Alaska's Plea Bargaining Ban Re-evaluated

This article summarizes the findings of the Alaska Judicial Council's most recent evaluation of Alaska's ban on plea bargaining. The study found several major differences between Alaska's pre-ban practices and current practices that could be directly attributed to the ban. First, the standard for screening of cases was tightened immediately after the ban was announced, resulting in an increase in the number of cases not accepted for prosecution. According to most persons interviewed, the present screening policy is a positive influence on the quality of cases and a useful tool for prosecutors. The Alaska Judicial Council recommends that the present high standard for screening be maintained. If extra time is needed for screening cases in some situations (especially in rural areas), that need could be finally recognized in the wri tten policy guidelines. A second major effect of Alaska's 1975 ban on plea bargaining involved a dramatic shift in responsibility for the sentencing of convicted defendants. Before the ban, the prosecutor and the defense attorney commonly agreed upon a specific sentence in exchange for the defendant's plea of guilty or nolo contendere. The judge would then be asked to approve the deal. The Judicial Council found that routine sentence· recommendations for a specific sentence were virtually eliminated soon after the ban and have not returned. As a result, most defendants today are sentenced by a judge at an open hearing with participation by the prosecutor, defense, and presentence reporter. Thus, responsibility for determining the sentence rests primarily with the judge, who makes an independent decision, but also benefits from the participants' input. A third major finding of the Judicial Council's study was that charge bargaining (charge reductions and dismissals) was substantially curtailed for several years after the original plea bargaining ban; but it has become steadily more prevalent since the mid 1980s. Attorneys and judges attribute the change to a combination of circumstances, including changes in personnel in the Attorney General's office and local District Attorney offices, the changes in the criminal code structure, and the reduced resources available for the prosecution of cases after the middle of 1986. It appears that the legal community's perception of the current prosecutorial practices related to charge bargaining is substantially at odds with the Attorney General's written policy that prohibits charge bargaining. The Attorney General's current policy prohibits a prosecutor from agreeing to reduce or dismiss charges in exchange for the defendant's plea of guilty (an exception applies in some types of multiple count cases, where the prosecutor may dismiss some counts if the defendant pleads to the "'essence' of the conduct engaged in"). The Judicial Council takes no position with respect to the practice of charge bargaining, but recommends that the written policy and the actual practice be consistent to avoid confusion in the legal community and the public. Thus, the Attorney General may wish either to reiterate the present policy as written and encourage its application in practice, or he may prefer to incorporate the existing practices into his policy. Fourth, the Judicial Council found that sentences increased substantially in length in the years after the ban, and that the likelihood of a jail sentence increased for most offenders. These increases probably resulted more from increased societal concern with crime and willingness to allocate significant resources to law enforcement, courts and corrections than from the ban on plea bargaining or presumptive sentencing alone. However, because it is apparent that presumptive sentencing is one of several factors that has led to overall longer sentences and a much larger prison population, the Judicial Council recommends that some aspects of the presumptive sentencing scheme be reconsidered. Specifically, the Council recommends that the Legislature, through the Alaska Sentencing Commission, thoroughly evaluate existing and proposed sentencing provisions to compare the relative seriousness of offenses, and carefully consider the full range of costs associated with new sentencing proposals. By ranking the seriousness of each offense in relation to other offenses and possibly tying each sentence to a more narrowly-defined offense, legislators and practitioners will benefit from increased specificity in sentencing. By understanding the full range of costs associated with new sentences, Alaskan legislators may be able to avoid the virtually unsolvable prison overcrowding problems found in so many other states. A fifth finding, related to sentencing, was that appellate review of sentencing by the Alaska Court of Appeals and Alaska Supreme Court has resulted in comprehensive case law guidelines for most offenses and benchmark sentences for several types and groups of offenses. The appellate courts' decisions reflect the legislative mandate for greater fairness and uniformity in sentencing, especially those decisions that use the principles of the presumptive sentencing structure to interpret non-presumptive sentencing statutes. The Judicial Council recommends that the Legislature, through the Alaska Sentencing Commission, examine the various benchmarks set by the appellate courts to determine first whether there is sentencing law in those decisions that would be more effectively addressed by statutes, and second, whether the benchmarks and sentencing criteria could be summarized in a form that would make them easily accessible to judges, attorneys and the public.This report was prepared under grant #SJI-87-08X-A-058 from the State Justice Institute. Points of view expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the State Justice Institute.Ye

Extending the allelic spectrum at noncoding risk loci of orofacial clefting

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have generated unprecedented insights into the genetic etiology of orofacial clefting (OFC). The moderate effect sizes of associated noncoding risk variants and limited access to disease-relevant tissue represent considerable challenges for biological interpretation of genetic findings. As rare variants with stronger effect sizes are likely to also contribute to OFC, an alternative approach to delineate pathogenic mechanisms is to identify private mutations and/or an increased burden of rare variants in associated regions. This report describes a framework for targeted resequencing at selected noncoding risk loci contributing to nonsyndromic cleft lip with/without cleft palate (nsCL/P), the most frequent OFC subtype. Based on GWAS data, we selected three risk loci and identified candidate regulatory regions (CRRs) through the integration of credible SNP information, epigenetic data from relevant cells/tissues, and conservation scores. The CRRs (total 57 kb) were resequenced in a multiethnic study population (1061 patients; 1591 controls), using single-molecule molecular inversion probe technology. Combining evidence from in silico variant annotation, pedigree- and burden analyses, we identified 16 likely deleterious rare variants that represent new candidates for functional studies in nsCL/P. Our framework is scalable and represents a promising approach to the investigation of additional congenital malformations with multifactorial etiology

Immunosuppression during Acute Infection with Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus in Swine Is Mediated by IL-10

