Washington’s Limited License Legal Technician Rule and Pathway to Expanded Access for Consumers

Washington’s 2012 adoption of a Limited License Legal Technician (LLLT) rule has been a topic of great interest throughout the United States and elsewhere. This Article is co-written by Steve Crossland, who is the Chair of the Washington Supreme Court’s Limited License Legal Technician Board, which is responsible for implementing the rule, and Paula Littlewood, who is the Executive Director of the Washington State Bar Association, which is the unified bar association charged, inter alia, with lawyer and LLLT regulation. This Article builds on the authors’ previous articles about Washington’s LLLT program by providing previously unpublished information about the LLLT program’s implementation and by offering reflections about the program that are informed by the authors’ five-year involvement with the rule (and multi-year involvement with the concept). This Article should prove useful to those interested in learning more about Washington’s rule and to jurisdictions that are considering whether and how to expand access to legal services to address the vast unmet legal needs and the anticipated shortage of lawyers in the future. There are rare moments in history when the opportunity and need for systemic change presents itself for an industry. The legal profession and legal education are at such a crossroads, and the question presented for the profession is what path they will take forward

The Relationship Between Heart Rate Variability and Skeletal Muscle Damage in Female Collegiate Athletes

Heart rate variability (HRV) is an accurate indicator of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity. With athletes, HRV analysis can be a useful tool in analyzing the readiness to train, recovery status, and chronic adaptations to training, and overtraining. Skeletal muscle damage, which can be an outcome of overtraining, may be assessed using biomarkers in the blood, including creatine kinase (CK). The relationship between skeletal muscle damage and measures of HRV with regards to performance is not known. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between HRV measures and serum CK concentrations. A secondary purpose of this study was to determine what lifestyle factors, other than physical activity levels, may affect HRV measures and serum CK concentrations in the same population. METHODS: Six Female NCAA Division II Volleyball athletes completed the 14-day study. Participants recorded HRV with the use of the Cardiomood smartphone application daily, upon waking, throughout the study. Time domain (i.e., RMSSD) and frequency domain (i.e., low, high, total power) variables were recorded to characterize HRV. Blood samples were collected in an unfasted state at 7 time points throughout the study and analyzed for total CK level (U/L). In addition, a wellness questionnaire completed daily included questions pertaining to fatigue (F), mood (M), stress (ST), soreness (MS), sleep duration (S), sleep quality (SQ), and hydration (H). During structured practice and workout sessions, energy expenditure (EE) was measured using a chest worn monitor. A Pearson product-moment correlation was performed to investigate the relationships among variables with significance set at 0.05. RESULTS: Total CK levels were found to have a significant negative relationship with RMSSD (p = 0.035), and a positive relationship with EE (p \u3c 0.01) and MS (p \u3c 0.01). A significant negative relationship with RMSD and SQ (p = 0.01), and a significant positive relationship with RMSSD and M (p = 0.008) was also found. Within the wellness questionnaire, MS and H had a significant negative relationship (p = 0.021) and M had a significant positive relationship with S (p = 0.038). CONCLUSION: The use of HRV may serve as an accurate monitor of total circulating CK levels in the blood. With regards to the wellness questionnaire, it was found that sleep quality had the largest influence on HRV, reinforcing the importance of sleep and recovery. These results could prove beneficial for coaches in assessing an athlete’s readiness to train and recovery status

trans-Bis{1,2-bis­[bis­(2-methoxy­ethyl)phosphino]ethane}dichloridoiron(II)

The Fe atom in the title compound, [FeCl2(C14H32O4P2)2], has a distorted octa­hedral coordination with four P atoms in equatorial positions and two Cl atoms in apical positions

Predation on invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina) by native Australian rodents

