Bower v. Evans: The Court\u27s Efforts To Protect Dolphins In The Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean

The Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) erred when he issued, prior to receipt of substantiating research, an Initial Finding that a certain fishing technique did not harm dolphins. The Secretary erroneously concluded that the mere lack of evidence (without research) was sufficient to substantiate his Initial Finding that there was no evidence that the fishing technique harmed dolphins. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in its July 2001 decision Brower v. Evans, affirmed judgment in favor of plaintiff and set aside the Secretary\u27s Initial Finding. The broad implication of the holding in Brower v. Evans is that the government must comply with congressional statutes even if such laws are contrary to international trade. The narrow holding of this case is to continue efforts to protect dolphins in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean (ETP) even though such actions might conflict with international trade. The Secretary\u27s support of a less protective standard to apply to dolphin safe tuna labels apparently applies most directly to international vessels. Brower v. Evans represents an international trade issue because United States vessels do not use fishing techniques that are harmful to dolphins. The Secretary\u27s action is contrary to recent congressional acts that indicate a trend toward protecting the ETP dolphins from certain fishing practices, such as purse seine fishing. Such acts also indicate a growing awareness that fishing not only causes injuries and death to dolphins, but also causes physiological stress. This Casenote advocates for the court\u27s conclusion that the Secretary\u27s decision to allow more relaxed tuna labeling guidelines undermines the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) and congressional mandates designed to protect dolphins. From a policy standpoint, upholding the Secretary\u27s decision will thwart efforts to protect ETP dolphins

Bower v. Evans: The Court\u27s Efforts To Protect Dolphins In The Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean

The Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) erred when he issued, prior to receipt of substantiating research, an Initial Finding that a certain fishing technique did not harm dolphins. The Secretary erroneously concluded that the mere lack of evidence (without research) was sufficient to substantiate his Initial Finding that there was no evidence that the fishing technique harmed dolphins. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in its July 2001 decision Brower v. Evans, affirmed judgment in favor of plaintiff and set aside the Secretary\u27s Initial Finding. The broad implication of the holding in Brower v. Evans is that the government must comply with congressional statutes even if such laws are contrary to international trade. The narrow holding of this case is to continue efforts to protect dolphins in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean (ETP) even though such actions might conflict with international trade. The Secretary\u27s support of a less protective standard to apply to dolphin safe tuna labels apparently applies most directly to international vessels. Brower v. Evans represents an international trade issue because United States vessels do not use fishing techniques that are harmful to dolphins. The Secretary\u27s action is contrary to recent congressional acts that indicate a trend toward protecting the ETP dolphins from certain fishing practices, such as purse seine fishing. Such acts also indicate a growing awareness that fishing not only causes injuries and death to dolphins, but also causes physiological stress. This Casenote advocates for the court\u27s conclusion that the Secretary\u27s decision to allow more relaxed tuna labeling guidelines undermines the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) and congressional mandates designed to protect dolphins. From a policy standpoint, upholding the Secretary\u27s decision will thwart efforts to protect ETP dolphins

Evaluating a Premature Piglet Model to Assess the Nutritional Needs of the Human Neonate

3rd place in the category of nutrition in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences undergraduate research forumResearch suggests that the premature neonate is unable to make use of necessary enteral nutrition due to an immature gastro-intestinal tract. Therefore, a more in-depth understanding of total parenteral nutrition is required. Currently, the effects of specific nutrients on the development of the small intestine of the premature infant remain largely unknown. In response to this lack of knowledge, the main objective of this project was to evaluate the effects of increased arachidonic (AA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acid supplementation in total parenteral nutrition (TPN) on the pre-term gastro-intestinal tract. The hypothesis was that AA and DHA supplementation would lead to an increase in mucosal surface area of the small intestine supporting supplementation of AA and DHA as vital components of pre-term infant formulas for proper development of digestive function, which is essential for the wellbeing of the newborn. Piglets were collected by caesarean section at 106 d of gestation and equipped with an arterial umbilical catheter for TPN delivery, as well as maintained in a heat and humidity controlled incubator for 7 d. Piglets were fed one of three diets: a control diet, a low DHA: AA diet (0.3and 0.69% of total fatty acids as DHA and AA, respectively) and a high DHA: AA diet (6 and 14% of total fatty acids as DHA and AA, respectively). In the first trial, premature piglets displayed symptoms of feed intolerance and failed to survive, while in the second trial only premature piglets receiving control TPN reached equivalent full-term age. In response, piglets were removed by cesarean section at 114 d of gestation and administered the same dietary regimens as premature pigs. Three piglets were viable for tissue collection. Histological slides of the jejunum and ileum are currently being examined for changes in crypt depth and villous height among the different treatments.Kellogg research scholarship, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Honors Committee gran

Serial Killing Myths Versus Reality: A Content Analysis Of Serial Killer Flicks Made Between 1980 and 2001

