All Prisoners are Equal, but Some Prisoners are More Equal Than Others: An Inmate’s Right To Sex Reassignment Surgery After Kosilek v. Spencer, 889 F. Supp. 2d 190 (D. Mass. 2012)

In a system where all prisoners are equal, some prisoners are more equal than others. Despite the progression of the LGBT community, one very overlooked group is transgender prisoners. This Note explores a transgender prisoner’s rights to sex reassignment surgery. In 2012, a federal district judge held for the first time that a DOC prisoner must receive sex reassignment surgery. In a ten-year battle, Michelle Kosilek presented evidence that his Gender Identity Disorder was so severe that the only way to medically treat the condition was to have a sex reassignment surgery. This case presented new, unprecedented law regarding the medical rights of transgender prisoners. In examining Kosilek’s claim under the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, medical principles related specifically to transgender prisoners were presented to the court. This case is currently up on an appeal, and as a divisive issue, it could potentially end up in front of the United States Supreme Court. This Note examines the narrow holding of Kosilek, considers the role of public policy in Kosilek’s claim, and hypothesizes about the future of transgender prisoner litigation

Studying Innovation in Businesses: New Research Possibilities

The rapid pace of globalization and technological change has created demand for more and better analysis to answer key policy questions about the role of businesses in innovation. This demand was codified into law in the America COMPETES Act. However, existing business datasets are not adequate to create an empirically based foundation for policy decisions. This paper argues that the existing IRS data infrastructure could be used in a number of ways to respond to the national imperative. It describes the legal framework within which such a response could take place, and outlines the organizational features that would be required to establish an IRS/researcher partnership. It concludes with a discussion of the role for the research policy community.Business microdata, innovation, confidentiality, researcher access, tax policy

Shipping Governance in the Polar Regions: the Interaction of Global, Regional and National Regimes

The primary question of the thesis is: What are the constraints and opportunities of shipping regulation at the regional and national level in the polar regions in light of overarching regulatory regimes? The framework instrument of maritime law is the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC). Global shipping governance is regulated by the polar shipping standards of the IMO, including the Polar Code. International shipping law interacts with the unique regional and national regulations of the Arctic and Antarctic

Acute responses of freshwater and marine species to ethinyl estradiol and fluoxetine

Damaging and often irreversible effects occurring in aquatic ecosystems have recently been linked to the presence of pharmaceuticals in water bodies. Because this crisis has only recently been identified, existing reports on the consequences of this contamination are scarce. In EPA standard acute effluent toxicity tests, Ceriodaphnia dubia, Daphnia pulex, Pimephales promelas, Mysidopsis bahia, and Menidia beryllina were subjected to two of the most widely distributed pharmaceuticals in the U.S., ethinyl estradiol (EE2), a synthetic form of estrogen, and fluoxetine HCl (FLX), the active ingredient in Prozac®, for 96 hours to assess and evaluate toxic responses. After test termination, mortality curves were statistically analyzed to quantify 96 hour median effective concentrations (EC50s), no observable effect concentrations (NOECs), lowest observable effect concentrations (LOECs), and chronic values (Ch.V.s). Derived EC50s for both drugs identified C. dubia as the most sensitive organism. In terms of the Ch.V., C. dubia was the most sensitive organism administered EE2 and M. bahia given FLX. The most resilient species was P. promelas regarding the EC50 after EE2 dosing, D. pulex in respect to the Ch.V. after EE2 dosing, and M. beryllina pertaining to the EC50 and Ch.V after FLX dosing. Existing risk assessments and traditional toxicity tests do not incorporate sublethal effects. Because EE2 and FLX have the potential to alter serotonin, dopamine, and estrogenic hormones, biological activities encompassing these chemicals could be affected such as changes in behavior, growth and development, and fecundity. Observations on exposed organisms indicate that there were sublethal effects. The observed increases in abnormal behaviors of exposed organisms included unresponsiveness, irregular swim patterns, erratic activity, and convulsions with observed decreases in feeding habits and aggression. Ethinyl estradiol appeared to accelerate maturation; elevated concentrations appeared to slightly stimulate maturity while appearing to inhibit molting. The organisms exposed to higher concentrations of EE2 and FLX seemed to lack pigment. Continuous environmental pollution of these unregulated chemicals can cause stress on aquatic ecosystems and result in disturbances of the normal development and life cycles of aquatic organisms. If these sublethal disruptions in biological activity continually disregarded, catastrophic destructions of entire ecosystems could transpire

Hypoxia-inducible factor in thyroid carcinoma.

