126 research outputs found
On The Necessary Connection Between Law and Ethics: The Ethical Content of Law
I defend the claim that there is a necessary connection between law and ethics. I do so by analogy with other social rule-based systems, such as capitalism. Most social rule-based systems are (in part) conceptually understood by the collective overall content of their rules. If legal systems, which are also social rule-based systems, are best understood in the same way, then the collective overall content of legal systems’ rules tells us how to understand the concept of law. One possibility for the collective overall content of legal systems’ rules is ethical content. If so, then there is a necessary connection between law and ethics
Testosterone and growth hormone normalization: a retrospective study of health outcomes
Enrique Ginzburg1, Alvin Lin2, Michael Sigler1, Denise Olsen2, Nancy Klimas1, Alan Mintz21University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA; 2Cenegenics® Medical Institute, Las Vegas, Nevada, USABackground: Age-related declines in testosterone and growth hormone (GH) are associated with increased adiposity and decreases in lean mass and bone mineral density (BMD). A long-term retrospective study examined the effects of testosterone and/or GH supplementation on body composition and quality of life (QoL).Methods: A database survey assessed the records of 91 men and 97 women (ages 25–82) in treatment groups based on their hormonal status: dehydroepiandrosterone but no hormonal supplementation (control); testosterone only (Tes); GH only (GH); and testosterone plus GH (Tes+GH). Pre- and post-treatment assessments recorded changes in fat and lean mass, BMD, and QoL.Results: After an average of 3 years of treatment, weight decreased in women in the control and Tes+GH groups but remained stable in men in all groups. Tes and Tes+GH produced statistically significant increases in lean mass, reductions in fat mass, and improvements in BMD in both sexes; GH produced similar changes in women. QoL and mood improved in all groups. Treatments were generally safe and well tolerated.Conclusions: In this retrospective survey, treatment with testosterone and/or GH was associated with favorable effects in men and women across a wide age range.Keywords: testosterone, growth hormone, body composition, quality of lif
An introduction and overview of the Bering Sea Project : volume IV
© The Author(s), 2016. This is the author's version of the work and is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 134 (2016): 3-12, doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2016.09.002.The seasonal rhythm of sea-ice advance and retreat in the eastern Bering Sea (EBS) moves ice hundreds of kilometers across the broad continental shelf and exerts a powerful influence on the ecology of these waters. In winter, the combination of latitude, geology, winds, and ocean currents produces ice cover extending far into the southern Bering Sea. In the spring and summer, retreating ice, longer daylight hours, and nutrient-rich ocean water result in exceptionally high marine production, vital to both sea life and people. The intense burst of spring production, together with more episodic summer and early fall production, provides the energy that powers the complex food web and ultimately sustains nearly half of the US annual commercial fish landings, as well as providing food and cultural value to thousands of Bering Sea coastal and island residents.Finally,
we
acknowledge
the
National
Science
Foundation
(NSF
Award
No.
1308087)
and
the
North
Pacific
Research
Board
(NPRB)
for
author
support
during
the
concluding
phase
of
the
Bering
Sea
Project,
and
we
thank
many
colleagues
at
NSF,
NPRB,
and
NOAA
for
their
management
partnership
and
expertise.
Funding
for
the
Bering
Sea
Project
was
provided
by
NSF
and
NPRB,
with
in-‐kind
contribution
from
participants.2018-09-1
Scanning disk rings and winds in CO at 0.01-10 au: a high-resolution -band spectroscopy survey with IRTF-iSHELL
We present an overview and first results from a -band spectroscopic survey
of planet-forming disks performed with iSHELL on IRTF, using two slits that
provide resolving power R 60,000-92,000 (5-3.3 km/s). iSHELL provides
a nearly complete coverage at 4.52-5.24 m in one shot, covering
lines from the R and P branches of CO and CO for each of multiple
vibrational levels, and providing unprecedented information on the excitation
of multiple emission and absorption components. Some of the most notable new
findings of this survey are: 1) the detection of two CO Keplerian rings at
au (in HD 259431), 2) the detection of HO ro-vibrational lines at 5
m (in AS 205 N), and 3) the common kinematic variability of CO lines over
timescales of 1-14 years. By homogeneously analyzing this survey together with
a previous VLT-CRIRES survey of cooler stars, we discuss a unified view of CO
spectra where emission and absorption components scan the disk surface across
radii from a dust-free region within dust sublimation out to au. We
classify two fundamental types of CO line shapes interpreted as emission from
Keplerian rings (double-peak lines) and a disk surface plus a low-velocity part
of a wind (triangular lines), where CO excitation reflects different emitting
regions (and their gas-to-dust ratio) rather than just the irradiation
spectrum. A disk+wind interpretation for the triangular lines naturally
explains several properties observed in CO spectra, including the line
blue-shifts, line shapes that turn into narrow absorption at high inclinations,
and the frequency of disk winds as a function of stellar type.Comment: Accepted for publication on The Astronomical Journa
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Linking marine predator diving behavior to local prey fields in contrasting habitats in a subarctic glacial fjord
Foraging theory predicts that animals will
adjust their foraging behavior in order to maximize net
energy intake and that trade-offs may exist that can influence
their behavior. Although substantial advances have
been made with respect to the foraging ecology of large
marine predators, there is still a limited understanding of
how predators respond to temporal and spatial variability
in prey resources, primarily due to a lack of empirical
studies that quantify foraging and diving behavior concurrently
with characteristics of prey fields. Such information
is important because changes in prey availability can influence
the foraging success and ultimately fitness of marine
predators. We assessed the diving behavior of juvenile
female harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardii) and prey
fields near glacial ice and terrestrial haulout sites in Glacier
Bay (58°40′N, −136°05′W), Alaska. Harbor seals captured
at glacial ice sites dived deeper, had longer dive durations, lower percent bottom time, and generally traveled further to
forage. The increased diving effort for seals from the glacial
ice site corresponded to lower prey densities and prey
at deeper depths at the glacial ice site. In contrast, seals
captured at terrestrial sites dived shallower, had shorter
dive durations, higher percent bottom time, and traveled
shorter distances to access foraging areas with much higher
prey densities at shallower depths. The increased diving
effort for seals from glacial ice sites suggests that the lower
relative availability of prey may be offset by other factors,
such as the stability of the glacial ice as a resting platform
and as a refuge from predation. We provide evidence of differences
in prey accessibility for seals associated with glacial
ice and terrestrial habitats and suggest that seals may
balance trade-offs between the costs and benefits of using
these habitats
Multiple pathways regulate intracellular shuttling of MoKA, a co-activator of transcription factor KLF7
MoKA is a novel F-box containing protein that interacts with and stimulates the activity of transcription factor KLF7, a regulator of neuronal differentiation. MoKA accumulates throughout the cell and predominantly in the cytosol, consistent with the presence of several putative nuclear localization and export signals (NLSs and NESs). The present study was designed to refine the identity and location of the sequences responsible for MoKA intracellular shuttling and transcriptional activity. Forced expression of fusion proteins in mammalian cells demonstrated that only one of three putative NLSs potentially recognized by karyopherin receptors is involved in nuclear localization of MoKA. By contrast, three distinct sequences were found to participate in mediating cytoplasmic accumulation. One of them is structurally and functionally related to the leucine-rich export signal that interacts with the exportin 1 (CRM1) receptor. The other two export signals instead display either a novel leucine-rich sequence or an undefined peptide motif, and both appear to act through CRM1-independent pathways. Finally, transcriptional analyses using the chimeric GAL4 system mapped the major activation domain of MoKA to a highly acidic sequence that resides between the NLS and NES clusters
Combined Oral Contraceptives in Women with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
BACKGROUND Oral contraceptives are rarely prescribed for women with systemic lupus erythematosus, because of concern about potential negative side effects. In this double-blind, randomized, noninferiority trial, we prospectively evaluated the effect of oral contraceptives on lupus activity in premenopausal women with systemic lupus erythematosus. METHODS A total of 183 women with inactive (76 percent) or stable active (24 percent) systemic lupus erythematosus at 15 U.S. sites were randomly assigned to receive either oral contraceptives (triphasic ethinyl estradiol at a dose of 35 pgplus norethindrone at a dose of 0.5 to 1 mg for 12 cycles of 28 days each; 91 women) or placebo (92 women) and were evaluated atmonths 1,2,3,6,9, and 12. Subjects were excluded ifthey had moderate or high levels ofanticardiolipin antibodies, lupus anticoagulant, or a history of thrombosis. RESULTS The primary end point, a severe lupus flare, occurred in 7 of 91 subjects receiving oral contraceptives (7.7 percent) as compared with 7 of92 subjects receiving placebo (7.6 percent). The 12-month rates of severe flare were similar: 0.084 for the group receiving oral contraceptives and 0.087 for the placebo group (P=0.95; upper limit of the one-sided 95 percent confidence interval for this difference, 0.069, which is within the prespecified 9 percent margin for noninferiority). Rates of mild or moderate flares were 1.40 flares per person-year for subjects receiving oral contraceptives and 1.44 flares per person-year for subjects receiving placebo (relative risk, 0.98; P=0.86). In the group that was randomized to receive oral contraceptives, there was one deep venous thrombosis and one clotted graft; in the placebo group, there was one deep venous thrombosis, one ocular thrombosis, one superficial thrombophlebitis, and one death (after cessation of the trial). CONCLUSIONS Our study indicates that oral contraceptives do not increase the risk of flare among women with systemic lupus erythematosus whose disease is stable
Making Self-Regulation More than Merely Symbolic: The Critical Role of the Legal Environment
Using data from a sample of U.S. industrial facilities subject to the federal Clean Air Act from 1993 to 2003, this article theorizes and tests the conditions under which organizations’ symbolic commitments to self-regulate are particularly likely to result in improved compliance practices and outcomes. We argue that the legal environment, particularly as it is constructed by the enforcement activities of regulators, significantly influences the likelihood that organizations will effectively implement the self-regulatory commitments they symbolically adopt. We investigate how different enforcement tools can foster or undermine organizations’ normative motivations to self-regulate. We find that organizations are more likely to follow through on their commitments to self-regulate when they (and their competitors) are subject to heavy regulatory surveillance and when they adopt self-regulation in the absence of an explicit threat of sanctions.
We also find that historically poor compliers are significantly less likely to follow through on their commitments to self-regulate, suggesting a substantial limitation on the use of self-regulation as a strategy for reforming struggling organizations. Taken together, these findings suggest that self-regulation can be a useful tool for leveraging the normative motivations of regulated organizations but that it cannot replace traditional deterrence-based enforcement
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