The Parole Board\u27s Duty of Self-Regulation

This article examines the Michigan Parole Board in terms of its structure, mode of operation, and certain legal issues raised by its procedures. The note argues that the Board\u27s and the legislature\u27s concept of professional, scientific decision-making is not an adequate substitute for the checks and balances which confine and control the discretion of other governmental agencies, and furthermore, that this concept is inconsistent with both the letter and spirit of the Michigan Administrative Procedures Act (MAPA or Act). Thereafter, an approach is suggested by which the Act can be used as a tool to legitimate and rationalize Parole Board procedures

A Cause for Concern: The Need for Proximate Cause in SEC Enforcement Actions and How the Third Circuit Got It Wrong in \u3cem\u3eSEC v. Teo\u3c/em\u3e

On February 10, 2014, in SEC v. Teo, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that, in an action for disgorgement of profits under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) does not have the burden of proving proximate cause. The court reasoned that the SEC must only prove but-for causation between alleged wrongdoing and ill-gotten profits. This Comment argues that, going forward, the Third Circuit should reject Teo and apply a proximate cause standard, especially regarding proceeds. Should the Supreme Court reach the issue in the future, it should similarly reject the Third Circuit’s reasoning in Teo. Courts should require the SEC to show a proximate link between the alleged securities violation and the profits to be disgorged in order to avoid turning the remedy into an impermissible penalty

SVA retrotransposons as modulators of gene expression.

Endogenous mobile genetic elements can give rise to de novo germline or somatic mutations that can have dramatic consequences for genome regulation both local and possibly more globally based on the site of integration. However if we consider them as "normal genetic" components of the reference genome then they are likely to modify local chromatin structure which would have an effect on gene regulation irrelevant of their ability to further transpose. As such they can be treated as any other domain involved in a gene × environment interaction. Similarly their evolutionary appearance in the reference genome would supply a driver for species specific responses/traits. Our recent data would suggest the hominid specific subset of retrotransposons, SINE-VNTR-Alu (SVA), can function as transcriptional regulatory domains both in vivo and in vitro when analyzed in reporter gene constructs. Of particular interest in the SVA element, were the variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) domains which as their name suggests can be polymorphic. We and others have previously shown that VNTRs can be both differential regulators and biomarkers of disease based on the genotype of the repeat. Here, we provide an overview of why polymorphism in the SVA elements, in particular the VNTRs, could alter gene expression patterns that could be mechanistically associated with different traits in evolution or disease progression in humans

The Genes and Enzymes of Phosphonate Metabolism by Bacteria, and Their Distribution in the Marine Environment

Phosphonates are compounds that contain the chemically stable carbon–phosphorus (C–P) bond. They are widely distributed amongst more primitive life forms including many marine invertebrates and constitute a significant component of the dissolved organic phosphorus reservoir in the oceans. Virtually all biogenic C–P compounds are synthesized by a pathway in which the key step is the intramolecular rearrangement of phosphoenolpyruvate to phosphonopyruvate. However C–P bond cleavage by degradative microorganisms is catalyzed by a number of enzymes – C–P lyases, C–P hydrolases, and others of as-yet-uncharacterized mechanism. Expression of some of the pathways of phosphonate catabolism is controlled by ambient levels of inorganic P (Pi) but for others it is Pi-independent. In this report we review the enzymology of C–P bond metabolism in bacteria, and also present the results of an in silico investigation of the distribution of the genes that encode the pathways responsible, in both bacterial genomes and in marine metagenomic libraries, and their likely modes of regulation. Interrogation of currently available whole-genome bacterial sequences indicates that some 10% contain genes encoding putative pathways of phosphonate biosynthesis while ∼40% encode one or more pathways of phosphonate catabolism. Analysis of metagenomic data from the global ocean survey suggests that some 10 and 30%, respectively, of bacterial genomes across the sites sampled encode these pathways. Catabolic routes involving phosphonoacetate hydrolase, C–P lyase(s), and an uncharacterized 2-aminoethylphosphonate degradative sequence were predominant, and it is likely that both substrate-inducible and Pi-repressible mechanisms are involved in their regulation. The data we present indicate the likely importance of phosphonate-P in global biogeochemical P cycling, and by extension its role in marine productivity and in carbon and nitrogen dynamics in the oceans

