selective regulation does not limit the operation of market mechanisms, but, on the contrary, promotes their more efficient functioning, eliminating market failures without a significant regulatory burden on business. On the one hand, restrictions on the opening of large-format stores, on trade at reduced prices, etc., are considerably eased. On the other hand, regulation is introduced in certain areas where it was not implemented before. Clarified changes in the regulatory system of retail trade in the EU after adoption of Directive 2019/633 on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain. The authors substantiate the necessity and ways of transition to selective regulation of retail trade in Ukraine. It is shown that the prohibition of unfair trading practices in the food supply chain is much more important in Ukraine than in EU countries. The need to implement the norms of EU Directive 2019/633 into domestic legislation by adopting the Draft Law "On protection against unfair trading practices in relations between business entities in the field of supply of agricultural and food products" has been justified.

Перехід до селективного регулювання роздрібної торгівлі в Україні на основі досвіду ЄС

The article analyzes the causes and consequences of the rapid development of retail trade networks. It is shown that this contributed to increased production efficiency, while retail chains gained market power and began to play a key role in the supply chains of many consumer goods. This allows them to redistribute in their favor part of the value added created in other sectors. For this purpose, they use unfair trading practices: unjustified delays in payments for delivered products, imposing services that do not add value to suppliers, transferring commercial risks to them, etc. The system of regulation of retail trade in European countries has been studied. Differences in the regulation of this sector in 13 countries were analyzed based on the data of the Retail Restrictiveness Indicator. It is shown that the strictest restrictions are enforced in Belarus and in Italy. The regulatory regime in the Baltic states is the most liberal. The authors argue that in the EU countries there is a tendency to move to selective regulation of retail trade, whose object primarily includes "discontinuities" in commodity and financial flows in the systems of vertically adjacent commodity markets. Selective regulation does not limit the operation of market mechanisms, but, on the contrary, promotes their more efficient functioning, eliminating market failures without a significant regulatory burden on business. On the one hand, restrictions on the opening of large-format stores, on trade at reduced prices, etc., are considerably eased. On the other hand, regulation is introduced in certain areas where it was not implemented before. Clarified changes in the regulatory system of retail trade in the EU after adoption of Directive 2019/633 on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain. The authors substantiate the necessity and ways of transition to selective regulation of retail trade in Ukraine. It is shown that the prohibition of unfair trading practices in the food supply chain is much more important in Ukraine than in EU countries. The need to implement the norms of EU Directive 2019/633 into domestic legislation by adopting the Draft Law "On protection against unfair trading practices in relations between business entities in the field of supply of agricultural and food products" has been justified.

Про можливість проведення деяких видів експертиз у справах про дтп до відкриття кримінального провадження

The article examines the possibility of conducting some types of expert examinations in cases of road accidents before the opening of criminal proceedings, discusses the debatable issues related to the violation of the personal interests of the participants at the stage of opening criminal proceedings and the unjustified delay in making a decision to open criminal proceedings or to refuse them. The considered proposal to allow the conduct of certain types of forensic examinations at the stage of the opening of criminal proceedings for the purpose of verifying statements and reports about the commission of a criminal offense based on the current practice of appointing forensic medical examinations in certain categories of cases and conducting an inspection of the scene of the incident. The opinion was expressed regarding the lack of grounds for not granting permission to carry out an examination before the opening of criminal proceedings in view of the creation of a dangerous precedent of violation of the law in terms of the mandatory condition for conducting investigative actions only in open criminal proceedings. ​The appointment and conducting of an examination prior to the opening of criminal proceedings primarily refers to examinations on the facts of road accidents, when without the use of special knowledge it is practically impossible to establish the signs of the nature of the crime and to resolve the issue of opening criminal proceedings. ​The article concludes that conducting an examination before the opening of criminal proceedings does not violate the personal interests of the participants who have not yet received their procedural status at this stage. In contrast to the previous study, only the completion of the examination in full meets the legal requirements for the evidentiary resolution of special issues. In order to obtain evidentiary information when solving the question of the validity of opening criminal proceedings at the legislative level, it is proposed to provide for the possibility of conducting some types of examinations, in particular, during events related to fires, explosions, transport and technological accidents, etc.

PATRIMONIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE COLOMBIAN STATE FOR THE JUDICIAL DELAY DURING THE QUARANTINE DUE TO THE COVID–19 PANDEMIC

The research aims to analyze the exercise of jurisdictional power in Colombia during remote work at home conducted by the judicial offices of Cartagena during the COVID-19 quarantine in 2020. This article establishes if the Colombian State is incumbent on any patrimonial responsibility for the judicial delay during the quarantine. This article describes a new method in socio-legal research in Colombia, based on quantitative analysis, which allows determining through the application of surveys to users of the administration of justice that the state activities developed in the branches of the Colombian public power can generate patrimonial responsibility. Using the quantitative analysis of the surveys, the authors illustrate with the proposed method of statistical analysis that the application of surveys allows us to infer that in the administration of justice in Cartagena, 67% have perceived many changes in the notification of procedural stages with the notification application by email, contemplated in Decree 806 of 2020. The evaluation of the new method's efficiency is confirmed by calculating 150 surveys applied to the administration users, and the research results complement studies conducted by other authors in 2020-2021. The novelty and scientific contribution point to applying Cloud Computing using information and communication technology to conduct legal proceedings, and the conclusions pointed to developing new studies on the unjustified delay in compliance with the procedural terms and jurisdictional proceedings. Keywords: Administration of Justice, Access to Justice, Judicial Delay, COVID-19, Remote Work at Home DOI： https://doi.org/10.35741/issn.0258-2724.58.1.16

Assessment of compliance to planned cost and time for implemented municipal roads projects in Palestine

The adherence to planned budget and time schedule of engineering construction projects is an important indicator for the successful project planning and implementation. Most of the Palestinian governmental and municipal organizations face technical and financial challenges during the planning, bidding, and execution phases of their projects. The paper investigates and assesses the cost changes and delays for a sample of forty-six municipal road projects that were executed as part of the Municipal Development Program, financed through a multi-donor fund, administered by the Municipal Development and Lending Fund, and followed up by local consultants. It supports small- to medium-sized municipal projects, mainly roads, and has restrictions on budget and time changes. The findings indicate that there are limited cost deviations with an average of about 5% and that about 8% of the projects suffered from unjustified delays. The paper analyzes the reasons behind the noticed cost and/or time deviations, which include the underestimation of the project budget, delay by the contractors, lack of deterrent measures, and addition of new items or making changes in the scope of the project that result in variation orders. Recommended actions are identified, which are expected to contribute to reducing the consequences of the indicated challenges.

Старообрядческое село Климоуцы (Австрия) в российской истории

The article is devoted to the study of two historical events which took place in the Old Believers village of Klimoutsy in the Austrian Bukovina in the 1870s-1880s. This is the movement of the Bespopovtsy - Pomortsy for returning to Russia and joining them to the Orthodox Church on the rights of the Edinoverie. The problem of returning to the historical homeland is always relevant and timeless; its study provides invaluable and always in-demand historical experience. The article clarifies the causes of the movement for re-emigration among the Bespopovtsy, the conditions of resettlement put forward by them and the counter conditions of their reception and settlement in Russia put forward by the Russian government; the attitude of officials of various departments and primarily of the Russian consul in Bukovina to this problem. Movement for the transition to the Edinoverie developed in parallel among the Bespopovtsy was a unique phenomenon for foreign Old Believers. The article explores all its stages: from its origin to the creation of the Edinoverie's parish in Klimoutsy and further – its fate in the XX - early XXI century, the role of the missionary Paul of Prussia. The work is written mainly on archival documents extracted from the Russian State Historical Archive and the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire. In addition, the field material collected by the author in the village of Klimoutsy (Romania) in 2017 has been involved. Due to the absence of the Bespopovtsy’s political demands and their willingness to join the Orthodox Church on the rights of the same faith the conflict between this group of Old Believers and the Russian state was removed, and with it, all obstacles on the way of migrants to their homeland were liquidated. The author sees the reasons for the failure which resulted in the re-emigration in the unjustified delay in the process of discussion and decision-making by Russian officials, and in the fact that the conditions for the resettlement of Bespopovtsy to Russia approved by the Committee of Ministers did not meet the expectations of the settlers.

Romanian public authorities request unnecessary approvals for urbanism permits

Abstract This work draws the attention of a wide and illegal practice developed by some Romanian public authorities. This practice if the public authorities to requests additional approvals that are not provided in the legislation generates unjustified delays and significant costs for the beneficiaries of the construction works. Thus, in the phase of drafting the urbanism documentation, some city halls and local councils request the neighbours approval in notarized form as a prerequisite for approval of the zonal urbanism plans (“PUZ”) and / or of the detail urbanism plans (“PUD”). As this approval does not reflect a mandatory condition according to the legal framework that regulates the procedure for drafting and approval of the urbanism documentation, the practical effect is that, as a consequence of a wrongful interpretation of the law by some public authorities, the beneficiaries of the construction works lead in useless situations in which they depend on the discretionary will and sometimes also abusively of their neighbours.

P.074 Management, timing of anticoagulation and outcomes of patients with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis: a single centre chart review

Background: Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) accounts for <1% of all strokes. Our objectives were to describe the clinical features and examine the association between timing of anticoagulation therapy and outcomes in CVST patients. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients admitted to Hamilton Health Sciences from 2015 – 2020 with imaging confirmed CVST. Results: We included 96 patients, mean age of 47.9 (SD 18.1). The most common clinical presentation was headache (43.8%). Brain trauma was the most common identified risk factor (15.6%), while 27% of individuals had no identified cause. Most patients (57.3%) received anticoagulation within 24hrs of identified CVST, while 26% had a delay (≥48hrs) and 16.7% were not anti-coagulated. The rationale for delaying or not starting anticoagulation included traumatic brain injury (31.8%), neurosurgical procedure (9.1%), presence of venous infarct and/or haemorrhage (27.1%) and unclear rationale (31.8%). At a median of 8 days, more patients without clear indications for delayed or no anticoagulation were disabled (defined by modified Rankin Scale, mRS, score ≥ 2) or dead (mRS 6), compared to those anti-coagulated in 24hrs (87.5% versus 31.8%; RR 2.75; 95% CI 1.74 – 4.35). Conclusions: Unjustified delay in anticoagulation may result in poorer clinical outcomes in CVST patients.

METHODS OF SOLUTION BY THE COURT OF THE SITUATION “STATEMENT OF THE ACCUSED ABOUT THE APPLICATION OF PROHIBITED METHODS OF INVESTIGATION”

The proposed article considers options for the court to resolve situations related to the defendants’ statements about the use of unauthorized methods of pretrial investigation, which significantly complicates the proceedings. The facts of torture in the Ukrainian police are stated, which have been repeatedly pointed out by the European Court of Human Rights, emphasizing the systemic nature of the problems, which is based on this shameful phenomenon. At the same time, it is noted that the defense often uses tactics to file such statements without sufficient grounds, aiming in some cases to undermine the credibility of the results of pretrial investigation, in others – to prolong the proceedings as much as possible, thus putting pressure on the court proceedings. In view of this, there are improvements in the procedural mechanisms that make it impossible to use the information obtained in this way, and on the other hand to develop algorithms for the court to verify such statements in order to properly assess the evidence provided by the prosecution and at the same time prevent are determined by the actual task of the sciences of the criminal cycle. As a result of the study, the author concludes that in each case the court must assess the validity of the defense’s statement on the application of prohibited methods of investigation to the accused to decide whether it is unfounded and only in the case of a positive answer to the competent authorities to conduct a formal investigation and expect its results if the court’s decision on the admissibility of key evidence in the case depends on them. In this case, the court will avoid unjustified delay in the case, otherwise its duration will depend on the efficiency of the investigation of the unfounded statement of the defendant. However, the presence of a decision of the pretrial investigation body to close the proceedings on the application of the suspect (accused) of his torture by law enforcement is not decisive for the court and does not release him from the obligation to check the information available to him and give his conclusions final decision on the case.

Influence Assessment of the Information Concerning the Bearing Type of Axle Box of Cars on the Automatic Classification Accuracy of Heated Boxes

