Book Review: Thirteen Perspectives on Regulatory Simplification, ULI Research Report #29

If expanding state and local initiatives in growth management constituted the so-called silent revolution of the early 1970s, the second half of the decade has sprouted a quickening, contrasting revolution of regulatory "simplification." More positive and broader than mere regulatory backlash to the earlier environmental and growth management inventiveness, however, this new movement can even be seen as an extension of that preceding movement, endeavoring now to improve efficiency of development guidance systems while at the same time maintaining or even increasing effectiveness. In its most responsible definition, the new phase of reform also continues to aim at improving fairness in our regulatory system. Thus, while not at odds with the philosophy of "less is more," the current regulatory reform movement, as discussed in this book, clearly is something more than "less regulation." Thirteen Perspectives on Regulatory Simplification is a small softcover book that grew out of a 1978 Urban Land Institute seminar on regulatory reform

Is Your Water Supply Protected? (Commentary)

The answer to the question is no, unless you are addressing the latent threats of our chemical age and unless you are employing an aggressive, watershed-wide land use management program. The drought that North Carolina and the Southeast experienced last summer demonstrated our vulnerability to the water quantity problem. But it shouldn't distract planners from the more pernicious threats to water quality posed by urbanizing water supply watersheds in the chemical age. The geometrical increase in chemicals and chemical use since WWII has increased and complicated the threat to our drinking waters. To answer that threat we must mount new and aggressive water supply protection strategies

Making the Land Use - Water Quality Connection: An Assessment of Land Use and Water Resource Planning in North Carolina

In the summer of 1998, the N.C. Division of Community Assistance funded a study by the authors to examine the state of water quality planning in North Carolina. The study included a survey and evaluation of comprehensive/land use plans across the state. This article addresses the findings from the survey and evaluations, and proposes guidelines for effective land use and water resource planning

What a Good Local Development Plan Should Contain: A Proposed Model

A good local land development plan is vital in a community's strategy to control its destiny. This article suggests essential and fundamental features of such a "good plan," exceeding the merely minimal plan but remaining realistic for most North Carolina communities. The suggested model plan is based on a project conducted jointly by a research team from the Department of City and Regional Planning and the Division of Community Assistance and funded by the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund. The study included a survey and evaluation of local comprehensive land use plans from across the state in 1998. Based on that information, a review of the growing literature on good planning practices, and the advice of a state-wide advisory committee, the research team formulated Guidelines for North Carolina Local Governmental Development Plans. This article is adapted and condensed from those guidelines. This article focuses on the scope of development issues the plan should address, the elements it should contain, and certain essential features of its approach. The suggestions are meant to characterize the plan of any community, small or large, municipality or county. What will vary is the methodology that communities use to complete the recommended components

Increased expression of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) in human pituitary tumors

PURPOSE: Subsets of pituitary tumors exhibit an aggressive clinical courses and recur despite surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Because modulation of the immune response through inhibition of T-cell checkpoints has led to durable clinical responses in multiple malignancies, we explored whether pituitary adenomas express immune-related biomarkers that could suggest suitability for immunotherapy. Specifically, programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) has emerged as a potential biomarker whose expression may portend more favorable responses to immune checkpoint blockade therapies. We thus investigated the expression of PD-L1 in pituitary adenomas. METHODS: PD-L1 RNA and protein expression were evaluated in 48 pituitary tumors, including functioning and non-functioning adenomas as well as atypical and recurrent tumors. Tumor infiltrating lymphocyte populations were also assessed by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Pituitary tumors express variable levels of PD-L1 transcript and protein. PD-L1 RNA and protein expression were significantly increased in functioning (growth hormone and prolactin-expressing) pituitary adenomas compared to non-functioning (null cell and silent gonadotroph) adenomas. Moreover, primary pituitary adenomas harbored higher levels of PD-L1 mRNA compared to recurrent tumors. Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes were observed in all pituitary tumors and were positively correlated with increased PD-L1 expression, particularly in the functional subtypes. CONCLUSIONS: Human pituitary adenomas harbor PD-L1 across subtypes, with significantly higher expression in functioning adenomas compared to non-functioning adenomas. This expression is accompanied by the presence of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. These findings suggest the existence of an immune response to pituitary tumors and raise the possibility of considering checkpoint blockade immunotherapy in cases refractory to conventional management

UV Absorption Lines from High-Velocity Gas in the Vela Supernova Remnant: New insights from STIS Echelle Observations of HD72089

The star HD72089 is located behind the Vela supernova remnant and shows a complex array of high and low velocity interstellar absorption features arising from shocked clouds. A spectrum of this star was recorded over the wavelength range 1196.4 to 1397.2 Angstroms at a resolving power lambda/Delta lambda = 110,000 and signal-to-noise ratio of 32 by STIS on the Hubble Space Telescope. We have identified 7 narrow components of C I and have measured their relative populations in excited fine-structure levels. Broader features at heliocentric velocities ranging from -70 to +130 km/s are seen in C II, N I, O I, Si II, S II and Ni II. In the high-velocity components, the unusually low abundances of N I and O I, relative to S II and Si II, suggest that these elements may be preferentially ionized to higher stages by radiation from hot gas immediately behind the shock fronts.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, Latex. Submitted for the special HST ERO issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letter