Judicial Activism v. Judicial Abdication: A Plea for a Return to the \u3cem\u3eLochner\u3c/em\u3e Era Substantive Due Process Methodology

Amid the fierce battles that take place during the confirmation process of a Supreme Court justice, surprisingly little attention is given to the fact that both sides of the political spectrum generally agree on a matter of profound constitutional importance—namely, the proper level of scrutiny courts are to exact with respect to state and federal legislation. Presently, and for the better part of the last 70 years, the dominant attitude among judicial conservatives and liberals alike is that courts have no authority to strictly scrutinize the overwhelming majority of legislation enacted by state and federal legislatures. This Comment argues that the Court\u27s current substantive due process doctrine, which traditionally provided an important framework for reviewing the constitutionality of state and federal legislation, not only lacks a solid constitutional foundation but also fails to protect the most basic individual fights and liberties. This Comment discusses the shortcomings of the substantive due process methodology within the context of Abigail Alliance v. Eschenbach, which held that terminally ill individuals have no constitutional right to access innovative medicinal treatments that have the potential to preserve and prolong their lives. This Comment concludes that, although the current substantive due process doctrine is highly flawed, the decision in Lawrence v. Texas provides a glimmer of hope that one day the Court will reassert the judiciary\u27s responsibility to meaningfully review and scrutinize the constitutionality of state and federal legislation

Judicial Activism v. Judicial Abdication: A Plea for a Return to the \u3cem\u3eLochner\u3c/em\u3e Era Substantive Due Process Methodology

Amid the fierce battles that take place during the confirmation process of a Supreme Court justice, surprisingly little attention is given to the fact that both sides of the political spectrum generally agree on a matter of profound constitutional importance—namely, the proper level of scrutiny courts are to exact with respect to state and federal legislation. Presently, and for the better part of the last 70 years, the dominant attitude among judicial conservatives and liberals alike is that courts have no authority to strictly scrutinize the overwhelming majority of legislation enacted by state and federal legislatures. This Comment argues that the Court\u27s current substantive due process doctrine, which traditionally provided an important framework for reviewing the constitutionality of state and federal legislation, not only lacks a solid constitutional foundation but also fails to protect the most basic individual fights and liberties. This Comment discusses the shortcomings of the substantive due process methodology within the context of Abigail Alliance v. Eschenbach, which held that terminally ill individuals have no constitutional right to access innovative medicinal treatments that have the potential to preserve and prolong their lives. This Comment concludes that, although the current substantive due process doctrine is highly flawed, the decision in Lawrence v. Texas provides a glimmer of hope that one day the Court will reassert the judiciary\u27s responsibility to meaningfully review and scrutinize the constitutionality of state and federal legislation

Comparison of the effect of locking vs standard screws on the mechanical properties of bone-plate constructs in a comminuted diaphyseal fracture model

The purpose of this study was to compare the mechanical properties of bone-plate constructs with locking compression plates (LCP) used either with standard screws or with locking screws on an experimental model of comminuted fracture

Populations of doubled haploids for genetic mapping in hexaploid winter triticale.

To create a framework for genetic dissection of hexaploid triticale, six populations of doubled haploid (DH) lines were developed from pairwise hybrids of high-yielding winter triticale cultivars. The six populations comprise between 97 and 231 genotyped DH lines each, totaling 957 DH lines. A consensus genetic map spans 4593.9 cM is composed of 1576 unique DArT markers. The maps reveal several structural rearrangements in triticale genomes. In preliminary tests of the populations and maps, markers specific to wheat segments of the engineered rye chromosome 1R (RM1B) were identified. Example QTL mapping of days to heading in cv. Krakowiak revealed loci on chromosomes 2BL and 2R responsible for extended vernalization requirement, and candidate genes were identified. The material is available to all parties interested in triticale genetics

Improving health and well-being through community health champions: a thematic evaluation of a programme in Yorkshire and Humber.

AIMS: The contribution that lay people can make to the public health agenda is being increasingly recognised in research and policy literature. This paper examines the role of lay workers (referred to as 'community health champions') involved in community projects delivered by Altogether Better across Yorkshire and Humber. The aim of the paper is to describe key features of the community health champion approach and to examine the evidence that this type of intervention can have an impact on health. METHODS: A qualitative approach was taken to the evaluation, with two strands to gathering evidence: interviews conducted with different stakeholder groups including project leads, key partners from community and statutory sectors and community workers, plus two participatory workshops to gather the views of community health champions. Seven projects (from a possible 12) were identified to be involved in the evaluation. Those projects that allowed the evaluation team to explore fully the champion role (training, infrastructure, etc.) and how that works in practice as a mechanism for empowerment were selected. In total, 29 semi-structured interviews were conducted with project staff and partners, and 30 champions, varying in terms of age, gender, ethnicity and disability, took part in the workshops. RESULTS: Becoming a community health champion has health benefits such as increased self-esteem and confidence and improved well-being. For some champions, this was the start of a journey to other opportunities such as education or paid employment. There were many examples of the influence of champions extending to the wider community of family, friends and neighbours, including helping to support people to take part in community life. Champions recognised the value of connecting people through social networks, group activities, and linking people into services and the impact that that had on health and well-being. Project staff and partners also recognised that champions were promoting social cohesiveness and helping to integrate people into their community. CONCLUSIONS: The recent public health White Paper suggested that the Altogether Better programme is improving individual and community health as well as increasing social capital, voluntary activity and wider civic participation. This evaluation supports this statement and suggests that the community health champion role can be a catalyst for change for both individuals and communities

Protection and Identification of Stateless Persons Through EU Law

A number of recent studies confirm that statelessness is a widespread phenomenon in the EU, which is not receiving adequate attention. The lack of well-functioning statelessness determination procedures is at the root of many problems associated with statelessness in the EU. These are, in particular, the inadequate protection of stateless persons and deficiencies in the prevention and reduction of statelessness. This paper argues in favour of common EU action on the identification and protection of stateless persons by analyzing the EU competence to pass relevant legislation, and explaining the desirability for such legislation

Successful Arrest of Photoreceptor and Vision Loss Expands the Therapeutic Window of Retinal Gene Therapy to Later Stages of Disease

Inherited retinal degenerations cause progressive loss of photoreceptor neurons with eventual blindness. Corrective or neuroprotective gene therapies under development could be delivered at a predegeneration stage to prevent the onset of disease, as well as at intermediate-degeneration stages to slow the rate of progression. Most preclinical gene therapy successes to date have been as predegeneration interventions. In many animal models, as well as in human studies, to date, retinal gene therapy administered well after the onset of degeneration was not able to modify the rate of progression even when successfully reversing dysfunction. We evaluated consequences of gene therapy delivered at intermediate stages of disease in a canine model of X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP) caused by a mutation in the Retinitis Pigmentosa GTPase Regulator (RPGR) gene. Spatiotemporal natural history of disease was defined and therapeutic dose selected based on predegeneration results. Then interventions were timed at earlier and later phases of intermediate-stage disease, and photoreceptor degeneration monitored with noninvasive imaging, electrophysiological function, and visual behavior for more than 2 y. All parameters showed substantial and significant arrest of the progressive time course of disease with treatment, which resulted in long-term improved retinal function and visual behavior compared with control eyes. Histology confirmed that the human RPGR transgene was stably expressed in photoreceptors and associated with improved structural preservation of rods, cones, and ON bipolar cells together with correction of opsin mislocalization. These findings in a clinically relevant large animal model demonstrate the long-term efficacy of RPGR gene augmentation and substantially broaden the therapeutic window for intervention in patients with RPGR-XLRP