Intratumoural hypoxia (low oxygen tension) is associated with aggressive disease and poor prognosis. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 is a transcription factor activated by hypoxia that regulates the expression of genes that promote tumour cell survival, progression, metastasis, and resistance to chemo/radiotherapy. In addition to hypoxia, HIF-1 can be activated by growth factor-signalling pathways such as the mitogen-activated protein kinases- (MAPK-) and phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinases- (PI3K-) signalling cascades. Mutations in these pathways are common in thyroid carcinoma and lead to enhanced HIF-1 expression and activity. Here, we summarise current data that highlights the potential role of both hypoxia and MAPK/PI3K-induced HIF-1 signalling in thyroid carcinoma progression, metastatic characteristics, and the potential role of HIF-1 in thyroid carcinoma response to radiotherapy. Direct or indirect targeting of HIF-1 using an MAPK or PI3K inhibitor in combination with radiotherapy may be a new potential therapeutic target to improve the therapeutic response of thyroid carcinoma to radiotherapy and reduce metastatic burden

Ethnic variations in sexual behaviour in Great Britain and risk of sexually transmitted infections: a probability survey.

BACKGROUND: Ethnic variations in the rate of diagnosed sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have been reported in many developed countries. We used data from the second British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal 2000) to investigate the frequency of high-risk sexual behaviours and adverse sexual health outcomes in five ethnic groups in Great Britain. METHODS: We did a stratified probability sample survey of 11161 men and women aged 16-44 years, resident in Great Britain, using computer-assisted interviews. Additional sampling enabled us to do more detailed analyses for 949 black Caribbean, black African, Indian, and Pakistani respondents. We used logistic regression to assess reporting of STI diagnoses in the past 5 years, after controlling for demographic and behavioural variables. FINDINGS: We noted striking variations in number of sexual partnerships by ethnic group and between men and women. Reported numbers of sexual partnerships in a lifetime were highest in black Caribbean (median 9 [IQR 4-20]) and black African (9 [3-20]) men, and in white (5 [2-9]) and black Caribbean (4 [2-7]) women. Indian and Pakistani men and women reported fewer sexual partnerships, later first intercourse, and substantially lower prevalence of diagnosed STIs than did other groups. We recorded a significant association between ethnic origin and reported STIs in the past 5 years with increased risk in sexually active black Caribbean (OR 2.74 [95% CI 1.22-6.15]) and black African (2.95 [1.45-5.99]) men compared with white men, and black Caribbean (2.41 [1.35-4.28]) women compared with white women. Odds ratios changed little after controlling for age, number of sexual partnerships, homosexual and overseas partnerships, and condom use at last sexual intercourse. INTERPRETATION: Individual sexual behaviour is a key determinant of STI transmission risk, but alone does not explain the varying risk across ethnic groups. Our findings suggest a need for targeted and culturally competent prevention interventions

Texting Sexual Health Pilot - Interview Guide

A semi-structured topic guide used to discover participants’ views, experiences, and recommendations for improvements to behavioral intervention on sexual health. Questions cover tone and frequency of text messages, views regarding the message content, any concerns about others viewing texts, what (if anything) they had learned from text messages, sexual behavior since enrolment (such as condom use and partner notification), and suggested improvements to the intervention

Identification of hepta-histidine as a candidate drug for Huntington's disease by in silico-in vitro- in vivo-integrated screens of chemical libraries.

We identified drug seeds for treating Huntington's disease (HD) by combining in vitro single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy, in silico molecular docking simulations, and in vivo fly and mouse HD models to screen for inhibitors of abnormal interactions between mutant Htt and physiological Ku70, an essential DNA damage repair protein in neurons whose function is known to be impaired by mutant Htt. From 19,468 and 3,010,321 chemicals in actual and virtual libraries, fifty-six chemicals were selected from combined in vitro-in silico screens; six of these were further confirmed to have an in vivo effect on lifespan in a fly HD model, and two chemicals exerted an in vivo effect on the lifespan, body weight and motor function in a mouse HD model. Two oligopeptides, hepta-histidine (7H) and Angiotensin III, rescued the morphological abnormalities of primary neurons differentiated from iPS cells of human HD patients. For these selected drug seeds, we proposed a possible common structure. Unexpectedly, the selected chemicals enhanced rather than inhibited Htt aggregation, as indicated by dynamic light scattering analysis. Taken together, these integrated screens revealed a new pathway for the molecular targeted therapy of HD