Efficiency of Xist-mediated silencing on autosomes is linked to chromosomal domain organisation

BACKGROUND: X chromosome inactivation, the mechanism used by mammals to equalise dosage of X-linked genes in XX females relative to XY males, is triggered by chromosome-wide localisation of a cis-acting non-coding RNA, Xist. The mechanism of Xist RNA spreading and Xist-dependent silencing is poorly understood. A large body of evidence indicates that silencing is more efficient on the X chromosome than on autosomes, leading to the idea that the X chromosome has acquired sequences that facilitate propagation of silencing. LINE-1 (L1) repeats are relatively enriched on the X chromosome and have been proposed as candidates for these sequences. To determine the requirements for efficient silencing we have analysed the relationship of chromosome features, including L1 repeats, and the extent of silencing in cell lines carrying inducible Xist transgenes located on one of three different autosomes. RESULTS: Our results show that the organisation of the chromosome into large gene-rich and L1-rich domains is a key determinant of silencing efficiency. Specifically genes located in large gene-rich domains with low L1 density are relatively resistant to Xist-mediated silencing whereas genes located in gene-poor domains with high L1 density are silenced more efficiently. These effects are observed shortly after induction of Xist RNA expression, suggesting that chromosomal domain organisation influences establishment rather than long-term maintenance of silencing. The X chromosome and some autosomes have only small gene-rich L1-depleted domains and we suggest that this could confer the capacity for relatively efficient chromosome-wide silencing. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides insight into the requirements for efficient Xist mediated silencing and specifically identifies organisation of the chromosome into gene-rich L1-depleted and gene-poor L1-dense domains as a major influence on the ability of Xist-mediated silencing to be propagated in a continuous manner in cis

A Contemporary Model for Using Teaching Assistants in Legal Writing Programs

As law schools downsize their faculty to offset falling student enrollment, faculty members will likely face greater teaching loads and increased pressure to produce graduates who can not only pass the bar, but are “practice ready.” Frequent assessments, prompt and individualized feedback, mentoring, and one-on-one conferences are all integral to achieving those goals. As a consequence, faculty will need to rethink their approach to teaching so that they can meet these new expectations. This is particularly true in legal writing courses, where students are researching and writing throughout the year, and the demand for practice writing opportunities and feedback is high. Teaching assistants are an underutilized resource available at law schools that could greatly assist legal writing faculty in preparing “practice ready” lawyers. Thus, this Article argues that legal writing programs should integrate teaching assistants into their teaching model. To the extent legal writing faculty already rely on teaching assistants to teach research and citation, or provide general instruction in predictive and persuasive writing, they should assess whether they are maximizing their use to improve first-year students’ performance in these essential skills. Specifically, the Article discusses the best way to use teaching assistants to reinforce what first-year students have learned in their large classes and expand on their knowledge and experience in small group sessions. This requires that teaching assistants do more than mentor students and expand beyond an affective role. The Article also explores how using teaching assistants benefits everyone: first-year students, professors, and the teaching assistants themselves. Peer teaching helps first-year students acquire a firmer grasp on concepts. Professors can use their time more efficiently. And, teaching assistants hone their research and writing skills. In addition to these benefits, using teaching assistants is a very low-cost and reliable alternative to improving first-year students’ legal research and writing skills. Thus, they should be utilized more and more effectively

The Cognitive Power of Analogies in the Legal Writing Classroom

(Excerpt) New law students traditionally learn better when they can connect what they are learning to a familiar non-legal experience. Therefore, the use of an analogy, which can be defined as a comparison showing the similarities of two otherwise unlike things to help explain an idea or concept, is an obvious way to facilitate a student’s connection between the new and what is already known. An analogy is a logical step in introducing the complex processes of legal research and analysis by attempting to simplify the alien structure of summarizing that legal research and analysis into a coherent piece of predictive or persuasive legal writing. Analogies allow students to build on a familiar network of knowledge, making the learning more comfortable and the material more accessible. Analogies also stimulate a genuine interest in the task and promote a culture of supportive learning due to the many connections the students forge to diverse and wide-ranging, non-legal experiences. Integrating the use of analogies into the teaching of legal analysis and writing in a systematic way is a powerful teaching device. It is one that easily can break down the processes of legal research, analysis, and writing into simpler terms, thereby helping new law students understand, develop, and ultimately master these essential lawyering skills. This Article therefore proposes that faculty incorporate analogies into their classroom teaching by experimenting with interesting and engaging ways to connect all parts of the curriculum to the students’ existing knowledge base. This proposal has its roots in cognitive learning theory, which expounds that experts use prior knowledge or contexts, referred to as schemata by cognitive psychologists, to facilitate problem solving. When analogies are applied to student learners, students will assign a new experience meaning according to how the analogy fits into their existing schema. As students refine their understanding of the new information, they begin to identify connections between the concepts. This, in turn, enables them to expand or modify existing schemata or create new ones. Then, as they recognize the relationships among these concepts, they begin to develop domain-specific patterns of thought and eventual mastery over the relevant domain with practice. Thus, the basic principles of cognitive learning theory confirm not only the relevance but the great value of utilizing analogies as a teaching tool

The Power of a Positive Tweet

(Excerpt) I am not naively suggesting that all we need are more positive tweets to solve the inequity problems that still plague many law schools’ treatment and advancement of legal writing faculty. But I do wonder whether more positive tweets from administrators, tenured colleagues, and others can help (and more instantaneously) spread positive feelings, heal past harms, build relationships, forge new connections, and ultimately help create more opportunities for success

