Public Understanding of and Support for the Courts: Survey Results

Using data from two nationally representative surveys, we examined public knowledge about the Constitution and courts: the impact of court exposure and news sources on perceptions of the courts, trust in the courts, perceptions of bias in the courts, and willingness to curb the power or influence of the courts. The surveys were conducted in the summers of 2005 and 2006 by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Each has a margin of error of plus or minus three percent (details can be found in the Appendix). Unless otherwise indicated, the reported results are drawn from the 2006 survey

Identification of Plant Extracts that Inhibit the Formation of Diabetes-Linked IAPP Amyloid

The extracts of 27 vegetables, spices and herbs were screened for their functional ability to inhibit the aggregation of islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP, amylin) into toxic amyloid aggregates. The aggregation of IAPP has been directly linked to the death of pancreatic β-islet cells in type 2 diabetes. Inhibiting the aggregation of IAPP is believed to have the potential to slow, if not prevent entirely, the progression of this disease. As vegetables, spices and herbs are known to possess many different positive health effects, the extracts of 27 plants (abundant within the United States and spanning several plant families) were screened for their ability to inhibit the formation of toxic IAPP aggregates. Their anti-amyloid activities were assessed through (1) thioflavin T binding assays, (2) visualization of amyloid fibers using atomic force microscopy and (3) cell rescue studies. From this research, mint, peppermint, red bell pepper and thyme emerged as possessing the greatest anti-amyloid activity

The ANZUS Treaty during the Cold War: a reinterpretation of U.S. diplomacy in the Southwest Pacific

This article explains the origins of the Australia–New Zealand–United States (ANZUS) Treaty by highlighting U.S. ambitions in the Pacific region after World War II. Three clarifications to the historiography merit attention. First, an alliance with Australia and New Zealand reflected the pursuit of U.S. interests rather than the skill of antipodean diplomacy. Despite initial reservations in Washington, geostrategic anxiety and economic ambition ultimately spurred cooperation. The U.S. government's eventual recourse to coercive diplomacy against the other ANZUS members, and the exclusion of Britain from the alliance, substantiate claims of self-interest. Second, the historiography neglects the economic rationale underlying the U.S. commitment to Pacific security. Regional cooperation ensured the revival of Japan, the avoidance of discriminatory trade policies, and the stability of the Bretton Woods monetary system. Third, scholars have unduly played down and misunderstood the concept of race. U.S. foreign policy elites invoked ideas about a “White Man's Club” in Asia to obscure the pursuit of U.S. interests in the region and to ensure British exclusion from the treaty

The Toll-Like Receptor Gene Family Is Integrated into Human DNA Damage and p53 Networks

In recent years the functions that the p53 tumor suppressor plays in human biology have been greatly extended beyond “guardian of the genome.” Our studies of promoter response element sequences targeted by the p53 master regulatory transcription factor suggest a general role for this DNA damage and stress-responsive regulator in the control of human Toll-like receptor (TLR) gene expression. The TLR gene family mediates innate immunity to a wide variety of pathogenic threats through recognition of conserved pathogen-associated molecular motifs. Using primary human immune cells, we have examined expression of the entire TLR gene family following exposure to anti-cancer agents that induce the p53 network. Expression of all TLR genes, TLR1 to TLR10, in blood lymphocytes and alveolar macrophages from healthy volunteers can be induced by DNA metabolic stressors. However, there is considerable inter-individual variability. Most of the TLR genes respond to p53 via canonical as well as noncanonical promoter binding sites. Importantly, the integration of the TLR gene family into the p53 network is unique to primates, a recurrent theme raised for other gene families in our previous studies. Furthermore, a polymorphism in a TLR8 response element provides the first human example of a p53 target sequence specifically responsible for endogenous gene induction. These findings—demonstrating that the human innate immune system, including downstream induction of cytokines, can be modulated by DNA metabolic stress—have many implications for health and disease, as well as for understanding the evolution of damage and p53 responsive networks

What can inactivity (in its various forms) reveal about affective states in non-human animals? A review

Captive/domestic animals are often described as inactive, with the implicit or explicit implication that this high level of inactivity is a welfare problem. Conversely, not being inactive enough may also indicate or cause poor welfare. In humans, too much inactivity can certainly be associated with either negative or positive affective states. In non-human animals, however, the affective states associated with elevated or suppressed levels of inactivity are still not well understood. Part of the complexity is due to the fact that there are many different forms of inactivity, each likely associated with very different affective states. This paper has two aims. One is to identify specific forms of inactivity that can be used as indicators of specific affective states in animals. The other is to identify issues that need to be resolved before we could validly use the remaining, not yet validated forms of inactivity as indicators of affective state. We briefly discuss how inactivity is defined and assessed in the literature, and then how inactivity in its various forms relates to affective (either negative or positive) states in animals, basing our reasoning on linguistic reports of affective states collected from humans displaying inactivity phenotypically similar to that displayed by animals in similar situations, and, when possible, on pharmacological validation. Specific forms of inactivity expressed in response to perceived threats (freezing, tonic immobility, and hiding) appear to be, to date, the best-validated indicators of specific affective states in animals. We also identify a number of specific forms of inactivity likely to reflect either negative (associated with ill-heath, boredom-like, and depression-like conditions), or positive states (e.g. ‘sun-basking’, post-consummatory inactivity), although further research is warranted before we could use those forms as indicators of the affective states. We further discuss the relationship between increased inactivity and affective states by presenting misleading situations likely to yield wrong conclusions. We conclude that more attention should be paid to inactivity in animal welfare studies: specific forms of inactivity identified in this paper are, or have the potential to be, useful indicators of affective (welfare) states in animals