© 2014, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. The success of an invasive species can be reduced by biotic resistance from the native fauna. For example, an invader that is eaten by native predators is less likely to thrive than one that is invulnerable. The ability of invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina) to spread through Australia has been attributed to the toad’s potent defensive chemicals that can be fatal if ingested by native snakes, lizards, marsupials and crocodiles. However, several taxa of native insects and birds are resistant to cane toad toxins. If native rodents are also capable of eating toads (as suggested by anecdotal reports), these large, abundant and voracious predators might reduce toad numbers. Our field observations and laboratory trials confirm that native rodents (Melomys burtoni, Rattus colletti and Rattus tunneyi) readily kill and consume cane toads (especially small toads), and are not overtly affected by toad toxins. Captive rodents did not decrease their consumption of toads over successive trials, and ate toads even when alternative food types were available. In combination with anecdotal reports, our data suggest that rodents (both native and invasive) are predators of cane toads in Australia. Despite concerns about the decline of rodents following the invasion of toads, our data suggest that the species we studied are not threatened by toads as toxic prey, and no specific conservation actions are required to ensure their persistence

Can children measure their own vision? A comparison of three new contrast sensitivity tests

PURPOSE: To investigate the feasibility of children measuring their own contrast sensitivity using a range of tablet- and paper-based tests. METHODS: Forty children aged 5-15 years with amblyopia (N = 10), bilateral vision impairment (N = 10) or good vision (N = 20) measured their own vision on a screen-based optotype test (Manifold), a gamified vision test (PopCSF) and a paper-based test (Spotchecks) in a laboratory with minimal supervision. Completion rate, test-retest repeatability, test duration and participants' preferences were recorded for each test. RESULTS: Most participants (36/40) were able to perform all three tests. All tests were correlated with clinically measured visual acuity and contrast sensitivity (p < 0.001). The 95% coefficient of repeatability was 0.30 dB for Manifold, 0.29 dB for PopCSF and 0.13 dB for Spotchecks. All tests differentiated between children with reduced contrast sensitivity and control participants. PopCSF and Spotchecks were also able to differentiate between children with amblyopia and those with good vision. Median test time was 152, 130 and 202 s for Manifold, PopCSF and Spotchecks, respectively. Twenty-two participants preferred the PopCSF test, 10 preferred Spotchecks and 6 preferred Manifold. Thirty-nine out of the 40 children (98%) said they would measure their own vision at home using at least one of these tests every month. CONCLUSIONS: Children and young people can test their own contrast sensitivity with repeatable results. Of these three tests, the most repeatable was Spotchecks, the quickest was PopCSF and participants' favourite was PopCSF. Nearly all of the participants said they would be willing to use at least one of the three tests at home

Mechanical characteristics of diabetic and non-diabetic plantar skin

Diabetic foot ulceration is linked to high amputation and mortality rates, with the substantial associated annual spend on the at-risk diabetic foot reflecting the intensive time and labour involved in treatment. Assessing plantar interactions and developing improved understanding of the formation pathways of diabetic ulceration is important to orthotic interventions and patient outcomes. Plantar skin surrogates which emulate the mechanical and tribological characteristics can help improve physical models of ulceration, reduce reliance on cadaveric use and inform more complex computational modelling approaches. The information available from existing studies to characterise plantar skin is limited, typically featuring ex-vivo representations of skin and subcutaneous tissue combined and given focus to shear studies with time dependency. The aim of this study is to improve understanding of plantar tissue mechanics by assessing the mechanical characteristics of plantar skin in two groups; (1) non-diabetic and (2) diabetic donors without the subcutaneous tissue attachment of previous work in this field. Digital image correlation was used to assess inherent skin pre-tension of the plantar rearfoot prior to dissection. Young’s modulus, storage and loss moduli were tested for using tensile stress–strain failure analysis and tensile and compressive dynamic mechanical analysis, which was conducted on excised plantar rearfoot donor specimens for both disease state cohorts at frequencies reflecting those achieved in activities of daily living. Plantar skin thickness for donor specimens were comparable to values obtained using ultrasound acquired in vivo values. Median tensile storage and loss moduli, along with Young’s modulus, was higher in the diabetic cohort. With a mean Young’s modulus of 0.83 ± 0.49 MPa and 1.33 ± 0.43 MPa for non-diabetic and diabetic specimens respectively. Compressive studies showed consistency between cohorts for median storage and loss moduli. The outcomes from this study show mechanical characteristics of plantar skin without the involvement of subcuteanous tissues under reflective daily achieved loading regimes, showing differences in the non-diabetic and diabetic specimens trialled to support improved understanding of plantar tissue response under tribological interactions

