Empirical Legal Studies Before 1940: A Bibliographic Essay

The modern empirical legal studies movement has well-known antecedents in the law and society and law and economics traditions of the latter half of the 20th century. Less well known is the body of empirical research on legal phenomena from the period prior to World War II. This paper is an extensive bibliographic essay that surveys the English language empirical legal research from approximately 1940 and earlier. The essay is arranged around the themes in the research: criminal justice, civil justice (general studies of civil litigation, auto accident litigation and compensation, divorce, small claims, jurisdiction and procedure, civil juries), debt and bankruptcy, banking, appellate courts, legal needs, legal profession (including legal education), and judicial staffing and selection. Accompanying the essay is an extensive bibliography of research articles, books, and reports

Genetic mechanisms of critical illness in COVID-19.

Host-mediated lung inflammation is present1, and drives mortality2, in the critical illness caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Host genetic variants associated with critical illness may identify mechanistic targets for therapeutic development3. Here we report the results of the GenOMICC (Genetics Of Mortality In Critical Care) genome-wide association study in 2,244 critically ill patients with COVID-19 from 208 UK intensive care units. We have identified and replicated the following new genome-wide significant associations: on chromosome 12q24.13 (rs10735079, P = 1.65 × 10-8) in a gene cluster that encodes antiviral restriction enzyme activators (OAS1, OAS2 and OAS3); on chromosome 19p13.2 (rs74956615, P = 2.3 × 10-8) near the gene that encodes tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2); on chromosome 19p13.3 (rs2109069, P = 3.98 ×  10-12) within the gene that encodes dipeptidyl peptidase 9 (DPP9); and on chromosome 21q22.1 (rs2236757, P = 4.99 × 10-8) in the interferon receptor gene IFNAR2. We identified potential targets for repurposing of licensed medications: using Mendelian randomization, we found evidence that low expression of IFNAR2, or high expression of TYK2, are associated with life-threatening disease; and transcriptome-wide association in lung tissue revealed that high expression of the monocyte-macrophage chemotactic receptor CCR2 is associated with severe COVID-19. Our results identify robust genetic signals relating to key host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage in COVID-19. Both mechanisms may be amenable to targeted treatment with existing drugs. However, large-scale randomized clinical trials will be essential before any change to clinical practice

Rehabilitation versus surgical reconstruction for non-acute anterior cruciate ligament injury (ACL SNNAP): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial

BackgroundAnterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is a common debilitating injury that can cause instability of the knee. We aimed to investigate the best management strategy between reconstructive surgery and non-surgical treatment for patients with a non-acute ACL injury and persistent symptoms of instability.MethodsWe did a pragmatic, multicentre, superiority, randomised controlled trial in 29 secondary care National Health Service orthopaedic units in the UK. Patients with symptomatic knee problems (instability) consistent with an ACL injury were eligible. We excluded patients with meniscal pathology with characteristics that indicate immediate surgery. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) by computer to either surgery (reconstruction) or rehabilitation (physiotherapy but with subsequent reconstruction permitted if instability persisted after treatment), stratified by site and baseline Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score—4 domain version (KOOS4). This management design represented normal practice. The primary outcome was KOOS4 at 18 months after randomisation. The principal analyses were intention-to-treat based, with KOOS4 results analysed using linear regression. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, ISRCTN10110685, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02980367.FindingsBetween Feb 1, 2017, and April 12, 2020, we recruited 316 patients. 156 (49%) participants were randomly assigned to the surgical reconstruction group and 160 (51%) to the rehabilitation group. Mean KOOS4 at 18 months was 73·0 (SD 18·3) in the surgical group and 64·6 (21·6) in the rehabilitation group. The adjusted mean difference was 7·9 (95% CI 2·5–13·2; p=0·0053) in favour of surgical management. 65 (41%) of 160 patients allocated to rehabilitation underwent subsequent surgery according to protocol within 18 months. 43 (28%) of 156 patients allocated to surgery did not receive their allocated treatment. We found no differences between groups in the proportion of intervention-related complications.InterpretationSurgical reconstruction as a management strategy for patients with non-acute ACL injury with persistent symptoms of instability was clinically superior and more cost-effective in comparison with rehabilitation management

Crossing the bridge to diversity: Success in medical school for students who are underrepresented in medicine

The medical education community has been called to respond to a persistent disparity in health care for ethnic minorities in the United States. Alleviating these disparities requires an increase in the number of medical school applicants, matriculants, and graduates who represent populations that are underrepresented in medicine (URM). This quantitative study used data collected at one public medical school to analyze the measurable factors which contribute to performance in medical school, and compared URM students to non-URM students on those factors. Qualitative analysis finds that these results extend to other accredited, public, medical schools located in the central United States. The data analyzed by this study included: admission applications, grades earned during basic science and clinical courses in medical school, and cumulative grades. The study employed correlational methods to find relationships between these sets of variables. Given these relationships, the data was disaggregated to determine if these cognitive measurements were equally valid in understanding the performance of URM students as for the majority students. Undergraduate GPAs were mathematically adjusted to compensate for differences in undergraduate institutions. Adjusted science and non-science GPAs and scores on the three MCAT sub-tests were found to be significant predictors of performance in all medical school courses. Student\u27s age and undergraduate major were significant for predicting basic science scores, but not clinical scores. Clinical grades were predicted from: grades earned during the first two years, and undergraduate GPAs. These statistical models predicted the medical school grades of both URM and non-URM students equally well. The fact that URM students had lower overall grades in medical school than non-URM students was expected, due to the finding that their MCAT scores and undergraduate GPAs were also lower. There was no evidence that URM students had more academic difficulty in medical school than comparably qualified non-URM students; the lower grades for URM students was attributed to inferior pre-medical school preparation

Data from: Behaviorally-induced camouflage: a new mechanism of avian egg protection

When animals potentially occupy diverse microhabitats, how can camouflage be achieved? Here we combine descriptive and experimental methods to uncover a novel form of phenotypic plasticity in the camouflage of bird eggs that may be present in other avian taxa. Soil from the bare substrate adheres to the blue-footed booby´s (Sula nebouxii) pale eggs, which parents manipulate both under and on top of their webs. Analysis of digital images confirmed that dirtiness increases progressively during the first 16 days of the incubation period, making eggs more similar to the nest substrate. Observations of 3,668 single-egg clutches showed that probability of egg loss declines progressively over the same timeframe and then remains low for the rest of the 41-day incubation period. An experiment showed that when chicken eggs are soiled and exposed in artificial booby nests, they are less likely to be taken by Heermann´s gulls (Larus heermanni) than clean eggs

MayaniFernando eggs

1. Soiling. Descriptive data on characteristics, including degree of soiling, of 110 eggs of varying age (time since laying). 2. Depredation. Results of an experiment comparing predation by gulls on 184 soiled versus clean eggs. 3. Latency predation by gulls. For the 57 eggs that were predated in the experiment, these are the data, including latency to be depredated, on their characteristics. 4. Results of the same experiment comparing conspecific destruction of 145 soiled versus clean eggs. 5. Descriptive data on proportions of eggs that disappeared from the nest at each of 8 egg age intervals (time since laying)