Analyzing True Self-Reliance and Individualism

This essay analyzes the story of “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving and criticizes Daniel Plung’s assessment of it in his article, “Rip Van Winkle’: Metempsychosis and the Quest for Self-Reliance.” In Plung’s article, he assesses that in the story of “Rip Van Winkle,” the main character, Rip, attains self-reliance and individualism through his escape and experience on the mountain. However, although Plung’s points support his assessments, there are also many other details in the story that contradict Plung’s analysis. This essay seeks to enlighten readers to a differing interpretation of “Rip Van Winkle” by studying other details in the story

Improving Effective Communication During a Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted communication in healthcare. The purpose of this project was to develop a clear and uniform communication tool for healthcare members to utilize during conversations with patients, families, and caregivers. This communication tool was developed for healthcare workers, as a guide during conversations, to ensure all questions and needs are met. The communication tool is expected to show improvement in healthcare communication during a pandemic. Improvement in healthcare communication will be reflected in improved patient experience scores

After Caronia: First Amendment Concerns in Off-Label Promotion

The government has successfully prosecuted pharmaceutical companies for off-label promotion of drugs, maintaining that such promotion impermissibly undermines the FDA’s premarket approval process and jeopardizes the public health. In several recent cases, however, pharmaceutical companies have alleged that regulations prohibiting such promotion are unconstitutional because off-label promotion is protected under the First Amendment. Two recent U.S. Supreme Court cases contain language that gives broad protection to advertising and marketing in the pharmaceutical field. This Article questions the reach of these cases as applied to the practice of off-label promotion through detailing

Regulating the NCAA: Making the Calls under the Sherman Antitrust Act and Title IX

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a powerful force in shaping the intercollegiate athletic programs of some 1200 public and private colleges. Courts have recognized the NCAA as an entity that serves the important and admirable functions of maintaining the amateur status of intercollegiate athletics and the integrity of the educational process for the student-athlete, while providing a fair and equitable competitive environment. Most of the NCAA\u27s rules and regulations are promulgated to promote and maintain these goals. Nevertheless, both student-athletes and coaches have challenged NCAA rules in the courts, claiming that certain rules discriminate on the basis of sex, race, and disability or that the rules place an unreasonable restraint on trade. Courts have struggled with how to apply the laws of the business world as well as civil rights laws to the organization. Two recent decisions have shed some light on the NCAA\u27s status with regard to the reach of federal regulation. In Law v. NCAA, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an NCAA rule that restricted the salary of certain Division I basketball coaches violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. The Supreme Court denied certiorari, and the controversy has ended with the NCAA paying 54.5 million dollars to the 2000 coaches who made up the plaintiff class. NCAA v. Smith involved both Sherman Antitrust and Title IX Claims. The plaintiff, a female student-athlete, challenged an NCAA Bylaw that prohibited her from playing college varsity volleyball as a graduate student. The Bylaw, she claimed, violated both the Sherman Antitrust Act and Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act of 1972. The Supreme Court denied certiorari on Smith\u27s antitrust claim and held that the NCAA was not subject to Title IX on the theories presented by Smith because the NCAA is not a recipient of federal funds within the meaning of Title IX. Despite the apparent victory for the NCAA on the Title IX claim, substantial questions about the NCAA\u27s status as a recipient of financial funds and its required compliance with Title IX and other antidiscrimination laws remain. The decision of the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Law v. NCAA and that of the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Smith v. NCAA follow previous Supreme Court and federal court decisions in applying antitrust law and analysis to NCAA rules and clarify the Sherman Act\u27s relationship to the NCAA. The Supreme Court\u27s decision in NCAA v. Smith, however, leaves several questions unresolved and unclear regarding Title IX\u27s application to NCAA rules. This Article will discuss the recent antitrust challenges to NCAA rules as well as recent claims that NCAA rules violate civil rights laws. It will focus on how the decisions of the courts of appeals in Smith v. NCAA and Law v. NCAA, with the benefit of the Supreme Court\u27s decision in NCAA v. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma, illustrate the boundaries of NCAA role making within the constraints of the Sherman Act. It will discuss the Supreme Court\u27s Title IX analysis in Smith, the unclear precedent on which the decision rests, and will develop theories for holding the NCAA accountable under federal antidiscrimination laws

