DNA as Patentable Subject Matter and a Narrow Framework for Addressing the Perceived Problems Caused by Gene Patents

Concerns about the alleged harmful effects of gene patents— including hindered research and innovation and impeded patient access to high-quality genetic diagnostic tests—have resulted in overreactions from the public and throughout the legal profession. These overreactions are exemplified by Association for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a 2010 case in the Southern District of New York that held that isolated DNA is unpatentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The problem with these responses is that they fail to adequately consider the role that gene patents and patents on similar biomolecules play in facilitating investment in the costly and risky developmental processes required to transform the underlying inventions into marketable products. Accordingly, a more precisely refined solution is advisable. This Note proposes a narrowly tailored set of solutions to address the concerns about gene patents without destroying the incentives for companies to create and commercialize inventions derived from these and similar patents

Frontier in Transition: A Demographic History of Benton Country, Minnesota, 1850-1870

The purpose of this thesis is to examine closely the transformation of a frontier area into a settled community. The demographic history of Benton County, Minnesota, from 1850 to 1870, is examined in detail. The major emphasis is on the structure of the population and its changes over a twenty-year period. The central goal is to determine if there was a pattern to these chanoes. Generalizations applied to the entire frontier will then be compared to this one county to see if they are valid. The manuscript census was the major source of information. The demographic information for each individual, age, race, sex, occupation, and wealth, was recorded on computer cards and analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. This program tabulated single demographic characteristics for the population and then cross- tabulated two or more characteristics to see how they related to each other. Persistence rate and nativity were tabulated by hand. Traditional sources, such as newspapers, local histories, and the like, were also used. By combining these two techniques, the history of this one county was examined in detail. Several themes emerged over the course of the twenty years studied. In 1850, the population was mostly male and between the ages of 20 and 40. There were few women and few foreign-born. No women were represented in any of the skilled occupational categories. The persistence rate in the county was very low although the population grew substantially. Settlers usually came from the Northeast, New England, or the British Empire. The foreign-born element exclusive of the British Empire increased greatly. By 1870, when the county was no longer part of the frontier, the population structure was much like that of the nation. The number of men and women was fairly evenly balanced and no age bracket was overrepresented. Women were present in all occupational skill categories. Thus, as the county shifted from a frontier region to a settled community, the population changed from one dominated by young men to one that was a miniature reproduction of the national structure. Case studies of other counties in Iowa, Wisconsin, California, Texas, and Illinois indicate that these themes were common to many frontier communities. Their populations were generally dominated by young men. The settlers came from states not immediately adjacent to the one to which they migrated. When these counties were studied over a long period of time, their populations showed a characteristically low persistence rate coupled with a growing population. It is hoped that this study will extend the validity of other historians\u27 findings to Benton County

Developing Measures of Content Knowledge for Teaching Reading

In this article we present results from a project to develop survey measures of the content knowledge teachers need to teach elementary reading. In areas such as mathematics and science, there has been great interest in the specialized ways teachers need to know a subject to teach it to others—often referred to as pedagogical content knowledge. However, little is known about what teachers need to know about reading to teach it effectively. We begin the article by discussing what might constitute content knowledge for teaching reading and by describing the survey items we wrote. Next, factor and scaling results are presented from a pilot study of 261 multiple‐choice items with 1,542 elementary teachers. We found that content knowledge for teaching reading included multiple dimensions, defined both by topic and by how teachers use knowledge in teaching practice. Items within these constructs formed reliable scales

Resource-based conflicts in drought-prone Northwestern Kenya : the drivers and mitigation mechanisms

The theory of “resource scarcity” dominates the debate on “ecoviolence” in pastoral areas, where conflicts among communities have traditionally been linked to competition over scarce resources and invariably drought because of its role in resource depletion. However, the notion that climate change and resultant resource scarcity directly prompt violent conflict has been challenged by the notion that conflict actually coincide with periods of resource abundance. These contesting views point to nondeterministic linkage between resource availability and conflicts and, therefore, the complexity of pastoral conflicts. This is the scenario hypothesized for the vast pastoral areas of Kenya where violent conflict has become a chronic characteristic. While focusing on drought-induced conflicts over grazing resources, this paper takes cognizance of other factors that trigger and perpetuate violent conflicts in arid north-western Kenya. We present an insight on the nature, causes, dynamics and mitigation strategies of conflicts between the Turkana and Pokot pastoralists based on research study focusing on the linkages between resource availability and conflict. The findings suggest that violent conflicts in pastoral areas result from a myriad of socio-cultural, economic and political factors that reinforce one another by limiting availability of, depleting and reducing access to natural resource base. Competition for scarce natural resources triggered by frequent droughts and exacerbated by weak local institutions, proliferation of small firearms, political incitements, unclear property right regimes and cattle-raiding, was considered central to the violent conflicts observed in the area. The authors conclude that developing integrated policies and strengthening local governance institutions that are rooted in traditional practices for managing resources and inter-community conflicts is integral to the solution

Sensory and Nutritional Characteristics of Concept Frozen Desserts Made from Underutilized Sweetpotato Roots

A traditional dairy-based frozen dessert (ice cream) was developed with three levels of sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) puree [20%, 30%, and 40% (by weight)] to determine the impact of sweetpotato content on product functionality, nutritional content, and sensory characteristics. Increased sweetpotato puree resulted in increased orange color, flavor intensity, and sweetpotato flavor, but 40% puree proved difficult to incorporate into the mixture. Additionally, nondairy frozen desserts containing 30% sweetpotato puree were compared with a milk-based control in which all ingredients were the same except that milk was replaced with soy (Glycine max) and almond (Prunus dulcis) milk. Consumer acceptability tests were conducted with panelists at Mississippi State University (n = 101) and in Pontotoc, MS (n = 43). Panelists in Pontotoc rated the overall acceptability of all three frozen desserts the same, but they preferred the appearance of the milk-based frozen dessert over that of soy- and almond-based milk alternatives. According to the panelists at Mississippi State, the milk-based frozen dessert had greater overall acceptability and aroma than the almond-based dessert and a preferential texture and appearance compared with the soy- and almond-based desserts. Milk-, soy-, and almond-based frozen desserts were rated as “slightly liked” or better by 92%, 80%, and 69% of the panelists, respectively

Flux Lattice Melting and Lowest Landau Level Fluctuations

We discuss the influence of lowest Landau level (LLL) fluctuations near H_{c2}(T) on flux lattice melting in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-\delta}$ (YBCO). We show that the specific heat step of the flux lattice melting transition in YBCO single crystals can be attributed largely to the degrees of freedom associated with LLL fluctuations. These degrees of freedom have already been shown to account for most of the latent heat. We also show that these results are a consequence of the correspondence between flux lattice melting and the onset of LLL fluctuations.Comment: 4 pages, 2 embedded figure

Prognosis of oral epithelial dysplasia in individuals with and without oral lichen planus

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the role of oral lichen planus (OLP) on the long-term prognosis of oral epithelial dysplasia (OED). METHODS: Retrospective single-centre cohort study using the 2007-2019 database of the Head and Neck Cancer and Oral Medicine units of University College London Hospital. The exposure of interest was the presence of OLP and the prognostic outcomes included the development of new primary episodes of OED, progression to malignancy, and mortality. Cox proportional hazard and Poisson regression models were performed. RESULTS: 299 patients, of whom 144 had OED arising on the background of OLP (OLP/OED) and 155 had OED without underlying OLP (non-OLP/OED) were included. A pre-existing diagnosis of OLP was significantly associated with a 2-fold increased risk of subsequent primary OED events (HR=2.02, p=0.04), which also developed faster (1.46 vs 2.96 years, p=0.04) and with more involvement of non-cancer prone sites (p=0.001) than in the non-OLP/OED group. There was no difference between groups in the progression to malignancy or mortality. CONCLUSIONS: OLP/OED patients are at higher risk of multiple episodes of primary OED, which can develop faster and at non-cancer-prone sites as compared to non-OLP/OED individuals. Further research is needed to clarify the effects of OLP upon progression to OSCC and mortality