Brief of Antitrust Scholars as Amici Curiae in Support of Appellees, Supporting Affirmance

Amici urge affirmance for three principal reasons. First, we elaborate a point to dispel Appellant\u27s suggestion that antitrust somehow does not belong here. Second, we show that ordinary rule of reason treatment was appropriate. Relying rather daringly on a case that it overwhelmingly lost, Appellant asks this Court to find within NCAA v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Okla., 468 U. S. 85 (1984), a rule that its amateurism or eligibility restraints are valid...as a matter of law. NCAA Br. at 14, 22. Board of Regents did not say that, and even Appellant\u27s own amici admit it. See Wilson Sonsini Br. at 5 & n. 2. Last, but most important, having shown that no special rule applies, we show ample grounds to affirm within the district court\u27s opinion. Of fundamental importance is the court\u27s finding that anticompetitive harm outweighed the minor benefits that Appellant could show

THE UTILIZATION OF HIGH FREQUENCY PERCUSSIVE VENTILATION TO REDUCE EXTRACORPOREAL OXYGENATION MEMBRANE SUPPORT.

To minimize the chance of ventilator induced lung injury (VILI), in patients who develop adult respiratory distress syndrome ARDS), Extracorporeal Oxygenation Membrane (ECMO) is a common clinical intervention. The goal of venous-venous ECMO is to provide stable gas exchange, while the goal of the ventilator is to preserve the patient\u27s pulmonary mechanics and minimize VILI. When ECMO parameters are maximized and gas exchange is marginal, often then the ventilator is called upon to help improve or maintain gas exchange often requiring high pressures and oxygen delivery (FI02). An alternative strategy to meet this objective is to utilized high frequency percussive ventilation (HFPV) via the VDR-4 (Sandpoint, Idaho). HFPV provides both an endobronchial wedge via the percussive rate and an oscillatory plateau via the connective rate. With this strategy lower pressures and oxygen delivery can be employed and ECMO parameters can be often reduced. From Jan 2015 to Feb 2016 we utilized the VDR on fifteen V-V ECMO patients. Thirteen (86.7%) of fifteen patients both ECMO FIO2 and sweep were reduced with in twenty-four hours. (Table 1) HFPV pressures and FIO2 were maintain lower than 60% and airway pressure ≤ 40cmH20. (Table 1) Prior to placing on HFPV a pressure/tool measurement was performed to determine starting airway pressure and PEEP parameters to set on the VDR. Based on the above results, HFPV can help ECMO maintain gas exchange for patients at a lower FIO2 and sweep settings

Tangram: A comprehensive toolbox for mobile element insertion detection

© 2014 Wu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. Background: Mobile elements (MEs) constitute greater than 50% of the human genome as a result of repeated insertion events during human genome evolution. Although most of these elements are now fixed in the population, some MEs, including ALU, L1, SVA and HERV-K elements, are still actively duplicating. Mobile element insertions (MEIs) have been associated with human genetic disorders, including Crohn\u27s disease, hemophilia, and various types of cancer, motivating the need for accurate MEI detection methods. To comprehensively identify and accurately characterize these variants in whole genome next-generation sequencing (NGS) data, a computationally efficient detection and genotyping method is required. Current computational tools are unable to call MEI polymorphisms with sufficiently high sensitivity and specificity, or call individual genotypes with sufficiently high accuracy.Results: Here we report Tangram, a computationally efficient MEI detection program that integrates read-pair (RP) and split-read (SR) mapping signals to detect MEI events. By utilizing SR mapping in its primary detection module, a feature unique to this software, Tangram is able to pinpoint MEI breakpoints with single-nucleotide precision. To understand the role of MEI events in disease, it is essential to produce accurate individual genotypes in clinical samples. Tangram is able to determine sample genotypes with very high accuracy. Using simulations and experimental datasets, we demonstrate that Tangram has superior sensitivity, specificity, breakpoint resolution and genotyping accuracy, when compared to other, recently developed MEI detection methods.Conclusions: Tangram serves as the primary MEI detection tool in the 1000 Genomes Project, and is implemented as a highly portable, memory-efficient, easy-to-use C++ computer program, built under an open-source development model

Design of Vacuum Post‐Drying Procedures for Electrodes of Lithium‐Ion Batteries

In order to reduce the residual moisture in lithium-ion batteries, electrodes and separators need to be post-dried prior to cell assembly. On an industrial scale, this is often conducted batch-wise in vacuum ovens for larger electrode and separator coils. Especially for electrodes, the corresponding post-drying parameters have to be carefully chosen to sufficiently reduce the moisture without damaging the sensitive microstructure. This requires a fundamental understanding of structural limitations as well as heat transfer and water mass transport in coils. The aim of this study is to establish a general understanding of the vacuum post-drying process of coils. Moreover, the targeted design of efficient, well-adjusted and application-oriented vacuum post-drying procedures for electrode coils on the basis of modelling is employed, while keeping the post-drying intensity as low as possible, in order to maintain the sensitive microstructure and to save time and costs. In this way, a comparatively short and moderate 2-phase vacuum post-drying procedure is successfully designed and practically applied. The results show that the designed procedure is able to significantly reduce the residual moisture of anode and cathode coils, even with greater electrode lengths and coating widths, without deteriorating the sensitive microstructure of the electrodes

Theatre strategies to develop emotional intelligence skills in business communication : an exploratory study