Public perceptions about serial homicide are more mythical than fact. Myths about serial homicide are perpetuated through several sources, especially the entertainment media which is a dominant and influential mythmaker. The number of films depicting serial killers and serial killing themes has increased dramatically in recent years. However, the reality of these films is debatable. This research examines the reality, or lack thereof, of the most recent films involving a serial killing theme. Hickey provides a wealth of statistical information on a number of serial killers and serial killings. A content analysis of the fifty top grossing serial killer movies made between 1980 and 2001 was conducted using variables from Hickey research. Research shows similarities and differences between variables, however, results concludes the entertainment media does not accurately portray serial homicide

Silk garments plus standard care compared with standard care for treating eczema in children: A randomised, controlled, observer-blind, pragmatic trial (CLOTHES Trial)

© 2017 Thomas et al. Background: The role of clothing in the management of eczema (also called atopic dermatitis or atopic eczema) is poorly understood. This trial evaluated the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of silk garments (in addition to standard care) for the management of eczema in children with moderate to severe disease. Methods and findings: This was a parallel-group, randomised, controlled, observer-blind trial. Children aged 1 to 15 y with moderate to severe eczema were recruited from secondary care and the community at five UK medical centres. Participants were allocated using online randomisation (1:1) to standard care or to standard care plus silk garments, stratified by age and recruiting centre. Silk garments were worn for 6 mo. Primary outcome (eczema severity) was assessed at baseline, 2, 4, and 6 mo, by nurses blinded to treatment allocation, using the Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI), which was log-transformed for analysis (intention-to-treat analysis). A safety outcome was number of skin infections. Three hundred children were randomised (26 November 2013 to 5 May 2015): 42% girls, 79% white, mean age 5 y. Primary analysis included 282/300 (94%) children (n = 141 in each group). The garments were worn more often at night than in the day (median of 81% of nights [25th to 75th centile 57% to 96%] and 34% of days [25th to 75th centile 10% to 76%]). Geometric mean EASI scores at baseline, 2, 4, and 6 mo were, respectively, 9.2, 6.4, 5.8, and 5.4 for silk clothing and 8.4, 6.6, 6.0, and 5.4 for standard care. There was no evidence of any difference between the groups in EASI score averaged over all follow-up visits adjusted for baseline EASI score, age, and centre: adjusted ratio of geometric means 0.95, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.07, (p = 0.43). This confidence interval is equivalent to a difference of −1.5 to 0.5 in the original EASI units, which is not clinically important. Skin infections occurred in 36/142 (25%) and 39/141 (28%) of children in the silk clothing and standard care groups, respectively. Even if the small observed treatment effect was genuine, the incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year was £56,811 in the base case analysis from a National Health Service perspective, suggesting that silk garments are unlikely to be cost-effective using currently accepted thresholds. The main limitation of the study is that use of an objective primary outcome, whilst minimising detection bias, may have underestimated treatment effects. Conclusions: Silk clothing is unlikely to provide additional benefit over standard care in children with moderate to severe eczema. Trial registration: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN77261365

Plasma lipid profiles discriminate bacterial from viral infection in febrile children

Fever is the most common reason that children present to Emergency Departments. Clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of bacterial infection are often non-specific, and there is no definitive test for the accurate diagnosis of infection. The 'omics' approaches to identifying biomarkers from the host-response to bacterial infection are promising. In this study, lipidomic analysis was carried out with plasma samples obtained from febrile children with confirmed bacterial infection (n = 20) and confirmed viral infection (n = 20). We show for the first time that bacterial and viral infection produces distinct profile in the host lipidome. Some species of glycerophosphoinositol, sphingomyelin, lysophosphatidylcholine and cholesterol sulfate were higher in the confirmed virus infected group, while some species of fatty acids, glycerophosphocholine, glycerophosphoserine, lactosylceramide and bilirubin were lower in the confirmed virus infected group when compared with confirmed bacterial infected group. A combination of three lipids achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.911 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.98). This pilot study demonstrates the potential of metabolic biomarkers to assist clinicians in distinguishing bacterial from viral infection in febrile children, to facilitate effective clinical management and to the limit inappropriate use of antibiotics

Identification of regulatory variants associated with genetic susceptibility to meningococcal disease.

Non-coding genetic variants play an important role in driving susceptibility to complex diseases but their characterization remains challenging. Here, we employed a novel approach to interrogate the genetic risk of such polymorphisms in a more systematic way by targeting specific regulatory regions relevant for the phenotype studied. We applied this method to meningococcal disease susceptibility, using the DNA binding pattern of RELA - a NF-kB subunit, master regulator of the response to infection - under bacterial stimuli in nasopharyngeal epithelial cells. We designed a custom panel to cover these RELA binding sites and used it for targeted sequencing in cases and controls. Variant calling and association analysis were performed followed by validation of candidate polymorphisms by genotyping in three independent cohorts. We identified two new polymorphisms, rs4823231 and rs11913168, showing signs of association with meningococcal disease susceptibility. In addition, using our genomic data as well as publicly available resources, we found evidences for these SNPs to have potential regulatory effects on ATXN10 and LIF genes respectively. The variants and related candidate genes are relevant for infectious diseases and may have important contribution for meningococcal disease pathology. Finally, we described a novel genetic association approach that could be applied to other phenotypes

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead