Adding Insult to Injury? The Untoward Impact of Requiring More than De Minimus Injury in an Eighth Amendment Excessive Force Case

This Note explores the conflict over whether a prisoner must suffer more than de minimis injury to sustain an Eighth Amendment excessive force claim. It examines this conflict against the backdrop of the various standards the U.S. Supreme Court adopted in its Eighth Amendment prison conditions jurisprudence between 1976 and 1992, principally focusing on the 1992 Hudson v. McMillian decision. Moreover, this Note considers the intersection of “the evolving standards of decency,” the “hands-off doctrine,” and the Eighth Amendment injury requirement. Ultimately, this Note advocates that excessive force—when meted out as punishment—violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment regardless of whether a prisoner’s injuries are more than de minimis

A Look at Women and Abortion in the United States

The issue of abortion is defined by ethical questions and, often, controversial views. This paper argues the importance of a coherent and enhanced effort to study the quantitative relationship between women’s characteristics and the average number of abortions in the United States. It specifically looks at the average number of previous abortions and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, as this relationship has not been explored before in the existing literature. We expect to establish a correlation between the average number of previous abortions and characteristics such as age, marital status, income and highest degree of education completed. An empirical model is developed, and then studied using regression analysis. Even though this study has limitations stemming from the nature of the data and the methodology employed, it illustrates that variables such as age, marital status, religion and education, employment status, income, and metropolitan status do influence the number of previous abortions a woman has had. The broader implications of this study suggest that the issue of abortion should be addressed with a clear focus on the most interested party, namely, women

Data-Driven Change in Oregon Psychologists’ Knowledge and Attitudes about Prescriptive Authority

With over half of all states having considered legislating prescriptive authority, an immense amount of time and money has been invested. The literature is limited in terms of understanding if opinions toward prescriptive authority are grounded in knowledge and what implications that has for altering these opinions. Following a veto of a prescriptive authority bill in Oregon, 160 licensed Oregon clinical psychologists were surveyed regarding their attitudes and knowledge. In terms of knowledge, only 5.6% knew which three states/territories currently have prescriptive authority and 70.4% were unfamiliar with any of the prerequisites for postdoctoral training in psychopharmacology. Reflecting division, 42.8% were in favor, 20.1% were undecided, and 37.1% were in opposition to broadening privileges for psychologists. Further, only 15.1% expressed interest in pursuing training or 6.4% in becoming a prescriber. Data on access, training, and legislative costs were presented to participants in the education condition. These participants showed significant gains in their knowledge across all domains and their opinions shifted only in these specific areas leaving their general stance on the issue unchanged. In contrast to ardent supporters who argue that their “data should provide reassurance to psychologists spearheading legislative initiatives” because of high approval ratings (Sammons et al., 2000, p. 608), our data suggest disagreement amongst a group of professionals who are not particularly well-informed, nor interested in becoming prescribers. Future work should investigate whether expanding the data relevant to other facets of the argument contributes to further targeted change or an overall change in opinion toward prescriptive authority

The in vivo interaction of Streptococcal mAb10F5 in Lewis rat brains : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

Group A streptococcal infection is being implicated in the formation of movement disorders such as PANDAS, Tourette syndrome, Sydenham's chorea, and general tics. It is suggested that antibodies produced against the conservative region of streptococcal M proteins are cross-reacting with neuronal tissue in an autoimmune response. One area of proposed cross-reactivity within the brain is the basal ganglia, the center for movement regulation. Antibodies against this region are called anti-basal ganglia antibodies. Monoclonal mouse antibody 10F5 (mAb10F5) is a streptococcal M6 antibody. Previous studies in our laboratory, using in vitro techniques, demonstrated that mAb10F5 bound in the basal ganglia of Lewis rats and has antiphospholipid properties. The current study sought to examine the interaction of mAb10F5 in Lewis rat brains in vivo. Rats were injected with either mAb10F5 or a positive control, myosin (type II) antibody, and euthanized after 24, 48, or 72 hours. Slices from the rostral and midrostral sections of these brains along with those of uninjected controls were analyzed using immunofluorescence and fluorescent microscopy. The caudate and putamen (CPu), a part of the basal ganglia, was significantly positive compared to controls at 24, 48, and 72 hours in the mAb10F5 treated group and at 24 and 48 hours in the myosin (type II) antibody treated group. It was discerned that in the mAb10F5 group the antibody crossed the blood-brain-barrier at 24 hours and remained in the CPu through 72 hours. The myosin (type II) antibody did not cross the blood-brain-barrier until 48 hours, and was no longer significantly in the CPu after 72 hours. These findings suggest that mAb10F5 is an anti-basal ganglia antibody and may be involved in movement disorders.Honors CollegeThesis (B.?.

