Limitation Periods for Federal Causes of Action After the Judicial Improvements Act of 1990

Congress often enacts statutes that create specific causes of action for aggrieved individuals. Many federal statutes, however, create duties with no corresponding action for breach, leaving courts to create causes of action for individuals owed those duties.\u27 When the courts, rather than Congress, create a cause of action, no specific statute of limitations governs the suit. Surprisingly, many statutory causes of action also lack limitation periods. Courts frequently face actions not governed by any statute of limitations because traditionally there has been no general statute of limitations governing all federal actions. Courts usually are not content to find that a party may bring suit at any time after the cause of action accrues. Throughout history,courts have found time limitations necessary to protect possible defendants, the judicial system, and society in general. Because many federally derived causes of action do not have statutory limitation periods,courts must look elsewhere for appropriate time restrictions. In 1990 Congress sought to relieve the courts of the arduous task of borrowing limitation periods. The Judicial Improvements Act of 1990 (the Act) contains a general statute of limitations governing actions arising under federal statutes that contain no specific limitation periods. Part II of this Note discusses the Act in more detail. Part III evaluates options courts have when confronting a federal cause of action with no limitation period, including borrowing from state law, borrowing from federal law, applying no limitation period, limiting the action with laches, or simply creating an appropriate period. Part IV examines steps Congress could take to ensure that every action arising under a federal statute has an appropriate limitation period and examines constitutional concerns regarding congressional delegation of the power to fix statutes of limitations. Finally, this Note concludes that the general fallback statute of limitations in the Act is insufficient as a remedy for the uncertainty caused by Congress\u27s failure to provide limitation periods in statutes that create causes of action. Because courts are unable to provide uniform solutions to this problem, Congress must enact additional legislation

Strains of the Propionibacterium acnes type III lineage are associated with the skin condition progressive macular hypomelanosis

Progressive macular hypomelanosis (PMH) is a common skin disorder that causes hypopigmentation in a variety of skin types. Although the underlying aetiology of this condition is unclear, there is circumstantial evidence that links the skin bacterium Propionibacterium acnes to the condition. We now describe the first detailed population genetic analysis of P. acnes isolates recovered from paired lesional and non-lesional skin of PMH patients. Our results demonstrate a strong statistical association between strains from the type III phylogenetic lineage and PMH lesions (P = 0.0019), but not those representing other phylogroups, including those associated with acne (type IA(1)). We also demonstrate, based on in silico 16S rDNA analysis, that PMH isolates previously recovered from patients in Europe are also consistent with the type III lineage. Using comparative genome analysis, we identified multiple genomic regions that are specific for, or absent from, type III strains compared to other phylogroups. In the former case, these include open reading frames with putative functions in metabolism, transport and transcriptional regulation, as well as predicted proteins of unknown function. Further study of these genomic elements, along with transcriptional and functional analyses, may help to explain why type III strains are associated with PMH

Factors affecting ammonium uptake in streams - an inter-biome perspective

The Lotic Intersite Nitrogen experiment (LINX) was a coordinated study of the relationships between North American biomes and factors governing ammonium uptake in streams. Our objective was to relate inter-biome variability of ammonium uptake to physical, chemical and biological processes. 2. Data were collected from 11 streams ranging from arctic to tropical and from desert to rainforest. Measurements at each site included physical, hydraulic and chemical characteristics, biological parameters, whole-stream metabolism and ammonium uptake. Ammonium uptake was measured by injection of \u275~-ammonium and downstream measurements of 15N-ammonium concentration. 3. We found no general, statistically significant relationships that explained the variability in ammonium uptake among sites. However, this approach does not account for the multiple mechanisms of ammonium uptake in streams. When we estimated biological demand for inorganic nitrogen based on our measurements of in-stream metabolism, we found good correspondence between calculated nitrogen demand and measured assimilative nitrogen uptake. 4. Nitrogen uptake varied little among sites, reflecting metabolic compensation in streams in a variety of distinctly different biomes (autotrophic production is high where allochthonous inputs are relatively low and vice versa). 5. Both autotrophic and heterotrophic metabolism require nitrogen and these biotic processes dominate inorganic nitrogen retention in streams. Factors that affect the relative balance of autotrophic and heterotrophic metabolism indirectly control inorganic nitrogen uptake

