Revisiting ERISA Preemption in Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual

Under the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, federal law preempts state law. In 1974 Congress passed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) governing benefits offered by employers to their employees. The purpose of this statute was ensuring the uniformity of the law applicable to employee benefts. The Supreme Court case of Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual concerns the limits of ERISA’s preemption of state law, specifically whether a state law governing employee benefits is merely peripheral to the core ERISA functions. This Commentary argues that ERISA does not preempt a state law which does not interfere with the administration of ERISA plans and which facilitates better, more affordable heath care options to the public

Analyzing female labor supply: Evidence from a Dutch tax reform

This paper uses the exogenous variation caused by the Dutch tax reform of 2001 to investigate how married women react to financial incentives. Among OECD countries, the Netherlands has average female labor force participation, but by far the highest rate of part-time work. Our main conclusion is that the positive significant effect of the 2001 tax reform on labor force participation dominates the negative insignificant effect on working hours. Our preferred explanation is that women respond more to changes in tax allowances than to changes in marginal tax rates.

The Price Premium for Organic Babyfood: A Hedonic Analysis

The price premium associated with organic babyfood is estimated by applying a hedonic model to price and characteristic data for babyfood products collected in two cities: Raleigh, North Carolina, and San Jose, California. The price per ounce of babyfood is modeled as a function of a number of babyfood and store characteristics. The estimated organic price premium is generally equal to 3 cents to 4 cents per ounce. To the extent this premium reflects consumer willingness to pay to reduce pesticide exposures, it could be used to infer values for reduced dietary exposures to pesticide residues for babies.babyfood, hedonic analysis, organic foods, Demand and Price Analysis,

DNA Typing Compatibility with a One Step Saliva Screening Test

Screening a substrate for bodily fluids is an extremely important step for locating areas that may contain DNA. Several different methods have been developed for saliva (1). The Phadebas® Forensic Press (PFP) test is a presumptive saliva test that utilizes a preloaded paper that will react with the enzyme amylase, a component of saliva (2-5). Because of its ability to screen for amylase while simultaneously locating stains, the PFP may prove to be an effective, rapid method for screening. However it is important to assess whether the PFP introduces any inhibitors (7) to downstream processing such as PCR amplification. Based on previous studies, we hypothesize that the PFP will provide a rapid and sensitive method for locating multiple saliva stains simultaneously, without introducing inhibitors to DNA profiling. To test the limitations of PFP as well as evaluated its effects on DNA profiling we first created a dilution series of saliva ranging from neat to 1:5000. After this we preformed sensitivity tests on an indirect method, UV degraded samples and washed samples as well as with bodily fluid mixtures. Once all sensitivity tests were done, cuttings were taken from the substrate and PFP paper and analyzed for DNA. Tests found that the sensitivity ranges of the PFP were between 1:10 and 1:1000, indirect tests were less sensitive than direct, all bodily fluid mixtures were detected, and UV degraded samples took more time to react. In addition our DNA results confirmed our hypothesis that PFP does not inhibit DNA and is a useful method for locating stains. This project was funded by NSFREU Grant DBI 1262832

A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Pitfall Traps and Winkler Litter Samples for Characterization of Terrestrial Ant (Formicidae) Communities in Temperate Savannas

Relatively few studies in temperate environments have compared pitfall traps and Winkler litter samples, two of the most commonly used ant (Formicidae) sampling protocols. Most of the comparative work has been performed in tropical and subtropical environments. Temperate studies have primarily taken place in forested environments. Our study focuses on the relative efficiency of these two methods in temperate oak savannas, the major ecotone connecting grasslands and deciduous forest in the Midwest. These environments are often maintained by fire and mechanical brush removal, which tends to decrease the amount of available leaf litter. We sampled 21 sites, varying in age since restoration from un-restored to 22 years of restoration activities in McHenry Co. Illinois. Each site was sampled with 30 pitfall traps and five Winkler litter samples. A total of 38 species in 17 genera in 5 subfamilies were captured and identified. Pitfall traps accounted for 37 of the species, while Winkler litter samples only captured 23 species, and only one species specific to that method. We conclude that in northern temperate savannas, pitfall traps were more effective and more efficient at characterizing the epigeic ant community than Winkler litter samples

