Surface electroencephalogram (EEG) recording remains the gold standard for noninvasive assessment of electrical brain activity. It is the most efficient way to diagnose and classify epilepsy syndromes as well as define the localization of the epileptogenic zone. The EEG is useful for management decisions and for establishing prognosis in some types of epilepsy. Electroencephalography is an evolving field in which new methods are being introduced. The Canadian Society of Clinical Neurophysiologists convened an expert panel to develop new national minimal guidelines. A comprehensive evidence review was conducted. This document is organized into 10 sections, including indications, recommendations for trained personnel, EEG yield, paediatric and neonatal EEGs, laboratory minimal standards, requisitions, reports, storage, safety measures, and quality assurance.

Background: The current study involves a national survey of healthcare providers who offer services for individuals with a variety of neurological conditions. It aims to describe the provision of health and community-based services as well as the admission criteria, waitlist practices, and referral sources of these services. Methods: An online survey was directed at administrators/managers from publicly funded hospital programs, long-term care homes, and community-based healthcare provider agencies that were believed to be providing information and/or services to patients with a variety of neurological conditions. Results: Approximately 60% (n=254) of respondents reported providing services in either urban/suburban areas or rural/remote areas only, whereas the remaining 40% (n=172) provided services regardless of patient location. A small proportion of respondents reported providing services for individuals with dystonia (28%), Tourette syndrome (17%), and Rett syndrome (13%). There was also a paucity of diverse healthcare professionals across all institutions, but particularly mental healthcare professionals in hospitals. Lastly, the majority of respondents reported numerous exclusion criteria with regard to service provision, including prevalent comorbid conditions. Conclusions: If the few services provided for these neurological patient populations exclude common comorbidities, it is likely that there will be no other place for these individuals to seek care.

The article explores the relationship between religious pluralism and national-majoritarian models of social cohesion in European human rights jurisprudence. Comparing the German, French and British interpretation of the ‘social cohesion limitation’ of freedom of religion it contends that, at the national level, concerns for social cohesion are fuelled by attitudes towards religious diversity that range from indifference to intolerance and that are difficult to reconcile with the normative premises of religious pluralism in a democratic society. The second section of the article traces the relationship between religious pluralism and social cohesion in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The analysis suggests that the diversity of national-majoritarian approaches to social cohesion in Europe prevents the Court from ensuring an effective trans-national protection of religious pluralism. The third section turns to the controversial Lautsi judgments of the European Court of Human Rights to place the Court’s approach to religious minority protection in the context of trans-national judicial politics in the European legal space. The concluding section suggests an alternative approach to religious pluralism and social cohesion that vindicates religious diversity and does justice to the counter-majoritarian telos of human rights protection.

Many countries have implemented cryoconservation to help better manage their animal genetic resources (AnGR). Multicountry gene banks may have a role in an international effort for the management of AnGR. To better assess such activities, the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on AnGR of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture invited the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to report on the status of national and international programmes for storage of AnGR. FAO thus implemented a survey on this topic in January 2010. The questionnaire comprised 16 questions on various matters related to AnGR conservation, including multinational gene banks. Valid responses were received from 166 persons from 90 countries. Many countries practise AnGR conservation, with in situ programmes being the most common. The number of cryoconservation programmes is about half the number of in situ programmes for most livestock species. Fully operational gene banks were reported in about 20 percent of the countries, and plans for a gene bank within 5 years were indicated in an additional 50 percent of the countries. Lack of financial support and low priority in national livestock policy were the most commonly cited obstacles for gene banking. Very few multinational gene banks were reported, but interest in such activities was high. Aversion to multicountry gene banks was noted in only about 10 percent of countries. Among the factors contributing to the paucity of multicountry AnGR gene banks are a lack of funding, regulations on international exchange of genetic material and a lack of consensus on procedures for the operation of gene banks.

This article investigates a legacy of transnational activism in Polish-West German relations during the 1950s and 1960s, connected to the borderlands/expellee background of several of the early activists who initiated the relations. At a time when the Polish and West German states maintained no official diplomatic relations with each other, the importance of non-state initiatives and dialogue breaking with the antagonistic nationalism of the two world wars grew disproportionately. These individuals’ expellee background, bilingualism, cross-border networks and loosened national identities contributed to their effectiveness in Polish–German relations. Taking exception to the popular conceptions of expellees as necessarily identical with the negative or anti-Polish opinions commonly associated with the expellee organizations, the article also focuses specifically on how certain expellees and former borderlands inhabitants attempted to renegotiate their postwar roles, political stances and even identities by associating themselves with Polish–German relations. They challenged the dualistic and polarizing nature of media discussions about German expellees in politics. In addition, the article and these individuals pose a challenge to international relations/conflict resolution research to look to cross-border communities as key elements in postwar/post-genocide dialogues.