On Secure Workflow Decentralisation on the Internet

Decentralised workflow management systems are a new research area, where most work to-date has focused on the system's overall architecture. As little attention has been given to the security aspects in such systems, we follow a security driven approach, and consider, from the perspective of available security building blocks, how security can be implemented and what new opportunities are presented when empowering the decentralised environment with modern distributed security protocols. Our research is motivated by a more general question of how to combine the positive enablers that email exchange enjoys, with the general benefits of workflow systems, and more specifically with the benefits that can be introduced in a decentralised environment. This aims to equip email users with a set of tools to manage the semantics of a message exchange, contents, participants and their roles in the exchange in an environment that provides inherent assurances of security and privacy. This work is based on a survey of contemporary distributed security protocols, and considers how these protocols could be used in implementing a distributed workflow management system with decentralised control . We review a set of these protocols, focusing on the required message sequences in reviewing the protocols, and discuss how these security protocols provide the foundations for implementing core control-flow, data, and resource patterns in a distributed workflow environment

Quality of life in Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients prior to and after pancreas and kidney transplantation in relation to organ function

Improvement of the quality of life in Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients with severe late complications is one of the main goals of pancreas and/or kidney grafting. To assess the influences of these treatment modalities on the different aspects of the quality of life a cross-sectional study in 157 patients was conducted. They were categorized into patients pre-transplant without dialysis (n=29; Group A), pre-transplant under dialysis (n=44; Group B), post-transplant with pancreas and kidney functioning (n=31; Group C), post-transplant with functioning kidney, but insulin therapy (n=29; Group D), post-transplant under dialysis and insulin therapy again (n=15; Group E) and patients after single pancreas transplantation and rejection, with good renal function, but insulin therapy (n=9; Group F). All patients answered a mailed, self-administered questionnaire (217 questions) consisting of a broad spectrum of rehabilitation criteria. The results indicate a better quality of life in Groups C and D as compared to the other groups. In general the scores are highest in C, but without any significant difference to D. Impressive significant differences between C or D and the other groups were found especially in their satisfaction with physical capacity, leisure-time activities or the overall quality of life. The satisfaction with the latter is highest in C (mean±SEM: 4.0±0.2 on a 1 to 5-rating scale; significantly different from A: 3.1±0.1, B: 2.7±0.2 and E: 2.6±0.3; p<0.01), followed by D (3.8±0.2; significantly different from B and E; p<0.01). Group F shows a mean of 3.1±0.4, which is not significantly different from C. The percentages of patients in each group, who are not working: A: 38 %, B: 64 %, C: 74 %, D: 66 %, E: 87 % and F: 78 % indicate that there is no marked improvement in the vocational situation after successful grafting

Nitrate removal in stream ecosystems measured by 15N addition experiments: Denitrification

We measured denitrification rates using a field 15NO3− tracer-addition approach in a large, cross-site study of nitrate uptake in reference, agricultural, and suburban-urban streams. We measured denitrification rates in 49 of 72 streams studied. Uptake length due to denitrification (SWdenn) ranged from 89 m to 184 km (median of 9050 m) and there were no significant differences among regions or land-use categories, likely because of the wide range of conditions within each region and land use. N2 production rates far exceeded N2O production rates in all streams. The fraction of total NO3− removal from water due to denitrification ranged from 0.5% to 100% among streams (median of 16%), and was related to NH4+ concentration and ecosystem respiration rate (ER). Multivariate approaches showed that the most important factors controlling SWden were specific discharge (discharge / width) and NO3− concentration (positive effects), and ER and transient storage zones (negative effects). The relationship between areal denitrification rate (Uden) and NO3− concentration indicated a partial saturation effect. A power function with an exponent of 0.5 described this relationship better than a Michaelis-Menten equation. Although Uden increased with increasing NO3− concentration, the efficiency of NO3− removal from water via denitrification declined, resulting in a smaller proportion of streamwater NO3− load removed over a given length of stream. Regional differences in stream denitrification rates were small relative to the proximate factors of NO3− concentration and ecosystem respiration rate, and land use was an important but indirect control on denitrification in streams, primarily via its effect on NO3− concentration

