How the Feres Doctrine Prevents Cadets and Midshipmen of Military-Service Academies from Achieving Justice for Sexul Assault

Sixty-seven years ago, Feres v. United States foreclosed service members from pursuing claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) for “injuries incident to their service.” The progeny of case law that has since developed, the basis for what is known as the Feres doctrine, expanded the scope of what the Feres Court originally articulated as an injury incident to service. Now, cadets and midshipmen of military-service academies who allege that the government (i.e., the administration of military-service academies) was negligent in handling their sexual assaults are precluded from bringing an FTCA claim because their injuries are classified as “incident to their service” under Feres. Cadets and midshipmen occupy an ambiguous status as both service members and students of military-service academies. Although cadets and midshipmen are considered service members under the law, they are also students of military-service academies where they will graduate with a bachelor’s degree and incur an active-duty obligation to serve in the officer corps of the U.S. Armed Forces after they graduate. This Note focuses on the ambiguous status of cadets and midshipmen and argues that they are more akin to students of civilian colleges than active- duty service members. Unlike cadets and midshipmen, civilian students can raise Title IX claims against their universities for student-on-student sexual harassment or assault. By comparing how claims fare for cadets and midshipmen under Feres to the same claims by civilian students under Title IX, this Note argues that cadets and midshipmen do not have the same opportunity to achieve justice as civilian students in like circumstances. This Note additionally examines the legal and policy arguments against extending the Feres doctrine to cadets and midshipmen. Considering the evidence that suggests when superiors allow sexual harassment it may lead to higher instances of sexual harassment and assault in the military ranks, this Note urges Congress to reexamine the FTCA to limit the scope of the judicially made Feres doctrine to exclude cadets and midshipmen from bringing FTCA claims for the negligent mismanagement of their sexual assaults by academy administration

Wastewater-based Estimation of Substances Discharged at the Rest Areas along the State Highways in Kentucky

The availability of licit and illicit stimulants and its adverse consequences on public health has emerged as a major drug threat to communities in the United States. Despite several drug-involved traffic incidents along the interstate highways, this report represents the first comprehensive and quantitative report of drugs discharged at the rest areas along the interstate highways. In this National Institute of Justice-funded study, the amount of several discharged drugs focusing on stimulants but also including opioids and prescription antipsychotics are being measured in raw wastewater collected from five rest areas and a truck servicing facility using a state-of-the-art mass spectrometry technique. Three stimulants (cocaine, methamphetamine, and amphetamine), two opioids (hydrocodone and tramadol), THC metabolite, and four antidepressants (venlafaxine, citalopram, fluoxetine, and sertraline) were detected in all of the collected wastewater samples in the early phases of the project. Methamphetamine was the most prevalent stimulant (40.0-1240 mg/d) followed by the cocaine metabolite (9.18-385 mg/d) and amphetamine (14.9-97.9 mg/d). The rest area users normalized methamphetamine discharge in Christian County rest area (I-24E) was 1.8 folds higher than in Whitehaven rest area (I-24W) and 7.8 folds higher than in the Laurel County truck service facility (I-75). The significantly higher ratio of cocaine and its metabolite (\u3e1.0) found in the Whitehaven rest area suggested the possibility of a direct discharge of cocaine in two select days in October. Overall, we established a unique collaboration among the Appalachian High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Murray State University and the University of Kentucky

Comparison of Quarterly and Yearly Calibration Data for Propensity Score Adjusted Web Survey Estimates

While web surveys have become increasingly popular as a method of data collection, there is concern that estimates obtained from web surveys may not reflect the target population of interest. Web survey estimates can be calibrated to existing national surveys using a propensity score adjustment, although requirements for the size and collection timeline of the reference data set have not been investigated. We evaluate health outcomes estimates from the National Center for Health Statistics’ Research and Development web survey. In our study, the 2016 National Health Interview Survey as well as its quarterly subsets are considered as reference datasets for the web data. It is demonstrated that the calibrated health estimates overall vary little when using the quarterly or yearly data, suggesting that there is flexibility in selecting the reference dataset. This finding has many practical implications for constructing reference data, including the reduced cost and burden of a smaller sample size and a more flexible timeline

Immunohistochemical detection of scrapie prion proteins in clinically normal sheep in Pennsylvania

Following diagnosis of scrapie in a clinically suspect Suffolk sheep, 7 clinically normal flockmates were purchased by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture to determine their scrapie status using an immunohistochemical procedure. Two of the 7 euthanized healthy sheep had positive immunohistochemical staining of the prion protein of scrapie (PrP-Sc) in their brains, nictitating membranes, and tonsils. The PrP-Sc was localized in the areas of the brain where, histopathologically, there was neurodegeneration and astrocytosis. The PrP-Sc occurred within germinal centers of the affected nictitating membranes and tonsils and was located in the cytoplasm of the dendrite-like cells, lymphoid cells, and macrophages. These results confirm that immunohistochemical examination of the nictitating membrane can be used as a screen for the presence of scrapie infection in clinically normal sheep at a capable veterinary diagnostic laboratory. In sheep with a PrP-Sc–positive nictitating membrane, the diagnosis of scrapie should be confirmed by histopathology and immunohistochemical examination of the brain following necropsy. Following full validation, immunohistochemistry assays for detection of PrP-Sc in nictitating membrane lymphoid tissues can improve the effectiveness of the scrapie control and eradication program by allowing diagnosis of the disease in sheep before the appearance of clinical signs

Discovery and genotyping of structural variation from long-read haploid genome sequence data

In an effort to more fully understand the full spectrum of human genetic variation, we generated deep single-molecule, real-time (SMRT) sequencing data from two haploid human genomes. By using an assembly-based approach (SMRT-SV), we systematically assessed each genome independently for structural variants (SVs) and indels resolving the sequence structure of 461,553 genetic variants from 2 bp to 28 kbp in length. We find that &gt;89% of these variants have been missed as part of analysis of the 1000 Genomes Project even after adjusting for more common variants (MAF &gt; 1%). We estimate that this theoretical human diploid differs by as much as ∼16 Mbp with respect to the human reference, with long-read sequencing data providing a fivefold increase in sensitivity for genetic variants ranging in size from 7 bp to 1 kbp compared with short-read sequence data. Although a large fraction of genetic variants were not detected by short-read approaches, once the alternate allele is sequence-resolved, we show that 61% of SVs can be genotyped in short-read sequence data sets with high accuracy. Uncoupling discovery from genotyping thus allows for the majority of this missed common variation to be genotyped in the human population. Interestingly, when we repeat SV detection on a pseudodiploid genome constructed in silico by merging the two haploids, we find that ∼59% of the heterozygous SVs are no longer detected by SMRT-SV. These results indicate that haploid resolution of long-read sequencing data will significantly increase sensitivity of SV detection.</jats:p

PPARγ Ligand as a Promising Candidate for Colorectal Cancer Chemoprevention: A Pilot Study

Activating synthetic ligands for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), such as pioglitazone, are commonly used to treat persons with diabetes mellitus with improvement of insulin resistance. Several reports have clearly demonstrated that PPARγ ligands could inhibit colorectal cancer cell growth and induce apoptosis. Meanwhile, aberrant crypt foci (ACF) have come to be established as a biomarker of the risk of CRC in azoxymethane-treated mice and rats. In humans, ACF can be detected using magnifying colonoscopy. Previously, CRC and adenoma were used as a target for chemopreventive agents, but it needs a long time to evaluate, however, ACF can be a surrogate marker of CRC even for a brief period. In this clinical study, we investigated the chemopreventive effect of pioglitazone on the development of human ACF as a surrogate marker of CRC. Twenty-nine patients were divided into two groups, 20 were in the endoscopically normal control group and 9 were in the pioglitazone (15 mg/day) group, and ACF and adenoma were examined before and after 1-month treatment. The number of ACF was significantly decreased (5.8 ± 1.1 to 3.3 ± 2.3) after 1 month of pioglitazone treatment, however, there was no significant change in the number of crypts/ACF or in the number and size of adenomas. Pioglitazone may have a clinical application as a cancer-preventive drug. This investigation is just a pilot study, therefore, further clinical studies are needed to show that the PPARγ ligand may be a promising candidate as a chemopreventive agent for colorectal carcinogenesis

SETD3 is an actin histidine methyltransferase that prevents primary dystocia.

For more than 50 years, the methylation of mammalian actin at histidine 73 has been known to occur1. Despite the pervasiveness of His73 methylation, which we find is conserved in several model animals and plants, its function remains unclear and the enzyme that generates this modification is unknown. Here we identify SET domain protein 3 (SETD3) as the physiological actin His73 methyltransferase. Structural studies reveal that an extensive network of interactions clamps the actin peptide onto the surface of SETD3 to orient His73 correctly within the catalytic pocket and to facilitate methyl transfer. His73 methylation reduces the nucleotide-exchange rate on actin monomers and modestly accelerates the assembly of actin filaments. Mice that lack SETD3 show complete loss of actin His73 methylation in several tissues, and quantitative proteomics analysis shows that actin His73 methylation is the only detectable physiological substrate of SETD3. SETD3-deficient female mice have severely decreased litter sizes owing to primary maternal dystocia that is refractory to ecbolic induction agents. Furthermore, depletion of SETD3 impairs signal-induced contraction in primary human uterine smooth muscle cells. Together, our results identify a mammalian histidine methyltransferase and uncover a pivotal role for SETD3 and actin His73 methylation in the regulation of smooth muscle contractility. Our data also support the broader hypothesis that protein histidine methylation acts as a common regulatory mechanism