Recent Cases

Antitrust Law--Clayton Act--Statistics of Market Concentration and Increased Market Share are Insufficient to Show Violation of Section 7 When Other Factors Mandate a Conclusion that Competition will not be Substantially Lessened by the Contested Acquisition -- Preservation of a large number of marginal competitors does not necessarily result in the optimum level of competition, and size per se is not illegal\u27 and should not be equated with anticompetitive effect. Seemingly, the competitive objectives of antimerger law have been infused with a theory characterized by socio-political feelings of hostility towards large, integrated corporations contrasted with friendliness toward small, independent business units . The Court has in the recent past attempted to preserve these social and political values by applying the simplest available criteria in antimerger cases-statistics demonstrating a decreasing number of competitors and an increasing market share in the hands of a few. In the instant opinion, however, the Court has returned its emphasis to a method of analysis characterized by an examination of the relevant economic factors and a consideration of statistical data of market structure, a seemingly desirable result since it represents a realization that only through a wide-ranging economic inquiry can the Court realistically assess and regulate economic and market behavior for the benefit of the public. ========================= Criminal Procedure--Federal Habeas Corpus -- A Writ of Habeas Corpus May Be Issued in Advance of Trial to Prevent Double Jeopardy When a Juvenile Has Been Previously Adjudicated a Delinquent Petitioner was adjudicated a delinquent and committed to a juvenile institution by a state juvenile court after his arrest on a charge of rape and subsequently was indicted by a grand jury for the same offense. The state criminal court dismissed the indictment on the ground that it subjected petitioner to double jeopardy, but the appellate level reversed, holding that the juvenile court judge should have waived jurisdiction and certified the case to criminal court pursuant to state statutes. The State Supreme Court affirmed the appellate decision and ordered the indictment reinstated. Alleging that his prosecution under the indictment would violate the double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment and transgress fundamental fairness concepts of the fourteenth amendment, petitioner sought a writ of habeas corpus to terminate his physical custody, which had been prolonged because of the indictment. Rejecting the State\u27s arguments that petitioner had not exhausted state remedies and that jeopardy did not attach in juvenile adjudications, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida declared further prosecution unconstitutional and granted a writ of habeas corpus compelling petitioner\u27s release., On appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, held, affirmed

Genome-wide associations for birth weight and correlations with adult disease

Birth weight (BW) has been shown to be influenced by both fetal and maternal factors and in observational studies is reproducibly associated with future risk of adult metabolic diseases including type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease. These life-course associations have often been attributed to the impact of an adverse early life environment. Here, we performed a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis of BW in 153,781 individuals, identifying 60 loci where fetal genotype was associated with BW ($\textit{P}$  < 5 × 10$^{-8}$). Overall, approximately 15% of variance in BW was captured by assays of fetal genetic variation. Using genetic association alone, we found strong inverse genetic correlations between BW and systolic blood pressure ($\textit{R}$ $_{g}$ = -0.22, $\textit{P}$  = 5.5 × 10$^{-13}$), T2D ($\textit{R}$ $_{g}$ = -0.27, $\textit{P}$  = 1.1 × 10$^{-6}$) and coronary artery disease ($\textit{R}$ $_{g}$ = -0.30, $\textit{P}$  = 6.5 × 10$^{-9}$). In addition, using large -cohort datasets, we demonstrated that genetic factors were the major contributor to the negative covariance between BW and future cardiometabolic risk. Pathway analyses indicated that the protein products of genes within BW-associated regions were enriched for diverse processes including insulin signalling, glucose homeostasis, glycogen biosynthesis and chromatin remodelling. There was also enrichment of associations with BW in known imprinted regions ($\textit{P}$ = 1.9 × 10$^{-4}$). We demonstrate that life-course associations between early growth phenotypes and adult cardiometabolic disease are in part the result of shared genetic effects and identify some of the pathways through which these causal genetic effects are mediated.For a full list of the funders pelase visit the publisher's website and look at the supplemetary material provided. Some of the funders are: British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Medical Research Council, National Institutes of Health, Royal Society and Wellcome Trust

Genome-wide associations for birth weight and correlations with adult disease

Birth weight (BW) is influenced by both foetal and maternal factors and in observational studies is reproducibly associated with future risk of adult metabolic diseases including type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease1. These lifecourse associations have often been attributed to the impact of an adverse early life environment. We performed a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis of BW in 153,781 individuals, identifying 60 loci where foetal genotype was associated with BW (P <5x10-8). Overall, ˜15% of variance in BW could be captured by assays of foetal genetic variation. Using genetic association alone, we found strong inverse genetic correlations between BW and systolic blood pressure (rg-0.22, P =5.5x10-13), T2D (rg-0.27, P =1.1x10-6) and coronary artery disease (rg-0.30, P =6.5x10-9) and, in large cohort data sets, demonstrated that genetic factors were the major contributor to the negative covariance between BW and future cardiometabolic risk. Pathway analyses indicated that the protein products of genes within BW-associated regions were enriched for diverse processes including insulin signalling, glucose homeostasis, glycogen biosynthesis and chromatin remodelling. There was also enrichment of associations with BW in known imprinted regions (P =1.9x10-4). We have demonstrated that lifecourse associations between early growth phenotypes and adult cardiometabolic disease are in part the result of shared genetic effects and have highlighted some of the pathways through which these causal genetic effects are mediated

Maternal and fetal genetic effects on birth weight and their relevance to cardio-metabolic risk factors.

