Deletion of Gpr27 in vivo reduces insulin mRNA but does not result in diabetes.

Gpr27 is a highly conserved, orphan G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) previously implicated in pancreatic beta cell insulin transcription and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in vitro. Here, we characterize a whole-body mouse knockout of Gpr27. Gpr27 knockout mice were born at expected Mendelian ratios and exhibited no gross abnormalities. Insulin and Pdx1 mRNA in Gpr27 knockout islets were reduced by 30%, but this did not translate to a reduction in islet insulin content or beta cell mass. Gpr27 knockout mice exhibited slightly worsened glucose tolerance with lower plasma insulin levels while maintaining similar insulin tolerance. Unexpectedly, Gpr27 deletion reduced expression of Eif4e3, a neighboring gene, likely by deleting transcription start sites on the anti-sense strand of the Gpr27 coding exon. Our data confirm that loss of Gpr27 reduces insulin mRNA in vivo but has only minor effects on glucose tolerance

Crucial Role of the States and Private International Law Treaties: A Model for Accommodating Globalization, The

This brief essay highlights the central and important role that state governments play in the development and integration of private international law treaties into the United States legal system. States play this central role even though, as some of the papers in this symposium have concluded, there are few, if any, constitutional constraints on the ability of the federal government to sign, ratify, and implement treaties that would displace state law. The primacy of states in the integration of private international law, this essay argues, points the way to a model of accommodation of other kinds of treaties affecting traditional areas of state control. The model of state government control over the integration of private international law offers a healthy, if modest, alternative to the sometimes reflexive nationalism pervading scholarship in this area that, in its most extreme form, has suggested that federalism is largely irrelevant to the conduct of foreign affairs

Don\u27t Cry for Sovereign Debtors: Why Argentina\u27s Defeat in U.S. Courts Does Not Justify a Sovereign Debt Treaty

The recent triumph of holdout bondholders over Argentina in U.S. court litigation arising out of Argentina\u27s 2001 default on its sovereign bonds has renewed calls for the creation of an internationallyadministered sovereign debt restructuring mechanism (SDRM). Such a sovereign bankruptcy mechanism is needed, supporters have argued, because future Argentina-style holdout litigation could undermine the ability of sovereigns to reach equitable restructurings. This Article argues that the danger of future disruptive sovereign debt litigation in U.S. courts is overstated. A close analysis of the legal basis for U.S. court decisions in the Argentina litigation suggests that it will be difficult for future holdout creditors to replicate this strategy against other foreign sovereigns. U.S. law still grants foreign sovereigns enormous and nearly insurmountable legal advantages in U.S. courts over private creditors. While there may be good reasons to create an SDRM, the fear of future Argentina-style U.S. litigation is not one of those reasons