Watch or Report? Livestream or Help? Good Samaritan Laws Revisited: The Need To Create a Duty to Report

In July 2017, a group of five Florida teenagers taunted a drowning disabled man while filming his death on a cell phone. In the video, the teenagers laughed and shouted harsh statements like ain’t nobody finna to help you, you dumb bitch. At the moment the man’s head sank under the water for the very last time, one of the teenagers remarked: Oh, he just died before laughter ensued. None of the teenagers helped the man, nor did any of them report the drowning or his death to the authorities. Because the Good Samaritan law in Florida, like in most states, does not require bystanders to assist another person who they know is in danger or is suffering serious physical harm, the teenagers who chose to film, rather than aid, the drowning disabled man are free of any liability. They face no penalties for their inaction and no punishment for their callousness. This Article urges states to revisit traditional Good Samaritan laws. States need to consider penalizing a person’s failure to aid when another person is clearly in danger of physical harm or death. This need is particularly great given the power of social media and its intersection with a bystander’s ability and decision to help. As technology advances, relationships have become increasingly impersonal, thereby diminishing the individual’s connection to and compassion for others. Social media has added a new dimension to the longstanding debate of whether laws should impose on bystanders a duty to help. In cases where a bystander is observing a crime online, the individual can meet the duty quite simply by alerting authorities to the crime or danger. And in cases where the circumstances might tempt a bystander to use social media rather than provide help, the legal duty will compel the more moral choice. Accordingly, states should adopt duty to aid statutes mandating that bystanders give aid or call for help when they can

A Contemporary Model for Using Teaching Assistants in Legal Writing Programs

As law schools downsize their faculty to offset falling student enrollment, faculty members will likely face greater teaching loads and increased pressure to produce graduates who can not only pass the bar, but are “practice ready.” Frequent assessments, prompt and individualized feedback, mentoring, and one-on-one conferences are all integral to achieving those goals. As a consequence, faculty will need to rethink their approach to teaching so that they can meet these new expectations. This is particularly true in legal writing courses, where students are researching and writing throughout the year, and the demand for practice writing opportunities and feedback is high. Teaching assistants are an underutilized resource available at law schools that could greatly assist legal writing faculty in preparing “practice ready” lawyers. Thus, this Article argues that legal writing programs should integrate teaching assistants into their teaching model. To the extent legal writing faculty already rely on teaching assistants to teach research and citation, or provide general instruction in predictive and persuasive writing, they should assess whether they are maximizing their use to improve first-year students’ performance in these essential skills. Specifically, the Article discusses the best way to use teaching assistants to reinforce what first-year students have learned in their large classes and expand on their knowledge and experience in small group sessions. This requires that teaching assistants do more than mentor students and expand beyond an affective role. The Article also explores how using teaching assistants benefits everyone: first-year students, professors, and the teaching assistants themselves. Peer teaching helps first-year students acquire a firmer grasp on concepts. Professors can use their time more efficiently. And, teaching assistants hone their research and writing skills. In addition to these benefits, using teaching assistants is a very low-cost and reliable alternative to improving first-year students’ legal research and writing skills. Thus, they should be utilized more and more effectively

Getting it Right by Writing it Wrong: Embracing Faulty Reasoning as a Teaching Tool

(Excerpt) In the early days of legal writing, we use exercises that have clear right answers. The rules are very simple and their meaning, even without looking at the cases, is usually clear. So, the right answer is often obvious. Indeed, it is intuitive. Though these exercises give students a sense of accomplishment and allow them to track achievement and understand success and failure, in some ways, they reinforce a common problem in first-year law students: their inability to see beyond the surface of a legal rule. To ensure the right answer, students must distill not only a general rule, but derive its meaning from the facts, holdings, and reasoning of precedent cases. They must use what\u27s explicit as well as what\u27s implicit in the cases. They must make reasonable inferences from the facts, and not disregard common sense or ignore practical implications and everyday realities. In other words, they must approach the assignment as a skilled practitioner. Therefore, after the most preliminary assignments, when the meaning of the general rule is not easily discernable and the right answer is counterintuitive, students usually get the answer wrong because they neglect all but the most obvious analysis

The health of the poor: Women living in informal settlements

Objectives: A large share of the urban population in developing countries lives in informal settlements or “slums” today. This study investigates the association between slum residence and health among adult Ghanaian women residing in the Accra Metropolitan Area.Methods: Health data collected as part of the Women’s Health Study of Accra round II (WHSA-II) was combined with data from the Household and Welfare Study of Accra (HAWS) to compare the health of female slum dwellers to the health of female non-slum dwellers living in the Accra Metropolitan Area. Group means were calculated and multivariate linear regression models were estimated to compare eight domains ofhealth as measured by the short-form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire.Results: Women living in informal settlements were found to display consistently better health. Conditional on all observable characteristics, women living in informal settlements scored higher on all self-reportedhealth outcomes than women living in non-slum areas. The differences appear largest for general health as well as for the physical role functioning domains, and appear smallest for the social role functioning and bodily pain domains.Conclusions: The results presented suggest that slum residence does not have a negative effect on self-reported health among women in Accra. Three factors may contribute to the generally positive association betweenslum residence and observed outcomes: i) selfselection of individuals with strong health into informal settlements and an accordingly small impact ofenvironmental factors on health ii) self-selection of more driven and ambitious individuals into slum neighborhoods who may have a generally more positive view of their health and iii) the geographic placement ofslum neighborhoods in central neighborhoods with relatively easy access to health facilities