Purpose. The main purpose of the work is to determine and classify the heated cars’ boxes based on the probability of appearance of roller and cassette type boxes in the classes of heated and overheated boxes, as well as the laws of probability density distribution of the recognition signs of normally heated and overheated roller and cassette type boxes. Methodology. The operation features of freight cars with cassette type axle boxes with increased operating heating have been investigated. The methodology of assessing the probability of recognition errors was proposed, which takes into account the fact that sets of normally heated and overheated boxes consist of subsets of boxes with different types of bearings. A system of equations is obtained, the roots of which represent еру values that minimize the recognition probability of the errors of the heated boxes. Findings. It was found out that with some methods of determining the bearing type, for example, by the average value of the ranges of thermal image for each car, the probability of erroneous selection may depend on the probability density distribution of the sign for bearings of different types and the threshold value of this sign. The optimal thresholds for detecting the overheated roller boxes in comparison with the optimal thresholds for detecting overheated cassette boxes were determined. It has been established that the pass of an overheated cassette bearing, provided that the type of bearing is determined correctly, is less likely to lead to an accident than if the cassette box is classified as a roller box. The rejection criteria of axle boxes according to their heating temperature difference on one of the wheel set axis for three variants of settings of the alarm system according to an arrangement of multipurpose complexes of technical means (CTM) were formulated. The practical implementation of this method of adjusting the CTM settings for the Minsk branch of the Belarusian Railways was demonstrated. Originality. A system of equations is obtained, which allows finding the optimal values of temperature thresholds for the detection of overheated roller and cassette boxes under the assumption that the error probabilities in the selection of boxes by their types are known and constant. Practical value. The developed method of adjusting the alarm settings of CTM makes it possible to significantly reduce unjustified train delays and the number of car uncouplings.

A Right to Have One’s Case Heard within a Reasonable Time before the Czech and the Polish Supreme Administrative Courts – Standards, the Reality and Proposals for the Future

The right to have one’s case heard within reasonable time constitutes one component of an effective judicial protection. The aim of this paper is to establish the reasons for delays in proceedings before the Supreme Administrative Courts in the Czech Republic and in Poland, to analyze why they exist, and to formulate proposals on how the structural and procedural activity of these courts could be organized more effectively. The international and national standards as well as the Polish and the Czech standards pertaining to the right to have one’s case heard within reasonable time and the reasons for unjustified delays will be examined, and the explanations for their occurrence will be provided. Proposals will then be formulated on how to make the procedures more effective. The ideas formulated are relevant in both countries for the two judicial systems, but also for other judiciaries, which also experience the same problems with system delays.

ДЕЦЕНТРАЛІЗАЦІЯ ВЛАДИ В УКРАЇНІ: ПРОБЛЕМИ ТА ПЕРСПЕКТИВИ РОЗВИТКУ

The article reveals the features of the decentralization of power in Ukraine, highlights the current state of reform implementation, and identifies the risks of decentralization. It describes the problems that may arise during the implementation of the tasks of decentralization and possible ways to solve them. As well as problems those hinder the reform of decentralization at the local government level. One of the most effective mechanisms for reforming the public administration system to ensure its efficiency and compliance with the requirements of the time is decentralization. Decentralization is the process of transferring management functions and powers of central authorities to the local level of government. A retrospective analysis of decentralization has established an unjustified delay in its onset. It explained that the actual changes towards decentralization date back to 2014, when the law enshrined the transfer of financial, logistical and other resources to the regions. Determining the prospects for decentralization in Ukraine, the expected risks that this process may cause are analyzed in this article. It is proposed to distinguish systemic risks (corruption, duplication of powers between the state public authorities and the regional public authorities, economic polarization of regions) and situational risks (social, personnel, politicization risk). The normative and legal framework, which is the foundation for the implementation of decentralization reforms in Ukraine, is characterized. Conclusions and prospects for further research are made regarding positive shifts in the course of the implementation of the reform of decentralization of power in Ukraine. The main direction of our further scientific research is the methods aimed at stimulating the efforts of local authorities to support and develop business within the community, because revenues from personal income tax are a significant part of local budgets.

التوفيق بين واجبات الدول: مكافحة الإرهاب وحقوق الإنسان

Terrorism is the most harmful phenomenon at the present time through acts of violence resulting from it against lives, bodies, freedoms and property, which undermine or threaten international peace and security. States are obligated to fulfill their duty to maintain security and stability and protect the lives and property of their citizens. In order to fulfill their aforementioned duty, States should have the necessary powers to combat Terrorism, provided that this does not lead to a complete undermining of human rights. Rather, minimum levels must be ensured in a way that does not affect the aforementioned authorities, as these authorities are regulated by internal laws so that their actions are within the principle of legality. In Iraq, for example, there are Anti-Terrorism Law No. (13) ) Of 2005 and the amended Counter-Terrorism Service Law No. (31) of 2016 which were; however, not in the same format as the laws of other countries, especially with regard to the powers of the security services in monitoring the actions of suspects in terrorist acts and imposing restrictions on their movements as is in the laws of the United States, Britain, France and Germany. It is also worth noting that ensuring a fair trial is the most important guarantee for the protection of human rights while government agencies fulfill their duty to combat terrorism. The innocent must be protected and perpetrators of terrorist crimes must be prosecuted without prejudice to the defendant’s rights who should not be subjected to torture and not to delay his trial without unjustified delay stressing on the impartiality of the courts.

