CRIMINAL LAW PROTECTION OF THE CIRCULATION OF MEDICINAL PRODUCTS ACCORDING TO THE LEGISLATION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, THE REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA AND THE SWISS CONFEDERATION.

The purpose of the article is to find out the scope of the criminal law protection of the circulation of medicinal products according to the legislation of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Austria, and the Swiss Confederation. The materials of the research were the legislation of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Austria, and the Swiss Confederation. Dialectical, axiological, comparative, and legal methods were applied during the research. Having studied the experience of the scope of criminal law protection of the circulation of medicinal products made it possible to conclude about the importance of having a certain legislative reference point that can help improve the criminal legislation of these and other countries and build a new model of the system of norms that ensure the criminal law protection of circulation of medicinal products. It has been concluded that in the criminal legislation of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Austria, and the Swiss Confederation there is an "aspiration" of the legislator to ensure the most complete scope of criminal law protection of circulation of medicinal products by creating their own specific systems. It has been proposed to single out separate groups of signs of criminal protection of pharmaceutical activity, since the scope of such protection is not the same in such countries (but has a lot in common). This may be a certain legislative guideline of the systematization of norms that ensure the circulation of medicinal products from the point of view of their criminal law protection.

TB stigma and its correlates among HIV-positive people who inject drugs in Ukraine.

BACKGROUND: TB is commonly stigmatized. Correlates of perceived TB stigma have not been assessed specifically among HIV-positive people who inject drugs (PWIDs). It is also unclear how perceived TB stigma intersects with other forms of stigma affecting this population. We aimed to evaluate perceived TB stigma, its correlates and its intersection with HIV and substance use stigma among HIV-positive PWIDs in Ukraine.METHODS: Among 191 participants at three sites across Ukraine, we assessed stigma scores, socio-demographic, behavioral and health-related variables by TB status (history of active TB infection, history of treatment for latent TB infection LTBI, no history of TB infection). We used self-reported history of LTBI treatment as a proxy for LTBI status. We used ordinary least squares to estimate factors associated with perceived TB stigma.RESULTS: Lower perceived TB stigma scores were associated with LTBI status (adjusted beta (aß) -0.2, 95% CI -0.3 to 0.0; P = 0.032). Higher perceived TB stigma scores were associated with higher substance use stigma scores (aß 0.1, 95% CI 0.0 to 0.2; P = 0.004). Depressive symptoms were common in this sample, although not significantly associated with TB status.CONCLUSION: History of LTBI treatment appears to impact beliefs about perceived TB stigma. Individuals who endorse higher substance use stigma are more likely to hold stigmatizing perceptions about people with TB. HIV-positive PWIDs with history of active TB infection or LTBI treatment commonly experience mental health distress. This stigma intersection needs further exploration in this population, including of its relation with mental health, to provide further insights for targeted interventions.

Effect of nuclear quadrupole interactions on the dynamics of two-level systems in glasses.

The standard tunneling model describes quite satisfactorily the properties of amorphous solids at temperatures T < 1K in terms of an ensemble of two-level systems including the logarithmic temperature dependence of the dielectric constant. Yet, experiments have shown that at ultralow temperatures T< 5 mK such a temperature behavior breaks down and the dielectric constant becomes temperature independent (plateau effect). In this Letter we suggest an explanation of this behavior exploiting the effect of the nuclear quadrupole interaction on tunneling. We also predict that the application of a sufficiently large magnetic field B> 10T should restore the logarithmic dependence because of the suppression of the nuclear quadrupole interaction.