Entering the Innovation Twilight Zone: How Patent and Antitrust Law Must Work Together

Patent law and antitrust law have traded ascendancy over the last century, as courts and other institutions have tended to favor one at the expense of the other. In this Article, we take several steps toward stabilizing the doctrine surrounding these two branches of law. First, we argue that an optimal balance between patent rights and antitrust enforcement exists that will maximize consumer welfare, including promoting innovation and economic growth. Further, as Congress is the best institution to find this optimum, courts should enforce both statutes according to their literal text, which grants absolute patent rights but allows for more discretion in antitrust enforcement. Second, we propose three possible reasons for the historical conflict between these regimes: cultural cognition, political economy, and federal court structure. As a result, we propose two stabilizing solutions: research into culturally depolarizing communication techniques and a two-court Innovation Circuit

Oxford Women Remember Faulkner

Moderator: Chester A. McLarty (Faulkner\u27s personal physician and friend

An Interprofessional Clinical Placement in a Primary Healthcare Setting: A Pilot Study

Purpose: Internationally, and in Australia, interprofessional education (IPE) is becoming typical in primary healthcare delivery and is core to delivering patient-centred care. It is essential that primary healthcare education develop interprofessional capacity in order to produce a skilled workforce. An IPE clinical placement for undergraduate health students was developed and piloted in primary healthcare settings. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the IPE clinical placement in a primary healthcare setting on students’ perceptions of interprofessional education. Method: A pre-post placement validated questionnaire (n=19) indicated overall perceptions of IPE significantly increased over the course of the IPE clinical placement. Results: There was a significant increase in competency and autonomy and understanding of roles over time. There was no significant increase in the reported perception of need for interprofessional cooperation, however there was a significant increase in actual interprofessional cooperation. Conclusion: This was a successful pilot program that warrants further development and research to include longer-term follow up of students’ perceptions towards IPE and analyze whether collaboration and teamwork skills obtained during the IPE primary healthcare experience are transferrable to future professional practice

A Collaborative Model for Implementing State Common Core School Standards

In this early part of the 21st century, education leaders are increasingly challenged to improve P-12 teaching and learning to increase student achievement and to prepare all students for college and career success. Education reforms such as the adoption of the Common Core Standards within existing policies and practices of state department, district and school bureaucracies requires the repurposing and refocusing of existing resources and structures. This article describes the efforts in one state to employ collaboration to meet the requirements of legislated mandates for implementation of the Common Core Standards in English language arts and mathematics and the implications of the legislated mandates for postsecondary education. Three education entities (a university, schools, and a state agency) collaborated to design and implement professional development to inform K-12 teachers, state agency personnel, and university faculty about legislated mandates for K-12 education (e.g., state implementation of the Common Core Standards for college- and career-readiness, increase in high school graduation rates, etc.). As the state was the first to adopt the Common Core Standards and the first to assess K-12 student learning in this education reform context, this early adopter model of professional development will be useful and informative for others embarking on such efforts

Implementing educational and systems-level changes to improve cancer screening rates among state employees in Missouri

As of 2022, only 51% of active eligible state employees in Missouri have been screened for colorectal cancer and 67% for breast cancer, despite having state-sponsored health insurance. In fall 2020, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Comprehensive Cancer Program partnered with the Missouri Cancer Consortium to create a strategy to improve cancer screening rates among state employees. The project was designed to include 3 phases: 1) a colorectal cancer education phase, 2) an expanded education phase that included additional cancers, and 3) a proposed intervention phase that will include screening events. In the first phase, in 2020, colorectal cancer educational materials were sent to all state employees. In the second phase, in 2022, educational resources were expanded to include additional cancers and screening tools. In both initiatives, educational materials and information on current screening recommendations were distributed to approximately 40,000 state employees. A database of screening rates was developed to monitor screening rates and challenge state employees to complete screenings. Evidence-informed interventions were implemented with a focus on health equity. We used a regional approach to identify geographic areas with the greatest need. These efforts will support the next phase of the project, which involves planning breast and colorectal cancer screening events. Policy changes will be encouraged to remove systems-level barriers that discourage employees from being screened for cancer. Recommended tools and strategies can be adopted by similar organizations with complex, multitier employee structures

Improvements in Awareness and Testing Have Led to a Threefold Increase Over 10 Years in the Identification of Monogenic Diabetes in the U.K

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Diabetes Association via the DOI in this recordAims/hypothesis: Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY) is a rare monogenic form of diabetes. In 2009, >80% of UK cases were estimated to be misdiagnosed. Since then, there have been a number of initiatives to improve the awareness and detection of MODY including education initiatives (Genetic Diabetes Nurse (GDN) programme), the MODY probability calculator, and targeted next generation sequencing (tNGS). We aimed to examine how the estimated prevalence of MODY, and other forms of monogenic diabetes diagnosed outside the neonatal period, has changed over time and how the initiatives have impacted case finding. Research design and Methods: UK referrals for genetic testing for monogenic diabetes diagnosed >1y of age from 01/01/1996 to 31/12/2019 were examined. Positive-test rates were compared for referrals reporting involvement of the GDNs/MODY calculator with those that did not. Results: A diagnosis of monogenic diabetes was confirmed in 3860 individuals, >3-fold higher than 2009 (01/01/1996-28/02/2009; n=1177). Median age at diagnosis in probands was 21y. GDN involvement was reported in 21% of referrals; these referrals had a higher positive-test rate than those without GDN involvement (32% v 23%, p<0.001). MODY calculator usage was indicated on 74% of eligible referrals since 2014; these referrals had a higher positive-test rate than those not using the calculator (33% v 25%, p=0.001). 410 (10.6%) cases were identified through tNGS. Monogenic diabetes prevalence was estimated to be 248 cases/million (double that estimated in 2009 due to increased case-finding). 3 Conclusions: Since 2009, referral rates and case diagnosis have increased three-fold. This is likely to be the consequence of tNGS, GDN education and the MODY calculator