Visible Worms in a Crohn’s Patient Treated with Infliximab

Question: A 23-year-old man presented with a complaint of visible worms seen after defecation. He has had small bowel and perianal Crohn’s disease diagnosed 6 months earlier, which required three abscess drainage procedures and hospitalizations. Initial treatment with a several antibiotic courses and 6-mercaptopurine lead to a slight improvement. Treatment with infliximab therapy (5 mg/kg) added to 6-mercaptopurine was instituted and resulted in marked improvement and decrease of his C-reactive protein to a near normal level. Before the fourth infliximab infusion, the patient reported visible worms, several centimeters long, seen in the toilet after defecation (Figure A). The patient had no fever, abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, anal pruritus, or skin rash. There was also no history of travel and no exacerbation of the Crohn’s disease. The infliximab infusion was deferred, and the patient was referred to our tropical clinic for consultation. Laboratory results were within normal limits. Blood eosinophils were not elevated. What is the diagnosis? What should be done next? See the Gastroenterology web site (www.gastrojournal.org) for more information on submitting your favorite image to Clinical Challenges and Images in GI. A repeat thorough history taking at the tropical clinic revealed that his sister also saw worms, both in the toilet after bowel movements, but also while taking a bath. Taken together with the fact that the patient lives in a private ground floor house, it was postulated that the worms arose from the sewage water pipe system. To confirm this diagnosis, the worms were analyzed by the Ministry of Health central parasitology laboratory and identified as Earthworms (disambiguation). It is well-known that the risk of infections is increased in patients with inflammatory bowel disease treated with immunomodulator drugs such as infliximab.1Orlando A. Armuzzi A. Papi C. et al.The Italian Society of Gastroenterology (SIGE) and the Italian Group for the study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IG-IBD) Clinical Practice Guidelines: the use of tumor necrosis factor-alpha antagonist therapy in inflammatory bowel disease.Dig Liver Dis. 2011; 43: 929-934Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (124) Google Scholar Data on helminthic infections in such patients are lacking, and hardly described in the literature. Only a few case reports are available describing parasitic infections in patients receiving anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy. Some common parasitic infections that associated with these drugs are Toxoplasma, Strongyloides, and Giardia.2Ali T. Bronze Kaitha et al.Clinical use of anti-TNF therapy and increased risk of infections.Drug Healthc Patient Saf. 2013; 5: 79-99Crossref PubMed Google Scholar,3Ben-Horin S. Barshack I. Chowers Y. et al.Flare-up of ulcerative colitis after systemic corticosteroids: A strong case for Strongyloides.World J Gastroenterol. 2008; 14: 4413-4415Crossref PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar In conclusion, while being cognizant of opportunistic and helminthic infections in immunosuppressed patients with inflammatory bowel disease, physicians should also be aware that worms seen in the toilet may be innocuous earth worms in the piping system, especially in patients living in ground-floor houses in nonurban locales. Proper history taking may obviate an unnecessary excessive workup and prevent unjustified delays in biologics treatment or empiric anthelminthics therapy.

Texas Supreme Court 2020 Election Litigation: List of Cases with Hyperlinks to Dockets and Opinions

The 2020 elections were the most heavily litigated in U.S. history. Texas is no exception. This paper presents comprehensive data for election law cases filed in the Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX), whether they resulted in an opinion or not. As of Nov. 9, 2020, the Texas Supreme Court has issued at total of 17 opinions in 31 election law cases, including concurrences and dissents. One member of the nine-member court, Justice John Devine, was a particularly active dissenter, with both separate opinions and with dissents merely noted on the docket. Some of the election-related cases were highly contentious and attracted ample media attention, as well as a total of 50 amicus curiae briefs and letters. The array of legal disputes before the Texas Supreme Court encompassed wrangling over ballot access by candidates (including those of minor parties), a dispute with the City of Houston over cancellation of the GOP’s in-person convention, the legal uncertainty regarding voters’ eligibility to vote by mail in times of pandemic, and efforts to squelch local election officials’ innovations in the management of elections, such as promotion of absentee voting as a pandemic mitigation strategy, drop-off locations for mail ballots, and drive-thru voting in Harris County. With respect to voting rights, the all-Republican Court ruled in a manner to restrict voting, consonant with President Trump’s rhetoric about voter fraud as also echoed by leading GOP politicians in Texas. The Republican Attorney General and is his army of litigators performed a leading role in that effort, both in public communication, and in state and federal courts. However, the Texas Supreme Court did not always favor Republican petitioners, rejecting requests for relief on various grounds, including lack of jurisdiction in one case and unjustified delays in bringing their complaints to the court. Not all of the controversies presented to the Texas high court led to decisions on the merits. Noteworthy is the Court’s rejection of Republican challenges to drive-thru voting in Harris County without ruling on whether the practice conforms with the Texas Election Code, and without resolving whether the validity of more than 120,000 ballots already cast by drive-thru voters was affected. Four sitting members of the court, including Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, were themselves on the ballots in 2020, and in the end comfortably won reelection even though Texas was said to be “in play” in the lead-up to early voting.

