Jon T. Johnsen

A comparison of serum carbohydrate-deficient transferrin with other biological markers of excessive drinking

In a study of suggested biological markers of excessive drinking, serum carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) was compared with serum activities of alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, amylase, aspartate aminotransferase and gamma glutamyltransferase; serum concentrations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; and erythrocyte mean cellular volume. Analytical data were studied in relation to self-reported alcohol consumption during the latest month for the 69 participating subjects. CDT was found to be the most sensitive and most specific marker of excessive drinking, and was also found to be the best marker for monitoring abstinence under treatment of alcoholics.

Diminished Serum Concentration of Vitamin E in Alcoholics

The effect of heavy alcohol consumption on serum concentrations of vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) and selenium was studied in 13 alcoholics and 19 control subjects. Ethanol intake during the year previous to the study was in the range from 22 to 354 g/day and from 0 to 16 g/day among the alcoholics and controls, respectively. Of the 13 alcoholics, 6 had a serum concentration of alpha-tocopherol below the lower limit of reference (14 mumol/l) and mean serum concentration of alpha-tocopherol was reduced by 37% as compared to controls (p less than 0.002). Estimated dietary intake of alpha-tocopherol during the year previous to the study was approximately 40% lower for the alcoholics (p less than 0.05). During hard-drinking periods the alcoholics had a markedly reduced intake of alpha-tocopherol as compared to moderate-drinking and abstinent periods. Mean serum concentration of selenium was significantly reduced in the alcoholics (1.2 +/- 0.3 mumol/l) as compared to the controls (1.6 +/- 0.2 mumol/l) (p less than 0.002). The reduced serum levels of alpha-tocopherol and selenium may influence the maintenance of normal cell structure and function, and contribute to development of diseases frequently observed in alcoholics.

Diphenhydramine and the calcium carbimide‐ethanol reaction: A placebo‐controlled clinical study

The effect of diphenhydramine on the cyanamide‐ethanol reaction was evaluated in a double‐blind, controlled clinical study. Seven healthy subjects ingested 50 mg calcium carbimide at 4 hours and 100 mg diphenhydramine or placebo at 2 hours before a 0.2 gm/kg iv infusion of ethanol. Blood acetaldehyde and blood ethanol analyses were performed together with recordings of blood pressure, pulse rate, and flushing intensity during the hour after ethanol infusion. Diphenhydramine increased the mean ethanol AUC but did not influence blood acetaldehyde levels. Antihistamine reduced the flushing response by 40% and decreased the pulse rate from 40 minutes onward after ethanol infusion subsequent to calcium carbamide dosing. Blood pressure was not significantly influenced by ethanol at the calcium carbimide dose we used.

How has the complexity of the law and the market for legal expertise impacted on the development of legal aid in Norway

Legal aid is a remedy against legal impotence. As a phenomenon, legal impotence probably is as old as law itself. We know that legal aid has existed from Antiquity. The Romans, for example, had their clientela system whereby poor people submitted themselves to a patronus who took care of their court cases in exchange for political support or other services (Cappelletti et al., 1975, pp. 7–10). The main conceptual feature of legal aid is that some sort of customary or public system is established for delivering legal assistance to people who cannot provide it themselves. Such systems build on three assumptions. Number one is that people cannot handle all their legal problems themselves. The second is that experts are to be found that can be hired to help with legal problems, and the third is that society has an obligation to provide a legal service to people who cannot afford it. These three conditions change over time, and will result in different legal aid policies. The meaning of legal aid is, however, different in a traditional society that is built on customary law than in a modern, industrialised nation with sophisticated systems for law making both at the national and international levels. This paper traces such changes in legal aid in Norway over a long period. My account starts with the Middle Ages because I have not located any sources before then. Norway was part of the Danish kingdom from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century, which means that their common history is long in general, including legal aid. Danish–Norwegian legal aid was influenced by the schemes in other European countries. However, neither space, nor my knowledge allow for a deeper analysis of the European interchange. Neither do I intend to draw more than isolated parallels with the other Nordic countries. In the paper I describe the developments chronologically, first the Middle Ages, then autocracy and finally the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries. I will focus on INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION, VOL. 13, NO. 1, MARCH 2006

Nordic Legal Aid and ‘Access to Justice’ in Human Rights. A European Perspective

The analysis starts with the schemes organised by the legal aid acts in Finland and Norway and discusses the welfare ideas behind. It outlines the main ideas about legal aid in the ‘access to justice’ ideology of human rights as developed in European Court of Human Rights’ case law, and compares it to the welfare ideology of Nordic legal aid. The chapter describes the ideas behind an initiative of the Council of Europe to build a new institution—the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ)—that works to improve access to justice in Europe. The final part uses CEPEJ statistics to provide some basic information about the present state of the existing legal aid schemes in Europe. Conclusions are drawn on how the Nordic schemes meet welfare challenges, their performance in a European perspective and whether human rights might become a driver for legal aid reform in Europe.