Dangerous Balance: The Ninth Circuit\u27s Validation of Expansive DNA Testing of Federal Parolees

Part I provides a background of federal DNA testing legislation, the Fourth Amendment implications of DNA testing and two DNA testing cases leading up to the U.S. v. Kincade decision. Part II analyzes the plurality and dissenting opinions of the U.S. v. Kincade decision. Part III argues that the plurality\u27s balancing test has a potential for inappropriate application. Finally, Part IV concludes that the Kincade balancing test should be narrowly applied as precedent after a meaningful balancing of interests, and not as a facade for ever-expanding government interests

The development of a high temperature static strain gage system

The objective of this program is to develop electrical resistance strain gages which will permit the measurement of static strains on nickel and cobalt superalloy parts inside gas turbine engines running on a test stand. The specific goal is to develop a complete system able to make strain measurements up to plus or minus 2000 mu strain with a total error of no more than plus or minus 10 percent over a 50 hour period at 1250 K. The initial part of this work consisted of a strain gage alloy development effort in which a variety of alloys were evaluated after being prepared by drop-casting or splat cooling

High temperature static strain gage alloy development program

The literature, applicable theory and finally an experimental program were used to identify new candidate alloy systems for use as the electrical resistance elements in static strain gages up to 1250K. The program goals were 50 hours of use in the environment of a test stand gas turbine engine with measurement accuracies equal to or better than 10 percent of full scale for strains up to + or - 2000 microstrain. As part of this effort, a computerized electrical resistance measurement system was constructed for use at temperatures between 300K and 1250K and heating and cooling rates of 250K/min and 10K/min. The two best alloys were an iron-chromium-aluminum alloy and a palladium base alloy. Although significant progress was made, it was concluded that a considerable additional effort would be needed to fully optimize and evaluate these candidate systems

High temperature static strain gage development contract, tasks 1 and 2

Results are presented for the first two tasks to develop resistive strain gage systems for use up to 1250 K on blades and vanes in gas turbine engines under tests. The objective of these two tasks was to further improve and evaluate two static strain gage alloys identified as candidates in a previous program. Improved compositions were not found for either alloy. Further efforts on the Fe-11.9Al-10.6Cr weigth percent alloy were discontinued because of time dependent drift problems at 1250 K in air. When produced as a 6.5 micrometer thick sputtered film, the Pd-13Cr weight percent alloys is not sufficiently stable for this use in air at 1250 K and a protective overcoat system will need to be developed

Evidence of Songbird Intoxication From Rozol Application at a Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Colony

Concerns about avian poisonings from anticoagulant rodenticides have traditionally focused on secondary poisoning of raptors exposed by feeding on contaminated mammalian prey. However, ground foraging songbirds can be directly poisoned from operational applications of the anticoagulant rodenticide RozolH (0.005% chlorophacinone, active ingredient) applied as a grain bait, at black-tailed prairie dog Cynomys ludovicianus colonies. A dead western meadowlark Sturnella neglecta recovered from the study prairie dog colony displayed hemorrhaging in brain and pectoral muscle tissue, and it contained chlorophacinone residue concentrations of 0.59 and 0.49 mg/g (wet weight) in the liver and intestinal contents, respectively. Chlorophacinone residues from two Rozol-colored songbird droppings found at the study colony were 0.09 and 0.46 mg/g (wet weight). The timing of the meadowlark mortality and the occurrence of discolored droppings show that songbird exposure and poisoning can occur weeks after a Rozol application

Cisplatin induced sensory neuropathy is prevented by vascular endothelial growth factor-A