Cytoskeletal turnover and Myosin contractility drive cell autonomous oscillations in a model of Drosophila Dorsal Closure

Oscillatory behaviour in force-generating systems is a pervasive phenomenon in cell biology. In this work, we investigate how oscillations in the actomyosin cytoskeleton drive cell shape changes during the process of Dorsal Closure, a morphogenetic event in Drosophila embryo development whereby epidermal continuity is generated through the pulsatile apical area reduction of cells constituting the amnioserosa (AS) tissue. We present a theoretical model of AS cell dynamics by which the oscillatory behaviour arises due to a coupling between active Myosin-driven forces, actin turnover and cell deformation. Oscillations in our model are cell-autonomous and are modulated by neighbour coupling, and our model accurately reproduces the oscillatory dynamics of AS cells and their amplitude and frequency evolution. A key prediction arising from our model is that the rate of actin turnover and Myosin contractile force must increase during DC in order to reproduce the decrease in amplitude and period of cell area oscillations observed in vivo. This prediction opens up new ways to think about the molecular underpinnings of AS cell oscillations and their link to net tissue contraction and suggests the form of future experimental measurements.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures; added references, modified and corrected Figs. 1 and 3, corrected typos, expanded discussio

Tv-RIO1 – an atypical protein kinase from the parasitic nematode Trichostrongylus vitrinus

Background: Protein kinases are key enzymes that regulate a wide range of cellular processes, including cell-cycle progression, transcription, DNA replication and metabolic functions. These enzymes catalyse the transfer of phosphates to serine, threonine and tyrosine residues, thus playing functional roles in reversible protein phosphorylation. There are two main groups, namely eukaryotic protein kinases (ePKs) and atypical protein kinases (aPKs); RIO kinases belong to the latter group. While there is some information about RIO kinases and their roles in animals, nothing is known about them in parasites. This is the first study to characterise a RIO1 kinase from any parasite. Results: A full-length cDNA (Tv-rio-1) encoding a RIO1 protein kinase (Tv-RIO1) was isolated from the economically important parasitic nematode Trichostrongylus vitrinus (Order Strongylida). The uninterrupted open reading frame (ORF) of 1476 nucleotides encoded a protein of 491 amino acids, containing the characteristic RIO1 motif LVHADLSEYNTL. Tv-rio-1 was transcribed at the highest level in the third-stage larva (L3), and a higher level in adult females than in males. Comparison with homologues from other organisms showed that protein Tv-RIO1 had significant homology to related proteins from a range of metazoans and plants. Amino acid sequence identity was most pronounced in the ATP-binding motif, active site and metal binding loop. Phylogenetic analyses of selected amino acid sequence data revealed Tv-RIO1 to be most closely related to the proteins in the species of Caenorhabditis. A structural model of Tv-RIO1 was constructed and compared with the published crystal structure of RIO1 of Archaeoglobus fulgidus (Af-Rio1). Conclusion: This study provides the first insights into the RIO1 protein kinases of nematodes, and a foundation for further investigations into the biochemical and functional roles of this molecule in biological processes in parasitic nematodes

Molecular principles underlying dual RNA specificity in the Drosophila SNF protein

The first RNA recognition motif of the Drosophila SNF protein is an example of an RNA binding protein with multi-specificity. It binds different RNA hairpin loops in spliceosomal U1 or U2 small nuclear RNAs, and only in the latter case requires the auxiliary U2A′ protein. Here we investigate its functions by crystal structures of SNF alone and bound to U1 stem-loop II, U2A′ or U2 stem-loop IV and U2A′, SNF dynamics from NMR spectroscopy, and structure-guided mutagenesis in binding studies. We find that different loop-closing base pairs and a nucleotide exchange at the tips of the loops contribute to differential SNF affinity for the RNAs. U2A′ immobilizes SNF and RNA residues to restore U2 stem-loop IV binding affinity, while U1 stem-loop II binding does not require such adjustments. Our findings show how U2A′ can modulate RNA specificity of SNF without changing SNF conformation or relying on direct RNA contacts