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The National Security Act of 1947 was neither the first nor the last legislative word on intelligence coordination. Instead, it was the second of three formative, although not formidable, acts of Congress that have provided models for U.S. intelligence coordination: the Contingent Fund for Foreign Intercourse, the National Security Act of 1947, and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. This article reveals how the debate over intelligence coordination in the United States reaches back further than existing accounts that examine the origins of the Central Intelligence Agency. This article also uses the theme of intelligence coordination to introduce a new chronology for U.S intelligence history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After nearly two decades under U.S. rule, the 1917 Jones Act granted American citizenship to Puerto Ricans. I argue that the United States strategically granted collective citizenship in order to strengthen its colonial rule. The convergence of two conditions prompted the grant of citizenship: Congress determined that the islands were strategically valuable to the United States; and Congress registered an independence movement on the island that could threaten colonial control. When Puerto Ricans demanded independence, Congress enveloped them in a bear hug that granted citizenship to weaken their movement. While citizenship was an attractive solution to many of the problems of colonial rule, there were strong objections within the United States to granting citizenship to a population considered to be nonwhite. As a result, Congress created a workaround by disentangling citizenship from statehood and from many of the rights and privileges that typically accompany it. Though citizenship is often associated with democracy and equality, American officials turned citizenship into a mechanism of control for the empire they were building. This work uncovers strategies of American territorial expansion and colonial governance and confronts deeply held notions about American citizenship and political community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last two Republican presidents' hostility to multilateralism has produced striking departures from postwar American foreign policy, but this position is not as new as it sometimes appears. It has deep historical roots in the conservative wing of the Republican Party. Using data on congressional voting and bill sponsorship, we show that Republicans, especially those from the party's conservative wing, have tended to oppose multilateral rules for more than a century. This position fit logically into the broader foreign policy that Republican presidents developed before World War I but posed problems in light of the changing conditions during the mid-twentieth century. The importance of multilateral cooperation for U.S. national security during the Cold War and the growing international competitiveness of American manufacturing split the party on multilateral rules, but it did not reverse the conservative wing's longstanding skepticism of them. Congressional leaders' efforts to keep consequential choices about multilateral rules off the legislative agenda for most of the postwar era contributed to the persistence of this position. This move spared conservative members of Congress from confronting the costs of opposing multilateral institutions, giving them little incentive to challenge ideological orthodoxy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the first attempt to raise congressional pay in 1816, voters have judged members harshly for increasing their own compensation. During debates on the Compensation Act of 1856, members acknowledged that the experience of 1816 still loomed over them, though they disagreed about whether the lesson was not to increase pay or not to replace the per diem with a salary. In the end, they did both. Unlike the "salary grabs" of 1816 and 1873, however, few were punished directly by voters and the law was not repealed. The splintering of the party system allowed representatives to shift responsibility and obscure accountability. The timing of elections and addition of anticorruption provisions further limited backlash. Senators recognized the electoral jeopardy of representatives and so built a broad multiparty coalition for passage. While representatives were sensitive to the judgment of voters, the brief period of a multiparty Congress aided adoption of salary-based compensation in spite of that judgment, making possible later moves toward professionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SPECIALISTS, PROFESSIONS, LABOR market, EMPLOYMENT, INDUSTRIAL relations, DISPLACED workers, OCCUPATIONAL mobility, and REGRESSION discontinuity design

Existing theories offer conflicting perspectives regarding the relationship between career specialization and labor market outcomes. While some scholars argue it is better for workers to specialize and focus on one area, others argue it is advantageous for workers to diversify and compile experience across multiple work domains. We attempt to reconcile these competing perspectives by developing a theory highlighting the voluntary versus involuntary nature of worker–firm separations as a theoretical contingency that alters the relative advantages and disadvantages associated with specialized versus generalized careers. Our theory is rooted in the notion that the characteristics of involuntary worker–firm separations (i.e., job displacement) simultaneously amplify the disadvantages associated with specialized careers and the advantages associated with generalized careers, thereby giving displaced generalists a relative advantage over displaced specialists. We find support for our theory in the context of U.S. congressional staffing, using administrative employment records and a regression discontinuity identification strategy that exploits quasi-random staffer displacement resulting from narrowly decided congressional reelection bids. Our theoretical contingency is further supported in supplemental regressions where correlational evidence suggests that while specialists tend to be relatively penalized in the labor market after involuntary separations, specialists appear to be relatively privileged when separations are plausibly voluntary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BUREAUCRACY, IMMIGRATION enforcement, JUDGES, LEGISLATIVE oversight, JUDICIAL process, and JUDICIAL independence