Increased patient survival is a mark of modern anti-cancer therapy success. Unfortunately treatment side-effects such as neurotoxicity are a major long term concern. Sensory neuropathy is one of the common toxicities that can arise during platinum based chemotherapy. In many cases the current poor understanding of the neurological degeneration and lack of suitable analgesia has led to high incidences of patient drop out of treatment. VEGF-A is a prominent neuroprotective agent thus it was hypothesised to prevent cisplatin induced neuropathy. Systemic cisplatin treatment (lasting 3 weeks biweekly) resulted in mechanical allodynia and heat hyperalgesia in mice when compared to vehicle control. PGP9.5 sensory nerve fibre innervation was reduced in the plantar skin in the cisplatin treated group versus vehicle control mice. The cisplatin induced sensory neurodegeneration was associated with increased cleaved caspase 3 expression as well as a reduction in Activating Transcription Factor 3 and pan VEGF-A expression in sensory neurons. VEGF-A165b expression was unaltered between vehicle and cisplatin treatment. rhVEGF-A165a and rhVEGF-A165b both prevented cisplatin induced sensory neurodegeneration. Cisplatin exposure blunts the regenerative properties of sensory neurons thus leading to sensory neuropathy. However, here it is identified that administration of VEGF-A isoform subtypes induce regeneration and prevent cell death and are therefore a possible adjunct therapy for chemotherapy induced neuropathy

A geospatiotemporal and causal inference epidemiological exploration of substance and cannabinoid exposure as drivers of rising US pediatric cancer rates

Background: Age-adjusted US total pediatric cancer incidence rates (TPCIR) rose 49% 1975–2015 for unknown reasons. Prenatal cannabis exposure has been linked with several pediatric cancers which together comprise the majority of pediatric cancer types. We investigated whether cannabis use was related spatiotemporally and causally to TPCIR. Methods: State-based age-adjusted TPCIR data was taken from the CDC Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results cancer database 2003–2017. Drug exposure was taken from the nationally-representative National Survey of Drug Use and Health, response rate 74.1%. Drugs included were: tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, opioid analgesics and cocaine. This was supplemented by cannabinoid concentration data from the Drug Enforcement Agency and ethnicity and median household income data from US Census. Results: TPCIR rose while all drug use nationally fell, except for cannabis which rose. TPCIR in the highest cannabis use quintile was greater than in the lowest (β-estimate = 1.31 (95%C.I. 0.82, 1.80), P = 1.80 × 10− 7) and the time:highest two quintiles interaction was significant (β-estimate = 0.1395 (0.82, 1.80), P = 1.00 × 10− 14). In robust inverse probability weighted additive regression models cannabis was independently associated with TPCIR (β-estimate = 9.55 (3.95, 15.15), P = 0.0016). In interactive geospatiotemporal models including all drug, ethnic and income variables cannabis use was independently significant (β-estimate = 45.67 (18.77, 72.56), P = 0.0009). In geospatial models temporally lagged to 1,2,4 and 6 years interactive terms including cannabis were significant. Cannabis interactive terms at one and two degrees of spatial lagging were significant (from β-estimate = 3954.04 (1565.01, 6343.09), P = 0.0012). The interaction between the cannabinoids THC and cannabigerol was significant at zero, 2 and 6 years lag (from β-estimate = 46.22 (30.06, 62.38), P = 2.10 × 10− 8). Cannabis legalization was associated with higher TPCIR (β-estimate = 1.51 (0.68, 2.35), P = 0.0004) and cannabis-liberal regimes were associated with higher time:TPCIR interaction (β-estimate = 1.87 × 10− 4, (2.9 × 10− 5, 2.45 × 10− 4), P = 0.0208). 33/56 minimum e-Values were \u3e 5 and 6 were infinite. Conclusion: Data confirm a close relationship across space and lagged time between cannabis and TPCIR which was robust to adjustment, supported by inverse probability weighting procedures and accompanied by high e-Values making confounding unlikely and establishing the causal relationship. Cannabis-liberal jurisdictions were associated with higher rates of TPCIR and a faster rate of TPCIR increase. Data inform the broader general consideration of cannabinoid-induced genotoxicity

Reply to Comment on "Reevaluation of the parton distribution of strange quarks in the nucleon"

A Comment on the recently published reevaluation of the polarization-averaged parton distribution of strange quarks in the nucleon using final data on the multiplicities of charged kaons in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering is reviewed. Important features of the comparison of one-dimensional projections of the multidimensional HERMES data are pointed out. A test of the leading-order extraction of xS(x) using the difference between charged-kaon multiplicities is repeated. The results are consistent with leading-order predictions within the uncertainties in the input data, and do not invalidate the earlier extraction of xS(x).Comment: Reply Comment to arXiv:1407.372