Beyond Carpenter v U.S.: Broadening Pathways for protection of the Right to Privacy

The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided the case of Carpenter v United States? In short, the Court found that the government's acquisition of historical cell phone location records violated the right to privacy. This decision is significant as (a) the Court recognised the intrusiveness of accessing historical location data held by cell phone companies and (b) established an important precedent that a search warrant is required to access such records. Although the scope of the Carpenter decision was narrow, the case has been celebrated as a ground-breaking victory for the digital age, and other commentators have analysed how the reasoning of the Court has potentially broader implications for privacy in the U.S? In the context of protection of the right to privacy in the digital age, it will be worth watching closely the cases building on Carpenter. This paper examines how the Carpenter case reveals a fundamental difficulty in how the Court and other judicial bodies confront right to privacy cases in the digital age. The digital landscape involves complex connections between data, devices and other infrastructure, that are not necessarily bounded by borders. This big picture view is necessary for appreciation of the full implications on the right to privacy, which extend beyond this case and the U.S. context. Commentary on the case can enrich the value of the decision by contextualising it in the wider digital context, and locating some underlying issues that might present challenges for protection of the right to privacy more broadly

Relationship between HER2 expression and efficacy with first-line trastuzumab emtansine compared with trastuzumab plus docetaxel in TDM4450g: a randomized phase II study of patients with previously untreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

IntroductionThe purpose of this study was to retrospectively explore the relationship between human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) messenger RNA (mRNA) expression and efficacy in patients receiving trastuzumab plus docetaxel (HT) or trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1).MethodsPatients with HER2-positive, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer (MBC) were randomly assigned to HT (n=70) or T-DM1 (n=67). HER2 status was assessed locally using immunohistochemistry or fluorescence in situ hybridization and confirmed retrospectively by central testing. HER2 mRNA expression was assessed using quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.ResultsHER2 mRNA levels were obtained for 116/137 patients (HT=61; T-DM1=55). Median pretreatment HER2 mRNA was 8.9. The risk of disease progression in the overall population was lower with T-DM1 than with HT (hazard ratio (HR)=0.59; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.36 to 0.97). This effect was more pronounced in patients with HER2 mRNA≥median (HR=0.39; 95% CI 0.18 to 0.85) versus ConclusionsThis exploratory analysis suggests that while overall, patients with HER2-positive MBC show improved PFS with T-DM1 relative to HT, the effect is enhanced in patients with tumor HER2 mRNA ≥ median.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT00679341

Inorganic nitrogen availability alters Eucalyptus grandis receptivity to the ectomycorrhizal fungus Pisolithus albus but not symbiotic nitrogen transfer.

Forest trees are able to thrive in nutrient-poor soils in part because they obtain growth-limiting nutrients, especially nitrogen (N), through mutualistic symbiosis with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi. Addition of inorganic N into these soils is known to disrupt this mutualism and reduce the diversity of ECM fungi. Despite its ecological impact, the mechanisms governing the observed effects of elevated inorganic N on mycorrhizal communities remain unknown. We address this by using a compartmentalized in vitro system to independently alter nutrients to each symbiont. Using stable isotopes, we traced the nutrient flux under different nutrient regimes between Eucalyptus grandis and its ectomycorrhizal symbiont, Pisolithus albus. We demonstrate that giving E. grandis independent access to N causes a significant reduction in root colonization by P. albus. Transcriptional analysis suggests that the observed reduction in colonization may be caused, in part, by altered transcription of microbe perception genes and defence genes. We show that delivery of N to host leaves is not increased by host nutrient deficiency but by fungal nutrient availability instead. Overall, this advances our understanding of the effects of N fertilization on ECM fungi and the factors governing nutrient transfer in the E. grandis-P. microcarpus interaction

Stress and salivary biomarkers among dental undergraduates - a longitudinal study

Master'sMASTER OF SCIENC

Evaluating the ESL Reading Texts for Intermediate Learners of English from the Perspective of Students

In order to provide an evaluation of the suitability of reading texts from the perspective of students in university-based intensive English programme this study examined 53 international ESL intermediate learners perceptions of reading texts for a period of 14 weeks reading proficiency lessons Features evaluated include content readability exploitability and authenticity of the reading texts The participants responded to a textbook evaluation questionnaire to express their perceptions with reference to the features of the reading texts Results indicated the extent of appropriateness of the reading texts incorporated in the programme s reading textbook used by intermediate learners of English Further consideration must be given to text selection by including the aspect of authentic text presentatio

New found hope for antibiotic discovery: lipid II inhibitors

Research into antibacterial agents has recently gathered pace in light of the disturbing crisis of antimicrobial resistance. The development of modern tools offers the opportunity of reviving the fallen era of antibacterial discovery through uncovering novel lead compounds that target vital bacterial cell components, such as lipid II. This paper provides a summary of the role of lipid II as well as an overview and insight into the structural features of macrocyclic peptides that inhibit this bacterial cell wall component. The recent discovery of teixobactin, a new class of lipid II inhibitor has generated substantial research interests. As such, the significant progress that has been achieved towards its development as a promising antibacterial agent is discussed

The Impact of PowerPoint on Undergraduates’ Technical Communication Achievement

AbstractPowerPoint, one of the most well known ICT tools, plays a vital role in our society nowadays as it has been utilized widely and actively in facilitating the process of teaching and learning, especially in the educational domain. The study examined the effect of PowerPoint lecturing on undergraduates’ Technical Communication final examination grade. The experimental group was taught in a PowerPoint lecture format while the control group in a traditional whiteboard lecture format. The results revealed that the experimental group grades were significantly higher than the control group at p = 0.00