Administrative Law—Review of Administrative Action by Extraordinary Writ

In State ex rel. Cosmopolis Consol. School Dist. No. 99 v. Bruno, a school district having no high school sought review of the procedure under which its pro-rata contribution to the building program of a neighboring high school district had been determined. The supreme court held that review by extraordinary writ was proper, and two aspects of its decision merit attention because of their implications concerning review of administrative action generally. First, although the district had proceeded under a writ of certiorari, which is by statute restricted to the review of judicial functions, the supreme court in deciding that review was proper gave no consideration to whether the challenged administrative action was judicial or non-judicial in nature. Secondly, reviewability was said to extend to allegedly arbitrary and capricious conduct by the officials, as well as to the legality of the procedure under the controlling statute

(1,4,7,10,13,16-Hexaoxacyclo­octa­deca­ne)dimethyl­indium(III) trifluoro­methane­sulfonate

In the title compound, [In(CH3)2(C12H24O6)](CF3O3S), two of the In—O distances within the cation are significantly shorter than the other four. The InIII atom is in a distorted hexa­gonal–bipyramidal coordination geometry in which the C—In—C angle is 175.44 (12)°. The crystal structure is stabilized by weak inter­molecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds

Characterization of a putative mutant for iron homeostasis

Abstract only availableLittle is known about the genetics of iron homeostasis in plants. A novel genetic screen was used to identify mutants with alterations in iron homeostasis. Because Ferritin (Fer1) mRNA expression is upregulated by intracellular iron concentration in leaves, this gene can be used to predict intercellular iron concentrations in leaves. To identify mutants that over- or under-accumulate leaf iron, Arabidopsis was transformed with the reporter gene Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) driven by the Fer1 promoter. Seed from this transgenic plant were mutagenized with EMS. The resulting M2 seed were screened for high or low GFP fluorescence relative to transgenic controls grown on iron-sufficient medium. A putative Over-Accumulator of Fe, pOAF40, was identified that expressed high levels of GFP fluorescence. Our objective was to characterize this mutant for alterations in iron homeostasis. Seed of pOAF40 and the non-mutagenized transgenic control were germinated and plants grown on iron-sufficient medium for 14 days before transferring to iron-sufficient or -deficient media for four days. Fer1 mRNA levels, chlorophyll content, and ferric-chelate reductase activity (an enzyme whose activity increases during iron deficiency) were determined at the point of transfer and again four days after transfer. Fer1 mRNA expression was the same at the time of transfer, but greater relative to transgenic controls regardless of iron concentration 4 days later. The average concentration of chlorophyll in pOAF40 was less than the control regardless of sampling time or iron concentration. pOAF40 exhibited lower reductase activity than control on the day of transfer, however this difference in activity was not detected four days after transfer within iron-sufficient or -deficient treatments. Furthermore, ferric-chelatate reductase activity was greater in iron-deficient than -sufficient media for both mutant and control suggesting normal response to iron-deficiency by pOAF40. Further characterization of this mutant is being performed to determine whether the mutation deregulates ferritin expression or leads to over-accumulation of iron in leaves.MU Monsanto Undergraduate Research Fellowshi

Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics for String-Bits

We develop possible versions of supersymmetric single particle quantum mechanics, with application to superstring-bit models in view. We focus principally on space dimensions $d=1,2,4,8$, the transverse dimensionalities of superstring in $3,4,6,10$ space-time dimensions. These are the cases for which ``classical'' superstring makes sense, and also the values of $d$ for which Hooke's force law is compatible with the simplest superparticle dynamics. The basic question we address is: When is it possible to replace such harmonic force laws with more general ones, including forces which vanish at large distances? This is an important question because forces between string-bits that do not fall off with distance will almost certainly destroy cluster decomposition. We show that the answer is affirmative for $d=1,2$, negative for $d=8$, and so far inconclusive for $d=4$.Comment: 17 pages, Late

Liver safety assessment: required data elements and best practices for data collection and standardization in clinical trials.

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked Files. This article is open access.A workshop was convened to discuss best practices for the assessment of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) in clinical trials. In a breakout session, workshop attendees discussed necessary data elements and standards for the accurate measurement of DILI risk associated with new therapeutic agents in clinical trials. There was agreement that in order to achieve this goal the systematic acquisition of protocol-specified clinical measures and lab specimens from all study subjects is crucial. In addition, standard DILI terms that address the diverse clinical and pathologic signatures of DILI were considered essential. There was a strong consensus that clinical and lab analyses necessary for the evaluation of cases of acute liver injury should be consistent with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance on pre-marketing risk assessment of DILI in clinical trials issued in 2009. A recommendation that liver injury case review and management be guided by clinicians with hepatologic expertise was made. Of note, there was agreement that emerging DILI signals should prompt the systematic collection of candidate pharmacogenomic, proteomic and/or metabonomic biomarkers from all study subjects. The use of emerging standardized clinical terminology, CRFs and graphic tools for data review to enable harmonization across clinical trials was strongly encouraged. Many of the recommendations made in the breakout session are in alignment with those made in the other parallel sessions on methodology to assess clinical liver safety data, causality assessment for suspected DILI, and liver safety assessment in special populations (hepatitis B, C, and oncology trials). Nonetheless, a few outstanding issues remain for future consideration

Report of the Committee on Resolutions- Declaration

Pamphlet concerning a declaration made by the National Educational Association at the forty-fourth annual convention

Pediatric And Adult Lung Transplantation For Cystic Fibrosis

AbstractObjective: This paper was undertaken to review the experience at our institution with bilateral sequential lung transplantation for cystic fibrosis.Methods: Since 1989, 103 bilateral sequential lung transplants for cystic fibrosis have been performed (46 pediatric, 48 adult, 9 redo); the mean age was 21 ± 10 years. Cardiopulmonary bypass was used in all but one pediatric (age <18) transplant, and in 15% of adults.Results: Hospital mortality was 4.9%, with 80% of early deaths related to infection. Bronchial anastomotic complications occurred with equal frequency in the pediatric and the adult populations (7.3%). One- and 3-year actuarial survival are 84% and 61%, respectively (no significant difference between pediatric and adult age groups; average follow-up 2.1 ± 1.6 years). Mean forced expiratory volume in 1 second increased from 25% ± 9% before transplantation to 79% ± 35% 1 year after transplantation. Acute rejection occurred 1.7 times per patient-year, with most episodes taking place within the first 6 months after transplantation. The need for treatment of lower respiratory tract infections occurred 1.2 times per patient in the first year after transplantation. Actuarial freedom from bronchiolitis obliterans was 63% at 2 years and 43% at 3 years. Redo transplantation was performed only in the pediatric population and was associated with an early mortality of 33%. Eight living donor transplants (four primary transplants, four redo transplants) were performed with an early survival of 87.5%.Conclusion: Patients with end-stage cystic fibrosis can undergo bilateral lung transplantation with morbidity and mortality comparable to that seen in pulmonary transplantation for other disease entities. (J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1998;115:404-14