On Overreaching, or Why Rick Perry May Save the Voting Rights Act but Destroy Affirmative Action

Abstract The State of Texas is presently staking out two positions that are not typically pursued by a single litigant. On the one hand, Texas is seeking the invalidation of the Voting Rights Act, and, on the other, the State is now defending the validity of the expansive race-based affirmative action policy it uses at its flagship university. This Essay presses the claim that Texas has increased the chance it will lose in both Texas v. Holder and Fisher v. University of Texas because it has opted to stake out markedly extreme positions in each. I argue that Texas would be more likely to succeed had it chosen to temper both its actions and claims in the pending cases. As it stands, Texas's assertive stance in Fisher promises to bolster the aversion many Justices already feel towards affirmative action. With regard to the VRA, however, Texas's uncompromising approach to the regime may prove to be the VRA's best defense. As recent redistricting and voter ID decisions suggest, Texas's stance may be provide what is arguably better evidence for why the statute remains necessary than anything proffered by the VRA's many supporters. Indeed, the State's aggressively hostile stance towards the VRA has the potential to destabilize judicial misgivings about the statute, and, if not fully reverse them, postpone their implementation.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98443/1/elj%2E2012%2E1147.pd

Quantifying the natural history of post-radical prostatectomy incontinence using objective pad test data

BACKGROUND: Urinary incontinence (UI) following radical prostatectomy is a well-recognized risk of the surgery. In most patients post-operative UI improves over time. To date, there is limited objective, quantitative data on the natural history of the resolution of post-prostatectomy UI. The purpose of this study was to define the natural history of post radical prostatectomy incontinence using an objective quantitative tool, the 1-hour standard pad test. METHODS: 203 consecutive patients underwent radical prostatectomy by a single surgeon between 03/98 & 08/03. A standardized 1-hour pad test was administered at subsequent postoperative clinic visits. The gram weight of urine loss was recorded and subdivided into four groups defined according to the grams of urine loss: minimal (<1 g), mild (>1, <10 g), moderate (10–50 g) and severe (>50 g). Patients were evaluated: at 2 weeks (catheter removal), 6 weeks, 18 weeks, 30 weeks, 42 weeks and 54 weeks. The data set was analyzed for average urine loss as well as grams of urine loss at each time point, the percentage of patients and the distribution of patients in each category. RESULTS: Mean follow up was 118 weeks. The majority of patients experienced incontinence immediately after catheter removal at 2 weeks that gradually improved with time. While continued improvement was noted to 1 year, most patients who achieved continence did so by 18 weeks post-op. CONCLUSION: While the majority of patients experience mild to severe UI immediately following catheter removal, there is a rapid decrease in leaked weight during the first 18 weeks following RRP. Patients continue to improve out to 1 year with greater than 90% having minimal leakage by International Continence Society criteria

Writing in Britain and Ireland, c. 400 to c. 800

No abstract available