The Price of Pay to Play in Securities Class Actions

This paper studies the effect of campaign contributions to lead plaintiffs — “pay to play’’ — on the level of attorneys’ fees in securities class actions. We find that state pension funds generally pay lower attorneys’ fees when they serve as lead plaintiffs in securities class actions than do individual investors serving in that capacity. This differential disappears, however, when we control for campaign contributions made to officials with influence over state pension funds. Thus, pay to play appears to increase agency costs borne by shareholders in securities class actions

Physiological Stress Responses to a Live-Fire Training Evolution in Career Firefighters

Firefighters have a physically demanding job that exposes them to many specific and unique stressors, which contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk (i.e., cardiovascular strain, inflammation, and oxidative stress) or even mortality. At present, the literature lacks data evaluating these physiological stress responses amongst firefighters in any realistic or simulated scenarios, such as a live-fire training evolution (LFTE). Given the elevated risk of premature mortality, there is a critical need to better understand the physiological stress responses to an LFTE. This information could aid in developing nutritional, training, and other various interventions to mitigate stress load and reduce the incidence of CVD among this population. PURPOSE: To assess the physiological stress response to an LFTE among firefighters. METHODS: Seventy-six (n = 76) career firefighters completed an LFTE. Salivary samples were collected pre, immediately post, and 30-min post the LFTE, and analyzed the following stress markers: α-amylase (AA), secretory immunoglobulin-A (SIgA), and cortisol. One-way repeated measures analysis of variance was used to assess changes over time. Fisher’s LSD and Cohen’s d effect size calculations were used for Post hoc analysis. RESULTS: Significant main effects for time were found for AA, SIgA, and cortisol (p\u3c0.001). Fisher’s LSD post hoc analysis found AA, SIgA, and cortisol concentrations were all significantly elevated immediately post LFTE compared to pre (p\u3c0.0001) and 30-min post (p\u3c0.0001). Medium to large effect sizes were noted for AA, SIgA, and cortisol with respect to changes pre to immediately post-LFTE (d = 0.84, 0.61, and 0.78, respectively). CONCLUSION: While many studies have shown increased inflammation and oxidative stress, as well as adverse cardiovascular and metabolic responses to firefighting activities, these data provide insight into the physiological stress placed upon a firefighter engaging in fire-suppressive evolutions

Mouse H6 Homeobox 1 (Hmx1) mutations cause cranial abnormalities and reduced body mass

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The H6 homeobox genes <it>Hmx1</it>, <it>Hmx2</it>, and <it>Hmx3 </it>(also known as <it>Nkx5-3</it>; <it>Nkx5-2 </it>and <it>Nkx5-1</it>, respectively), compose a family within the NKL subclass of the ANTP class of homeobox genes. Hmx gene family expression is mostly limited to sensory organs, branchial (pharyngeal) arches, and the rostral part of the central nervous system. Targeted mutation of either <it>Hmx2 </it>or <it>Hmx3 </it>in mice disrupts the vestibular system. These tandemly duplicated genes have functional overlap as indicated by the loss of the entire vestibular system in double mutants. Mutants have not been described for <it>Hmx1</it>, the most divergent of the family.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Dumbo (<it>dmbo</it>) is a semi-lethal mouse mutation that was recovered in a forward genetic mutagenesis screen. Mutants exhibit enlarged ear pinnae with a distinctive ventrolateral shift. Here, we report on the basis of this phenotype and other abnormalities in the mutant, and identify the causative mutation as being an allele of <it>Hmx1</it>. Examination of dumbo skulls revealed only subtle changes in cranial bone morphology, namely hyperplasia of the gonial bone and irregularities along the caudal border of the squamous temporal bone. Other nearby otic structures were unaffected. The semilethality of <it>dmbo/dmbo </it>mice was found to be ~40%, occured perinatally, and was associated with exencephaly. Surviving mutants of both sexes exhibited reduced body mass from ~3 days postpartum onwards. Most dumbo adults were microphthalmic. Recombinant animals and specific deletion-bearing mice were used to map the <it>dumbo </it>mutation to a 1.8 Mb region on Chromosome 5. DNA sequencing of genes in this region revealed a nonsense mutation in the first exon of H6 Homeobox 1 (<it>Hmx1</it>; also <it>Nkx5-3</it>). An independent spontaneous allele called misplaced ears (<it>mpe</it>) was also identified, confirming <it>Hmx1 </it>as the responsible mutant gene.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The divergence of <it>Hmx1 </it>from its paralogs is reflected by different and diverse developmental roles exclusive of vestibular involvement. Additionally, these mutant <it>Hmx1 </it>alleles represent the first mouse models of a recently-discovered Oculo-Auricular syndrome caused by mutation of the orthologous human gene.</p

Genome sequencing as a first-line genetic test in familial dilated cardiomyopathy

Purpose: We evaluated genome sequencing (GS) as an alternative to multigene panel sequencing (PS) for genetic testing in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Methods: Forty-two patients with familial DCM underwent PS and GS, and detection rates of rare single-nucleotide variants and small insertions/deletions in panel genes were compared. Loss-of-function variants in 406 cardiac-enriched genes were evaluated, and an assessment of structural variation was performed. Results: GS provided broader and more uniform coverage than PS, with high concordance for rare variant detection in panel genes. GS identified all PS-identified pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants as well as two additional likely pathogenic variants: one was missed by PS due to low coverage, the other was a known disease-causing variant in a gene not included on the panel. No loss-of-function variants in the extended gene set met clinical criteria for pathogenicity. One BAG3 structural variant was classified as pathogenic. Conclusion: Our data support the use of GS for genetic testing in DCM, with high variant detection accuracy and a capacity to identify structural variants. GS provides an opportunity to go beyond suites of established disease genes, but the incremental yield of clinically actionable variants is limited by a paucity of genetic and functional evidence for DCM association

New OB star candidates in the Carina Arm around Westerlund 2 from VPHAS+

Date of Acceptance: 10/04/2015O and early B stars are at the apex of galactic ecology, but in the Milky Way, only a minority of them may yet have been identified. We present the results of a pilot study to select and parametrise OB star candidates in the Southern Galactic plane, down to a limiting magnitude of $g=20$. A 2 square-degree field capturing the Carina Arm around the young massive star cluster, Westerlund 2, is examined. The confirmed OB stars in this cluster are used to validate our identification method, based on selection from the $(u-g, g-r)$ diagram for the region. Our Markov Chain Monte Carlo fitting method combines VPHAS+ $u, g, r, i$ with published $J, H, K$ photometry in order to derive posterior probability distributions of the stellar parameters $\log(\rm T_{\rm eff})$ and distance modulus, together with the reddening parameters $A_0$ and $R_V$. The stellar parameters are sufficient to confirm OB status while the reddening parameters are determined to a precision of $\sigma(A_0)\sim0.09$ and $\sigma(R_V)\sim0.08$. There are 489 objects that fit well as new OB candidates, earlier than $\sim$B2. This total includes 74 probable massive O stars, 5 likely blue supergiants and 32 reddened subdwarfs. This increases the number of previously known and candidate OB stars in the region by nearly a factor of 10. Most of the new objects are likely to be at distances between 3 and 6 kpc. We have confirmed the results of previous studies that, at these longer distances, these sight lines require non-standard reddening laws with $3.5R_VPeer reviewe

The Open Cluster Chemical Analysis and Mapping Survey: Local Galactic Metallicity Gradient with APOGEE using SDSS DR10

The Open Cluster Chemical Analysis and Mapping (OCCAM) Survey aims to produce a comprehensive, uniform, infrared-based dataset for hundreds of open clusters, and constrain key Galactic dynamical and chemical parameters from this sample. This first contribution from the OCCAM survey presents analysis of 141 members stars in 28 open clusters with high-resolution metallicities derived from a large uniform sample collected as part of the SDSS-III/Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE). This sample includes the first high-resolution metallicity measurements for 22 open clusters. With this largest ever uniformly observed sample of open cluster stars we investigate the Galactic disk gradients of both [M/H] and [alpha/M]. We find basically no gradient across this range in [alpha/M], but [M/H] does show a gradient for R_{GC} < 10 kpc and a significant flattening beyond R_{GC} = 10 kpc. In particular, whereas fitting a single linear trend yields an [M/H] gradient of -0.09 +/- 0.03$ dex/kpc --- similar to previously measure gradients inside 13 kpc --- by independently fitting inside and outside 10 kpc separately we find a significantly steeper gradient near the Sun (7.9 <= R_{GC} <= 10) than previously found (-0.20 +/- 0.08 dex/kpc) and a nearly flat trend beyond 10 kpc (-0.02 +/- 0.09 dex/kpc).Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, ApJ letters, in pres