Whether You Like It or Not: The Inclusion of Social Media Evidence in Sexual Harassment Cases and How Courts Can Effectively Control It

The increasing use of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace in social interactions has led to a corresponding increase in the use of social media evidence in litigation. Social media sites provide attorneys with easily accessible, up-to-date information about individuals, making such sites highly desirable sources of evidence. Although recent case law indicates that social media evidence is largely discoverable and often admissible, allowing broad discovery of social media evidence in sexual harassment cases could be highly problematic for plaintiffs because it often produces irrelevant and prejudicial evidence that only serves to embarrass plaintiffs and dissuade them from pursuing otherwise meritorious claims. This Note examines the impact of social media discovery and admission on plaintiffs in sexual harassment cases. It argues that in order to prevent the production of irrelevant and prejudicial social media evidence in sexual harassment cases, courts should apply the principles of Federal Rule of Evidence 412 to the discovery phase and conduct an in camera review of social media evidence before allowing the defense to view it

LOWER LIMB TRI-JOINT SYNCHRONY DURING RUNNING: A LONGITUDINAL AGE-BASED STUDY

Cluster Phase analysis was used to examine age-related changes in synchrony between three joints of the lower limb during running stance. Ten male, endurance athletes (Age = 53.54±2.56 years [M50]) participated in the study at baseline (0 years) and then returned for re-testing after seven years (Age = 60.49±2.56 years [M57]). Lower limb coordinate and ground reaction forces were collected as participants performed running trials at a velocity of 3.83±0.40 m/s contacting the force plate with their preferred limb. Statistical parametric mapping identified that the hip, knee and ankle joint synchrony during the stance phase did not change. However tri-joint synchrony was significantly higher at M57 compared to M50 during the absorption sub-phase of stance. The increased joint synchrony as a function of age could be a mechanism associated with this key injury provoking phase

AN AGE-BASED KINETIC ANALYSIS THAT UNDERPINS JOINT COORDINATION IN RUNNING PERFORMANCE

The purpose of this study was to examine the age-based biomechanics that underpins lower body joint coordination during running gait. A longitudinal approach was adopted and experienced male distance runners (initially with a mean age = 53.34 years) were examined over a seven-year period. Three-dimensional joint coordinate and contact ground reaction force data were collected for running trials with a horizontal velocity = 3.83±0.40 m·s-1. ANOVA showed significant increases (p \u3c 0.03) in knee joint moments at amortisation and peak impact and braking forces. Statistical parametric mapping identified decreased hip moments at ~25-40 % of stance. With age there is an increase requirement to attenuate the passive impact forces which places the lower body musculature under further stress. The changes in hip moments, whilst the hip joint is extending, suggests a shift in power production to the knee and ankle which has been previously reported with faster running (Ferris et al., 2012)

The effects of closeness on the election of a pairwise majority rule winner

Some studies have recently examined the effect of closeness on the probability of observing the monotonicity paradox in three-candidate elections under Scoring Elimination Rules. It has been shown that the frequency of such paradox significantly increases as elections become more closely contested. In this paper we consider the effect of closeness on one of the most studied notions in Social Choice Theory: The election of the Condorcet winner, i.e., the candidate who defeats any other opponent in pairwise majority comparisons, when she exists. To be more concrete, we use the well known concept of the Condorcet efficiency, that is, the conditional probability that a voting rule will elect the Condorcet winner, given that such a candidate exists. Our results, based on the Impartial Anonymous Culture (IAC) assumption, show that closeness has also a significant effect on the Condorcet efficiency of different voting rules in the class of Scoring and Scoring Elimination Rules

A Synthetic Coiled-Coil Interactome Provides Heterospecific Modules for Molecular Engineering

The versatile coiled-coil protein motif is widely used to induce and control macromolecular interactions in biology and materials science. Yet the types of interaction patterns that can be constructed using known coiled coils are limited. Here we greatly expand the coiled-coil toolkit by measuring the complete pairwise interactions of 48 synthetic coiled coils and 7 human bZIP coiled coils using peptide microarrays. The resulting 55-member protein “interactome” includes 27 pairs of interacting peptides that preferentially heteroassociate. The 27 pairs can be used in combinations to assemble sets of 3 to 6 proteins that compose networks of varying topologies. Of special interest are heterospecific peptide pairs that participate in mutually orthogonal interactions. Such pairs provide the opportunity to dimerize two separate molecular systems without undesired crosstalk. Solution and structural characterization of two such sets of orthogonal heterodimers provide details of their interaction geometries. The orthogonal pair, along with the many other network motifs discovered in our screen, provide new capabilities for synthetic biology and other applications.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH Award GM067681)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NCRR Award RR-15301

Gln-tRNAGln synthesis in a dynamic transamidosome from Helicobacter pylori, where GluRS2 hydrolyzes excess Glu-tRNAGln

In many bacteria and archaea, an ancestral pathway is used where asparagine and glutamine are formed from their acidic precursors while covalently linked to tRNAAsn and tRNAGln, respectively. Stable complexes formed by the enzymes of these indirect tRNA aminoacylation pathways are found in several thermophilic organisms, and are called transamidosomes. We describe here a transamidosome forming Gln-tRNAGln in Helicobacter pylori, an ε-proteobacterium pathogenic for humans; this transamidosome displays novel properties that may be characteristic of mesophilic organisms. This ternary complex containing the non-canonical GluRS2 specific for Glu-tRNAGln formation, the tRNA-dependent amidotransferase GatCAB and tRNAGln was characterized by dynamic light scattering. Moreover, we observed by interferometry a weak interaction between GluRS2 and GatCAB (KD = 40 ± 5 µM). The kinetics of Glu-tRNAGln and Gln-tRNAGln formation indicate that conformational shifts inside the transamidosome allow the tRNAGln acceptor stem to interact alternately with GluRS2 and GatCAB despite their common identity elements. The integrity of this dynamic transamidosome depends on a critical concentration of tRNAGln, above which it dissociates into separate GatCAB/tRNAGln and GluRS2/tRNAGln complexes. Ester bond protection assays show that both enzymes display a good affinity for tRNAGln regardless of its aminoacylation state, and support a mechanism where GluRS2 can hydrolyze excess Glu-tRNAGln, ensuring faithful decoding of Gln codons

Histological and immunohistochemical features of the spleen in persistent polyclonal B-cell lymphocytosis closely mimic splenic B-cell lymphoma

Persistent polyclonal B-cell lymphocytosis (PPBL) is rare and intriguing hematological disorder predominantly reported in young to middle- aged smoking women. It is characterized by persistent moderate polyclonal B-cell lymphocytosis with circulating hallmark binucleated lymphocytes and elevated polyclonal serum IgM. Most patients have benign clinical course on long-term follow-up. Some pathologic features of PPBL may resemble malignant lymphoma, including morphology as well as frequent cytogenetic and molecular abnormalities. Significant symptomatic splenomegaly requiring splenectomy is very unusual for this disorder; therefore there is a lack of descriptions of the morphologic features of the spleen in the literature. We present here one of the first detailed descriptions of the morphologic and immunohistochemical features of the spleen from a young female with PPBL who developed massive splenomegaly during 6-year follow up. Splenectomy was performed for symptomatic relief and suspicion of malignant process. The morphological and immunohistochemical features of the spleen closely mimicked involvement by B-cell lymphoma, however there was no monotypic surface light chain restriction seen by flow cytometry and no clonal rearrangement of IgH gene was detected by molecular analysis. Evaluating a splenectomy sample in cases like this may present a diagnostic challenge to pathologists. Therefore, correlation with B cell clonality studies (by flow cytometry and molecular analysis), clinical findings and peripheral blood morphology searching for characteristic binucleated lymphocytes is essential to avoid misdiagnosing this benign process as B-cell lymphoma. We also present here a literature review on pathogenesis of PPBL