259 research outputs found
The Revival of Interest in Justice Harlan\u27s Flexible Due Process Balancing Approach
No full textThis Article discusses how, over the years, the Supreme Court has ignored important distinctions between the concepts of due process and equal protection. The author argues that the new equal protection approach, developed during the Warren era, places too heavy a burden on the government to justify classifications. The author suggests that a flexible balancing approach is appropriate for resolution of the due process clause issue, and a less intrusive, means-focused equal protection methodology is appropriate for resolution of the equality issue. The author supports Justice Harlan\u27s belief that that the ends-oriented equal protection doctrine shifted the Court\u27s focus of inquiry away from its proper concern, which was to inquire whether classifications were clearly and unjustifiably unrelated to legitimate governmental objectives, and suggests that a revival of interest in Justice Harlan\u27s approach is indicated by several recent United States Supreme Court decisions
Creating the park cool island in an inner-city neighborhood: heat mitigation strategy for Phoenix, AZ
No full textabstract: We conducted microclimate simulations in ENVI-Met 3.1 to evaluate the impact of vegetation in lowering temperatures during an extreme heat event in an urban core neighborhood park in Phoenix, Arizona. We predicted air and surface temperatures under two different vegetation regimes: existing conditions representative of Phoenix urban core neighborhoods, and a proposed scenario informed by principles of landscape design and architecture and Urban Heat Island mitigation strategies. We found significant potential air and surface temperature reductions between representative and proposed vegetation scenarios: 1) a Park Cool Island effect that extended to non-vegetated surfaces; 2) a net cooling of air underneath or around canopied vegetation ranging from 0.9 °C to 1.9 °C during the warmest time of the day; and 3) potential reductions in surface temperatures from 0.8 °C to 8.4 °C in areas underneath or around vegetation.Corresponding Author:
Juan Declet-Barreto
Arizona State Univeristy
[email protected]
Heat-Related Deaths in Hot Cities: Estimates of Human Tolerance to High Temperature Thresholds
No full textabstract: In this study we characterized the relationship between temperature and mortality in central Arizona desert cities that have an extremely hot climate. Relationships between daily maximum apparent temperature (ATmax) and mortality for eight condition-specific causes and all-cause deaths were modeled for all residents and separately for males and females ages <65 and ≥65 during the months May–October for years 2000–2008. The most robust relationship was between ATmax on day of death and mortality from direct exposure to high environmental heat. For this condition-specific cause of death, the heat thresholds in all gender and age groups (ATmax = 90–97 °F; 32.2‒36.1 °C) were below local median seasonal temperatures in the study period (ATmax = 99.5 °F; 37.5 °C). Heat threshold was defined as ATmax at which the mortality ratio begins an exponential upward trend. Thresholds were identified in younger and older females for cardiac disease/stroke mortality (ATmax = 106 and 108 °F; 41.1 and 42.2 °C) with a one-day lag. Thresholds were also identified for mortality from respiratory diseases in older people (ATmax = 109 °F; 42.8 °C) and for all-cause mortality in females (ATmax = 107 °F; 41.7 °C) and males <65 years (ATmax = 102 °F; 38.9 °C). Heat-related mortality in a region that has already made some adaptations to predictable periods of extremely high temperatures suggests that more extensive and targeted heat-adaptation plans for climate change are needed in cities worldwide.Corresponding Author:
Sharon L. Harlan
Arizona State University
[email protected]
Charles M. Andrews son of Elder J.N. Andrews with his wife Marie and family
No full textPhoto of Charles M. Andrews with his wife Marie Andrews taken in 1924 in Takoma Park. Also children of Dr. and Mrs. J.N. Andrews and children of Mrs. Harlan. C.2113.089 K
Multiple Trigger Points for Quantifying Heat-Health Impacts: New Evidence from a Hot Climate
No full textabstract: Background: Extreme heat is a public health challenge. The scarcity of directly comparable studies on the association of heat with morbidity and mortality and the inconsistent identification of threshold temperatures for severe impacts hampers the development of comprehensive strategies aimed at reducing adverse heat-health events.
