[Review of] Adam Fairclough. To Redeem the Soul of America: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Following David J. Garrow\u27s 1986 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, Bearing the Cross, Adam Fairclough makes extensive use of information gleaned from FBI wiretaps as well as other sources in an effort to peruse the soul of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and its president, Martin Luther King, Jr. Fairclough\u27s subtitle is no accident, for he focuses at least as much on the SCLC as he does on King. Significantly, this emphasis causes him to add a chapter about the SCLC after King\u27s death, a postscript not available in other books about King

[Review of] Jo Ann Robinson. The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoirs of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson

Jo Ann Robinson, a major organizer of the Montgomery bus boycott, offers a new and convincing account of the origins of the protest that triggered the entire civil rights movement and launched the career of Martin Luther King, Jr. In an absorbing, first-hand narrative, the dignified and unassuming Robinson focuses on the role of the Women\u27s Political Council (WPC) and details the WPC\u27s plans to engineer a boycott months before the heralded arrest of Rosa Parks

[Review of] Ralph David Abernathy. And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: An Autobiography

When this book appeared, major elements of the press selected a tiny fragment for a front-page story worthy of the National Enquirer. Unfortunately, journalists virtually ignored the book as a whole, preferring to sensationalize Abernathy\u27s revelations about the sex life of Martin Luther King, Jr. As a result, Abernathy became a pariah; when he died several months later, the recent controversy dominated many obituary notices

Septicemic Listeriosis in a Calf

Listeria monocytogenes is a pathogen which is found throughout the world. It is capable of producing infections in a wide variety of species and has been isolated from numerous mammals as well as birds and fish

Constrained Behavior: Understanding the Entrenchment of Legislative Procedure in American State Constitutional Law

Political analysts have suggested that policy power will begin to shift from the federal government to state governments as gridlock in Congress persists. Therefore, understanding the policymaking process at the state level is more important than ever. Vitally missing from our understanding of policymaking in the states is the role of constitutional provisions. Many state constitutions contain directives that severely limit the ability of the legislature to act. Some of these directives are procedural while others are more substantive. This is relevant because constitutional rules are more difficult for members to alter than chamber rules. In this paper we present a quantitative measure of constitutional restrictiveness and explore the variation in this measure across the fifty state legislatures and the U.S. Congress. We discover that constitutional restrictiveness is largely explained by the historical era in which the most recent constitution has been passed

Working in a Cage: The Evolution of Constitutional Restrictiveness in U.S. State Legislatures

The U.S. states have been characterized as “laboratories of democracy” for their ability to formulate public policies aimed at solving some of the most pressing public policy issues. The study of both public policy and legislative politics in the states has been quite robust. However, vitally missing from our understanding of policymaking and the legislative process in the states is the role of constitutional provisions. Many state constitutions contain directives that severely limit the ability of the legislature to act. Some of these directives are procedural while others are more substantive. This is relevant because constitutional rules are more difficult for members to alter than chamber rules and should lead us to question whether or not reform is needed. In previous research (Martorano Miller, Hamm and Hedlund 2009; 2010; 2011; 2014a; 2014b) we developed a quantitative measure of constitutional restrictiveness and explored current variation in this measure across the fifty state legislatures and the U.S. Congress. In this paper, we seek to expand upon our previous research by assessing provisions found in each state’s constitution in terms of the historical context surrounding the constitution’s adoption. We find that this “setting” has a significant impact on the constitutional provisions regarding the legislature’s powers restrictions and mandates. These features in turn create the “constraints” (a type of “cage”) limiting the legislature

Reducing in-stent restenosis therapeutic manipulation of miRNA in vascular remodeling and inflammation

Background: Drug-eluting stents reduce the incidence of in-stent restenosis, but they result in delayed arterial healing and are associated with a chronic inflammatory response and hypersensitivity reactions. Identifying novel interventions to enhance wound healing and reduce the inflammatory response may improve long-term clinical outcomes. Micro–ribonucleic acids (miRNAs) are noncoding small ribonucleic acids that play a prominent role in the initiation and resolution of inflammation after vascular injury.<p></p> Objectives: This study sought to identify miRNA regulation and function after implantation of bare-metal and drug-eluting stents.<p></p> Methods: Pig, mouse, and in vitro models were used to investigate the role of miRNA in in-stent restenosis.<p></p> Results: We documented a subset of inflammatory miRNAs activated after stenting in pigs, including the miR-21 stem loop miRNAs. Genetic ablation of the miR-21 stem loop attenuated neointimal formation in mice post-stenting. This occurred via enhanced levels of anti-inflammatory M2 macrophages coupled with an impaired sensitivity of smooth muscle cells to respond to vascular activation.<p></p> Conclusions: MiR-21 plays a prominent role in promoting vascular inflammation and remodeling after stent injury. MiRNA-mediated modulation of the inflammatory response post-stenting may have therapeutic potential to accelerate wound healing and enhance the clinical efficacy of stenting

Sticky Legacies: Persistence of State Constitutional Provisions

In this paper, we assess the evolution of 32 state constitutions and the U.S. Constitution over a 100+ year time period (1776-1907). We construct an original sectionlevel dataset containing the text of every section within a constitution for every year between the adoption of the state’s first constitution and 1907. We classify each section by topic and compare the content of each new constitution as well as the impact of amendments. With a subset of these data, we analyze the extent to which sections were added, deleted, modified and remained the same over time using a novel approach that relies on an edit distance measure to quantify the similarity between sections of two constitutional documents. We are also able to empirically evaluate the level of similarity of modified sections as new constitutions were adopted or alterations were made to an existing constitution. Finally, we determine which topic areas were subjected to the largest amount of change. We demonstrate that it is possible to systematically assess a large corpus of constitutional documents to test theories of institutional change, provide empirical support to existing qualitative accounts, and create operationalizations of concepts such as “stickiness” that are comparable across states and over time

Visualization of diffusion limited antimicrobial peptide attack on supported lipid membranes

Understanding the mechanism of action of antimicrobial peptides (AMP) is fundamental to the development and design of peptide based antimicrobials. Utilizing fast-scan atomic force microscopy (AFM) we detail the attack of an AMP on both prototypical prokaryotic (DOPC:DOPG) and eukaryotic (DOPC:DOPE) model lipid membranes on the nanoscale and in real time. Previously shown to have a favourable therapeutic index, we study Smp43, an AMP with a helical-hinge-helical topology isolated from the venom of the North African scorpion Scorpio maurus palmatus. We observe the dynamic formation of highly branched defects being supported by 2D diffusion models and further experimental data from liposome leakage assays and quartz crystal microbalance-dissipation (QCM-D) analysis, we propose that Smp43 disrupts these membranes via a common mechanism, which we have termed ‘diffusion limited disruption’ that encompasses elements of both the carpet model and the expanding pore mechanism