Birth weight variation is influenced by fetal and maternal genetic and non-genetic factors, and has been reproducibly associated with future cardio-metabolic health outcomes. In expanded genome-wide association analyses of own birth weight (n = 321,223) and offspring birth weight (n = 230,069 mothers), we identified 190 independent association signals (129 of which are novel). We used structural equation modeling to decompose the contributions of direct fetal and indirect maternal genetic effects, then applied Mendelian randomization to illuminate causal pathways. For example, both indirect maternal and direct fetal genetic effects drive the observational relationship between lower birth weight and higher later blood pressure: maternal blood pressure-raising alleles reduce offspring birth weight, but only direct fetal effects of these alleles, once inherited, increase later offspring blood pressure. Using maternal birth weight-lowering genotypes to proxy for an adverse intrauterine environment provided no evidence that it causally raises offspring blood pressure, indicating that the inverse birth weight-blood pressure association is attributable to genetic effects, and not to intrauterine programming.The Fenland Study is funded by the Medical Research Council (MC_U106179471) and Wellcome Trust

Disclosure by Issuers of Municipal Securities: An Analysis of Recent Proposals and a Suggested Approach

The following considerations impacting on the disclosure issue have been developed in this Note: the uniqueness of the municipal securities industry, owing to the diverse natures of the securities, the wide variety of issuers, and the particular means of marketing the securities; the special circumstances created for underwriters by the competitive bidding process; the varied roles of other participants in the distribution process--fiscal agents, bond counsel, governmental accountants; the existing state machinery for regulation and control; the practical limitations on the SEC--both in staff capacity and expertise; the need for uniformity in disclosure to prevent weakened marketability of municipal securities and restrictive bidding by underwriters; and the constraints of sovereign immunity on issuer amenability to suit for violations of disclosure duties. Each of the above affects what course should be taken on the question of disclosure by issuers of municipal securities. The salient considerations are uniqueness, the need for uniformity, notions of federalism,and sovereign immunity

From mania and melancholia to the bipolar disorders spectrum: A brief history of controversy

Robert D. Goldne

Special Project

The One Hundred and First Justice: An Analysis of the Opinions of Justice John Paul Stevens, Sitting as Judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals This article will examine the opinions written by Mr. Justice Stevens while he served on the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The areas examined are constitutional, antitrust, labor, securities, federal tax, administrative, and federal jurisdictional law. This article also will seek to reach some conclusions on Stevens\u27 position in the several areas while he served on the Seventh Circuit and to suggest the factors he may consider important in deciding cases in the future. We hope the article will give its readers an opportunity to analyze and evaluate the existing opinions of the new associate justice and to gain some insight into the way he approaches cases. An appendix is provided that describes briefly those opinions we consider of interest.\u2

Mitochondrial genetic variation is enriched in G-quadruplex regions that stall DNA synthesis in vitro

As the powerhouses of the eukaryotic cell, mitochondria must maintain their genomes which encode proteins essential for energy production. Mitochondria are characterized by guanine-rich DNA sequences that spontaneously form unusual three-dimensional structures known as G-quadruplexes (G4). G4 structures can be problematic for the essential processes of DNA replication and transcription because they deter normal progression of the enzymatic-driven processes. In this study, we addressed the hypothesis that mitochondrial G4 is a source of mutagenesis leading to base-pair substitutions. Our computational analysis of 2757 individual genomes from two Italian population cohorts (SardiNIA and InCHIANTI) revealed a statistically significant enrichment of mitochondrial mutations within sequences corresponding to stable G4 DNA structures. Guided by the computational analysis results, we designed biochemical reconstitution experiments and demonstrated that DNA synthesis by two known mitochondrial DNA polymerases (Pol γ, PrimPol) in vitro was strongly blocked by representative stable G4 mitochondrial DNA structures, which could be overcome in a specific manner by the ATP-dependent G4-resolving helicase Pif1. However, error-prone DNA synthesis by PrimPol using the G4 template sequence persisted even in the presence of Pif1. Altogether, our results suggest that genetic variation is enriched in G-quadruplex regions that impede mitochondrial DNA replication