At the center of contentious debates concerning U.S. asylum policy are immigration judges, bureaucrats who decide life and death cases on a daily basis. Congress, the executive and the courts compete for influence over these key actors — administrative judges distinct from those examined in much of the bureaucratic control literature. They are hired, fired, promoted or demoted by executive officials; face congressional oversight; and must follow circuit law. We argue that, because of the fear of reversal, immigration judges will look most to the courts in the decision-making process. Our results support our theory. Examining over 900,000 immigration judges' decisions, we find that, although IJs are influenced by a fear of pushback from the elected branches, the impact is conditional on circuit preferences. Our findings inform scholarly understanding of judicial behavior and bureaucratic accountability, and support the pursuit of judicial independence and due process in immigration courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay traces the transformation and standardization of the first cohort of Asian physicians trained outside the United States into Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) within the United States through documentary regimes. Congress solicited foreign physicians under the Hart-Celler Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 to address doctor shortages in inner-city and rural communities throughout the country—a trend that continues today. Central to their migratory journey was an archive of expertise, a compilation of documents intended to verify identity, skill, and competence. Through the analysis of a physician's case file, new relations to documentation emerge that reveal how claims of underdocumentation, incorrect documentation, and overdocumentation regulate immigrant possibilities. In adopting this approach, this case study moves away from the unskilled / model minority dichotomy to show how documentary proceduralism operates as a racializing, disciplinary strategy across categories of immigrant labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HATE crimes, HATE crime laws, LAW enforcement agencies, LAW enforcement, VICTIMS of hate crimes, and WESTLAW (Database)

Hate-motivated crime remains problematic in the United States. California passed the first hate crime law in 1978; Congress followed in 1990. States continue to amend their hate crime legislation, producing an amalgam of statutory provisions. This article creates a conceptual framework from which to classify hate crime legislation across the 50 states and Washington, DC. Laws were identified through Westlaw. Analyses compared the types of crimes covered, discrete and insular minorities protected, prosecutorial alternatives, mandates for law enforcement agencies, and additional rights provided to victims among states' legislation. Considerable variation in scope and content of hate crime legislation exists among states, leaving several vulnerable groups unprotected, law enforcement underprepared, and victim rights and resources sparse. Future directions for hate crime policy and legislation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the levels of plastic use in global society have increased, it has become crucial to regulate plastics of all sizes including both microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs). Here, the published literature on the current laws passed by the US Congress and regulations developed by various federal agencies such as the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that could be used to regulate MPs and NPs have been reviewed and analyzed. Statutes such as the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Clean Air Act can all be used to address plastic pollution. These statutes have not been invoked for MP and NP waste in water or air. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act provides guidance on how the FDA should evaluate plastics use in food, food packaging, cosmetics, drug packaging, and medical devices. The FDA has recommended that acceptable levels of ingestible contaminant from recycled plastic are less than 1.5 µg/person/day, which is 476 000 times less than the possible ingested daily dose. Plastic regulation is present at the state level. States have banned plastic bags, and several cities have banned plastic straws. California is the only state beginning to focus on monitoring MPs in drinking water. The future of MP regulation in the USA should use TSCA to test the safety of plastics. The other statutes need to include MPs in their definitions. For the FDA, MPs should be redefined as contaminants—allowing tolerances to be set for MPs in food and beverages. Through minor changes in how MPs are classified, it is possible to begin to use the current statutes to understand and begin to minimize the possible effects of MPs on human health and the environment. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2023;19:474–488. © 2022 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC). Key Points: Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) are largely absent from regulatory statutes.The typical American ingests 467 000 times the recommended acceptable daily dose of recycled plastic.Both the science of MP and NP research and regulatory policies must be addressed to solve the plastic crisis.By redefining MPs as toxic or contaminants, these particles can use the existing statutes for regulatory purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WESTERN countries, INTERNATIONAL sanctions, INTERNATIONAL relations, and PATRONAGE