Bis{1,2-bis­[bis­(3-hydroxy­prop­yl)phosphino]ethane}dichloridoiron(II)

In the title compound, [FeCl2(C14H32O4P2)2], the FeII atom (site symmetry ) adopts a distorted trans-FeCl2P4 octa­hedral geometry with two P,P′-bidentate ligands in the equatorial positions and two chloride ions in the axial positions. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked by O—H⋯O and O—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds, generating a three-dimensional network

Nedavna odkritja na predgrških najdiščih v Mali Aziji

In 1945 knowledge of the pre-hellenic archaeology of Anatolia was uneven. The eastern half of the central plateau was best known, from excavations at Bogazkoy (Hattusas), Alaca Hiiyuk, Alisar Hiiyuk and Kiiltepe (Kaneš). In Cilicia pre-hellenic sites had been investigated at Mersin and Tarsus. Troy was virtually isolated in the north-west. Research in the past fifteen years has had three main objects: to investigate the western regions; to throw light on the prehistory of central Anatolia and the course of the earlier Indo-European migrations into it (between c. 2300 and 1800 B. C .); and to reconstruct the later ethnic movements which destroyed the Anatolian Hittite state c. 1200 B. C. In the central region the most important excavations have been the Turkish at Kiiltepe (near Kayseri) and Karahiiyiik (near Konya) and the third German series at Bogazkoy (near Sun[1]gurlu). At Bogazkoy, the clearing of the citadel area on Biiyukkale continues. It now proves to have been occupied from the end of the 3rd millennium at least. So also was the »lower city«. A colony of Assyrian merchants was settled there in the late 19th or 18th century.1 Recent work at Kiiltepe shows that this site too was occupied from the middle of the Early Bronze Age. The Assyrian »karum« or trading-station there was the earliest and most important of the region. The palace of the contemporary mative rulers has now been investigated, on the main mound. A dagger has been found bearing the name of »Anittas«, a king mentioned in the earliest text from the later Hittite archivesat Bogazkoy.2 The earlier history of Hattusas and Kaneš has still to be correlated with the fuller evidence for general developments in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages obtained from Alaca Hiiyiik, Alisar Hiiyiik, Beycesultan and Karahiiyiik. It is still not clear which destruction levels reflect the immigration of the Indo-European ancestors of the Hittites. Recent work on pre-hellenic western Anatolia, mostly carried out by members of the Bri[1]tish Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, began with any extensive survey of sites, which defined several new pre-hellenic cultural regions. This was followed by excavation of the impressive mound near Beycesultan in the upper Menderes valley.3 The site was inhabited from Late Chalcolithis times, late in the 4th mil[1]lennium at least, to the lith century B. C. Its people developped a high culture re[1]lated to, but distinct from, those of Troy and central Anatolia. The excavators attribute the civilization of its most prosperous period, which they date c. 1900— 1750 B. C., in the Middle Bronze Age, to the Luwians, an Indo-European people related to the Hittites. They consider them to have immigrated c. 2300 B. C. Comparative linguistic evidence, however, does not suggest a gap of several centuries between the immigration of the proto-Luwians and that of the (Indo-European) proto[1]Hittites. The excavators note similarities between the M. B. A. architecture of Beyce[1]sultan and that of Middle Minoan Crete.4 The settlement was impoverished during the periods of greatest Hittite power, and can hardly have been the capital of »Arzawa«. It enjoyed a revival at the end of the 13th century. There is no evidence of important Mycenean influence. Since 1957 J. Mellaart has been excavating a site at Hacilar, near Burdur in southwestern Turkey, which has provided a sequence from Neolithic into Chalcolithic times, connecting with that of the earliest levels at Beycesultan.5 Excavation has still not proved the plausible theory that it was a Phrygian invasion from the north-west that destroyed the Hittite state. The earliest »Phrygian« wall at Bogazkby is reported to lie immediately above the ruins of the latest Hittite buildings. But the period of extensive »Phrygian« settle[1]ment seems to have come later (8th— 6th centuries); and the course of the assumed migration in the 13th and 12th centuries has not been traced.6 The American exca[1]vation at Gordion has not yet reached levels which might give relevant evidence, except in soundings.