Reflections on Litigating Holocaust Stolen Art Cases

In this Article we have attempted to provide an overview of the Nazi-looted art cases in their historical context. We have based the discussion on our knowledge and experience in litigating art law cases, particularly cases involving Nazi art looting, post-war restitution, and recent developments in art law. Any discussion of the legal implications of crimes committed by Nazi authorities during the Holocaust must begin with an obvious disclaimer. While bringing cases to recover artwork stolen by Nazi authorities is self-evidently a worthy pursuit, and while our firm is very proud to be intensively involved in this effort, we cannot even imagine the extent of the atrocities suffered by our clients\u27 ancestors (and our own) as a result of the high crimes committed against them. It is nonetheless humbly gratifying to work in this area of the law and to think that, in some small way, we are bringing comfort to the victims and their families. In the case of Mrs. Altmann, a vibrant and fascinating 89-year-old woman who vividly recalls the specific location in her uncle and aunt\u27s residence of each Klimt masterpiece she is seeking to recover, this sense of personal gratification is particularly high

Community to clinic navigation to improve diabetes outcomes

Rural residents experience rates of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) that are considerably higher than their urban or suburban counterparts. Two primary modifiable factors, self-management and formal clinical management, have potential to greatly improve diabetes outcomes. “Community to Clinic Navigation to Improve Diabetes Outcomes,” is the first known randomized clinical trial pilot study to test a hybrid model of diabetes self-management education plus clinical navigation among rural residents with T2DM. Forty-one adults with T2DM were recruited from two federally qualified health centers in rural Appalachia from November 2014–January 2015. Community health workers provided navigation, including helping participants understand and implement a diabetes self-management program through six group sessions and, if needed, providing assistance in obtaining clinic visits (contacting providers\u27 offices for appointments, making reminder calls, and facilitating transportation and dependent care). Pre and post-test data were collected on T2DM self-management, physical measures, demographics, psychosocial factors, and feasibility (cost, retention, and satisfaction). Although lacking statistical significance, some outcomes indicate trends in positive directions, including diet, foot care, glucose monitoring, and physical health, including decreased HbA1c and triglyceride levels. Process evaluations revealed high levels of satisfaction and feasibility. Due to the limited intervention dose, modest program expenditures (~$29,950), and a severely affected population most of whom had never received diabetes education, outcomes were not as robust as anticipated. Given high rates of satisfaction and retention, this culturally appropriate small group intervention holds promise for hard to reach rural populations. Modifications should include expanded recruitment venues, sample size, intervention dosage and longer term assessment

Magnetic quantum oscillations in nanowires

Analytical expressions for the magnetization and the longitudinal conductivity of nanowires are derived in a magnetic field, B. We show that the interplay between size and magnetic field energy-level quantizations manifests itself through novel magnetic quantum oscillations in metallic nanowires. There are three characteristic frequencies of de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) and Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations, F=F_0,F_1, and F_2 in contrast with a single frequency F'_0 in simple bulk metals. The amplitude of oscillations is strongly enhanced in some "magic" magnetic fields. The wire cross-section S can be measured along with the Fermi surface cross-section, S_F

The Relationship between Neighborhood Food Environment and Food Store Choice on Purchasing Habits among SNAP and Lower Income Households, USDA FoodAPS Data

The objective of the study was to determine relationship between neighborhood food store availability, store choice and food purchasing habits among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participating households. The study sample consisted of SNAP households (n=1581) and low income households participating in the USDA\u27s National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of American households with household food purchases and acquisitions data. Main Outcomes: 1) Food purchasing choices (sugar-sweetened beverages, fruits and vegetables, snacks, water, and milk) obtained from store receipts over a one-week period; 2) food shopping activities was obtained from a log book of where food was purchased over a one-week period. Key findings indicated those SNAP households within 1 mile of a supermarket had higher odds of shopping at a supermarket (2.05 OR [95% CI 1.34, 3.15]) compared to those without a supermarket. Shopping at a supermarket was associated with greater odds of purchasing water and low-calorie beverages (OR 1.69 [95% CI 1.12, 2.54]) and fruits and vegetables (OR 2.50 (95% CI 1.52, 4.11]) compared to not shopping at supermarket among SNAP households. Additionally, a fractional multinomial logit analysis (n=4,664) similarly found that close proximity to superstores or supermarkets increases the share of weekly food purchases made there, and that car access increases purchases made at restaurants while decreasing purchases made at other food shopping venues. Findings suggest that policies aiming to improve food purchasing habits among SNAP need to consider how to situate stores where SNAP households will choose to shop

