Feats, Flops, and Free Lessons From NZ's Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Beginning from the first reports of COVID-19 out of China, this article provides a commentary on the actions taken by the Government of New Zealand in terms of nine themes-a national response with an elimination goal, speed, and comprehensiveness of the initial response; an evidence-based, science-led approach, prioritised on protecting lives; effective communication; leadership style which appealed to collective responsibility and attempted to de-politicise the Government's response to the virus; flexibility of response characterised by 'learning as you go'; oversight of coercive state powers, including a pragmatic response which attempted to defuse conflict and reserved use of 'hard power' to a last resort; deployment of public health interventions, and health system adaptations; the impact on Maori and marginalised communities; and economic protection and stimulus-to identify factors that might help explain why New Zealand's pandemic response was successful and those which could have been managed better. The partially successful legal challenge brought to the four-and-a half week lockdown, the most stringent in the world, in Borrowdale v Director-General of Health, is also considered.

Oh What an Unholy Mesh! Diamond v Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust [2019] EWCA Civ 585.

In Diamond v Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust [2019] EWCA Civ 585, the Court of Appeal mistakenly applied the wrong test to the issue of the causal link between the surgeon's failure to disclose material information and her physical injury. Even had that test been correct, its application to the facts was open to question and arguably unsympathetic. The decision is also of note for adding to a line of previous Court of Appeal decisions, which have held that breach of the duty of disclosure does not create a stand-alone right to damages for loss of autonomy.

Does the Law on Compensation for Research-Related Injury in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand Meet Ethical Requirements?

Despite a consensus that society owes an ethical obligation to compensate for research-related injury, and that no-fault is the best ethical response, an assessment of the compensation arrangements in place in the UK, Australia and New Zealand shows that in general compensation arrangements fall below this ethical expectation. Most subjects rely on ex gratia payment or an unenforceable assurance of payment in the event of injury. It is also likely that, given significant deficiencies in participant information about compensation arrangements in place for trials recommended by the supervisory ethics agencies in each jurisdiction, subjects only find out about their financial exposure in the event of injury. Industry-drafted guidelines governing compensation in commercially sponsored trials do not protect subjects' interests, but operate primarily to protect the interests of industry. The article considers potential solutions to the ethical deficiency of the compensation arrangements, and argues that the ethical corollary of the fact that society is the ultimate beneficiary of its members' participation in clinical research, is that society as a whole should bear the cost of participant injuries, through establishment of a central no-fault compensation fund financed either by the state or those directly involved in biomedical research.

Selenoether macrocyclic chemistry-syntheses and ligand properties of new small-ring Se(3)- and Se(2)N-donor macrocycles.

Simultaneous dropwise addition of thf/EtOH solutions of Se{(CH(2))(3)OTs}(2) and o-C(6)H(4)(CH(2)SeCN)(2) or NCSe(CH(2))(3)SeCN to a suspension of NaBH(4) in thf/EtOH at room temperature yields gram quantities of the 13- and 12-membered triselenoether macrocycles (1) and (2) respectively in high yield. The 11-membered ring (3) is obtained similarly by simultaneous dropwise addition of thf/EtOH solutions of Na(2)[o-C(6)H(4)Se(2)] (itself prepared by NaBH(4) reduction of the polymeric [o-C(6)H(4)Se(2)](n)) and Se{(CH(2))(3)OTs}(2) to a suspension of NaBH(4) in thf/EtOH. The small-ring, potentially tridentate Se(2)N(pyridyl)-donor macrocycles (4) and (5) were obtained in essentially quantitative yield by simultaneous dropwise addition of thf/EtOH solutions of 2,6-bis(bromomethyl)pyridine and either o-C(6)H(4)(CH(2)SeCN)(2) or NCSe(CH(2))(3)SeCN to a suspension of NaBH(4) in thf/EtOH at room temperature. (1)-(5) have been characterised by (1)H, (13)C{(1)H} and (77)Se{(1)H} NMR spectroscopy, EI MS, and for (1) and (4), by X-ray crystal structures. Reaction of PtMe(3)I with one mol. equiv. of L (L = (1)-(5)) in refluxing CHCl(3) gives the ionic complexes [PtMe(3)(L)]I cleanly and in good yield. These were characterised by (1)H, (13)C{(1)H}, (77)Se{(1)H} and (195)Pt NMR spectroscopy, electrospray MS, microanalyses and by crystal structures of [PtMe(3)((1))]I and [PtMe(3)((4))]I, which confirm distorted octahedral coordination at Pt(IV), with fac-tridentate coordination of the macrocycle in all cases, with anionic iodide. The complexes [PtCl(2)(L)] (L = (1)-(3)) were obtained as poorly soluble yellow-orange solids by reaction of PtCl(2) with L in MeCN solution. The d(3) Cr(III) complexes of L (L = (1)-(5)) were obtained by reaction with [CrCl(3)(thf)(3)] in anhydrous CH(2)Cl(2) as distorted octahedral fac-[CrCl(3)(L)], as poorly soluble blue-purple through to green powdered solids, which have been characterised by microanalysis, UV-visible and IR spectroscopy and by their magnetic moments. The properties of these complexes are compared with related chalcogenoether complexes from the literature involving thioether and acyclic selenoether coordination.

Selenoether macrocyclic chemistry--syntheses and properties of new potentially tridentate and hexadentate Se/O-donor macrocycles.

Treatment of O(CH2CH2SeCN)2 with Na in NH3(l), followed by dropwise addition of a thf solution of o-C6H4(CH2Br)2 at -40 degrees C leads to formation of three mixed Se/O-donor macrocycles which are separable by column chromatography, the [1 + 1] species L1, the [2 + 2] ring L2 and the [3 + 3] ring L3, of which L2 is by far the major species. Using the same starting materials, but in a high dilution cyclisation at room temperature with NaBH4 in thf/EtOH gives exclusively the [1 + 1] ring, L1. The saturated ring Se/O-donor macrocycles, L4 and L5 are obtained by simultaneous dropwise addition of solutions of O(CH2CH2SeCN)2 and Br(CH2)3Br to NaBH4 suspended in thf/EtOH. The small tridentate Se2O-donor ring, L4, is again the dominant product under these conditions (71%), although the more flexible precursors in this reaction also give rise to the larger Se4O2-donor ring, L5, as a by-product in 8% yield. These compounds are readily separated and purified by column chromatography (ethyl acetate:hexane, 1:19). The new macrocycles have been characterised by 1H, (13)C{1H} and (77)Se{1H} NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, together with crystal structures of L1 and L2. Complexes of L1 and L2 with late transition metals (Pd(II), Pt(II), Cu(I) and Ag(I)) are also described.

Reversible structural isomerisation in rare thioether complexes of cobalt(II)--effects of ligand architecture.

Rare examples of (high spin) Co(II) complexes with geometrically constrained tetrathioether ligands exhibit a very unusual structural isomerism, switching reversibly between tetrahedral monomers in solution and octahedral chain polymers in the solid; the crystal structures of one polymeric species and a tetrahedral monomer model compound are described.