The DC Court of Appeals resurrects Redskins dispute

Seven American Indians petitioned to cancel trade mark registrationsfor various REDSKINS trade marks; the district court's grantof summary judgment against them for laches (unreasonable delay)was remanded by the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit fora rehearing in respect of one of the petitioners on the basisthat the district court ‘started the laches clock’in 1967, when he was only 1 year old, thus contravening theequitable principle that laches runs only from the time a partyhas reached the age of majority.     

Measuring the Economic Impact of University-Based Research

University research has propelled the United States into world-class leadership, but continuing that momentum in the 21st century requires major funding. Both the public and private sector have risen to meet that financial challenge through increased support of university-based research. Since 1995, New York Governor George E. Pataki and the New York Legislature have fostered the growth of high technology and biotechnology industries by investing more than $1 billion in superlative research laboratories and academic centers. However, with this increased outlay comes the demand for greater accountability. Both public and private stakeholders expect applied research to have economic impact through a unique combination of good science plus good business producing wealth and opportunity for all citizens. However, measuring the economic impact of university research proves difficult. This paper suggests a possible method for a public funding agency to quantify and tabulate research outputs such that economic impacts are reported as a percent return on investment or ROI. With this model, multiple stakeholders can evaluate divergent research technologies using a measurement that is familiar to scientists, business leaders, elected officials, and the public.     

The Effect of Previous Traumatic Injury on Homicide Risk

Research has reported that a strong risk factor for traumatic injury is having a previous injury (i.e., recidivism). To date, the only study examining the relationship between recidivism and homicide reported strong associations, but was limited by possible selection bias. The current matched case–control study utilized coroner's data from 2004 to 2008. Subjects were linked to trauma registry data to determine whether the person had a previous traumatic injury. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for the association between homicide and recidivism. Homicide risk was increased for those having a previous traumatic injury (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.09–2.99) or a previous intentional injury (OR 2.53, 95% CI 1.24–5.17). These results suggest an association between homicide and injury recidivism, and that trauma centers may be an effective setting for screening individuals for secondary prevention efforts of homicide through violence prevention programs.