Growth patterns of breastfed infants show substantial inter-individual differences, partly influenced by breast milk (BM) nutritional composition. However, BM nutritional composition does not accurately indicate BM nutrient intakes. This study aimed to examine the associations between both BM intake volumes and macronutrient intakes with infant growth. Mother–infant dyads (n 94) were recruited into the Cambridge Baby Growth and Breastfeeding Study (CBGS-BF) from a single maternity hospital at birth; all infants received exclusive breast-feeding (EBF) for at least 6 weeks. Infant weight, length and skinfolds thicknesses (adiposity) were repeatedly measured from birth to 12 months. Post-feed BM samples were collected at 6 weeks to measure TAG (fat), lactose (carbohydrate) (both by 1H-NMR) and protein concentrations (Dumas method). BM intake volume was estimated from seventy infants between 4 and 6 weeks using dose-to-the-mother deuterium oxide (2H2O) turnover. In the full cohort and among sixty infants who received EBF for 3+ months, higher BM intake at 6 weeks was associated with initial faster growth between 0 and 6 weeks (β + se 3·58 + 0·47 for weight and 4·53 + 0·6 for adiposity gains, both P < 0·0001) but subsequent slower growth between 3 and 12 months (β + se − 2·27 + 0·7 for weight and −2·65 + 0·69 for adiposity gains, both P < 0·005). BM carbohydrate and protein intakes at 4–6 weeks were positively associated with early (0–6 weeks) but tended to be negatively related with later (3–12 months) adiposity gains, while BM fat intake showed no association, suggesting that carbohydrate and protein intakes may have more functional relevance to later infant growth and adiposity.

Whether supplemental Ca has similar effects to dietary Ca on vascular and bone markers is unknown. The present trial investigated the feasibility of applying dietary and supplemental interventions in a randomised-controlled trial (RCT) aiming to estimate the effect of supplemental Ca as compared with dietary Ca on vascular and bone markers in postmenopausal women. In total, thirteen participants were randomised to a Ca supplement group (CaSuppl) (750 mg Ca from CaCO3+450 mg Ca from food+20 µg vitamin D supplement) or a Ca diet group (CaDiet) (1200 mg Ca from food+10 µg vitamin D supplement). Participants were instructed on Ca consumption targets at baseline. Monthly telephone follow-ups were conducted to assess adherence to interventions (±20 % of target total Ca) using the multiple-pass 24-h recall method and reported pill count. Measurements of arterial stiffness, peripheral blood pressure and body composition were performed at baseline and after 6 and 12 months in all participants who completed the trial (n 9). Blood and serum biomarkers were measured at baseline and at 12 months. Both groups were compliant to trial interventions (±20 % of target total Ca intake; pill count ≥80 %). CaSuppl participants maintained a significantly lower average dietary Ca intake compared with CaDiet participants throughout the trial (453 (sd 187) mg/d v. 1241 (sd 319) mg/d; P<0·001). There were no significant differences in selected vascular outcomes between intervention groups over time. Our pilot trial demonstrated the feasibility of conducting a large-scale RCT to estimate the differential effects of supplemental and dietary Ca on vascular and bone health markers in healthy postmenopausal women.

States utilise international law to create opportunities within global markets for private transnational economic actors, such as multinational oil companies, to invest and/or operate within foreign jurisdictions. However, there is a lack of directly enforceable international mechanisms against these private actors when they cause environmental damage abroad. International law responses to this problem range from the establishment of international compulsory compensation schemes, the proposed expansion of the doctrine of state responsibility to include liability for private actors, and more recently through litigation in the home states of multinational oil companies. However, both international jurisprudence and US, Dutch and British domestic case-law reveal an ambivalence towards holding such private transnational economic actors legally accountable in their home state jurisdictions for violations committed abroad. Certain states (the US and France) that have suffered environmental damage from the activities of multinational oil companies have responded by reasserting their domestic regulatory powers to require immediate clean up and compensation, prior to domestic judicial litigation. Other states (Nigeria) are unable to achieve the same level of effective enforcement due to their weaker political and economic bargaining positions.

The overall legal framework for transnational petroleum development projects is arguably a conjunction between international investment law and several other fields of international law, notably environmental law and human rights. However, the relationship between these applicable fields of international law is uncertain. In particular, prospects for the application of environmental law within such projects appear to depend on the balance in political and economic power between the host State and any multinational/transnational oil companies involved in the project. This balance is usually in favour of investment protection for the economic actors involved but the enduring role of the host State as the sovereign regulatory power within the relevant jurisdiction cannot be denied. The general issues raised in this debate will be examined within the specific context of the Sakhalin II project in the Russian Far East, where the host government has intervened on the ostensible basis of ensuring environmental protection but arguably at the expense of investment protection.

East Timor will soon achieve full independence and statehood. Its initial concerns as a newly independent state are political and economic stability. The current UN presence in East Timor should help ensure that the former concern is addressed so that the transition from a war torn non self-governing territory to a democratically elected government proceeds as smoothly as possible. The latter concern over East Timor's future economic stability is currently tied-up with continuing negotiations over the division of oil and gas revenues derived from a joint development arrangement, namely the Timor Gap Zone of Co-operation Treaty. This bilateral treaty was initially agreed in 1989 between Indonesia, which controlled East Timor from 1975 to 1999, and Australia. Its terms are currently being enforced on a provisional basis as agreed between the United Nations Transitional Administration of East Timor (UNTAET) and Australia while its future is being negotiated.

The entry into force of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea1 and its widespread ratification2 have renewed interest in the remaining gaps and ambiguities in its provisions on the control of shared marine resources. The discussion has recently focused on die regulation of common or transboundary fishing stocks3 and migratory species,4 a problem that was considered serious enough to merit the adoption of another multilateral convention. The 1995 Agreement on the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks5 was designed to resolve the increasing number of disputes on this issue.6