Museums in the Crosshairs: Unintended Consequences of the War on Terror

Congress has passed ineffectual, “sound bite” anti-terrorism legislation that has foisted conflicting jurisdictional mandates upon the federal courts, sucked terrorist victims into a vacuous, exhausting drama with no chance for justice, and interfered with the President‟s ability to conduct diplomatic relations in the Middle East. One group of victims is mired in multiple jurisdictions trying to enforce a default judgment, exorbitant by international standards, against the Islamic Republic of Iran by forcing auctions of antiquities collections housed at Harvard University, the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago), and the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) among others. Congress in this political posturing has triggered the Department of Justice to participate in the litigation counter to the victims‟ interests. The victims likely feel ignored and maligned by their own president, while Congress all along was the master puppeteer of their false hopes. This Article analyzes the legislation and litigation and concludes that Congress should leave the ever-changing war on terror to the executive branch and that the artifacts should not be auctioned—even to satisfy the plaintiffs, the most deserving of victims

Evaluation of radiation treatment volumes for unknown primaries of the head and neck in the era of FDG PET.

OBJECTIVES:Positron-emission tomography (PET) has improved identification of the primary tumor as well as occult nodal burden in cancer of the head and neck. Nevertheless, there are still patients where the primary tumor cannot be located. In these situations, the standard of care is comprehensive head and neck radiation therapy however it is unclear whether this is necessary. This study examines the effects of radiation treatment volume on outcomes among using data from two cancer centers in unknown primary carcinoma of the head and neck. METHODS:Patients received unilateral (n = 34), or bilateral radiation (n = 28). Patient factors such as age, gender, smoking history, and patterns of failure were compared using Mann Whitney U and Chi Square. Overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) trends were estimated using Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Effect of treatment volume on survival was examined using multivariate cox proportional hazard regression model. RESULTS:No significant differences were observed in the frequency of local (p = 0.32), regional (p = 0.50), or distant (p = 0.76) failures between unilateral and bilateral radiation therapy. By Kaplan-Meier estimates, OS (3-year OS bilateral = 71.67%, unilateral = 77.90%, p = 0.50) and DFS (3-year DFS bilateral = 77.92%, unilateral = 69.43%, p = 0.63) were similar between the two treatment approaches. Lastly, multivariate analysis did not demonstrate any significant differences in outcome by treatment volumes (OS: HR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.31, 1.81, p = 0.51; DFS: HR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.24, 1.93, p = 0.47). CONCLUSIONS:Unilateral radiation therapy compared with bilateral produced similar survival