International Economic Agreements and the Constitution

International agreements, such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), generally aim to facilitate the free flow of goods and services among nations.1 The U.S. Supreme Court has developed a jurisprudence similarly aiming to facilitate the free flow of goods and services among the several states. That jurisprudence has developed from litigation challenging the constitutionality of state actions on the basis of the Commerce and Supremacy Clauses of the Constitution (art. I, § 8, cl. 3, and art. VI, cl. 2). In some subject areas, Commerce Clause decisions closely align with international agreements. In other areas, either or both fall short of achieving economic integration.

Chinese Participation in the United Nations: The Legal Imperative of a Negotiated Solution

For almost a decade and one-half the Chinese participation question has challenged the United Nations. In its coming session the General Assembly will doubtlessly once again grapple with the question, but past debates do not promise rational solution. In brief summary, two claimants seek, or are proffered by others, to participate as the State of China in the General Assembly, the Security Council, and the Specialized Agencies. The Government of the Republic of China (Nationalist China) has held the seat since the founding of the United Nations. The People\u27s Republic of China (Communist China), however, commands resources of considerable magnitude, and events of recent years have enhanced its claim to participation. Any decision on the Chinese participation question will have extraordinary value impacts. Immense power is at stake. A participation decision will determine whether and how one quarter of the world\u27s population will share in world community processes of authority, and it will affect the resource-base—material, institutional, and strategic—of international organizations. It will influence the range and type of decisions which world organizations can make in implementing and clarifying the common interest. A participation decision will allocate seats on the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Specialized Agencies. The Security Council seat is permanent, and the veto permits its occupant to influence virtually all Council decisions bearing on international peace and security. The General Assembly seat carries the rights to vote and debate, the privilege to negotiate in the corridors of the United Nations, and the prestige of U.N. membership. Membership itself promises participation in the U.N. Secretariat, an organ of increasing importance

Pmp27 Promotes Peroxisomal Proliferation

Peroxisomes perform many essential functions in eukaryotic cells. The weight of evidence indicates that these organelles divide by budding from preexisting peroxisomes. This process is not understood at the molecular level. Peroxisomal proliferation can be induced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by oleate. This growth substrate is metabolized by peroxisomal enzymes. We have identified a protein, Pmp27, that promotes peroxisomal proliferation. This protein, previously termed Pmp24, was purified from peroxisomal membranes, and the corresponding gene, PMP27, was isolated and sequenced. Prop27 shares sequence similarity with the Pmp30 family in Candida boidinii. Pmp27 is a hydrophobic peroxisomal membrane protein but it can be extracted by high pH, suggesting that it does not fully span the bilayer. Its expression is regulated by oleate. The function of Pmp27 was probed by observing the phenotype of strains in which the protein was eliminated by gene disruption or overproduced by expression from a multicopy plasmid. The strain containing the disruption (3B) was able to grow on all carbon sources tested, including oleate, although growth on oleate, glycerol, and acetate was slower than wild type. Strain 3B contained peroxisomes with all of the enzymes of β-oxidation. However, in addition to the presence of a few modestly sized peroxisomes seen in a typical thin section of a cell growing on oleate-containing medium, cells of strain 3B also contained one or two very large peroxisomes. In contrast, cells in a strain in which Pmp27 was overexpressed contained an increased number of normal-sized peroxisomes. We suggest that Pmp27 promotes peroxisomal proliferation by participating in peroxisomal elongation or fission.

America's Skills Challenge: Millennials and the Future

Recent research reveals an apparent paradox for U.S. millennials (born after 1980, ages 16–34): while they may be on track to be our most educated generation ever, they consistently score below many of their international peers in literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments. Equally troubling is that these findings represent a decrease in literacy and numeracy skills when compared to results from previous years of U.S. adult surveys. As a country, simply providing more education may not be the answer. There needs to be a greater focus on skills -- not just educational attainment -- or we are likely to experience adverse consequences that could undermine the fabric of our democracy and community.This vital new report sheds light on the growing inequality of opportunity in the United States and the impact this has on both skills acquisition and outcomes for both current and future generations

Screening for Chlamydia trachomatis in Low-Risk Obstetric Patients

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis in our rural obstetric population and assess the appropriateness of selective vs. universal prenatal screening

Mindfulness enhances episodic memory performance: Evidence from a multimethod investigation

Training in mindfulness, classically described as a receptive attentiveness to present events and experiences, has been shown to improve attention and working memory. Both are key to long-term memory formation, and the present three-study series used multiple methods to examine whether mindfulness would enhance episodic memory, a key form of long-term memory. In Study 1 (N = 143), a self-reported state of mindful attention predicted better recognition performance in the Remember-Know (R-K) paradigm. In Study 2 (N = 93), very brief training in a focused attention form of mindfulness also produced better recognition memory performance on the R-K task relative to a randomized, well-matched active control condition. Study 3 (N = 57) extended these findings by showing that relative to randomized active and inactive control conditions the effect of very brief mindfulness training generalized to free-recall memory performance. This study also found evidence for mediation of the mindfulness training—episodic memory relation by intrinsic motivation. These findings indicate that mindful attention can beneficially impact motivation and episodic memory, with potential implications for educational and occupational performance

Revisiting Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) Amplification as a Target for Anti-EGFR Therapy: Analysis of Cell-Free Circulating Tumor DNA in Patients With Advanced Malignancies.

