Spin Dependence of D0-brane Interactions

The long-range, spin-dependent forces between D0-branes are related to long-range fundamental string interactions using duality. These interactions can then be computed by taking the long distance non-relativistic expansion of string four-point amplitudes. The results are in accord with the general constraints of Matrix Theory.Comment: 6 pages, latex, no figures, talk presented at STRINGS97, substantial revisions in results and conclusion

The Price of Pleasure: Children Hurt Too

In her two recent articles on pregnancy support, “Preglimony” in the Stanford Law Review and “The Price of Pleasure” in the Northwestern Law Review, Professor Shari Motro argues that American laws should no longer treat “lovers as strangers.” To minimize “the fundamental gender imbalance,” she urges that the relationship between an unwed heterosexual couple whose sex prompts pregnancy “demands it own legal category.” She calls for a new paradigm that generally holds men financially responsible to women for the burdens of pregnancy, employing both contract and tort principles. Professor Motro invites conversation on her self-described utopian notions. Most curious for us is Professor Motro’s failure to discuss children. Any conversation about the price of sex when children are born must include the children as well as their mothers. They are inextricably linked, as are the paternity opportunity interests of genetic fathers. In accepting Professor Motro’s invitation to converse, we urge new dialogues about expanded duties and rights of prospective fathers, including new prebirth monetary support obligations; enhanced opportunities for prebirth paternity acknowledgments; and, greater protections of “unitary” families into which children are born. Our conversations should also include couples with children where sex did not prompt birth

Legal Paternity (and Other Parenthood) After Lehr and Michael H.

Actual genetic ties do not always establish, or even help to establish, legal paternity of children born of consensual sex, that is, male parental rights and/or duties as of the time of birth. Paternity status, typically governed by state law, is often dependent upon the marital status of the mothers, or the nonsex acts of men preconception, prebirth, or shortly after birth. For example, husbands of mothers are often deemed parents at birth because genetic ties are presumed. Thus, for nonmarital children born to certain married women, legal paternity is not founded on actual genetic ties. Similarly, actual male genetic ties may not lead to paternity when children are born of sex to unmarried women. Again preconception, prebirth or at birth conduct may be important. The 1983 United States Supreme Court decision in Lehr v. Robertson recognizes that American states can require natural fathers, at least in the adoption setting, to do more than prove genetic ties in order to acquire paternity. When such fathers do enough, they acquire “substantial” federal constitutional childrearing interests so that any proposed adoption requires their consent. When such fathers do not do enough, Lehr allows states to deny them legal parentage. Lehr does forbid states from omitting too many natural fathers from governmental schemes for eliminating parental interests. And Lehr does not forbid a state, at least within adoption, from designating legal paternity for a nonmarital child in a man with no genetic ties. Many American states, in fact, say that genetic ties alone are an insufficient basis for legal paternity. And, within adoption, and often elsewhere, states recognize childrearing interests in nonmarital children for certain nongenetic fathers. The U.S. Supreme Court has said little since Lehr about male parentage under law for nonmarital children born of sex. It has, however, spoken on legal paternity for children of married mothers whose husbands are not the genetic fathers, a different breed of nonmarital children. In Michael H. v. Gerald D. in 1989, the court recognized that an American state could create an irrebuttable presumption of genetic ties in a husband for a child born during marriage where the marriage remains intact after birth and the married couple chooses to raise the child. After reviewing Lehr and Michael H., we find the Lehr guidelines have not been properly followed in and outside of adoption, including safe haven and custody/visitation settings. We also review American paternity laws in child support, torts and inheritance settings where male childrearing is not always at issue. Along the way we explore the possible expansion of Lehr’s childrearing opportunity interests in children born of sex to those uninvolved in sex. We conclude that Lehr rights should be expanded to natural fathers outside adoption and to certain nongenetic parents, including both women and men

