“Experimental Populations” Outside Historical Range Proposal: Will It Get the Frog Out of Hot Water?

72 pagesTo address the impact of climate change on habitats of endangered and threatened species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a 2022 rule change to allow “experimental populations” to be introduced into habitat outside the species’ historical range. For essential experimental populations, habitat could be designated beyond current or historical range where “little to no habitat remains within the historical range of a species or where formerly suitable habitat . . . is undergoing, irreversible decline or change, rendering it unable to support one or more life history stages for the species.” A statutory prerequisite (under Endangered Species Act (ESA) section 10(j)) to designation of critical habitat for an experimental population is that “such population is essential to the continued existence of an endangered species or a threatened species.” The ESA defines “critical habitat” but does not separately define “habitat.” Designation of “critical habitat” has been complicated by the Weyerhaeuser v. FWS decision, in which the Supreme Court concluded that “critical habitat” must first be “habitat.

Suicide-related behaviors in older patients with new anti-epileptic drug use: data from the VA hospital system

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently linked antiepileptic drug (AED) exposure to suicide-related behaviors based on meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. We examined the relationship between suicide-related behaviors and different AEDs in older veterans receiving new AED monotherapy from the Veterans Health Administration (VA), controlling for potential confounders.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>VA and Medicare databases were used to identify veterans 66 years and older, who received a) care from the VA between 1999 and 2004, and b) an incident AED (monotherapy) prescription. Previously validated ICD-9-CM codes were used to identify suicidal ideation or behavior (suicide-related behaviors cases), epilepsy, and other conditions previously associated with suicide-related behaviors. Each case was matched to controls based on prior history of suicide-related behaviors, year of AED prescription, and epilepsy status.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The strongest predictor of suicide-related behaviors (N = 64; Controls N = 768) based on conditional logistic regression analysis was affective disorder (depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); Odds Ratio 4.42, 95% CI 2.30 to 8.49) diagnosed before AED treatment. Increased suicide-related behaviors were not associated with individual AEDs, including the most commonly prescribed AED in the US - phenytoin.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our extensive diagnostic and treatment data demonstrated that the strongest predictor of suicide-related behaviors for older patients newly treated with AED monotherapy was a previous diagnosis of affective disorder. Additional, research using a larger sample is needed to clearly determine the risk of suicide-related behaviors among less commonly used AEDs.</p

Comment letters to the National Commission on Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting, 1987 (Treadway Commission) Vol. 1

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_sop/1661/thumbnail.jp

RNA interference approaches for treatment of HIV-1 infection

HIV/AIDS is a chronic and debilitating disease that cannot be cured with current antiretroviral drugs. While combinatorial antiretroviral therapy (cART) can potently suppress HIV-1 replication and delay the onset of AIDS, viral mutagenesis often leads to viral escape from multiple drugs. In addition to the pharmacological agents that comprise cART drug cocktails, new biological therapeutics are reaching the clinic. These include gene-based therapies that utilize RNA interference (RNAi) to silence the expression of viral or host mRNA targets that are required for HIV-1 infection and/or replication. RNAi allows sequence-specific design to compensate for viral mutants and natural variants, thereby drastically expanding the number of therapeutic targets beyond the capabilities of cART. Recent advances in clinical and preclinical studies have demonstrated the promise of RNAi therapeutics, reinforcing the concept that RNAi-based agents might offer a safe, effective, and more durable approach for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Nevertheless, there are challenges that must be overcome in order for RNAi therapeutics to reach their clinical potential. These include the refinement of strategies for delivery and to reduce the risk of mutational escape. In this review, we provide an overview of RNAi-based therapies for HIV-1, examine a variety of combinatorial RNAi strategies, and discuss approaches for ex vivo delivery and in vivo delivery

Signaling and Takeover Deterrence with Stock Repurchases: Dutch Auctions versus Fixed Price Tender Offers.

This article presents a model of repurchase tender offers in which firms choose between the Dutch auction method and the fixed price method. Dutch auction repurchases are more effective takeover deterrents, while fixed price repurchases are more effective signals of undervaluation. The model yields empirical implications regarding price effects of repurchases, likelihood of takeover, managerial compensation, and cross-sectional differences in the elasticity of the supply curve for shares. Copyright 1994 by American Finance Association.

Fully Revealing Equilibria with Suboptimal Investment

This paper examines investment and financing policy in "fully revealing" equilibria - equilibria in which information asymmetries are resolved. Since all securities are priced correctly in a fully revealing equilibrium, it seems plausible that such equilibria would be free of the well known Myers-Majluf (1984) problem of inefficient investment. I show to the contrary that, for a large class of problems, whenever there is an equilibrium with efficient investment, there are also infinitely many equilibria in which almost all firms invest inefficiently. These inefficient outcomes survive the standard signaling-game equilibrium refinements. There are also examples that have fully revealing equilibria with inefficient investment but none with efficient investment. These findings contradict the claim of Constantinides and Grundy (1989) that firms invest the socially optimal amount in any fully revealing equilibrium.

The31st Infantry (Dixie) Division in World War II, by Lieutenant General John C. Persons, Mobile, Alabama, April 24, 1953

This is an item in the Woodward family papers collection. (Published By Alabama Historical Association