A New Method For Regulatory Antitrust Analysis? Verizon Communications Inc. v. Trinko

It is a commonplace to speak of the application of law to facts. Application is a practical art, and thus involves method. Curiously, there is a paucity of discussion of the various methods by which substantive legal standards are applied to facts. This omission is significant. Method is not outcome-determinative in all cases, but, at a minimum, it guides analysis, opening certain possibilities and foreclosing others

Development and Changes with Age of Detrusor Overactivity in Spontaneous Hypertensive Rats as Observed by Simultaneous Registrations of Intravesical and Intraabdominal Pressures

PurposeOveractive bladder is especially common in the elderly, although it is not regarded as a normal part of aging. Thus, we investigated how aging alters the cystometric and detrusor overactivity (DO) parameters and the density of nerve growth factor (NGF) in awake spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHRs) of different ages.MethodsThree age groups of 12- (n=5), 17- (n=6), and 21- (n=6) week-old SHRs (Oriental Bio Inc.) were used. A catheter was implanted into the bladder to record the intravesical pressure (IVP), and a balloon-fitted catheter was positioned in the abdominal cavity to record the intraabdominal pressure (IAP). Of the IVP elevations above 2 cm H2O, DO was defined as a rise in IVP without a simultaneous change in IAP and was counted during the filling phase. We measured the expression of NGF in the bladders by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.ResultsBoth the body and bladder weights significantly increased with age, but the normalized ratio between those was not changed. As for DO, none of the12-week-old rats showed DO, whereas the other groups did. DO increased significantly with age (P=0.0045 by Mantel-Haenszel trend test), although no significant differences were found in DO frequency or pressure between the 17- and 21-week-old age groups. NGF did not show any significant differences among the three groups.ConclusionsOur results showed that SHRs begin to shows DO after a certain age, such as 12 weeks of age, and that the occurrence of DO has a close relationship with aging. However, NGF, which is known to be increased in the bladder wall of patients with overactive bladder, did not show any relationship with aging in this study

Correlations between Income inequality and antimicrobial resistance.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate if correlations exist between income inequality and antimicrobial resistance. This study's hypothesis is that income inequality at the national level is positively correlated with antimicrobial resistance within developed countries. Data collection and analysis: income inequality data were obtained from the Standardized World Income Inequality Database. Antimicrobial resistance data were obtained from the European antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network and outpatient antimicrobial consumption data, measured by Defined daily Doses per 1000 inhabitants per day, from the European Surveillance of antimicrobial Consumption group. Spearman's correlation coefficient (r) defined strengths of correlations of: > 0.8 as strong, > 0.5 as moderate and > 0.2 as weak. Confidence intervals and p values were defined for all r values. Correlations were calculated for the time period 2003-10, for 15 European countries. Results: income inequality and antimicrobial resistance correlations which were moderate or strong, with 95% confidence intervals > 0, included the following. Enterococcus faecalis resistance to aminopenicillins, vancomycin and high level gentamicin was moderately associated with income inequality (r= ≥0.54 for all three antimicrobials). Escherichia coli resistance to aminoglycosides, aminopenicillins, third generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones was moderately-strongly associated with income inequality (r= ≥0.7 for all four antimicrobials). Klebsiella pneumoniae resistance to third generation cephalosporins, aminoglycosides and fluoroquinolones was moderately associated with income inequality (r= ≥0.5 for all three antimicrobials). Staphylococcus aureus methicillin resistance and income inequality were strongly associated (r=0.87). Conclusion: as income inequality increases in European countries so do the rates of antimicrobial resistance for bacteria including E. faecalis, E. coli, K. pneumoniae and S. aureus. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings outside Europe and investigate the processes that could causally link income inequality and antimicrobial resistance