Judicial Review of the EEOC\u27s Duty To Conciliate

More than 50 years after the enactment of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, federal courts remain unsettled on a variety of issues involving the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission\u27s ( EEOC ) pre-suit obligations. Title VII gives the EEOC the authority to enforce the statute\u27s prohibition on discrimination in the workplace. Before filing suit against an employer, the EEOC must satisfy several pre-suit requirements, including an attempt to eliminate the unlawful practice by informal methods of conference, conciliation, and persuasion. Courts disagree on the following: (1) whether the EEOC\u27s conciliation efforts are subject to judicial review; (2) what the standard of judicial review should be; (3) what the remedy should be if a court finds the EEOC failed to fulfill its pre-suit obligations; and (4) whether the EEOC may bring suit on behalf of unidentified individuals under § 706 of Title VII. In EEOC v. Mach Mining, LLC, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit was the first circuit court of appeals to find that conciliation efforts are a matter of agency discretion and are not subject to judicial review. Other courts have reviewed the conciliation process and have required that the EEOC demonstrate at least good faith efforts to conciliate. The U.S. Supreme Court granted Mach Mining\u27s petition for certiorari, and rendered its decision on April 29, 2015, as this article went to press. The Court did not specifically adopt the approach recommended by any of the lower courts. Although it disagreed with the Seventh Circuit\u27s conclusion that conciliation efforts are not reviewable, the Court\u27s decision and reasoning were more consistent with arguments made by the Seventh Circuit than by other circuit courts of appeal. The Supreme Court found that Title VII calls for a relatively barebones review of the EEOC\u27s efforts. To satisfy its pre-suit obligations, the Court stated, the EEOC must inform the employer of the specific allegation and identify which individuals or class of employees suffered from the alleged discrimination. The Commission must then engage in discussion with the employer to attempt to resolve the problem. The EEOC must present some evidence verifying its efforts to conciliate and a court may review an employer\u27s contention that conciliation did not occur. A court\u27s review of the conciliation efforts is limited to fact-finding on those issues, the Supreme Court stated. The Supreme Court\u27s decision largely echoes the Seventh Circuit\u27s concern that courts recognize the broad discretion that Title VII gives to the EEOC in resolving disputes, the importance of Title VII\u27s confidentiality provision, and Title VII\u27s overarching goal of eradicating discrimination in the workplace. The Court stated that the remedy for failure to conciliate is more conciliation and not dismissal on the merits

Bioactive Peptides™ to Aid in Healing of Chronic Skin Wounds and Tissue Repair

When wound healing of cutaneous tissue becomes problematic, it increases patient morbidity associated with increased infection, demand on medical resources, and asserts a profound detrimental effect on the individual’s quality of life. Currently, there are limited effective strategies for addressing chronic cutaneous wounds. The study reported here is based upon the understanding that individual skin wounds may preferentially require differing proteinaceous precursors during specific phases of skin wound repair and calls attention to the possibilities in the reexamination of traditional treatments such as plant and animal-derived substances among many others. This study aimed to determine if, and which, amino acid containing powders could be applied to wounds and lead to faster or more effective healing when compared to a similar wound in the same animal. These compounds were chosen based upon their predetermined roles in wound healing processes like clotting and scar formation. Size of wound in addition to histological features were measured and included number of immune cells such as fibroblasts, fat cells and dense connective tissue. This data showed certain amino acid powders did have preferential healing in these types of wounds. It presents preliminary data that suggests this approach may offer new resources to address this increasingly widespread medical issue

Toward integrated conservation of North America's crop wild relatives

North America harbors a rich native flora of crop wild relatives—the progenitors and closely related species of domesticated plants—as well as a range of culturally significant wild utilized plants. Despite their current and potential future value, they are rarely prioritized for conservation efforts; thus many species are threatened in their natural habitats, and most are underrepresented in plant genebanks and botanical gardens. Further coordination of efforts among land management, botanical, and agricultural science organizations will improve conservation and general public awareness with regard to these species. We present examples of productive collaborations focused on wild cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon and Vaccinium oxycoccos) and chile peppers (Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum). We then discuss five shared priorities for further action: (1) understand and document North America's crop wild relatives and wild utilized plants, (2) protect threatened species in their natural habitats, (3) collect and conserve ex situ the diversity of prioritized species, (4) make this diversity accessible and attractive for plant breeding, research, and education, and (5) raise public awareness of their value and the threats to their persistence