Objectives: This quantitative study was designed to link temperature with mortality and morbidity events in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with a focus on the summer season.
Methods: Using Poisson regression models that controlled for temporal confounders, we assessed daily temperature–health associations for a suite of mortality and morbidity events, diagnoses, and temperature metrics. Minimum risk temperatures, increasing risk temperatures, and excess risk temperatures were statistically identified to represent different “trigger points” at which heat-health intervention measures might be activated.
Results: We found significant and consistent associations of high environmental temperature with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, heat-related mortality, and mortality resulting from conditions that are consequences of heat and dehydration. Hospitalizations and emergency department visits due to heat-related conditions and conditions associated with consequences of heat and dehydration were also strongly associated with high temperatures, and there were several times more of those events than there were deaths. For each temperature metric, we observed large contrasts in trigger points (up to 22°C) across multiple health events and diagnoses.
Conclusion: Consideration of multiple health events and diagnoses together with a comprehensive approach to identifying threshold temperatures revealed large differences in trigger points for possible interventions related to heat. Providing an array of heat trigger points applicable for different end-users may improve the public health response to a problem that is projected to worsen in the coming decades.Corresponding Author:
Diana B. Petitti
University of Arizona
[email protected]
Contributions To The Bryology Of Nebraska
No full textThis paper lists bryophytes collected in the following Nebraska counties: Adams, Buffalo, Custer, Dawson, Hall, Harlan, Howard, Keamey, Phelps, Platte, Saline, Sioux, Valley, and Webster. The collections have been identified, catalogued, and placed in the Keamey State Herbarium
Bryophyte reports have been made for the studied counties by: Webber (1889 and 1892), Evans (1924), Wolfe (1924), Koch (1971), Churchill (1977 and 1979), Churchill and Redfeam (1977), Jacobson and Prior (1979), and Williams and Spessard (1979), but none included the bryophytes listed here
Management Production Systems and Timing Strategies for Cull Cows
No full textReplaced with revised version of paper 06/04/09.Cattle, cull cows, management, marketing, production systems, timing, Farm Management, Marketing,
Improved function and proliferation of adult human beta cells engrafted in diabetic immunodeficient NOD-scid IL2rγnull mice treated with alogliptin
No full textAgata Jurczyk,1 Philip diIorio,1 Dean Brostowin,1 Linda Leehy,1 Chaoxing Yang,1 Fumihiko Urano,2 David M Harlan,3 Leonard D Shultz,4 Dale L Greiner,1 Rita Bortell1 1Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, 2Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, 3Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, 4The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA Purpose: Dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors are known to increase insulin secretion and beta cell proliferation in rodents. To investigate the effects on human beta cells in vivo, we utilize immunodeficient mice transplanted with human islets. The study goal was to determine the efficacy of alogliptin, a DPP-4 inhibitor, to enhance human beta cell function and proliferation in an in vivo context using diabetic immunodeficient mice engrafted with human pancreatic islets. Methods: Streptozotocin-induced diabetic NOD-scid IL2rγnull (NSG) mice were transplanted with adult human islets in three separate trials. Transplanted mice were treated daily by gavage with alogliptin (30 mg/kg/day) or vehicle control. Islet graft function was compared using glucose tolerance tests and non-fasting plasma levels of human insulin and C-peptide; beta cell proliferation was determined by bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation. Results: Glucose tolerance tests were significantly improved by alogliptin treatment for mice transplanted with islets from two of the three human islet donors. Islet-engrafted mice treated with alogliptin also had significantly higher plasma levels of human insulin and C-peptide compared to vehicle controls. The percentage of insulin+BrdU+ cells in human islet grafts from alogliptin-treated mice was approximately 10-fold more than from vehicle control mice, consistent with a significant increase in human beta cell proliferation. Conclusion: Human islet-engrafted immunodeficient mice treated with alogliptin show improved human insulin secretion and beta cell proliferation compared to control mice engrafted with the same donor islets. Immunodeficient mice transplanted with human islets provide a useful model to interrogate potential therapies to improve human islet function and survival in vivo. Keywords: human islet transplant, DPP-4 inhibitor, glucose tolerance, plasma insuli
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