Blatant Discrimination within Federal Law: A 14th Amendment Analysis of Medicaid’s IMD Exclusion

A discriminatory piece of Medicaid law, the institution for mental diseases (IMD) exclusion, is denying people with serious mental illness equal levels of treatment as those with only primary healthcare needs. The IMD exclusion denies the use of federal funding in psychiatric hospitals for inpatient care. This article discusses the history and collateral implications of the IMD exclusion, then examines it through the lens of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, argues that people with severe mental illness constitute a quasi-suspect class, and that application of intermediate scrutiny would render the IMD exclusion unenforceable

Three-Dimensional Magnetohydrodynamics Simulations Of Counter-Helicity Spheromak Merging In The Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment

Recent counter-helicity spheromak merging experiments in the Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment (SSX) have produced a novel compact torus (CT) with unusual features. These include a persistent antisymmetric toroidal magnetic field profile and a slow, nonlinear emergence of the n = 1 tilt mode. Experimental measurements are inconclusive as to whether this unique CT is a fully merged field-reversed configuration (FRC) with strong toroidal field or a partially merged doublet CT configuration with both spheromak- and FRC-like characteristics. In this paper, the SSX merging process is studied in detail using three-dimensional resistive MHD simulations from the Hybrid Magnetohydrodynamics (HYM) code. These simulations show that merging plasmas in the SSX parameter regime only partially reconnect, leaving behind a doublet CT rather than an FRC. Through direct comparisons, we show that the magnetic structure in the simulations is highly consistent with the SSX experimental observations. We also find that the n = 1 tilt mode begins as a fast growing linear mode that evolves into a slower-growing nonlinear mode before being detected experimentally. A simulation parameter scan over resistivity, viscosity, and line-tying shows that these parameters can strongly affect the behavior of both the merging process and the tilt mode. In fact, merging in certain parameter regimes is found to produce a toroidal-field-free FRC rather than a doublet CT. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3660533

Water Use and Abuse in the United States: Behavioural Patterns Behind Excess Water Consumption and an Argument for an Efficient Demand Side Remedy

The last decade saw severe drought in the southeastern United States, which presented questions about the ways in which Americans use water and the best ways for government entities to handle future drought. During and after the droughts, researchers examined existing literature on water overconsumption and conducted new studies to explore water use and related behavior. We review the predominant work on the factors that influence household water consumption, the different methods by which government agencies can combat overconsumption, and argue for the demand-side approach of structured rate increases to limit superfluous use of water

Another Corn Rootworm Management Tool Fails: Assessing the Status of Western Corn Rootworms Laying Eggs in Soybeans

A variant of western com rootworm that lays eggs in crops other than com was recognized in east-central Illinois as early as 1987 (Steffey et al. 1992), although at the time we believed we were witnessing the phenomenon of extended diapause. Thereafter, the problem with com rootworm larvae damaging com planted after soybean in east-central Illinois and northwestern Indiana increased in frequency and severity during the early 1990s and emerged as a full-blown crisis in 1995. Since then, entomologists throughout the Com Belt have watched warily as the problem spread throughout northern Indiana and into southern Michigan and western Ohio. The spread of the problem westward and northward in Illinois has occurred relatively slowly. However, we annually add counties to the list of counties threatened by the new variant of western corn rootworm

Resistance mechanisms to targeted therapy in BRAF-mutant melanoma - A mini review

Background The introduction of targeted therapies for the treatment of BRAF-mutant melanomas have improved survival rates in a significant proportion of patients. Nonetheless, the emergence of resistance to treatment remains inevitable in most patients. Scope of review Here, we review known and emerging molecular mechanisms that underlay the development of resistance to MAPK inhibition in melanoma cells and the potential strategies to overcome these mechanisms. Major conclusions Multiple genetic and non-genetic mechanisms contribute to treatment failure, commonly leading to the reactivation of the MAPK pathway. A variety of resistance mechanisms are enabled by the underlying heterogeneity and plasticity of melanoma cells. Moreover, it has become apparent that resistance to targeted therapy is underpinned by early functional adaptations involving the rewiring of cell states and metabolic pathways. General significance The evidence presented suggest that the use of a combinatorial treatment approach would delay the emergence of resistance and improve patient outcomes

Ram pressure and dusty red galaxies - key factors in the evolution of the multiple cluster system Abell 901/902

