Women Judges: A Preface to Their History

A special concern of this paper is the presence of women at the top of the judicial hierarchy. Understanding why women are (or are not) able to move up the opportunity structure requires data on the number and percentage of women on these prestigious courts. Appendix I provides a list arranged by state of every woman who has served on a prestigious court. The following examines the relationship between the increase in the number of positions in the courts and the presence of women. The next section examines the steps in the opportunity structure to prestigious judgeships, and the gatekeeping devices which control the movement of individuals from one position to another higher one

The Socialization of New Federal Judges: Impact on District Court Business

For ten years the federal court system has offered an introductory seminar to newly appointed district (trial) judges. The manifest purpose of the seminars is to prepare the neophyte federal judge to share the caseload of his district with maximum efficiency by training him in the newest techniques of case processing. The seminars are an experiment in specific socialization to the requirements of the judicial role, since “the craft of judging is neither taught in the course of university legal education nor learned by experience as a lawyer.” This study first examines the related forces—heavy caseloads and omnibus judgeship acts—which impelled the judicial system to develop a socialization program for its new members. Next it traces the impact of the seminar training upon judicial output by comparing the statistical record of multi-judge districts with larger and smaller percentages of “educated” members. Then other socialization factors, such as prior position and judicial leadership experiences, are included in the analysis

Women Judges: A Preface to Their History

A special concern of this paper is the presence of women at the top of the judicial hierarchy. Understanding why women are (or are not) able to move up the opportunity structure requires data on the number and percentage of women on these prestigious courts. Appendix I provides a list arranged by state of every woman who has served on a prestigious court. The following examines the relationship between the increase in the number of positions in the courts and the presence of women. The next section examines the steps in the opportunity structure to prestigious judgeships, and the gatekeeping devices which control the movement of individuals from one position to another higher one

Improving attainment? Interventions in education by the New Deal for Communities Programme

"The New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme was announced in 1998 and designed to reduce gaps between some of the most deprived areas in England and the rest of the country... This report presents the findings of one element of the second phase of the evaluation of the NDC Programme: research in four case study NDC partnerships focusing on interventions and outcomes under the theme of education." - introduction

Verbal Communication Skills Requirements for Information Systems Professionals

The role of information systems (IS) professionals in organizations has changed through the years, from one who works mostly with technically oriented peers, to one who spends a significant amount of time interacting with people who are involved in the functional areas of the organization. In many organizations, IS professionals are assigned permanently to the user area and they are expected to not only be technically competent, but also be competent in the user\u27s area. This move of IS professionals to the functional areas necessitates that they communicate more with the functional users whose IS needs they are fulfilling. The users, on the other hand, are also required to interact and communicate more with the IS people. With the move toward distributed IS, users are becoming more involved in the specification, design and sometimes even construction of their own systems. It is therefore imperative that analysts and users be able to communicate with each other unequivocally, so that the systems are specified and developed properly. This research investigated the verbal communication skills requirements for IS practicing professionals and new university graduates. A survey was used for data collection. It was sent to IS professionals in several large organizations, that represented the industry in general. A nearly perfect response rate was achieved. The findings are useful for both IS professionals and university programs. Organizations can use the findings to identify areas of weaknesses in the skills of their IS personnel and eliminate them with continuing education. Universities can use the findings to identify skills that they may not be currently emphasizing in their curricula and make necessary adjustments

Prolactin and Dehydroepiandrosterone Levels in Women with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: The Role of the Extrapituitary Prolactin Promoter Polymorphism at −1149G/T

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has shown an association with high levels of prolactin, low levels of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and induction of inflammatory cytokines in the serum of patients with the disease. This preliminary study examined the relevance of a −1149G/T functional single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (rs1341239) in the promoter of the extrapituitary prolactin gene in a cohort of African American and European American women with lupus. Examination of this SNP revealed that the −1149TT genotype was correlated with higher levels of prolactin in serum and prolactin gene expression (p = 0.0001) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Lower levels of DHEA in serum were demonstrated in lupus patients (p = 0.001); those with the −1149TT genotype had the lowest levels of DHEA. Furthermore, a small subset of women who were on DHEA therapy and had a TT genotype showed a significant decrease in prolactin gene expression and lower disease activity scores (SLEDAI). Lupus patients, particularly African Americans, had significantly higher levels of IL-6 (p = 0.0001) and TNF-α (p = 0.042). This study suggests that the −1149TT genotype may be a risk factor for lupus and may predict who could possibly benefit from DHEA therapy; therefore, these results should be validated in a larger cohort with all ethnic groups

Comprehensive translational assessment of human-induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocytes for evaluating drug-induced arrhythmias

Induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CM) hold promise for assessment of drug-induced arrhythmias and are being considered for use under the comprehensive in vitro proarrhythmia assay (CiPA). We studied the effects of 26 drugs and 3 drug combinations on 2 commercially available iPSC-CM types using high-throughput voltage-sensitive dye and microelectrode-array assays being studied for the CiPA initiative and compared the results with clinical QT prolongation and torsade de pointes (TdP) risk. Concentration-dependent analysis comparing iPSC-CMs to clinical trial results demonstrated good correlation between drug-induced rate-corrected action potential duration and field potential duration (APDc and FPDc) prolongation and clinical trial QTc prolongation. Of 20 drugs studied that exhibit clinical QTc prolongation, 17 caused APDc prolongation (16 in Cor.4U and 13 in iCell cardiomyocytes) and 16 caused FPDc prolongation (16 in Cor.4U and 10 in iCell cardiomyocytes). Of 14 drugs that cause TdP, arrhythmias occurred with 10 drugs. Lack of arrhythmic beating in iPSC-CMs for the four remaining drugs could be due to differences in relative levels of expression of individual ion channels. iPSC-CMs responded consistently to human ether-a-go-go potassium channel blocking drugs (APD prolongation and arrhythmias) and calcium channel blocking drugs (APD shortening and prevention of arrhythmias), with a more variable response to late sodium current blocking drugs. Current results confirm the potential of iPSC-CMs for proarrhythmia prediction under CiPA, where iPSC-CM results would serve as a check to ion channel and in silico modeling prediction of proarrhythmic risk. A multi-site validation study is warranted