Several disciplines, such as economics, law, and political science, emphasize the importance of legislative quality, namely well-written legislation. Low-quality legislation cannot be easily implemented because the texts create interpretation problems. To measure the quality of legal texts, we use information from the syntactic and lexical features of their language and apply these measures to a dataset of European Union legislation that contains detailed information on its transposition and decision-making process. We find that syntactic complexity and vagueness are negatively related to member states’ compliance with legislation. The finding on vagueness is robust to controlling for member states’ preferences, administrative resources, length of texts, and discretion. However, the results for syntactic complexity are less robust.

This article argues that two words in line 8.612 of the Aeneid, promissa and perfecta, have been transposed since the poem's composition, and that the restoration of their correct order yields a preferable sense. This corruption would have happened at an early stage in the poem's transmission, but there is some reason to believe that Servius’ comment on the verse reflects its original state.

Federalism and the associated multi-level polity-structure have been frequently blamed for delaying the implementation of European Union (EU) directives. However, this verdict is incomplete as only a few studies open the “black box” of federalism to analyse the involvement of subnational parliaments and executives or second chambers in policy implementation. This article fills this gap and explains the transposition delay on the level of each individual implementation measure. Our novel data set covers about 850 directives and the corresponding 1,950 implementation measures between 1990 and 2018 in Germany. Using logistic regression models, we find that involving the subnational authorities substantially delays transposition. Subnational measures are three times more likely to be delayed than national ones. The effect of the veto power of a second chamber remains inconclusive. Our findings highlight the challenges federalism poses for the multi-level implementation of EU policies and have implications for the broader literature on compliance with public policies.

The arterial switch operation is currently the gold standard technique for repair of transposition of the great arteries. Some atypical coronary patterns such as intramural, interarterial, and a unique posterior button are associated with more complexity and surgical risk. We report a successful Aubert operation for transposition of the great arteries associated with a single and interarterial coronary artery arising from a posterior sinus.

Do public attitudes concerning the European Union affect the speed with which member states transpose European directives? It is posited in this article that member state governments do respond to public attitudes regarding the EU when transposing European directives. Specifically, it is hypothesized that member state governments slow transposition of directives when aggregate public Euroskepticism is greater. This expectation is tested using extended Cox proportional hazard modeling and data derived from the EU’s legislative archives, the official journals of EU member states, and the Eurobarometer survey series. It is found that member state governments do slow transposition in response to higher aggregate public Euroskepticism. These findings have important implications for the study of European policy implementation, as well as for our understanding of political responsiveness in the EU.

Background: Disagreement currently exists regarding the definition of aortic dextroposition. It is suggested that the term be used interchangeably with aortic overriding, along with suggestions that the aortic valve overrides in the normal heart. The dextroposed aorta, however, does not always override the crest of the muscular ventricular septum. It is incorrect to argue that the normal aortic valve overrides. It is the cavity of the right aortic valvar sinus, rather than the valvar orifice, that sits above the muscular septum when the septum itself is intact. Therefore, to circumvent these difficulties, those using the term “dextroposition” find it necessary to distinguish “true” as opposed to “false” categories. The problems arise because “dextroposition” is remarkably ill-suited as an alternative term for aortic valvar overriding. Methods and Results: In this review, combining developmental, morphologic, and clinical data, we show how aortic overriding is best considered on the basis of biventricular connection of the aortic root in the setting of deficient ventricular septation. When analysed in this manner, it becomes an easy matter to distinguish between one-to-one and double outlet ventriculo-arterial connections. Appreciation of these features emphasises the different spatial alignments of interventricular communications as opposed to the plane of deficient ventricular septation. The concept of overriding is applicable not only to biventricular connection of the aortic root, but also the pulmonary and common arterial roots. Conclusions: The diagnostic techniques now available to the paediatric cardiologist illustrate the features of arterial valvar overriding with exquisite accuracy, informing the discussions now required for optimal decision making.

With the development of three-dimensional techniques for imaging, such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, it is now possible to demonstrate the precise sinusal origin and epicardial course of the coronary arteries with just as much accuracy as can be achieved by the morphologist holding the heart in his or her hands. At present, however, there is no universally accepted convention for categorising the various patterns found when the heart is congenitally malformed. In this review, we show how, to provide such a convention, it is necessary to take note not only of the sinusal origin of the three major coronary arteries, but also the relationship of the aortic root relative to the cardiac base. We summarise the evidence showing how the proximal portions of the developing coronary arteries grow into the aortic valvar sinuses subsequent to the separation of the aortic root from the subpulmonary infundibulum. We also discuss the evidence showing that the subpulmonary myocardium is impervious to the passage of epicardial coronary arteries, and suggest that the process of septation itself plays an integral role in guiding the arteries into the two aortic sinuses that are adjacent to the pulmonary root. We then show how marriage of convenience between the epicardial coronary arteries and the aortic valvar sinuses provides a good explanation for the known variations found in the setting of transposition. We point out that it is the absence of septation that likely governs the patterns seen in the setting of a common arterial trunk.

This paper illuminates a critical stage of the implementation of European law: the transposition of European Union (EU) directives. Directives must be transposed into national policies in order to give effect to European law, yet most national authorities experience considerable transposition difficulties. For this reason, the study of transposition has become a focal point within the broader research agenda on non-compliance in the European Union. Highlighting several popular explanatory variables but noting the sometimes contradictory results that follow from empirical testing, this paper outlines an approach that views transposition as a process taking place largely within ministerial agencies rather than across government systems. By using variables related to these domestic processes in our empirical analysis, the paper shows how such an approach can help to explain the way in which member states transpose EU directives.

