Origin and Present Day Location of German Speakers in Texas: A Statistical Interpretation

Paper by Glenn G. Gilber

Diagnostic technologies in practice: gay men's narratives of acute or recent HIV infection diagnosis.

Diagnosing HIV-positive gay men through enhanced testing technologies that detect acute HIV infection (AHI) or recent HIV infection provides opportunities for individual and population health benefits. We recruited 25 men in British Columbia who received an acute (n = 13) or recent (n = 12) HIV diagnosis to engage in a longitudinal multiple-methods study over one year or longer. Our thematic analysis of baseline qualitative interviews revealed insights within men's accounts of technologically mediated processes of HIV discovery and diagnosis. Our analysis illuminated the dialectic of new HIV technologies in practice by considering the relationship between advances in diagnostics (e.g., nucleic acid amplification tests) and the users of these medical technologies in clinical settings (e.g., clients and practitioners). Technological innovations and testing protocols have shifted experiences of learning of one's HIV-positive status; these innovations have created new diagnostic categories that require successful interpretation and translation to be rendered meaningful, to alleviate uncertainty, and to support public health objectives

Recent Publications

Chinese Legal Tradition Under the Mongols: The Code of 1291 as Reconstructed. By Paul Heng-chao Ch\u27en The author\u27s analysis of the New Code leads him to two conclusions: that the Yuan penal system was more lenient than its predecessors in imposing lesser punishments for minor offenses, and that the Mongol-Chinese partnership of the Yuan dynasty developed one of the most impressive and mature judicial systems that imperial China ever had for the administration of justice. He therefore argues that Chinese law in the time of Marco Polo was much less barbaric than has traditionally been thought. Courthouse. By Paul Hoffman. Hoffman follows several trials that made headlines, including those of accused murderer Joseph Cortale, the kidnappers of fashion designer Calvin Klein\u27s daughter, and Marty Evans, the professional con artist and seducer who was acquitted of assault with a friendly weapon on the grounds that the abominable snow job, while perhaps morally reprehensible, is not rape. With reportorial impartiality, Hoffman also chronicles the less glamorous trials of heroin addicts, prostitutes, and the teenage murderer of an elderly couple. Doctors and the Law. By Gilbert Sharpe and Glenn Sawyer. A concise manual of law for the practicing physician, Doctors and the Law collects and compares the varying approaches of different jurisdictions to medical malpractice. The final chapter, which discusses alternative mechanisms for the resolution of malpractice claims, is especially noteworthy. The authors conclude by offering the reader a rich set of appendices ranging from the biomedical research provisions of the 1975 Helsinki Declaration to the results of a detailed questionnaire reporting the medical practices and attitudes of nearly 2,000 physicians. The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions. By Leon Friedman. In his preface, Professor Friedman stresses the importance of judicial biography as an element in the history of our highest Court. Without such biography, he argues, legal scholars may neglect to study the Court in terms of the thinking and work of each individual member, preferring instead to view it as an anonymous and monolithic institution. For example, Friedman points out that a slight change in the viewpoint of even one Justice can change constitutional history, and an understanding of that change can explain seemingly inconsistent opinions on the same subject. Thus, by examining each member, the book provides an examination of the Burger Court as a whole which seeks to explain that Court\u27s dramatic change in direction over the past decade. Sexual Harassment of Working Women. By Catharine A. MacKinnon. Supporting her position equating harassment with discrimination, MacKinnon explains that sexual harassment of women occurs largely because women occupy inferior job positions. In the author\u27s view, moreover, harassment works to keep women in such positions.Drawing upon statistical data and articles in popular journals recounting harassment experiences, MacKinnon finds the working female\u27s world to be characterized by horizontal segregation, vertical stratification, income inequality and sex-defined work. She then explores the imposition of sexual requirements as a quid pro quo for employment or advancement, as a condition of the work environment, and in its psychological impact upon women. Thomas Jefferson and the Law. By Edward Dumbauld. The author emphasizes Jefferson\u27s legal scholarship, and explores at great length his subject\u27s role, either as lawyer or participant, in several cases involving public officials, slavery, contested wills, and separation of church and state. Foremost among these is the batture controversy, in which Jefferson as President authorized the use of force to eject Edward Livingston from the alluvionor beach ( batture in French) at New Orleans, then part of the newly-acquired Louisiana Purchase. The author similarly details Jefferson\u27s analysis of several major cases in which he did not take part, including his response to the opinion delivered by Chief Justice John Marshall in the Aaron Burr treason trial

Choice of molecular barcode will affect species prevalence but not bacterial community composition

The rapid advancement of next generation sequencing protocols in recent years has led to the diversification in the methods used to study microbial communities; however, how comparable the data generated from these different methods are, remains unclear. In this study we compared the taxonomic composition and seasonal dynamics of the bacterial community determined by two distinct 16s amplicon sequencing protocols: sequencing of the V6 region of the 16s rRNA gene using 454 pyrosequencing vs the V4 region of the 16s rRNA gene using the Illumina Hiseq 2500 platform. Significant differences between relative abundances at all taxonomic levels were observed; however, their seasonal dynamics between phyla were largely consistent between methods. This study highlights that care must be taken when comparing datasets generated from different methods

Ancient RNA from Late Pleistocene permafrost and historical canids shows tissue-specific transcriptome survival

While sequencing ancient DNA (aDNA) from archaeological material is now commonplace, very few attempts to sequence ancient transcriptomes have been made, even from typically stable deposition environments such as permafrost. This is presumably due to assumptions that RNA completely degrades relatively quickly, particularly when dealing with autolytic, nuclease-rich mammalian tissues. However, given the recent successes in sequencing ancient RNA (aRNA) from various sources including plants and animals, we suspect that these assumptions may be incorrect or exaggerated. To challenge the underlying dogma, we generated shotgun RNA data from sources that might normally be dismissed for such study. Here, we present aRNA data generated from two historical wolf skins, and permafrost-preserved liver tissue of a 14,300-year-old Pleistocene canid. Not only is the latter the oldest RNA ever to be sequenced, but it also shows evidence of biologically relevant tissue specificity and close similarity to equivalent data derived from modern-day control tissue. Other hallmarks of RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data such as exon-exon junction presence and high endogenous ribosomal RNA (rRNA) content confirms our data's authenticity. By performing independent technical library replicates using two high-throughput sequencing platforms, we show not only that aRNA can survive for extended periods in mammalian tissues but also that it has potential for tissue identification. aRNA also has possible further potential, such as identifying in vivo genome activity and adaptation, when sequenced using this technology