Beyond Simple AGN Unification with Chandra-observed 3CRR Sources at 0.5 &lt; z &lt; 1

Low-frequency radio selection finds radio-bright galaxies regardless of the amount of obscuration by gas and dust. We report \chandra\ observations of a complete 178~MHz-selected, and so orientation unbiased, sample of 44 $0.5<z<1$ 3CRR sources. The sample is comprised of quasars and narrow-line radio galaxies (NLRGs) with similar radio luminosities, and the radio structure serves as both an age and an orientation indicator. Consistent with Unification, intrinsic obscuration (measured by \nh, X-ray hardness ratio, and X-ray luminosity) generally increases with inclination. However, the sample includes a population not seen in high-$z$ 3CRR sources: NLRGs viewed at intermediate inclination angles with \nh~$<10^{22}$~cm$^{-2}$. Multiwavelength analysis suggests these objects have lower $L/L_{\rm Edd}$ than typical NLRGs at similar orientation. Thus both orientation and $L/L_{\rm Edd}$ are important, and a "radiation-regulated Unification" provides a better explanation of the sample's observed properties. In comparison with the 3CRR sample at $1<z<2$, our lower-redshift sample shows a higher fraction of Compton-thin NLRGs (45\% vs.\ 29\%) but similar Compton-thick fraction (20\%), implying a larger covering factor of Compton-thin material at intermediate viewing angles and so a more "puffed-up" torus atmosphere. We posit that this is due to a range of $L/L_{\rm Edd}$ extending to lower values in this sample. In contrast, at high redshifts the narrower range and high $L/L_{\rm Edd}$ values allowed orientation (and so simple Unification) to dominate the sample's observed properties

The Opportunistic Pathogen Propionibacterium acnes: Insights into Typing, Human Disease, Clonal Diversification and CAMP Factor Evolution

We previously described a Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) scheme based on eight genes that facilitates population genetic and evolutionary analysis of P. acnes. While MLST is a portable method for unambiguous typing of bacteria, it is expensive and labour intensive. Against this background, we now describe a refined version of this scheme based on two housekeeping (aroE; guaA) and two putative virulence (tly; camp2) genes (MLST4) that correctly predicted the phylogroup (IA1, IA2, IB, IC, II, III), clonal complex (CC) and sequence type (ST) (novel or described) status for 91% isolates (n = 372) via cross-referencing of the four gene allelic profiles to the full eight gene versions available in the MLST database (http:// pubmlst.org/pacnes/). Even in the small number of cases where specific STs were not completely resolved, the MLST4 method still correctly determined phylogroup and CC membership. Examination of nucleotide changes within all the MLST loci provides evidence that point mutations generate new alleles approximately 1.5 times as frequently as recombination; although the latter still plays an important role in the bacterium’s evolution. The secreted/cell-associated ‘virulence’ factors tly and camp2 show no clear evidence of episodic or pervasive positive selection and have diversified at a rate similar to housekeeping loci. The co-evolution of these genes with the core genome might also indicate a role in commensal/normal existence constraining their diversity and preventing their loss from the P. acnes population. The possibility that members of the expanded CAMP factor protein family, including camp2, may have been lost from other propionibacteria, but not P. acnes, would further argue for a possible role in niche/host adaption leading to their retention within the genome. These evolutionary insights may prove important for discussions surrounding camp2 as an immunotherapy target for acne, and the effect such treatments may have on commensal lineages