An Evaluative Framework of Legal Aid Models

The purpose of this Article is to place the systems for legal service to the poor in the developed countries of the world within an evaluative perspective that may be useful to planners of such systems in developing countries. Part I presents one exposition of the process of national development, with particular emphasis on the role of law and lawyers. Part II describes the major legal service systems used in the West. In Part III, some observations are offered about the relationship between a country’s development goals and its choice of a legal service program or system

Multiple Organ System Defects and Transcriptional Dysregulation in the Nipbl+/− Mouse, a Model of Cornelia de Lange Syndrome

Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS) is a multi-organ system birth defects disorder linked, in at least half of cases, to heterozygous mutations in the NIPBL gene. In animals and fungi, orthologs of NIPBL regulate cohesin, a complex of proteins that is essential for chromosome cohesion and is also implicated in DNA repair and transcriptional regulation. Mice heterozygous for a gene-trap mutation in Nipbl were produced and exhibited defects characteristic of CdLS, including small size, craniofacial anomalies, microbrachycephaly, heart defects, hearing abnormalities, delayed bone maturation, reduced body fat, behavioral disturbances, and high mortality (75–80%) during the first weeks of life. These phenotypes arose despite a decrease in Nipbl transcript levels of only ∼30%, implying extreme sensitivity of development to small changes in Nipbl activity. Gene expression profiling demonstrated that Nipbl deficiency leads to modest but significant transcriptional dysregulation of many genes. Expression changes at the protocadherin beta (Pcdhb) locus, as well as at other loci, support the view that NIPBL influences long-range chromosomal regulatory interactions. In addition, evidence is presented that reduced expression of genes involved in adipogenic differentiation may underlie the low amounts of body fat observed both in Nipbl+/− mice and in individuals with CdLS

FRET Based Quantification and Screening Technology Platform for the Interactions of Leukocyte Function-Associated Antigen-1 (LFA-1) with InterCellular Adhesion Molecule-1 (ICAM-1)

<div><p>The interaction between leukocyte function-associated antigen-1(LFA-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) plays a pivotal role in cellular adhesion including the extravasation and inflammatory response of leukocytes, and also in the formation of immunological synapse. However, irregular expressions of LFA-1 or ICAM-1 or both may lead to autoimmune diseases, metastasis cancer, etc. Thus, the LFA-1/ICAM-1 interaction may serve as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of these diseases. Here, we developed one simple ‘in solution’ steady state fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) technique to obtain the dissociation constant (K_d) of the interaction between LFA-1 and ICAM-1. Moreover, we developed the assay into a screening platform to identify peptides and small molecules that inhibit the LFA-1/ICAM-1 interaction. For the FRET pair, we used Alexa Fluor 488-LFA-1 conjugate as donor and Alexa Fluor 555-human recombinant ICAM-1 (D1-D2-Fc) as acceptor. From our quantitative FRET analysis, the K_d between LFA-1 and D1-D2-Fc was determined to be 17.93±1.34 nM. Both the K_d determination and screening assay were performed in a 96-well plate platform, providing the opportunity to develop it into a high-throughput assay. This is the first reported work which applies FRET based technique to determine K_d as well as classifying inhibitors of the LFA-1/ICAM-1 interaction.</p></div