Procreative Sex and Same Sex Parents

New state-sanctioned family units headed by couples in committed relationships are on the rise. They include marriages encompassing same sex couples, civil unions, and domestic partnerships. These new family units can originate in state statutes or in judicial decisions. The pace of change is so fast that new units occasionally replace units only recently recognized, as when same sex marriages replace civil unions or domestic partnerships. U.S. Supreme Court precedents permit broad governmental discretion in sanctioning new families and in recognizing parentage therein. Yet such discretion is limited by constitutionally-recognized parental rights and interests when children are born of sex. At times states can and do deny parental status under law at birth to biological fathers. Differences in parentage laws will likely continue for some time. When same sex marriages, civil unions, or domestic partnerships are expanded or created, the new family units typically are deemed equal to, or the same as, longstanding opposite sex marriages. However, when there are children born of sex, equality and sameness are impossible. Same sex couples simply cannot produce children through intrafamily intercourse as can opposite sex couples. Yet, extrafamily intercourse by those in same sex, as well as opposite sex, families can produce children. Given the policies of equality and sameness, should all children conceived through adultery similarly be deemed born into sanctioned family units? That is, should there always operate a presumption of parentage as now typically operates for a husband in an opposite sex marriage? If so, are new written laws needed since the existing parentage presumptions for husbands usually require the possibility of genetic ties – an impossibility in same sex settings? Further, are there limits on any equality between same and opposite sex couples? Finally, are additional laws beyond parentage presumptions at birth needed for children born of sex to same sex couples? This article posits that explicit statutory presumptions are needed for children born to state-sanctioned same sex female couples although there cannot be genetic ties in both mates. Further, it proposes that current voluntary parentage acknowledgment processes, now operating for men who prompt children born of sex to married and unmarried women, be expanded to allow certain same sex male mates to become legal parents at birth, or sooner, to children born of sex into their family units

For Those Not John Edwards: More and Better Paternity Acknowledgments at Birth

When former U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate John Edwards (finally) declared his paternity of Quinn, born of sex to Rielle Hunter, many assumed he could then begin to raise as well as financially support the child he once publicly shunned. Many assumed legal paternity could arise through a court order, if not Rielle’s wishes. Had he been on the Maury Povich television show, the positive genetic tests would have prompted the host to declare John the father. Yet notwithstanding these declarations, there would be no childrearing by John if Rielle determined he should have no contact with Quinn, even if Rielle sought child support from John and even if Quinn’s best interests favored contact between her and John. For genetic fathers like John whose bedmates are not like Rielle, there are often no opportunities to present Christmas gifts. As John and Rielle were never married and as Rielle was not married to another, Quinn was a nonmarital child with no federal constitutional legal father at birth. At birth, John may have had a federal constitutional opportunity interest in establishing parentage, seized by stepping up to parental responsibilities. Yet, as John only declared paternity two years after birth, after denying fatherhood and prompting another man to declare his genetic ties with Quinn, he may have been too late to seize the federal opportunity interest in order to fully parent Quinn without Rielle’s cooperation. Only with Rielle’s consent could John now complete a voluntary paternity acknowledgment, a prerequisite to placing John on Quinn’s birth certificate. And with Rielle’s opposition, any paternity lawsuit by John to establish regular contacts with Quinn would most likely fail even though any paternity lawsuit to establish John’s financial support of Quinn would most likely succeed. Popular misconceptions about legal paternity for nonmarital children born of sex largely arise due to confusion and ignorance about voluntary paternity acknowledgments. Our exploration of the federal and state acknowledgment laws reveals that a John Edwards is often no new father with legal childrearing rights so that without a Rielle Hunter’s help, his relationship with a Quinn would be limited to checks in the mail. Voluntary acknowledgment laws are especially important today because about 1.7 million nonmarital children are born of sex each year in the United States, with about one third, like Quinn, having no legal father at birth. In 1940, there were only about 90,000 nonmarital children. Like Quinn, some of today’s fatherless children have late arriving declarations about genetic ties, and perhaps paternal child care. Far more nonmarital children remain fatherless, though possibly the subject of later suits seeking child support. Many nonmarital children will be born fatherless under law even though U.S. governments proclaim that these children should have both a mother and father under law at birth. Voluntary paternity acknowledgment laws can better prompt dual parentage. After reviewing contemporary acknowledgment forms, we suggest laws to prompt more, and more reliable, paternity acknowledgments, and thus more legal fathers at birth for nonmarital children

RNA extraction, probe preparation, and competitive hybridization for transcriptional profiling using Neurospora crassa long-oligomer DNA microarrays

We developed protocols optimized for the performance of experiments assaying genomic gene expression using Neurospora crassa long-oligomer microarrays. We present methods for sample growth and harvesting, total RNA extraction, poly(A)+ mRNA selection, preparation of NH3-Allyl Cy3/Cy5 labeled probes, and microarray hybridization. The quality of the data obtained with these protocols is demonstrated by the comparative transcriptional profiling of basal and apical zones of vegetative growth of N. crassa

