The Constitution and the Lessons of Rome

This article identifies all references in The Federalist to ancient Rome and explains them and their import for the arguments favoring ratification. As our knowledge of classical civilization fades, we become less able to understand the meaning of a central document in our history. The article addresses this problem

Neurotrophins expression in HIV positive women with squamous cervical cancer

Neurotrophins are a family of proteins that induce the survival, development, and function of neurons. Due to the anterograde trasport, neurotrophins, in particular BDNF, are also expressed in human viscera, including the squamous epithelium of the portio, where BDNF has been demonstrated to promote keratinocyte proliferation via trkB. Cervical cancer cases are triggered by persistent infection of the uterine cervix by HPV HR genotypes, particularly HPV-16 and HPV-18. HIV-related immunodeficiency has complex effects on female genital HPV, which include increased risks of infection, multiple types, persistence, reactivation and the risk to develop pre-invasive and invasive disease. Women with HIV infection are more likely to develop pre-neoplastic and neoplastic cervical lesions caused by HPV when compared to seronegative women. It has been described that BDNF and trkB expression are significantly higher in cervical cancer tissues than in normal tissues and that their presence is higher in advanced stages of this neoplasm. Furthermore, HIV protein gp120 has been shown to upregulate BDNF expression. We hypothesize that neurotrophins, in HIV infected women, play a crucial role in the enhancement and in the accelerated progression of cervical pre-invasive and invasive lesions. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the expression of neurotrophins NGF and BDNF in specimens from pre-invasive or invasive cervical cancer lesions according to the HIV status of the patients

John Courtney Murray and the Orthodoxy of Freedom: An Application to Economic Life

"“The Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom.” Thus begins the first chapter of the Declaration of Religious Liberty approved by the Second Vatican Council on 7 December 1965. What follows from this dramatic statement is a powerful and affecting argument on behalf of legal structures and social orders that permit the civic flourishing of political freedom with regard to religious faith."(...

The "Social Lives" of Tuareg Bracelets and Tent Posts in the Collection of the Spencer Museum of Art

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the "social lives" of Tuareg bracelets and tent posts in the collection of the Spencer Museum of Art. My goal is to examine each phase in the "social lives" of these objects from their production and use within Tuareg society to their collection and subsequent exhibition in the museum. Because the objects were collected during the colonial era, emphasis will be given to a late 19th and early 20th century perspective. Part 1 is devoted to an examination of the social position of the Inaden and an analysis of the production of the bracelets and tent posts within Tuareg society. I pay particular attention to the gendered production of the objects and the meanings they held in the production phase of their "social lives." In this part I also explore their gendered uses and the meanings they held for the Tuareg peoples who owned them. Part 2 of the thesis examines the "diversion" of the bracelets and tent posts from their "paths." In this section I focus on how meanings were made by cultural brokers and colonial era collectors. Again, gender and materiality had an impact on how the objects were collected and interpreted. I also concentrate on the meanings and representations of the Tuareg objects in the museum context. In this phase of the "social lives" of the bracelets and tent posts, gender and materiality influenced how museums represented the objects

How the Separation of Powers Doctrine Shaped the Executive

This Article examines the debates of the Founders over the separation of powers doctrine as it relates to the executive branch. After surveying the experience in the colonies and under the post-Revolutionary state constitutions, it analyzes the relevant issues at the Constitutional Convention. Rather than focusing on abstract discussions of political theory, the article examines specific decisions and controversies in which separation of powers was a concern. The Article offers a detailed recounting of those debates. At the Convention, separation of powers arose most prominently in the arguments over nine issues: choosing the Executive, permitting the Executive to stand for second term, removing the Executive, devising the Executive veto, requiring legislative advice and consent for executive appointments, authorizing the Executive to grant reprieves and pardons, and making the Vice President the President of the Senate. The Article demonstrates that much of the discussion centered on allocating power between the Legislative and Executive branches and thus really amounted to a struggle over defining the nascent office of the Executive. It thus offers the historical background for today’s debates over separation of powers. For the Founders, separation of powers served not as a rigid rule, but as a functional guide, designed to help construct a working constitution with a workable executive branch

A Proposal for Improving Argument Before the United States Supreme Court

This Article offers a simple solution for reducing the overload of questions at oral argument. Justices, individually or collectively, could pose written questions on facts and law to the litigants\u27 counsel before oral argument and expect written responses. The submitted questions might inquire about the facts of the case, about the litigant\u27s interpretation of the relevant law, about the response that the litigant would make to a hypothetical scenario, or about the precise holding that the litigant wishes the Court to propound. The responses should allow for more thought-out answers than oral argument can produce and might both reduce the number of questions that the Justices ask during oral argument and improve the quality of the answers. The Article places this proposal in historical context by examining how Supreme Court rules on presenting argument have developed--shifting the emphasis from oral argument to written argument. After explaining the value of oral argument and the ways in which courts have tried to deal with the brevity of oral arguments, the Article illustrates the value of the proposal by closely analyzing the oral argument in Kelo v. City of New London

A Primer on Organ Donation

As organ donation gains increasing attention in our society, attorneys have an obligation to stay current on the issues so that they can properly advise two groups of clients: those who may need transplants and those who, if given reliable information, might consider becoming organ donors. A client in need of a transplant may wish advice about putting his or her affairs in order, and a client who retains an attorney to draft a will may be interested in learning about organ donation. Attorneys should know what a potential organ recipient should consider, how donated organs are allocated, how to become an organ donor, what myths discourage individuals from becoming organ donors, and the role attorneys can play in raising the issue of organ donation with their clients

Stopping Nuclear Power Plants: A Memoir

A memoir of the author\u27s involvement in the anti-nuclear power movement