Novel Analysis of Oceanic Surface Water Metagenomes Suggests Importance of Polyphosphate Metabolism in Oligotrophic Environments

Polyphosphate is a ubiquitous linear homopolymer of phosphate residues linked by high-energy bonds similar to those found in ATP. It has been associated with many processes including pathogenicity, DNA uptake and multiple stress responses across all domains. Bacteria have also been shown to use polyphosphate as a way to store phosphate when transferred from phosphate-limited to phosphate-rich media – a process exploited in wastewater treatment and other environmental contaminant remediation. Despite this, there has, to date, been little research into the role of polyphosphate in the survival of marine bacterioplankton in oligotrophic environments. The three main proteins involved in polyphosphate metabolism, Ppk1, Ppk2 and Ppx are multi-domain and have differential inter-domain and inter-gene conservation, making unbiased analysis of relative abundance in metagenomic datasets difficult. This paper describes the development of a novel Isofunctional Homolog Annotation Tool (IHAT) to detect homologs of genes with a broad range of conservation without bias of traditional expect-value cutoffs. IHAT analysis of the Global Ocean Sampling (GOS) dataset revealed that genes associated with polyphosphate metabolism are more abundant in environments where available phosphate is limited, suggesting an important role for polyphosphate metabolism in marine oligotrophs.</p

The Solar Neighborhood. XXXIV. A Search for Planets Orbiting Nearby M Dwarfs using Astrometry

Astrometric measurements are presented for seven nearby stars with previously detected planets: six M dwarfs (GJ 317, GJ 667C, GJ 581, GJ 849, GJ 876, and GJ 1214) and one K dwarf (BD $-$10 3166). Measurements are also presented for six additional nearby M dwarfs without known planets, but which are more favorable to astrometric detections of low mass companions, as well as three binary systems for which we provide astrometric orbit solutions. Observations have baselines of three to thirteen years, and were made as part of the RECONS long-term astrometry and photometry program at the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9m telescope. We provide trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions for all 16 systems, and perform an extensive analysis of the astrometric residuals to determine the minimum detectable companion mass for the 12 M dwarfs not having close stellar secondaries. For the six M dwarfs with known planets, we are not sensitive to planets, but can rule out the presence of all but the least massive brown dwarfs at periods of 2 - 12 years. For the six more astrometrically favorable M dwarfs, we conclude that none have brown dwarf companions, and are sensitive to companions with masses as low as 1 $M_{Jup}$ for periods longer than two years. In particular, we conclude that Proxima Centauri has no Jovian companions at orbital periods of 2 - 12 years. These results complement previously published M dwarf planet occurrence rates by providing astrometrically determined upper mass limits on potential super-Jupiter companions at orbits of two years and longer. As part of a continuing survey, these results are consistent with the paucity of super-Jupiter and brown dwarf companions we find among the over 250 red dwarfs within 25 pc observed longer than five years in our astrometric program.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A

Expression of the MexXY-OprM efflux system in Pseudomonas aeruginosa with discordant cefepime/ceftazidime susceptibility profiles

While MIC distributions and percent susceptibility for cefepime and ceftazidime are generally similar among Pseudomonas aeruginosa, we noted an increasing discordance in susceptibility favoring ceftazidime at our hospital. Quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction was utilized to explore overexpression of the MexXY-OprM efflux as the mechanism for this phenotype profile. Thirteen of 15 (87%) randomly selected isolates had mexY gene expression levels of 5.8–40.8-fold relative to the wild-type reference strain. While mexY overexpression was noted in the majority of isolates, other resistance mechanisms appear to contribute to the observed phenotypic profile of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa studied. Clinicians must understand not only the magnitude of difference in the MIC profiles between agents, but also the mechanism(s) responsible for these observations if strategies (ie, pharmacodynamic dosing) are to be designed to optimize patient care outcomes in the face of increasing resistance