86 research outputs found

    Who Gets In? The Quest for Diversity after \u3cem\u3eGrutter\u3c/em\u3e

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    On March 8, 2004, the University at Buffalo Law School hosted its annual Mitchell Lecture,1 a panel discussion entitled, Who Gets In? The Quest for Diversity After Grutter. The Mitchell Committee decided to focus this year\u27s lecture on innovative proposals to ensure diversity in law school admissions in light of the Supreme Court\u27s ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger, which confirmed that race and ethnicity could be taken into consideration in admission decisions for diversity purposes. Noting that much of the debate about Grutter thus far has emphasized the decision\u27s constitutionality or its implications for affirmative action, the Committee sought to have a different kind of conversation, one that explored new approaches to admissions that might aid law schools in admitting more diverse student bodies. To this end, the Committee invited five leading scholars, whose work, either analytical or empirical, could change or deepen understandings about the potential for and the obstacles to diversity in law school admissions post-Grutter. Their short presentations (each speaker had only twelve minutes to speak), which provoked a lively discussion, are presented in this edited transcript of the event together with selected excerpts from the question and answer period

    Environmental stress in the Gulf of Mexico and its potential impact on public health

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    © 2015 Elsevier Inc. The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the largest maritime oil spill in history resulting in the accumulation of genotoxic substances in the air, soil, and water. This has potential far-reaching health impacts on cleanup field workers and on the populations living in the contaminated coastal areas. We have employed portable airborne particulate matter samplers (SKC Biosampler Impinger) and a genetically engineered bacterial reporter system (umu-ChromoTest from EBPI) to determine levels of genotoxicity of air samples collected from highly contaminated areas of coastal Louisiana including Grand Isle, Port Fourchon, and Elmer\u27s Island in the spring, summer and fall of 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Air samples collected from a non-contaminated area, Sea Rim State Park, Texas, served as a control for background airborne genotoxic particles. In comparison to controls, air samples from the contaminated areas demonstrated highly significant increases in genotoxicity with the highest values registered during the month of July in 2011, 2013, and 2014, in all three locations. This seasonal trend was disrupted in 2012, when the highest genotoxicity values were detected in October, which correlated with hurricane Isaac landfall in late August of 2012, about five weeks before a routine collection of fall air samples. Our data demonstrate: (i) high levels of air genotoxicity in the monitored areas over last four years post DWH oil spill; (ii) airborne particulate genotoxicity peaks in summers and correlates with high temperatures and high humidity; and (iii) this seasonal trend was disrupted by the hurricane Isaac landfall, which further supports the concept of a continuous negative impact of the oil spill in this region

    Cancer stem cell metabolism: A potential target for cancer therapy

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    © 2016 The Author(s). Cancer Stem cells (CSCs) are a unipotent cell population present within the tumour cell mass. CSCs are known to be highly chemo-resistant, and in recent years, they have gained intense interest as key tumour initiating cells that may also play an integral role in tumour recurrence following chemotherapy. Cancer cells have the ability to alter their metabolism in order to fulfil bio-energetic and biosynthetic requirements. They are largely dependent on aerobic glycolysis for their energy production and also are associated with increased fatty acid synthesis and increased rates of glutamine utilisation. Emerging evidence has shown that therapeutic resistance to cancer treatment may arise due to dysregulation in glucose metabolism, fatty acid synthesis, and glutaminolysis. To propagate their lethal effects and maintain survival, tumour cells alter their metabolic requirements to ensure optimal nutrient use for their survival, evasion from host immune attack, and proliferation. It is now evident that cancer cells metabolise glutamine to grow rapidly because it provides the metabolic stimulus for required energy and precursors for synthesis of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. It can also regulate the activities of some of the signalling pathways that control the proliferation of cancer cells. This review describes the key metabolic pathways required by CSCs to maintain a survival advantage and highlights how a combined approach of targeting cellular metabolism in conjunction with the use of chemotherapeutic drugs may provide a promising strategy to overcome therapeutic resistance and therefore aid in cancer therapy
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