Freeing Nemo

Floating on the surface of the water, I observe the life teeming below me. The waves were carrying my body further and further into the beautiful reef; but all I was conscious of was the cleaner wrasse below bouncing from fish to fish, the parrotfish scraping algae from the coral, and the anemone protecting the ornate clownfish living within. [excerpt

Diet Analysis for Wildlife Management: Protecting the Cheetah in Namibia

I spent the summer of 2014 in the genetics laboratory of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) in Namibia, Africa, to learn about the diets of the carnivores in the surrounding conservancy. I used genetic identification and macroscopic and microscopic analysis on almost one hundred scat samples to identify the prey eaten by ten different predators. My results showed that some of their prey preferences overlapped and that none of the samples contained remains of farmers’ livestock. These results will help the CCF in managing and protecting the declining cheetah population. I participated in the various educational activities at the CCF and worked with people from many cultures. This experience has influenced my future career plans and made me even more passionate about conservation of wildlife

Shenanigans (Internet Takedown Edition)

Protecting one’s own reputation and livelihood—whether protecting it against lies, against opinions, or against the truth—is likely high on many people’s willing-to-lie-for lists. Making money is, too. Yet though I don’t think of myself as naïve on this score, the sheer magnitude and brazenness of these schemes surprised me. My sense is that it surprised many of my colleagues. Perhaps it surprised you. And this reminder of just how common fraud can be might help keep us alert to shenanigans in many other fields as well— and might help us design systems that deal better with such risks

Searching for Effective and Constitutional Responses to Homegrown Terrorists

Thank you, Brad, and thank you to the Law Review for inviting me here today. Protecting national security while honoring civil liberties is the greatest challenge of our generation. As a prosecutor, I am charged with protecting national security, and I understand the importance of protecting the public from acts of terrorism. But prosecutors are also sworn to uphold the Constitution. In fact, at the U.S. Attorney\u27s Office, we are also charged with prosecuting violations of civil rights. So in every case, we understand how important it is to protect people\u27s constitutional rights, such as First Amendment rights to free speech, association, and religion, and Fourth Amendment rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. How then in a democratic society do we address these potentially conflicting challenges? Lawyers in my office are confronted with these issues every day in very stark terms, and so it is a very important issue. And it\u27s one that we as a society need to get right

Press Release - Statement by Senator Muskie on Operation Snowy Beach

Senator Edmund S. Muskie (D-Me.) today, January 11, 1972, in a letter to Secretary of Navy John Chafee concerning the proposed naval operation at Snowy Beach, Reid State Park, Maine, urged that the Secretary instruct each of the officers and men who will be participating in Operation Snowy Beach -- as directly and forcefully as possible -- to exercise meticulous care in protecting the Park from harm

Protecting me from my directive: ensuring appropriate safeguards for advance directives in dementia

With one in six people over 80 now suffering from dementia, advance directives provide an important means of empowerment. Upholding directives in the context of dementia, however, raises extra challenges, given the potential for the directive to conflict with an assessment of what is in the person's current best interests. Given the profound harm that tying a person with dementia to their previous wishes can do, it is essential that we have sufficient safeguards in place to ensure that we only uphold such directives where we can be sure they are truly autonomous and are intended to apply to the situation at hand-safeguards which are at present, severely lacking. This article will consider various mechanisms by which safeguards can be built into the legal regime to ensure that the original decision is autonomous, including making it mandatory for the person to undergo a consultation with a healthcare professional, which would involve a contemporaneous capacity assessment. Clinicians must also be confident that the directive applies to the situation at hand. Introducing formalities, including a standardised (though not mandatory) proforma, may help to enhance specificity about when the directive is triggered, and to what treatments it relates, to enable clinicians to better assess the directive's applicability. A national registry for advance directives might also be beneficial. It will be argued that health care professionals will have to play a much greater role in the drafting and registering of advance directives, if we are to feel comfortable in upholding them

