Recapturing Democracy: COVID-19 and the 2020 Presidential Election

America is in the business of selling and maintaining democracy around the world. Through aid, provision, humanitarian relief, guidance, and forcible action if need be, the United States stands for democracy. At the birth of the country, the biggest threat to the founding fathers was someone assuming the highest position of leadership in the country and, thereafter, becoming unwilling to transition power. In the aftermath of the 2020 Presidential Election, this exact worst-case-scenario from more than two hundred years had played out amidst numerous lawsuits and demands for recounted votes in order to have only the “legal” votes counted towards the final result. COVID-19’s presence as the driver of this historic election only elevated the stakes, as over the death toll approached half a million and continued to set new records.² Biden’s promise to have 100 million coronavirus s given in the first 100 days was also criticized for being too low. Later, he announced aims to acquire an additional 200 million doses of vaccines, increasing the overall total doses to 600 million and pushing towards the goal of inoculating most Americans by summer 2021.⁴ Rather than giving hyper focus to the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States is divided across political, public health, and social lines that challenge the sanctity of American democracy; this in turn has led to serious questions on the ability of the country to maintain its position as a global leader who defends authoritarianism and champions authentic democracy by the people, for the people

Transcription-coupled nucleotide excision repair and its regulation by the DNA damage checkpoint

Elaborate DNA repair mechanisms have evolved, allowing cells to repair damages in their genomes. Nucleotide excision repair (NER) removes a variety of helix-distorting lesions, including those caused by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. NER operates via two subpathways. Transcription-coupled repair (TC-NER) rapidly removes transcription-blocking lesions in the transcribed strand (TS) of active genes, and in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae depends on the factors Rad26 and Rpb9. Lesions in untranscribed DNA, including the non-transcribed strand (NTS) of active genes are removed slower by global genome repair (GG-NER). Besides activating specific DNA repair systems, DNA damage also leads to a global cellular response, known as the DNA damage checkpoint (DDC). Cell-cycle progression is temporarily stopped after DNA damage to allow sufficient time for repair and prevent replication or segregation of damaged chromosomes. The DDC is a complex signal transduction cascade involving a number of protein kinases, the central players in budding yeast being Mec1 and Tel1, the homologues of human ATR and ATM, respectively. Besides inhibiting cell-cycle progression, accumulating evidence suggests that DNA repair systems are also influenced by the checkpoint. I have investigated the rates of repair of UV lesions in checkpoint deficient strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and found that NER is significantly inhibited on both strands of an active gene in the absence of Mec1. The effect on NTS repair seems to be caused by deficient de novo synthesis of repair factors, whereas TC-NER is influenced mainly by post-translational modification of one or more pre-existing proteins. I have characterised a checkpoint-dependent phosphorylation of Rad26, and have shown using point mutants that this phosphorylation increases the TC-NER capacity of cells, establishing a new link between NER and the checkpoint. In addition to these results about the interplay between the DDC and NER pathways, preliminary data from two unrelated projects will be presented. One was an attempt to establish a system for analysis of NER factor recruitment to an artificial, highly UV-damage-prone DNA sequence. The other focussed on the regulation of UV-induced degradation of Rpb1, the largest RNA Polymerase II (RNAPII) subunit, by the DDC

PLIVA Shields Big Pharma from Billions, Cuts Consumers\u27 Rights

This Article explores the emergence of the LRA test, as well as its dangers, and explains how an equivalent norm underlies recent monopolization cases. The Author concludes that the law should not require business practices to maximize social welfare to pass muster under the antitrust laws. As tools of public policy directed at unilateral market behavior, antitrust and regulation have long played distinct, though complementary, roles. Natural-monopoly regulation has as its immodest goal the maximization of consumer welfare by simultaneously imposing universal service obligations and spurring the efficiencies associated with competition through the imposition of various behavioral constraints. That such regulation has widely been seen as ineffectual should in itself suggest that antitrust needs a distinct focus. Enforcement actions directed at welfare-enhancing practices improperly conflate antitrust and regulation. The consumer is likely to be the ultimate victim

Richard Requa: Southern California Architect, 1881-1941

This thesis details the life of Richard Requa, Southern California architect

I Progress towards the synthesis of plakortether B through a zinc-mediated homologation II Synthesis of novel hydroxy-cyclopropyl peptides isosteres

A streamlined synthetic pathway to target the core of plakortether B through a zinc-mediated homologation-aldol reaction has been developed. This chemistry was performed on a chiral beta-keto amide, which was synthesized in a few steps. In a one-pot reaction the beta-keto amide could be converted into a furanyl-ketal with high stereocontrol at two chiral centers. The homologation-aldol reaction was followed by a cyclization-allylation to obtain the plakortether backbone. During the synthesis of plakortether B, a serendipitous byproduct was identified as a [3.1.0] bicyclic lactone. The lactone was seen as a precursor to a peptidomimetic that would contain an embedded hydroxycyclopropyl moiety. The formation of the bicyclic lactones was proposed to involve a cascade of homologation-cyclopropanation-rearrangement-lactonization reactions. Amino acid-derived beta-keto imides were synthesized in order to enhance the stereocontrol of the tandem lactonization reaction. The use of amino acid derived beta-keto imides was beneficial in two ways; first it incorporates an amino acid directly into the peptide isotere and influences the diastereocontrol. The homologation-cyclization-rearrangement-lactonization reaction of beta-keto imides has proven to be successful for the formation of [3.1.0] bicyclic lactones as precursors to peptide isosteres

Transformation of the American Legal System: Permanent Measures from COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic upended virtually every aspect of everyday life, from grocery stores to judicial procedures. The American judicial process is a unique adversarial system that guarantees the right to confront, often before a live jury. Yet, the necessities of social distancing and protecting public health means that these once unshakeable tenets of the United States justice system have been forced to undergo watershed transformation throughout the pandemic. The word transformation is carefully chosen, as certain measures are no longer temporary. Rather, a fundamental shift in the formerly concrete facets of judicial procedure has occurred – almost certainly never to be fully reversed. In the article, I describe the potential benefits of the unprecedented shift, while comparing both the original design and social perceptions of the American court system and judicial procedure. While great potential presents for virtual hearings and trials to continue to provide justice throughout this chaotic period, there are many serious nuances to the untested digital shift that must be acknowledged and accounted for in creating new and permanent change

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: LEGAL AND MORAL GATEKEEPER RIGHTS

America is more politically divided than ever, especially regarding issues of racial justice. In the wake of the 2020 George Floyd protests, many people became politically active and began speaking out who had previously remained on the sidelines. But joining the conversation on race in America comes with criticism from all sides. Using the case example of Justin Bieber and his 2021 album Justice, which uses audio recordings of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s most famous speeches, this article will explore the question of who has a claim to MLK’s legacy. Criticized and praised for his use of MLK’s words and ideas, Justin Bieber’s foray into racial discourse allows this piece to explore to what extent gatekeeping hinders the advancement of justice