The exchange of position of two adjacent teeth constitutes a transposition. Maxillary canines are rarely affected; transpositions of upper canines occur in only .2% of the orthodontic population. They can be detected early in radiographic examinations and later, clinically, after they begin to erupt. Most writers affirm that transpositions, which are often associated with other dental anomalies, are caused primarily by some genetic defect but that local factors may contribute to their development. Practitioners should consider their muco-gingiva environment as an important factor in their evaluation of the iatrogenic risks that might accompany treatment and consider improving soft tissue status as a preparatory soft tissue therapeutic procedure. They must also differentiate between cases of incomplete transposition and partial complete transposition, which can almost always be successfully treated, from cases of total complete transposition that are relatively difficult if not impossible to treat.

Pulmonary atresia with abnormal ventriculoarterial connections in the presence of an intact ventricular septum is rare even in postnatal life. Two cases are described in which this combination of lesions was diagnosed in previable fetuses at autopsy. Both pregnancies were terminated for gross structural abnormalities discovered on antenatal ultrasound scans. In the first case, the pulmonary atresia was associated with intact ventricular septum, a double outlet left ventricle and hypoplasia of the tricuspid valve, right ventricle and arterial duct, a combination of lesions that would appear to be unique. In the second case, there was complete transposition and a hypoplastic left ventricle. The severity of the cardiac lesions in both fetuses was such that it is unlikely that either would have survived to term. In the first case no other malformation was present, but in the second there was also a large encephalocoele secondary to early amnion rupture, and a single umbilical artery. The association of the cardiac lesion with early amnion rupture in this second fetus would appear to be a chance event.

Surgical banding of the pulmonary artery in patients with transposition of the great arteries leads to a rapid increase of the left ventricular mass. The purpose of this animal experiment was to induce ventricular systolic hypertension in the “subpulmonary ventriclerdquo; by intravascular obstruction to pulmonary flow. The first experiment was performed in an anesthetized animal with an open thorax. A balloon-tipped catheter was introduced into the femoral vein and advanced to the pulmonary artery. The balloon was positioned in the pulmonary trunk and was progressively inflated until a systemic pressure was achieved in the “pulmonary ventricle”. This was accomplished within 40 minutes without a significant reduction in cardiac output, which was continuously monitored by an electromagnetic flowprobe. In the second experiment an analogous procedure was performed in a closed chest, awake, spontaneously breathing animal. The catheter was maintained in proper place for 24 hours. Subsequent macroscopic examination of the heart demonstrated a remarkable increase in the ventricular mass. The results of this preliminary experiment demonstrate the possibility for creating “intraluminal pulmonary banding”. The potential advantages of this technique are the nonsurgical approach and the ability to adjust the grade of obstruction to pulmonary flow.

In this review, I summarize observations suggesting that social cognition deficits are an important element of the neurodevelopmental morbidities of children with congenital cardiac malformations. Referred to as “theory of mind” deficits, they pertain to the ability to “read” other people, that is, to infer their internal states and thus to interpret their actions appropriately. I also hypothesize that children with such congenital cardiac malformations have difficulty identifying and describing their own internal states, which is referred to as alexithymia. These hypotheses are based on data collected as part of a prospective study of the neurologic outcomes of children with concordant atrioventricular and discordant ventriculo-arterial connections, or transposition. On a variety of tasks that assess pragmatic language and discourse skills, such as elicited personal narratives, free play with a parent, and written narratives, the children consistently performed below age-expected levels and in ways that suggested the presence of “theory of mind” deficits. Their narratives lacked coherence, failed to include critical information required by a listener, and made infrequent reference to internal states. In ongoing evaluations of the children as adolescents, we are testing these hypotheses more systematically by administering several instruments specifically developed to assess “theory of mind” and alexithymia.

Surgical intervention for hearts with transposition, defined as concordant atrioventricular and discordant ventriculo-arterial connections, has been one of the landmark achievements in the field of paediatric cardiac surgery. In the early 1950s, pioneer surgeons attempted to palliate patients with transposed arterial trunks with an early form of the arterial switch operation. As a result of initially dismal outcomes secondary to difficulties with coronary arterial transfer, the unprepared nature of the morphologically left ventricle, and primitive methods for cardiopulmonary bypass, the arterial switch was abandoned in favour of several procedures achieving correction at atrial and venous levels, culminating in the Mustard and Senning operations.1,2 These innovative procedures produced the earliest surviving children with transposition. Although the atrial switch procedures achieved widespread acceptance and success during the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s, the search for an operation to return the great arteries to their normal anatomic positions continued. This pursuit was stimulated primarily by the accumulating observations in mid-to-late term follow up studies of: an increasing frequency of important arrhythmic complications, including sinus nodal dysfunction, atrial arrhythmias, and sudden, unexplained death, by the development of late right ventricular dysfunction and significant tricuspid regurgitation in a ventricle potentially unsuited for a lifetime of systemic function by a small but important prevalence of obstruction of the systemic and/or pulmonary venous pathways, and by dissatisfaction with the operative mortality in the subgroup of infants complicated by additional presence of a large ventricular septal defect.3–6 As we have already discussed, a number of novel procedures to achieve anatomic correction had been described as early as 1954, but clinical success was not accomplished until 1975, when Jatene and co-workers7 astounded the world of paediatric cardiology with their initial description.