Is it possible to go from Zero to 60? An evaluation of one effort to build Belief, Capacity, and Community in Street Law Instructors in One Weekend

“From Zero to Sixty: Building Belief, Capacity, and Community in Street Law Instructors in One Weekend”,[1] offered guidance in how to prepare law students to teach Street Law through an annotated step-by-step outline of a unique weekend orientation program developed and field-tested by the seminal Georgetown Street Law program and delivered in partnership with the Law Societies of Ireland and Scotland. Although this seminal paper provided scholars and practitioners with invaluable resources, recommendations, and insights, readers left this original paper with a critical unanswered question: Does this orientation program actually work?In the present paper, we strongly answer that question in the affirmative. We briefly revisit our original paper as context and then present, share, and discuss both quantitative and qualitative data gathered to evaluate how effectively the orientation program accomplished its stated goals of building belief, capacity, and community in Street Law instructors in one weekend.  The results derived from the data collected in both Ireland and Scotland evidence a series of powerful outcomes that support the orientation program’s efficacy and impact. We hope that the transformative change in attitudes and student growth measured over the course of the weekend will act as a catalyst to practitioners seeking to prepare the next generation of Street Lawyers and launch the next wave of Street Law programs. [1] Arthurs, S., Cooperman, M., Gallagher, J., Grealy, F., Lunney, J., Marrs, R., & Roe, R. (2017). From Zero to 60: Building Belief, Capacity and Community in Street Law Instructors in One Weekend. International Journal of Clinical Legal Education, 24(2), 118-24

Vitamin D and oestrogen receptor polymorphisms in developmental dysplasia of the hip and primary protrusio acetabuli – A preliminary study

We investigated the association of developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) and primary protrusion acetabuli (PPA) with Vitamin D receptor polymorphisms Taq I and Fok I and oestrogen receptor polymorphisms Pvu II and Xba I. 45 patients with DDH and 20 patients with PPA were included in the study. Healthy controls (n = 101) aged 18–60 years were recruited from the same geographical area. The control subjects had a normal acetabular morphology based on a recent pelvic radiograph performed for an unrelated cause. DNA was obtained from all the subjects from peripheral blood. Genotype frequencies were compared in the three groups. The relationship between the genotype and morphology of the hip joint, severity of the disease, age at onset of disease and gender were examined. The oestrogen receptor Xba I wild-type genotype (XX, compared with Xx and xx combined) was more common in the DDH group (55.8%) than controls (37.9%), though this just failed to achieve statistical significance (p = 0.053, odds ratio = 2.1, 95% CI = 0.9–4.6). In the DDH group, homozygosity for the mutant Taq I Vitamin D receptor t allele was associated with higher acetabular index (Mann-Whitney U-test, p = 0.03). Pvu II pp oestrogen receptor genotype was associated with low centre edge angle (p = 0.07). This study suggests a possible correlation between gene polymorphism in the oestrogen and vitamin D receptors and susceptibility to, and severity of DDH. The Taq I vitamin D receptor polymorphisms may be associated with abnormal acetabular morphology leading to DDH while the Xba I oestrogen receptor XX genotype may be associated with increased risk of developing DDH. No such correlations were found in the group with PPA

Effects of humidity, leaf wetness, temperature and light on conidial production by Phaeoisariopsis personata on groundnut

Conidial production by P. personata [Mycosphaerella berkeleyi] on groundnut was studied under controlled environment conditions. With constant RH, conidia were only produced above a threshold (94.5% RH) and there was a linear increase between 94.5 and 100% RH. Conidial production was less with continuous leaf wetness (resembling heavy dew) than with continuous (98-99%) RH, but it was similar with intermittent leaf wetness and intermittent (98-99%) RH (8 h at 70% RH each day). With alternate high (≥97% RH) and low humidity, daily conidial production depended both on the duration of high RH and on the low RH value. With 99% RH at night (12 h), night-time conidial production decreased with the previous daytime RH. After conidial production had started, small numbers of conidia were produced even when the RH was well below the threshold level (94.5%). Conidia were produced in continuous light when the photon flux density was 2 µmol/m²/s, but production was completely inhibited with 60 µmol/m²/s. With constant RH, more conidia were produced with a 12-h photoperiod than in continuous darkness. However, >75% of the conidia were produced in the dark. With continuous darkness, more conidia were produced during the night (18.00-06.00 h) than during the day, but this biological rhythm was overcome with a light-night/dark-day regime. With constant (98-99%) RH, there was a linear increase in conidial production with temp. between 10 and 28°C, and virtually no conidia were produced at 33°. The daily production of conidia increased with time for 2-6 d, depending on the treatment

A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing the Effects of Counseling and Alarm Device on HAART Adherence and Virologic Outcomes

Michael Chung and colleagues show that intensive early adherence counseling at HAART initiation resulted in sustained, significant impact on adherence and virologic treatment failure, whereas use of an alarm device had no effect

The genetic epidemiology of joint shape and the development of osteoarthritis

Congruent, low-friction relative movement between the articulating elements of a synovial joint is an essential pre-requisite for sustained, efficient, function. Where disorders of joint formation or maintenance exist, mechanical overloading and osteoarthritis (OA) follow. The heritable component of OA accounts for ~ 50% of susceptible risk. Although almost 100 genetic risk loci for OA have now been identified, and the epidemiological relationship between joint development, joint shape and osteoarthritis is well established, we still have only a limited understanding of the contribution that genetic variation makes to joint shape and how this modulates OA risk. In this article, a brief overview of synovial joint development and its genetic regulation is followed by a review of current knowledge on the genetic epidemiology of established joint shape disorders and common shape variation. A summary of current genetic epidemiology of OA is also given, together with current evidence on the genetic overlap between shape variation and OA. Finally, the established genetic risk loci for both joint shape and osteoarthritis are discussed

Effect of sitagliptin on cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND: Data are lacking on the long-term effect on cardiovascular events of adding sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor, to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. METHODS: In this randomized, double-blind study, we assigned 14,671 patients to add either sitagliptin or placebo to their existing therapy. Open-label use of antihyperglycemic therapy was encouraged as required, aimed at reaching individually appropriate glycemic targets in all patients. To determine whether sitagliptin was noninferior to placebo, we used a relative risk of 1.3 as the marginal upper boundary. The primary cardiovascular outcome was a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for unstable angina. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 3.0 years, there was a small difference in glycated hemoglobin levels (least-squares mean difference for sitagliptin vs. placebo, -0.29 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.32 to -0.27). Overall, the primary outcome occurred in 839 patients in the sitagliptin group (11.4%; 4.06 per 100 person-years) and 851 patients in the placebo group (11.6%; 4.17 per 100 person-years). Sitagliptin was noninferior to placebo for the primary composite cardiovascular outcome (hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.88 to 1.09; P<0.001). Rates of hospitalization for heart failure did not differ between the two groups (hazard ratio, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.20; P = 0.98). There were no significant between-group differences in rates of acute pancreatitis (P = 0.07) or pancreatic cancer (P = 0.32). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease, adding sitagliptin to usual care did not appear to increase the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, hospitalization for heart failure, or other adverse events