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is one of the most contagious animal viruses, causing a devastating disease in cloven-hoofed animals with enormous economic consequences. Identification of the different parameters involved in the immune response elicited against FMDV remains unclear, and it is fundamental the understanding of such parameters before effective control measures can be put in place. In the present study, we show that interleukin-10 (IL-10) production by dendritic cells (DCs) is drastically increased during acute infection with FMDV in swine. In vitro blockade of IL-10 with a neutralizing antibody against porcine IL-10 restores T cell activation by DCs. Additionally, we describe that FMDV infects DC precursors and interferes with DC maturation and antigen presentation capacity. Thus, we propose a new mechanism of virus immunity in which a non-persistent virus, FMDV, induces immunosuppression by an increment in the production of IL-10, which in turn, reduces T cell function. This reduction of T cell activity may result in a more potent induction of neutralizing antibody responses, clearing the viral infection

The L 98-59 System: Three Transiting, Terrestrial-size Planets Orbiting a Nearby M Dwarf

We report the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) discovery of three terrestrial-size planets transiting L 98-59 (TOI-175, TIC 307210830)—a bright M dwarf at a distance of 10.6 pc. Using the Gaia-measured distance and broadband photometry, we find that the host star is an M3 dwarf. Combined with the TESS transits from three sectors, the corresponding stellar parameters yield planet radii ranging from 0.8 R ⊕ to 1.6 R ⊕. All three planets have short orbital periods, ranging from 2.25 to 7.45 days with the outer pair just wide of a 2:1 period resonance. Diagnostic tests produced by the TESS Data Validation Report and the vetting package DAVE rule out common false-positive sources. These analyses, along with dedicated follow-up and the multiplicity of the system, lend confidence that the observed signals are caused by planets transiting L 98-59 and are not associated with other sources in the field. The L 98-59 system is interesting for a number of reasons: the host star is bright (V = 11.7 mag, K = 7.1 mag) and the planets are prime targets for further follow-up observations including precision radial-velocity mass measurements and future transit spectroscopy with the James Webb Space Telescope; the near-resonant configuration makes the system a laboratory to study planetary system dynamical evolution; and three planets of relatively similar size in the same system present an opportunity to study terrestrial planets where other variables (age, metallicity, etc.) can be held constant. L 98-59 will be observed in four more TESS sectors, which will provide a wealth of information on the three currently known planets and have the potential to reveal additional planets in the system

Assessing associations between the AURKAHMMR-TPX2-TUBG1 functional module and breast cancer risk in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers

While interplay between BRCA1 and AURKA-RHAMM-TPX2-TUBG1 regulates mammary epithelial polarization, common genetic variation in HMMR (gene product RHAMM) may be associated with risk of breast cancer in BRCA1 mutation carriers. Following on these observations, we further assessed the link between the AURKA-HMMR-TPX2-TUBG1 functional module and risk of breast cancer in BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carriers. Forty-one single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped in 15,252 BRCA1 and 8,211 BRCA2 mutation carriers and subsequently analyzed using a retrospective likelihood appr

Clinical and virological characteristics of hospitalised COVID-19 patients in a German tertiary care centre during the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: a prospective observational study

Purpose: Adequate patient allocation is pivotal for optimal resource management in strained healthcare systems, and requires detailed knowledge of clinical and virological disease trajectories. The purpose of this work was to identify risk factors associated with need for invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), to analyse viral kinetics in patients with and without IMV and to provide a comprehensive description of clinical course. Methods: A cohort of 168 hospitalised adult COVID-19 patients enrolled in a prospective observational study at a large European tertiary care centre was analysed. Results: Forty-four per cent (71/161) of patients required invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). Shorter duration of symptoms before admission (aOR 1.22 per day less, 95% CI 1.10-1.37, p < 0.01) and history of hypertension (aOR 5.55, 95% CI 2.00-16.82, p < 0.01) were associated with need for IMV. Patients on IMV had higher maximal concentrations, slower decline rates, and longer shedding of SARS-CoV-2 than non-IMV patients (33 days, IQR 26-46.75, vs 18 days, IQR 16-46.75, respectively, p < 0.01). Median duration of hospitalisation was 9 days (IQR 6-15.5) for non-IMV and 49.5 days (IQR 36.8-82.5) for IMV patients. Conclusions: Our results indicate a short duration of symptoms before admission as a risk factor for severe disease that merits further investigation and different viral load kinetics in severely affected patients. Median duration of hospitalisation of IMV patients was longer than described for acute respiratory distress syndrome unrelated to COVID-19

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Global variability in leaf respiration in relation to climate, plant functional types and leaf traits

• Leaf dark respiration (Rdark) is an important yet poorly quantified component of the global carbon cycle. Given this, we analyzed a new global database of Rdark and associated leaf traits. • Data for 899 species were compiled from 100 sites (from the Arctic to the tropics). Several woody and nonwoody plant functional types (PFTs) were represented. Mixed-effects models were used to disentangle sources of variation in Rdark. • Area-based Rdark at the prevailing average daily growth temperature (T) of each site increased only twofold from the Arctic to the tropics, despite a 20°C increase in growing T (8–28°C). By contrast, Rdark at a standard T (25°C, Rdark25) was threefold higher in the Arctic than in the tropics, and twofold higher at arid than at mesic sites. Species and PFTs at cold sites exhibited higher Rdark25 at a given photosynthetic capacity (Vcmax25) or leaf nitrogen concentration ([N]) than species at warmer sites. Rdark25 values at any given Vcmax25 or [N] were higher in herbs than in woody plants. • The results highlight variation in Rdark among species and across global gradients in T and aridity. In addition to their ecological significance, the results provide a framework for improving representation of Rdark in terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) and associated land-surface components of Earth system models (ESMs)