A quantitative assay for transformation of bone marrow cells by Abelson murine leukemia virus

A quantitative Abelson murine leukemia virus (A-MuLV) lymphoid cell transformation assay has been developed using a semisolid agarose culture system. Under these conditions lymphoid cell transformation was shown to vary linearly with the dose of A-MuLV used. The susceptibility of bone marrow cells from different strains of mice to A-MuLV-induced transformation can be estimated using the agarose assay. Strains with bone marrow cells of high, medium, and low susceptibility to A-MuLV can be identified. The assay has been used to study the susceptibility of cells from lymphoid organs of fetal and adult mice to A-MuLV. Cell suspensions from fetal liver, adult bone marrow, and adult spleen are susceptible to A-MuLV, while thymocytes are resistant to A-MuLV-induced transformation. Bovine serum albumin gradient fractionation of bone marrow cells before infection with A-MuLV demonstrates that the majority of A-MuLV-sensitive cells are recovered in a broad band partially overlapping the majority of the nucleated cells. The agarose assay system allows study of A-MuLV-lymphoid cell interaction at the level of single cell-single virus particle interaction

The effect of helper virus on Abelson virus-induced transformation of lymphoid cells

Abelson murine leukemia virus (A-MuLV)-transformed fibroblast nonproducer cells were used to prepare A-MuLV stocks containing a number of different helper viruses. The oncogenicity of the A-MuLV stocks was tested by animal inoculation and their ability to transform normal mouse bone marrow cells was measured in vitro. All of the A-MuLV stocks transformed fibroblast cells efficiently. However, only A-MuLV stocks prepared with helper viruses that are highly oncogenic were efficient in vivo and in vitro in hematopoietic cell transformation. In addition, inefficient helpers did not establish a stable infection in lymphoid nonproducer cells. Thus, helper virus has a more central role in lymphoid cell transformation than in fibroblast cell transformation

Demographic Change and Economic Growth in South Asia

Identifying factors that influence the pace of national economic growth is a time-worn activity of economists. Strangely, demographic change has often been absent from consideration. But new thinking and evidence have highlighted the powerful contribution that demographic change can make to economic growth, and this line of inquiry has some salient implications for understanding past growth in South Asia and assessing and shaping its future prospects.economic growth, South Asia, demographic change

Galaxy Formation: Was There A Big Bang Shell?

The tight correlation of galactic velocity distribution to both luminosity and its black hole mass and the relation of halo parameters to luminous mass distribution, can not be due to collapse dynamics. A big bang shell can solve galaxy formation problems by forming the supermassive black holes necessary to capture the initial blast wave in a coordinated pattern.Comment: 7 pages late

Concepcion's Pro-Defendant Biasing of the Arbitration Process: The Class Counsel Solution

By mandating that numerous plaintiffs litigate their common question claims separately in individual arbitrations rather than jointly in class action arbitrations, the Supreme Court in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion entrenched a potent structural and systemic bias in favor of defendants. The bias arises from the parties' divergent stakes in the outcome of the common question litigation in individual arbitrations: each plaintiff will only invest to maximize the value of his or her own claim, but the defendant has an incentive to protect its entire exposure and thus will have a classwide incentive to invest more in contesting common questions. This investment advantage enables the defendant to wield superior litigation power against each plaintiff skewing the outcome of individual arbitrations in its favor and frequently rendering claims not worth filing. Concepcion perpetuates the bias by precluding the use of a class arbitration solution. We propose that courts neutralize the Concepcion bias by appointing class counsel to represent each plaintiff in individual arbitrations. Without threatening Concepcion's holding that arbitral efficiency precludes class arbitration unless the parties specify otherwise, the class counsel solution equalizes the parties' investment incentives to transform individual arbitrations into a socially useful legal system for promoting the deterrence, compensation, and other public policy objectives of federal and state substantive law

The Future of South Asia: Population Dynamics, Economic Prospects, and Regional Coherence

What do we foresee for South Asia in 2060, in light of the significant changes it has undergone in the past few decades? India has experienced rapid economic growth, but continues to suffer widespread, extreme poverty as well. Afghanistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka have seen major conflicts, with Pakistan always seeming on the verge of a major eruption. Nepal and Sri Lanka finally seem to have moved toward peace. As elsewhere, the region's many developments and crosscurrents make reliable predictions difficult, but one relatively neglected set of factors – demographic change – may shed some light on the region's future. Throughout the world, falling mortality rates and declining birth rates have been predictive of growing per-capita incomes, and theoretical reasoning and related evidence are sufficiently compelling to think that the links may indeed be causal. In this vein, this essay explores South Asia's economic prospects through a demographic lens. In addition, as we will see, there are some similar demographic trends across the countries of South Asia, but there are also a number of extreme differences. Regional heterogeneity bears on the question, "to what extent is South Asia a coherent region?"South Asia, demographic change, economic prospects, demographic trends, regional heterogeneity

Cruises, Class Actions, and the Court

As the Carnival Triumph debacle splashed across the national consciousness, lawyers shook their heads. Sensationalist news coverage exposed common knowledge in the legal community: cruise passengers have little recourse against carriers, and, as a result, they often bear the brunt of serious physical and financial injuries. Cruise lines, escaping legal accountability for their negligence, sail off undeterred from neglecting passenger safety on future voyages. While its previous decisions helped entrench this problem, a recently argued case presents the Supreme Court with another opportunity to address it