Spectral properties of distance matrices

Distance matrices are matrices whose elements are the relative distances between points located on a certain manifold. In all cases considered here all their eigenvalues except one are non-positive. When the points are uncorrelated and randomly distributed we investigate the average density of their eigenvalues and the structure of their eigenfunctions. The spectrum exhibits delocalized and strongly localized states which possess different power-law average behaviour. The exponents depend only on the dimensionality of the manifold.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figure

Digital Storytelling: A Tool for Health Promotion and Cancer Awareness in Rural Alaskan Communities

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to learn community members\u27 perspectives about digital storytelling after viewing a digital story created by a Community Health Aide/Practitioner (CHA/P). METHODS: Using a qualitative research design, we explored digital storytelling likeability as a health-messaging tool, health information viewers reported learning and, if viewing, cancer-related digital stories facilitated increased comfort in talking about cancer. In addition, we enquired if the digital stories affected how viewers felt about cancer, as well as if viewing the digital stories resulted in health behaviour change or intent to change health behaviour. FINDINGS: A total of 15 adult community members participated in a 30-45 minute interview, 1-5 months post-viewing of a CHA/P digital story. The majority (13) of viewers interviewed were female, all were Alaska Native and they ranged in age from 25 to 54 years with the average age being 40 years. Due to the small size of communities, which ranged in population from 160 to 2,639 people, all viewers knew the story creator or knew of the story creator. Viewers reported digital stories as an acceptable, emotionally engaging way to increase their cancer awareness and begin conversations. These conversations often served as a springboard for reflection, insight, and cancer-prevention and risk-reduction activities

Overcoming the COVID-19 Pandemic for Dementia Research: Engaging Rural, Older, Racially and Ethnically Diverse Church Attendees in Remote Recruitment, Intervention and Assessment

Background: Access to cognitive screening in rural underserved communities is limited and was further diminished during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined whether a telephone-based cognitive screening intervention would be effective in increasing ADRD knowledge, detecting the need for further cognitive evaluation, and making and tracking the results of referrals. Method: Using a dependent t-test design, older, largely African American and Afro-Caribbean participants completed a brief educational intervention, pre/post AD knowledge measure, and cognitive screening. Results: Sixty of 85 eligible individuals consented. Seventy-percent of the sample self-reported as African American, Haitian Creole, or Hispanic, and 75% were female, with an average age of 70. AD knowledge pre-post scores improved significantly (t (49) = −3.4, p \u3c .001). Of the 11 referred after positive cognitive screening, 72% completed follow-up with their provider. Five were newly diagnosed with dementia. Three reported no change in diagnosis or treatment. Ninety-percent consented to enrolling in a registry for future research. Conclusion: Remote engagement is feasible for recruiting, educating, and conducting cognitive screening with rural older adults during a pandemic

Investigating the functionality of an OCT4-short response element in human induced pluripotent stem cells.

Pluripotent stem cells offer great therapeutic promise for personalized treatment platforms for numerous injuries, disorders, and diseases. Octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (OCT4) is a key regulatory gene maintaining pluripotency and self-renewal of mammalian cells. With site-specific integration for gene correction in cellular therapeutics, use of the OCT4 promoter may have advantages when expressing a suicide gene if pluripotency remains. However, the human OCT4 promoter region is 4 kb in size, limiting the capacity of therapeutic genes and other regulatory components for viral vectors, and decreasing the efficiency of homologous recombination. The purpose of this investigation was to characterize the functionality of a novel 967bp OCT4-short response element during pluripotency and to examine the OCT4 titer-dependent response during differentiation to human derivatives not expressing OCT4. Our findings demonstrate that the OCT4-short response element is active in pluripotency and this activity is in high correlation with transgene expression in vitro, and the OCT4-short response element is inactivated when pluripotent cells differentiate. These studies demonstrate that this shortened OCT4 regulatory element is functional and may be useful as part of an optimized safety component in a site-specific gene transferring system that could be used as an efficient and clinically applicable safety platform for gene transfer in cellular therapeutics

Community Leadership Institute of Kentucky

The Community Leadership Institute of Kentucky(CLIK) aims to improve community research capacity to address health disparities in communities, particularly Appalachia. Established in 2014, through a partnership of the UK Center of Excellence in Rural Health, the UK Center for Clinical and Translational Science Community Engagement Program, and the Kentucky Office of Rural Health, the intensive four-week training provides: Training in research and leadership Funding for community research projects Technical support for up to one year as participants implement community research projects Up to 12 slots are available annually, with priority given to leaders from Appalachian Kentucky and to projects related to key areas of research interest, including: Cancer prevention (e.g., nutrition, physical activity, smoking cessation) Reducing obesity and sedentary lifestyle Prevention and management of chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes and cardiovascular disease) Prevention and treatment of substance abus