Management in a client-centred industry faces complex interaction within the company structures as well as with several client-related communications. Such interactions span a broad range of skills that extend beyond industry knowledge and require communication abilities such as persuasion, negotiation and presentation, among others. It is argued that one of the core competencies for effective communication is to be found in emotional intelligence (EQ). Enhanced EQ, therefore, evidences enhanced communication skills. This article reports on an exploratory study regarding the development of EQ (leading to enhanced communication skills) within the hospitality industry. As theatre is a form of heightened communication, theatre strategies and transactional analysis (as embedded in the theatre strategies) were used as a means to develop communication skills among managers. Emotional intelligence was used as the basis for measuring the potential efficacy of the skills. Based on the comparison of pre- and post-intervention EQ assessments (as an indirect measure of enhanced communication skills), the study concluded that it is highly possible that the use of theatre strategies in training to develop business communication among managers has the potential to contribute significantly to better EQ.National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa: N00421 (UID) 85837http://www.unisa.ac.za/default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=22335hb201

Longitudinal Assessment of Older Drivers in a DMV Setting

A brief battery of functional assessments designed to detect crash riskamong older drivers was developed and evaluated initially in 1999 in Marylandmotor vehicle licensing sites following the routine vision screening exam. Thisbattery contained a number of cognitive tests (e.g., UFOV® subtest 2, the closuresubtest of the Motor Free Visual Perception Test (MVPT), Trails A and B, cuedrecall, delayed recall), and several physical measures (e.g., Rapid Pace Walk,Head and Neck Rotation, Foot Tap, Arm Reach). Older adults (N=4,173; meanage = 69 years) were approached by the staff after license renewal and asked tohelp evaluate the brief battery. Of the 4,173 older adults approached at the fieldsites, 2,114 individuals 55-96 years of age participated. Subsequently, the originalsample of 2,114 participants was invited to come in once again, during their fiveyearlicense renewal cycle, and the functional tests were administered once again.To date, 939 individuals have completed the second screening evaluation. Anexamination of the crash data from the interval between assessments for theseindividuals indicates that the same cognitive measures are predictive of at-faultcrashes. Furthermore, approximately 10% of those passing the assessment in 1999are now failing the assessment in 2004. Performance-based cognitive measuresare predictive of future at-fault motor vehicle collisions among older adults.Cognitive performance, in particular, is a salient predictor of subsequent crashinvolvement among older adults. High-risk older drivers can be identified throughbrief, performance-based measures administered in a DMV setting

Inducing host protection in pneumococcal sepsis by preactivation of the Ashwell-Morell receptor

The endocytic Ashwell-Morell receptor (AMR) of hepatocytes detects pathogen remodeling of host glycoproteins by neuraminidase in the bloodstream and mitigates the lethal coagulopathy of sepsis. We have investigated the mechanism of host protection by the AMR during the onset of sepsis and in response to the desialylation of blood glycoproteins by the NanA neuraminidase of Streptococcus pneumoniae. We find that the AMR selects among potential glycoprotein ligands unmasked by microbial neuraminidase activity in pneumococcal sepsis to eliminate from blood circulation host factors that contribute to coagulation and thrombosis. This protection is attributable in large part to the rapid induction of a moderate thrombocytopenia by the AMR. We further show that neuraminidase activity in the blood can be manipulated to induce the clearance of AMR ligands including platelets, thereby preactivating a protective response in pneumococcal sepsis that moderates the severity of disseminated intravascular coagulation and enables host survival.Fil: Grewal, Prabhjit K.. University of California; Estados Unidos. Sanford-burnham Medical Research Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Aziz, Peter V.. University of California; Estados Unidos. Sanford-burnham Medical Research Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Uchiyama, Satoshi. University of California at San Diego; Estados UnidosFil: Rubio, Gabriel R.. University of California; Estados Unidos. Sanford-burnham Medical Research Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Lardone, Ricardo Dante. University of California; Estados Unidos. Sanford-burnham Medical Research Institute; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Le, Dzung. University of California at San Diego; Estados UnidosFil: Varki, Nissi M.. University of California at San Diego; Estados UnidosFil: Nizet, Victor. University of California at San Diego; Estados UnidosFil: Marth, Jamey D.. University of California; Estados Unidos. Sanford-burnham Medical Research Institute; Estados Unido

Sequence analysis and characterization of active human alu subfamilies based on the 1000 genomes pilot project

© The Author(s) 2015. The goal of the 1000 Genomes Consortium is to characterize human genome structural variation (SV), including forms of copy number variations such as deletions, duplications, and insertions. Mobile element insertions, particularly Alu elements, are major contributors to genomic SV among humans. During the pilot phase of the project we experimentally validated 645 (611 intergenic and 34 exon targeted) polymorphic young Alu insertion events, absent fromthe human reference genome. Here, we report high resolution sequencing of 343 (322 unique) recent Alu insertion events, along with their respective target site duplications, precise genomic breakpoint coordinates, subfamily assignment, percent divergence, and estimated A-rich tail lengths.All the sequenced Alu lociwerederived from the Alu Y lineagewith no evidence of retrotransposition activity involving older Alu families (e.g., AluJandAluS). AluYa5 is currently themost active Alu subfamily in the human lineage, followed by AluYb8, andmany others including three newly identified subfamilieswe have termed AluYb7a3, AluYb8b1, and AluYa4a1. This report provides the structural details of 322 unique Alu variants from individual human genomes collectively adding about 100 kb of genomic variation. Many Alu subfamilies are currently active in human populations, including a surprising level of AluY retrotransposition. Human Alu subfamilies exhibit continuous evolution with potential drivers sprouting new Alu lineages