Conceptual principles of the wounded combatants’ evacuation, suffering military surgical trauma on the medical support levels

Objective. To improve the results of treatment of the wounded persons, suffering a combat surgical trauma, elaborating and introducing of objective scales of the trauma severity estimation into the medical evacuation system while conduction of Antiterroristic operation / Operation of Joint Forces.
 Materials and metods. Complex medical-statistical investigation was performed, in which 684 wounded persons, suffering a combat surgical trauma were included. Dynamical medical control and determination of the trauma severity degree in accordance to AdTS (Admission trauma Scale) were applied on all levels of medical support.
 Results. In the beginning of conduction of Antiterroristic operation / Operation of Joint Forces a mortallty have had occurred during transportation of wounded persons in unstable state (more than 9 points) to military-medical clinical centers. The wounded persons in a traumatic shock state were transported on forth level of medical support, what have been considered an organization defect in the help deliver process, which leaded to death of military persons. At the same time an unjustified delay of transportation of servicemen, suffering wounds of the wrist and foot (up to 5 points), on the first and second levels of medical support, leading to development of severe complications, have occurred. Taking into account the above mentioned, the authors have provided a differentiated approach for medical evacuation of wounded persons, suffering a combat surgical trauma, depending on its severity degree.
 Conclusion. Evacuation of wounded persons, suffering a combat surgical trauma, constitutes an integral part of the medical support system of Antiterroristic operation/Operation of Joint Forces, closely connected with a medical support process during transportation. Medical evacuation of wounded persons with injuries of the vision organ, the wrist and foot must be accomplished urgently to specialized clinic of the fourth level of medical support.

Modelo de administración de contratos para mejorar la gestión de proyectos en obras de saneamiento

Objetivo: Diseñar un modelo de administración de contratos para mejorar la gestión de proyectos en obras de saneamiento en la EPS TACNA S.A. todo ello desde la etapa de la licitación (convocatoria de una obra por la modalidad de contrata), pasando por la firma de contrato y la ejecución misma ya que se propone un modelo de contrato estandarizado para el buen manejo, control y seguimiento de los proyectos en ejecución. 
 Metodología: Se ha procedido al análisis de cada uno de los contratos firmados desde los años 2012 hasta la fecha que posterior se comparó con el contrato estandarizado FIDIC, además, se realizaron encuestas y entrevistas a expertos. Resultados: se desarrolló un modelo de administración de contrato estandarizado que permitirá gestionar un proyecto de saneamiento desde la etapa inicial de la licitación, buena pro, firma de contrato, ejecución y la etapa de cierre de proyecto. Conclusión: El presente estudio contempla todo el proceso de ejecución de la obra donde se identifican un sin número de consultas, contradicciones, omisiones, hasta negligencias; teniendo que ir dilucidando según el alcance del proyecto ya sea por la Supervisión o directamente por el Consultor Proyectista. Este confuso procedimiento genera riesgos en los proyectos que ejecuta la EPS Tacna S.A., que en muchos casos provocan que las inversiones se vean afectadas por paralizaciones, demoras injustificadas y finalmente hasta un arbitraje, debido a que las partes dentro del contrato de ejecución no aclararon muchos puntos que son sistemáticamente críticos y se vuelve recurrente en todos estos proyectos ejecutados que enfatiza e incide en una buena gestión de un proyecto, es en ese sentido se plantea un modelo de administración de contratos estandarizado que reducirá de forma significativa esta problemática.