We present spectroscopic observations of 182 disk galaxies (96 in the cluster and 86 in the field environment) in the region of the Abell 901/902 multiple cluster system, which is located at a redshift of $z\sim 0.165$. The presence of substructures and non-Gaussian redshift distributions indicate that the cluster system is dynamically young and not in a virialized state. We find evidence for two important galaxy populations. \textit{Morphologically distorted galaxies} are probably subject to increased tidal interactions. They show pronounced rotation curve asymmetries at intermediate cluster-centric radii and low rest-frame peculiar velocities. \textit{Morphologically undistorted galaxies} show the strongest rotation curve asymmetries at high rest-frame velocities and low cluster-centric radii. Supposedly, this group is strongly affected by ram-pressure stripping due to interaction with the intra-cluster medium. Among the morphologically undistorted galaxies, dusty red galaxies have particularly strong rotation curve asymmetries, suggesting ram pressure is an important factor in these galaxies. Furthermore, dusty red galaxies on average have a bulge-to-total ratio higher by a factor of two than cluster blue cloud and field galaxies. The fraction of kinematically distorted galaxies is 75% higher in the cluster than in the field environment. This difference mainly stems from morphological undistorted galaxies, indicating a cluster-specific interaction process that only affects the gas kinematics but not the stellar morphology. Also the ratio between gas and stellar scale length is reduced for cluster galaxies compared to the field sample. Both findings could be best explained by ram-pressure effects.Comment: Electronic version published in Astronomy and Astrophysics Volume 549, Page 0; 19 pages, 21 figure

Tully-Fisher analysis of the multiple cluster system Abell 901/902

We derive rotation curves from optical emission lines of 182 disk galaxies (96 in the cluster and 86 in the field) in the region of Abell 901/902 located at $z\sim 0.165$. We focus on the analysis of B-band and stellar-mass Tully-Fisher relations. We examine possible environmental dependencies and differences between normal spirals and "dusty red" galaxies, i.e. disk galaxies that have red colors due to relatively low star formation rates. We find no significant differences between the best-fit TF slope of cluster and field galaxies. At fixed slope, the field population with high-quality rotation curves (57 objects) is brighter by \Delta M_{B}=-0\fm42\pm0\fm15 than the cluster population (55 objects). We show that this slight difference is at least in part an environmental effect. The scatter of the cluster TFR increases for galaxies closer to the core region, also indicating an environmental effect. Interestingly, dusty red galaxies become fainter towards the core at given rotation velocity (i.e. total mass). This indicates that the star formation in these galaxies is in the process of being quenched. The luminosities of normal spiral galaxies are slightly higher at fixed rotation velocity for smaller cluster-centric radii. Probably these galaxies are gas-rich (compared to the dusty red population) and the onset of ram-pressure stripping increases their star-formation rates. The results from the TF analysis are consistent with and complement our previous findings. Dusty red galaxies might be an intermediate stage in the transformation of infalling field spiral galaxies into cluster S0s, and this might explain the well-known increase of the S0 fraction in galaxy clusters with cosmic time.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics; 16 pages, 14 figure

Identification of Plasma Cells in Lung Alveoli and Interstitial Tissues After Localized Lung Immunization

Large numbers of antibody‐forming cells (AFC) can be identified with the Jerne plaque assay in immunized lung lobes of the beagle dog after localized instillation of particulate antigen. Published data suggest that these AFC are secreting antibody and are responsible for increased levels of specific antibody in immunized lung lobes. If AFC in the lung are actively secreting antibody, there should be an increase in the number of mature plasma cells in lung lobes exposed to antigen. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the number of lymphoid cells present in immunized and control lung lobes and to determine if lung immunization produces a localized increase in the number of plasma cells. Sheep red blood cells (SRBC), autologous dog red blood cells, and saline were instilled into specific lung lobes of beagle dogs with the aid of a fiberoptic bronchoscope. Light and transmission electron microscopy studies of tissues from lung lobes instilled with SRBC showed perivascular infiltrates and intra‐alveolar accumulations of lymphoid cells which were not present in control lung lobes. The morphology of these lymphoid cells ranged from small lymphocytes through mature plasma cells. From 5% to 15% of the cells present in the interstitial tissues and alveoli of immunized lung lobes were plasma cells. These observations suggest that lymphoid cells which entered the SRBC immunized lung can mature to plasma cells which are probably responsible for the local production of antigen‐specific antibody.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142186/1/jlb0001.pd

Redshifts and Velocity Dispersions of Galaxy Clusters in the Horologium-Reticulum Supercluster

We present 118 new optical redshifts for galaxies in 12 clusters in the Horologium-Reticulum supercluster (HRS) of galaxies. For 76 galaxies, the data were obtained with the Dual Beam Spectrograph on the 2.3m telescope of the Australian National University at Siding Spring Observatory. After combining 42 previously unpublished redshifts with our new sample, we determine mean redshifts and velocity dispersions for 13 clusters, in which previous observational data were sparse. In six of the 13 clusters, the newly determined mean redshifts differ by more than 750 km/s from the published values. In the case of three clusters, A3047, A3109, and A3120, the redshift data indicate the presence of multiple components along the line of sight. The new cluster redshifts, when combined with other reliable mean redshifts for clusters in the HRS, are found to be distinctly bi-modal. Furthermore, the two redshift components are consistent with the bi-modal redshift distribution found for the inter-cluster galaxies in the HRS by Fleenor et al. (2005).Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, Accepted to A