Nanowire metamaterials with extreme optical anisotropy

We study perspectives of nanowire metamaterials for negative-refraction waveguides, high-performance polarizers, and polarization-sensitive biosensors. We demonstrate that the behavior of these composites is strongly influenced by the concentration, distribution, and geometry of the nanowires, derive an analytical description of electromagnetism in anisotropic nanowire-based metamaterials, and explore the limitations of our approach via three-dimensional numerical simulations. Finally, we illustrate the developed approach on the examples of nanowire-based high energy-density waveguides and non-magnetic negative index imaging systems with far-field resolution of one-sixth of vacuum wavelength.Comment: Updated version; accepted to Appl.Phys.Let

Oregon Psychologists on Prescriptive Authority: Divided Views and Little Knowledge

With over half of all states having considered legislating prescriptive authority, an immense amount of time and money has been invested. The literature is limited in terms of understanding if opinions toward prescriptive authority are grounded in knowledge and what implications that has for altering these opinions. Following a veto of a prescriptive authority bill in Oregon, 399 licensed Oregon clinical psychologists were surveyed regarding their attitudes and knowledge. In terms of knowledge, only 6.5% knew which three states/territories currently have prescriptive authority and 70.4% were unfamiliar with any of the prerequisites for postdoctoral training in psychopharmacology. Reflecting division, 43.4% were in favor, 25.4% were undecided, and 31.2% were in opposition to broadening privileges for psychologists. Further, only 15.2% expressed interest in pursuing training or 6.7% in becoming prescribers. Data on access, training, and legislative costs were presented to participants in the education condition. These participants showed significant gains in their knowledge across all domains and their opinions shifted only in these specific areas leaving their general stance on the issue unchanged. In contrast to ardent supporters who argue that their “data should provide reassurance to psychologists spearheading legislative initiatives” because of high approval ratings (Sammons et al., 2000, p. 608), our data suggest disagreement amongst a group of professionals who are not particularly well-informed, nor interested in becoming prescribers. Future work should investigate whether expanding the data relevant to other facets of the argument contributes to further targeted change or an overall change in opinion toward prescriptive authority

Risk Factors for Long-Term Coronary Artery Calcium Progression in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

BackgroundCoronary artery calcium (CAC) detected by noncontrast cardiac computed tomography scanning is a measure of coronary atherosclerosis burden. Increasing CAC levels have been strongly associated with increased coronary events. Prior studies of cardiovascular disease risk factors and CAC progression have been limited by short follow-up or restricted to patients with advanced disease.Methods and resultsWe examined cardiovascular disease risk factors and CAC progression in a prospective multiethnic cohort study. CAC was measured 1 to 4 times (mean 2.5 scans) over 10 years in 6810 adults without preexisting cardiovascular disease. Mean CAC progression was 23.9 Agatston units/year. An innovative application of mixed-effects models investigated associations between cardiovascular disease risk factors and CAC progression. This approach adjusted for time-varying factors, was flexible with respect to follow-up time and number of observations per participant, and allowed simultaneous control of factors associated with both baseline CAC and CAC progression. Models included age, sex, study site, scanner type, and race/ethnicity. Associations were observed between CAC progression and age (14.2 Agatston units/year per 10 years [95% CI 13.0 to 15.5]), male sex (17.8 Agatston units/year [95% CI 15.3 to 20.3]), hypertension (13.8 Agatston units/year [95% CI 11.2 to 16.5]), diabetes (31.3 Agatston units/year [95% CI 27.4 to 35.3]), and other factors.ConclusionsCAC progression analyzed over 10 years of follow-up, with a novel analytical approach, demonstrated strong relationships with risk factors for incident cardiovascular events. Longitudinal CAC progression analyzed in this framework can be used to evaluate novel cardiovascular risk factors

Downstream benefits vs upstream costs of land use change for water-yield and salt-load targets in the Macquarie Catchment, NSW

The net present value (NPV) of downstream economic benefits of changes in water-yield (W) and salt-load (S) of mean annual river flow received by a lower catchment from an upper catchment are described as a 3-dimensional (NPV,W, S) surface, where dNPV/dW > 0 and dNPV/d(S/W) < 0. Upstream changes in land use (i.e. forest clearing or forest establishment, which result in higher or lower water-yields, respectively) are driven by economic consequences for land owners. This paper defines conditions under which costs of strategic upstream land use changes could be exceeded by compensations afforded by downstream benefits from altered water-yields and/or lower salt loads. The paper presents methods, and preliminary calculations for an example river, quantifying the scope for such combinations, and raising the question of institutional designs to achieve mutually beneficial upstream and downstream outcomes. Examples refer to the Macquarie River downstream of Dubbo, NSW, and Little River, an upstream tributary.policy, markets, upstream, downstream, water, salinity, Land Economics/Use,

RyR1-targeted drug discovery pipeline integrating FRET-based high-throughput screening and human myofiber dynamic Ca2+ assays.

Elevated cytoplasmic [Ca2+] is characteristic in severe skeletal and cardiac myopathies, diabetes, and neurodegeneration, and partly results from increased Ca2+ leak from sarcoplasmic reticulum stores via dysregulated ryanodine receptor (RyR) channels. Consequently, RyR is recognized as a high-value target for drug discovery to treat such pathologies. Using a FRET-based high-throughput screening assay that we previously reported, we identified small-molecule compounds that modulate the skeletal muscle channel isoform (RyR1) interaction with calmodulin and FK506 binding protein 12.6. Two such compounds, chloroxine and myricetin, increase FRET and inhibit [3H]ryanodine binding to RyR1 at nanomolar Ca2+. Both compounds also decrease RyR1 Ca2+ leak in human skinned skeletal muscle fibers. Furthermore, we identified compound concentrations that reduced leak by &gt; 50% but only slightly affected Ca2+ release in excitation-contraction coupling, which is essential for normal muscle contraction. This report demonstrates a pipeline that effectively filters small-molecule RyR1 modulators towards clinical relevance