PurposeTo date, evidence for tissue epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) overexpression as a biomarker for anti-EGFR therapies has been weak. We investigated the genomic landscape of EGFR amplification in blood-derived cell-free tumor DNA (cfDNA) across diverse cancers and the role of anti-EGFR therapies in achieving response.MethodsWe assessed EGFR amplification status among 28,584 patients with malignancies evaluated by clinical-grade next-generation sequencing (NGS) of blood-derived cfDNA (54- to 73-gene panel). Furthermore, we curated the clinical characteristics of 1,434 patients at the University of California San Diego who had cfDNA testing by this NGS test.ResultsOverall, EGFR amplification was detected in cfDNA from 8.5% of patients (2,423 of 28,584), most commonly in colorectal (16.3% [458 of 2,807]), non-small-cell lung (9.0% [1,096 of 12,197]), and genitourinary cancers (8.1% [170 of 2,104]). Most patients had genomic coalterations (96.9% [95 of 98]), frequently involving genes affecting other tyrosine kinases (72.4% [71 of 98]), mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades (56.1% [55 of 98]), cell-cycle-associated signals (52.0% [51 of 98]), and the phosphoinositide 3-kinase pathway (35.7% [35 of 98]). EGFR amplification emerged in serial cfDNA after various anticancer therapies (n = 6), including checkpoint inhibitors (n = 4), suggesting a possible role for these amplifications in acquired resistance. Nine evaluable patients with EGFR amplification were treated with anti-EGFR-based regimens; five (55.6%) achieved partial responses, including three patients whose tissue NGS lacked EGFR amplification.ConclusionEGFR amplification was detected in cfDNA among 8.5% of 28,584 diverse cancers. Most patients had coexisting alterations. Responses were observed in five of nine patients who received EGFR inhibitors. Incorporating EGFR inhibitors into the treatment regimens of patients harboring EGFR amplification in cfDNA merits additional study

The GOES-R Series Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM)

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) is the next series to follow the existing GOES system currently operating over the Western Hemisphere. Superior spacecraft and instrument technology will support expanded detection of environmental phenomena, resulting in more timely and accurate forecasts and warnings. Advancements over current GOES capabilities include a new capability for total lightning detection (cloud and cloud-to-ground flashes) from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), which will have just completed Critical Design Review and move forward into the construction phase of instrument development. The GLM will operate continuously day and night with near-uniform spatial resolution of 8 km with a product refresh rate of less than 20 sec over the Americas and adjacent oceanic regions. This will aid in forecasting severe storms and tornado activity, and convective weather impacts on aviation safety and efficiency. In parallel with the instrument development (an engineering development unit and 4 flight models), a GOES-R Risk Reduction Team and Algorithm Working Group Lightning Applications Team have begun to develop the Level 2 algorithms, cal/val performance monitoring tools, and new applications. Proxy total lightning data from the NASA Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite and regional ground-based lightning networks are being used to develop the pre-launch algorithms, test data sets, and applications, as well as improve our knowledge of thunderstorm initiation and evolution. In this presentation we review the planned implementation of the instrument and suite of operational algorithm

Commissioning care for people with dementia at the end of life: a mixed methods study.

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ The version of record, Zoe M Gotts, Nicole Baur, Emma McLellan, Claire Goodman, Louise Robinson and Richard P Lee, ‘Commissioning care for people with dementia at the end of life: a mixed methods study’, BMJ Open, 2016,; 6: e013554, is available online at doi: 10.1136/ bmjopen-2016-013554Objectives To understand how end of life care for people with dementia is currently commissioned (.e contracted)and organised, with a view to informing the development of commissioning guidance for good quality community-based end of life care in dementia. Design Mixed-methods study; narrative review and qualitative interviews. Setting 8 NHS clinical commissioning groups and 5 Adult Services across England. Methods Narrative review of evidence; 20 semi structured interviews (telephone and face-to-face) with professionals involved in commissioning end of life care for people with dementia. Main outcome measures Summary of the existing evidence base for commissioning, commissioners’ approaches to the commissioning process for end of life care for people with dementia in England. Results In the context of commissioning end of life care for people with dementia, the literature review generated three key themes; (1) importance of joint commissioning; (2) lack of clarity for the process; and (3) factors influencing commissioning. In exploring health professionals’ perceptions of the commissioning process, ‘uncertainty’ was elicited as an overarching theme across the CCGs interviewed. Organisation of the process, lack of expertise, issues surrounding integration and the art of specification were considered important factors that contribute to the uncertainty surrounding the commissioning process. Conclusions The current evidence base for commissioning end of life care is limited with considerable uncertainty as how clinical commissioners in England undertake the process to ensure future services are evidence-based. Strengths and limitations of this study • The use of a multimethod approach (narrative review, qualitative interviews) allowed for triangulation of our findings. • The evidence indentified in the review may be limited given that ‘commissioning’ is a relatively new term in England. • The review presented is a narrative review; the manuscripts were not subject to a quality assessment process. • Generalisability of findings might be affected by the small number of published studies, their heterogeneity in methodologies, and small sample sizes. • The study highlights that information on commissioning specifically for health and social care in England is limited; this is mirrored in commissioners’ accounts.Peer reviewe

Description and Status of the DC Lightning Mapping Array

The DC Lightning Mapping Array (DC LMA) centered on the Washington, DC metro region has been in operation since 2006. During that time the DC LMA has provided real time data to regional National Weather Service (NSF) Sterling, VA forecast office for operations support and the NOAA Meteorological Development Laboratory (MDL) for new product development and assessment. Data from this network (as well as other from other LMA systems) are now being used to create proxy Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) data sets for GOES-R risk reduction and algorithm development activities. In addition, since spring 2009 data are provided to the Storm Prediction Center in support of Hazardous Weather Testbed and GOES-R Proving Ground activities during the Spring Program. Description, status and plans will be discussed