Dystrophin‐deficient mdx mice display a reduced life span and are susceptible to spontaneous rhabdomyosarcoma

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154288/1/fsb2fj067353com.pd

Identification of a Brazil-Nut Allergen in Transgenic Soybeans

Background: The nutritional quality of soybeans (Glycine max) is compromised by a relative deficiency of methionine in the protein fraction of the seeds. To improve the nutritional quality, methionine-rich 2S albumin from the Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) has been introduced into transgenic soybeans. Since the Brazil nut is a known allergenic food, we assessed the allergenicity of the 2S albumin. Methods: The ability of proteins in transgenic and nontransgenic soybeans, Brazil nuts, and purified 2S albumin to bind to IgE in serum from subjects allergic to Brazil nuts was determined by radioallergosorbent tests (four subjects) and sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamidegel electrophoresis (nine subjects) with immunoblotting and autoradiography. Three subjects also underwent skin-prick testing with extracts of soybean, transgenic soybean, and Brazil nut. Results: On radioallergosorbent testing of pooled serum from four subjects allergic to Brazil nuts, protein extracts of transgenic soybean inhibited binding of IgE to Brazil-nut proteins. On immunoblotting, serum IgE from eight of nine subjects bound to purified 2S albumin from the Brazil nut and to proteins of similar molecular weight in the Brazil nut and the transgenic soybean. On skin-prick testing, three subjects had positive reactions to extracts of Brazil nut and transgenic soybean and negative reactions to soybean extract. Conclusions: The 2S albumin is probably a major Brazil-nut allergen, and the transgenic soybeans analyzed in this study contain this protein. Our study shows that an allergen from a food known to be allergenic can be transferred into another food by genetic engineering

Integrating Community-Based Interventions to Reverse the Convergent TB/HIV Epidemics in Rural South Africa.

The WHO recommends integrating interventions to address the devastating TB/HIV co-epidemics in South Africa, yet integration has been poorly implemented and TB/HIV control efforts need strengthening. Identifying infected individuals is particularly difficult in rural settings. We used mathematical modeling to predict the impact of community-based, integrated TB/HIV case finding and additional control strategies on South Africa's TB/HIV epidemics. We developed a model incorporating TB and HIV transmission to evaluate the effectiveness of integrating TB and HIV interventions in rural South Africa over 10 years. We modeled the impact of a novel screening program that integrates case finding for TB and HIV in the community, comparing it to status quo and recommended TB/HIV control strategies, including GeneXpert, MDR-TB treatment decentralization, improved first-line TB treatment cure rate, isoniazid preventive therapy, and expanded ART. Combining recommended interventions averted 27% of expected TB cases (95% CI 18-40%) 18% HIV (95% CI 13-24%), 60% MDR-TB (95% CI 34-83%), 69% XDR-TB (95% CI 34-90%), and 16% TB/HIV deaths (95% CI 12-29). Supplementing these interventions with annual community-based TB/HIV case finding averted a further 17% of TB cases (44% total; 95% CI 31-56%), 5% HIV (23% total; 95% CI 17-29%), 8% MDR-TB (68% total; 95% CI 40-88%), 4% XDR-TB (73% total; 95% CI 38-91%), and 8% TB/HIV deaths (24% total; 95% CI 16-39%). In addition to increasing screening frequency, we found that improving TB symptom questionnaire sensitivity, second-line TB treatment delays, default before initiating TB treatment or ART, and second-line TB drug efficacy were significantly associated with even greater reductions in TB and HIV cases. TB/HIV epidemics in South Africa were most effectively curtailed by simultaneously implementing interventions that integrated community-based TB/HIV control strategies and targeted drug-resistant TB. Strengthening existing TB and HIV treatment programs is needed to further reduce disease incidence

The M2-M5 Brane System and a Generalized Nahm's Equation

We propose an equation that describes M2-branes ending on M5-branes, and which generalizes the description of the D1-D3 system via Nahm's equation. The simplest solution to this equation constructs the transverse geometry in terms of a fuzzy three sphere. We show that the solution passes a number of consistency checks including a consistent reduction to the D1-D3 system, a calculation of the energy of the system, matching to the self-dual string solution in the M5-brane world volume, and a study of simple fluctuations about the ground state configuration. We write down certain terms in the effective action of multiple membranes, which includes a sextic scalar coupling.Comment: 19 pages, LaTe