Protecting Puget Sound: An Experiment in Regional Governance

The 1985 Puget Sound Water Quality Act set in motion an ambitious experiment in regional problem-solving: a comprehensive and coordinated approach to protecting Puget Sound from pollution and degradation. This Article summarizes the challenges of regional governance, reviews the background and implementation of the 1985 Act, and discusses some of the controversies and challenges associated with the effort to protect Puget Sound. Dedication: This Article is dedicated to my father, who raised me with a sense of place

Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition Alcohol, Tobacco And Other Drugs Prevention Program (Atod-Year 4) Evaluation Report: Final Report

This final report documents the major findings of an evaluation of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Prevention Program (ATOD-Year 4) conducted by the Consortium for Organizational Research and Evaluation (CORE) of the University of Nebraska at Omaha for the Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition (NUIHC). The purpose of the study is to provide an analysis of several key NUIHC substance-abuse prevention initiatives. The study consists of four parts: 1) an analysis and comparison of the results obtained from NUIHC’s administration of their risk/need and outreach/discussion form, 2) an update and analysis of the results obtained from a survey of community perceptions/needs at the Omaha Metro Powwow, 3) the results obtained from a pre- and post-test of participants in NUIHC’s Strengthening Families Program (SFP) program and 4) the results obtained from post-tests of participants in NUIHC’s Protecting You/Protecting Me (PY/PM) classes

A Personal Manifesto: What is Justice?

To me, social justice is a complex definition with several clauses. The most concise definition to me would be: a discipline and practice that strives toward social equality for all using grace, acceptance, and protecting everyone’s individual rights. That’s not even a complete definition. There are so many clauses to social justice, such as: knowing the difference between palliative and long term care, knowing which is best for the situation, comparing the possible outcomes of your work and choosing the option that best suits the needs of the people you’re serving, knowing the culture, etc. All this to say that I probably can’t define justice in these eight pages, but I’m a white person, so of course I’m going to do it anyway. Let’s go with the aforementioned “discipline and practice” definition and break that down some

In vivo evaluation of [F-18]FEAnGA-Me:a PET tracer for imaging beta-glucuronidase (beta-GUS) activity in a tumor/inflammation rodent model

Introduction: The PET tracer, 1-O-(4-(2-fluoroethyl-carbamoyloxymethyl)-2-nitrophenyl)-O-beta-D-glucopyronuronate ([F-18]FEAnGA), was recently developed for PET imaging of extracellularl beta-glucuronidase (beta-GUS). However,[F-18]FEAnGA exhibited rapid renal clearance, which resulted in a relatively low tracer uptake in the tumor. To improve the pharmacokinetics of [F-18]FEAnGA, we developed its more lipophilic methyl ester analog, [F-18]FEAnGA-Me. Methods: [F-18]FEAnGA-Me was obtained by alkylation of the O-protected glucuronide methyl ester precursor with [F-18]-fluoroethylamine ([F-18]FEA), followed by removal of the acetate protecting groups with NaOMe/MeOH. The PET tracer was evaluated by in vitro and in vivo studies. Results: [F-18]FEAnGA-Me was obtained in 5%-10% overall radiochemical yield. It is 10-fold less hydrophilic than [F-18]FEAnGA and it is stable in PBS and in the presence of beta-GUS for 1 h. However, in the presence of esterase or plasma [F-18]FEAnGA-Me is converted to [F-18]FEAnGA, and subsequently converted to [F-18]FEA by beta-GUS. MicroPET studies in Wistar rats bearing a C6 glioma and a sterile inflammation showed similar uptake in tumors after injection of either [F-18]FEAnGA-Me or [F-18]FEAnGA. Both tracers had a rapid two-phase clearance of total plasma radioactivity with a half-life of 1 and 8 min. The [F-18]FEAnGA fraction generated from [F-18]FEAnGA-Me by in vivo hydrolysis had a circulation half-life of 1 and 11 min in plasma. Similar distribution volume in the viable part of the tumor was found after injection of either [F-18]FEAnGA-Me or [F-18]FEAnGA. Conclusion: The imaging properties of [F-18]FEAnGA-Me were not significantly better than those of [F-18]FEAnGA. Therefore, other strategies should be applied in order to improve the kinetics of these tracers. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved