How Panels Affect Judges: Evidence From United States District Courts

Recent research has shown that judges on panels decide cases differently than they do individually. Understanding these panel effects is essential to understanding and predicting judicial behavior. This Article uses a unique naturalexperiment, and interviewsof United States district court judges who participatedin this ex-periment, to empirically investigate panel effects. Specifically, in fourteen district courts the judges chose to sit in an en banc panelto decide the constitutionalityof the FederalSentencing Guide- lines; in fifty-three other districts, the judges decided the issue in- dividually instead. This Article compares the decisions and the characteristicsof these districts to study how panels affect judicialdecision making and to answer the related question of why federal judges who have the authority to decide a case individually would choose to do so as part of a panel instead. Among the panel effects the Article finds is that judges in dis- tricts that sat en banc were much more likely to be unanimous intheir voting and also were more likely to find the Guidelines un-constitutional than were judges in other districts. In addition, it appears that a primary purpose of sitting en banc was to obtain these panel effects. Finally, the Article provides evidence of the ef-fects of court structure and composition on judicial collegiality and the propensity to sit en banc. Among the issues the Article ex-amines are how the number of judges and the geographic dis-tances betweenjudges on a court affect judicialcollegiality and thelikelihood that a court sits en banc

Exploiting Pre-Existing Beliefs

Advertisements and product labels for a wide range of consumer and investment products have highlighted product characteristics that some people erroneously believe make them superior to competitor goods and services. This article argues that these advertisements and labels are deceptive because they imply that those erroneous beliefs are accurate even if they don’t mention the erroneous beliefs. Moreover, these advertisements and labels can deceive even those individuals who have no pre-existing beliefs regarding the highlighted characteristics. This deception distorts purchasing and investing decisions, causing consumers and investors financial loss, reduced satisfaction, and sometimes even physical harm. Because these advertisements and labels are used for many different products, they are regulated by a number of federal agencies, whose regulatory approach often requires the advertisement or label to include a disclaimer of the erroneous belief. This article examines the effectiveness of such disclaimers and other possible regulatory approaches. It argues that often a stronger approach is justified: a prohibition against highlighting a product characteristic about which consumers or investors have an erroneous belief

Polyorchidism: case report and literature review

Polyorchidism is a rare congenital anomaly frequently associated with maldescent testis, hernia, and torsion. Reports in the literature show an increased risk of testicular malignancy in the presence of polyorchidism. This entity has characteristic sonographic features and the diagnosis is often made on the basis of sonography. A conservative approach is the treatment of choice in uncomplicated cases. We report a male of 26-years old with 2 testicles in right side diagnosed by ultrasound. A brief history and review of the literature is also presente

A szívfrekvencia-variabilitás jelentősen csökken nem diabeteses hypertoniás betegek körében

Bevezetés: A szívfrekvencia-variabilitás csökken hypertoniában vagy diabetes mellitusban szenvedők körében. A hypertonia és a diabetes mellitus egymással gyakori komorbiditást mutatnak. Nincs elegendő adat arról, hogy a kontrollhoz képest diabetes mellitusban nem szenvedő hypertoniás betegek körében hogyan változik a szívfrekvencia-variabilitás. Célkitűzés: A szerzők hypertoniában szenvedő diabeteses és nem diabeteses betegekben, valamint kontrollegyénekben a szívfrekvencia-variabilitás vizsgálatát tűzték ki célul. Módszer: 130 hypertoniában, 48 hypertoniában és 2-es típusú diabetes mellitusban szenvedő beteget, valamint 87 kontrollszemélyt vontak be a vizsgálatba. A minimális, átlagos és maximális szívfrekvenciát, valamint az egymást követő RR-intervallumok időtartamának és 5 perces szegmensekben mért átlagának szórását határozták meg. Eredmények: Az átlagos minimális szívfrekvencia szignifikánsan nem különbözött a csoportok között. A kontrollhoz képest a többi paraméter szignifikánsan csökkent mind a hypertoniában, mind a hypertoniában és diabetesben szenvedő betegek csoportjában. A hypertoniás csoporthoz képest a hypertoniában és diabetesben szenvedő csoportban a paraméterek nem különböztek szignifikánsan. Következtetések: Diabetes mellitusban nem szenvedő hypertoniás betegek körében a szívfrekvencia-variabilitás jelentősen beszűkül. Úgy tűnik, hogy hypertoniás betegek körében a 2-es típusú diabetes mellitus szignifikánsan már nem csökkenti tovább a szívfrekvencia-variabilitást. Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(22), 865–870. | Introductions: Heart rate variability is reduced among patients with hypertension or those with diabetes mellitus. Hypertension and diabetes show frequent co-morbidity, but it is still not entirely clear whether heart arte variability is reduced in non-diabetic patients with hypertension. Aim: The aim of the authors was to evaluate the heart rate variability in hypertensive patients with and without diabetes and in control subjects. Method: 130 patients with hypertension, 48 patients with hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus, and 87 control subjects were involved in the study. Minimum, mean and maximum heart rate, and parameters of heart rate variability were measured. Results: The mean of minimum heart rate did not differ significantly between the three groups. However, all other parameters were significantly reduced in patients with hypertension with and without diabetes as compared to the control group. No significant differences were observed between hypertensive patients with and without diabetes mellitus. Conclusions: Heart rate variability is significantly reduced in non-diabetic patients with hypertension. It seems that type 2 diabetes results in no further significant reduction of heart rate variability in patients with hypertension. Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(22), 865–870

Primary HIV-1 Infection Among Infants in sub-Saharan Africa: HPTN 024.

Our objectives were to assess clinical signs and diagnoses associated with primary HIV-1 infection among infants. We analyzed data from a clinical trial (HIV Prevention Trials Network Protocol 024) in sub-Saharan Africa. Study visits were conducted at birth, at 4-6 weeks, and at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. The study population comprised live born, singleton, first-born infants of HIV-1-infected women with negative HIV-1 RNA assays who were still breastfeeding at 4-6 weeks. Of 1317 HIV-1-exposed infants, 84 became HIV-1 infected after 4-6 weeks and 1233 remained uninfected. There were 102 primary and 5650 nonprimary infection visits. The most common signs were cough and diarrhea, and the most common diagnoses were malaria and pneumonia. Primary infection was associated with significantly increased odds of diarrhea [odds ratio (OR) = 2.4], pneumonia (OR = 3.5), otitis media (OR = 3.1), and oral thrush (OR = 2.9). For the clinical signs and diagnoses evaluated, sensitivity was low (1%-16.7%) and specificity was high (88.2%-99%). Positive predictive values ranged from 0.1%-1.4%. Negative predictive values ranged from 28.0%-51.1%. Certain clinical signs and diagnoses, although more common during primary HIV-1 infection, had low sensitivity and high specificity. Efforts to expand access to laboratory assays for the diagnosis of primary HIV-1 infection among infants of HIV-1-infected women should be emphasized

The Plight of the Oromo Refugees in the Horn of Africa

The History of the Oromo people of Ethiopia is one of colonization, subjugation and decimation. In fact, the first refugees on record in the Horn were Oromos who left their homeland during the early period of Ethiopian occupation. Annexation by Ethiopia meant the loss of their main source of livelihood, the land, and the denial of the most basic human and national rights. The situation prompted frequent armed uprisings, which have become more organized in recent years. Confilict, political persecution, and the inept and destructive policies of the Ethiopian government have now displaced hundreds of thousands of Oromos. These people live either in the safe area within the Oromos' region, occupied by the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), or in the neighbouring states of Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya, the Sudan and beyond

Mutual Fund Performance Advertising: Inherently and Materially Misleading?

Mutual fund companies routinely advertise the pastreturns of their strong-performing, actively-managedequity funds. These performance advertisements implythat the advertised high past returns are likely tocontinue. Indeed, investors flock to these funds despitehigh past returns being a poor predictor of high futurereturns. Thus, fund performance advertising is inherentlyand materially misleading and violates federal securitiesantifraud standards. In addition, the SEC-mandatedwarning in these advertisements that past performancedoes not guarantee future results fails to temper investors\u27focus on past returns.The SEC should do more to prevent investors from beingmisled by fund performance advertisements. It should atleast require a stronger warning that makes clear thathigh returns by actively-managed mutual funds generallydo not persist. The SEC should also seriously considerreinstating its prior prohibition of performanceadvertisements. Such a ban would help investors focus onmore important fund characteristics,such a fund\u27s costs,risk, and the extent to which the fund\u27s investmentobjective matches that of the investor