The United States Congress enacted CAATSA in 2017 to impose various restrictions on traditional rivals of the United States, which, however, was also imposed on a long-term strategic ally, Turkey. How can the application of sanctions designated for strategic rivals and enemies on an ally be explained? This article incorporates the hierarchy theory with Kai He's negative balancing strategy notion, which provides a solid theoretical explanation for patron states' punitive measures against their allies. We argue that CAATSA is part of the United States' current negative balancing strategy, which aims to undermine the power of rising challengers, Russia and China, by preventing (Western) secondary states, including Turkey, from getting (nuclear) weapons from these two countries. In this context, the US used CAATSA sanctions to punish Turkey's non-compliant and autonomous foreign policy behaviour when Russia and China rivalled the US-led order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CONFISCATIONS and LAND grants

In 1848, the US Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which held that treaty citizens' land claims would be "inviolably respected." Three years later, the US Senate passed the 1851 Land Claims Act, which violated the treaty by requiring private Mexican land grant holders to prove the legitimacy of their claims to the US Land Commission. This article examines Anglo-American and Californio settlers' efforts to establish legitimate landholding practices according to their culturally specific racial logic. By tracing encounters between the commission and Californios, this article argues that through their participation in the land claims process, Californios became "colonized colonizers" and were instrumental to statemaking in California. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the way to the RMDSZ congress in Brassó (15-17 January 1993), András Ludányi, American political scientist and professor, visited the Korunk editorial office. As he was in Debrecen on a Fulbright scholarship, he did not only investigate the phenomena after the regime change in Hungary; he also visited Transcarpathia, Upper Hungary, Transylvania, and Csángóföld. I learned later that his grandmother was born and died in Borbátvíz, in southern Transylvania. After the Romanian invasion, their father moved with the children to Szentes, then to Austria in 1945, and finally to the United States.The most memorable experience of our first meeting was the discovery that I personally knew his closest comrade-inarms and friend, Lajos Éltetõ (1938-2019), a professor at the University of Portland, with whom he organized the maildistributed “blog”, the ITT-OTT correspondence and friendship community, and then in 1974 they founded the Hungarian Communion of Friends in the US. As his 2020 book, Amerikai életutam, reveals, reflecting on our past led Ludányi to consider the prospects for democracy in both the United States and the Carpathian Basin. His insights should be taken to heart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While scholars posit an electoral link between congressional approval and majority party electoral fortunes, it is unclear whether citizens are grounding their assessments of approval on policy or valence grounds, such as retrospective economic evaluations. Whereas it is commonly understood that there is an ideological component to constituents' job approval of their individual members of Congress, in addition to a strong partisan effect, the ideological basis of institutional approval has not been established. Using cross-sectional and panel survey data, which allow for scaling citizens and the congressional parties in the same ideological space, I demonstrate that, distinct from the partisan basis of congressional approval, citizens' ideological distance from the majority party has a separate and distinct effect. These results suggest that the link between congressional approval and majority party fortunes is rooted in the collective ideological representation provided by the legislative majority in an increasingly responsible U.S. Congress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EXECUTIVE power, PRESIDENTS of the United States, SEPARATION of powers, UNILATERAL acts (International law), and POLICY sciences

Though the US presidency literature widely examines how Congress limits executive power, recent discourse argues the public is the more effective restraint. This paper develops a theory explaining when inter-institutional relations and public constraints influence the alteration of unilateral directives. Both are important for curbing substantial policy changes that likely provoke congressional and public response. Using data on when executive orders are amended and revoked between 1955 and 2013 to measure policy shifts, I find orders are less likely to be altered under presidents facing oppositional or cohesive congresses and high public disapproval. Both types of constraints are strongest for large policy changes, that is, revocations or targeting ideologically distant orders. This study advances the unilateralism literature by examining interactions between multiple constraints and degrees of policy change, while also contributing to studies of policy duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FEDERAL government, STATE governments, UNITED States legislators, LEGISLATIVE bills, and DEMOCRACY

A persistent question in the study of American federalism is if the states actually serve as "laboratories of democracy" for the country as a whole. I argue that political attention to policy areas can diffuse upwards, from state legislatures to Congress. National and state legislators share a party brand and can learn from policy debates in other levels. In particular, we should expect to see the diffusion of messaging legislation, or bills that were introduced without the intention of becoming law, after members of Congress observe their political effects in the states. Using an original dataset of introduced bills in all 50 state legislatures in 22 policy areas since 1991 drawn from LexisNexis, I show a positive association between changes in the number of state legislative bills introduced in 12 policy areas and the number of Congressional bills introduced in the next session, which is taken as evidence of "bottom-up" diffusion. This relationship is more prevalent between Republican state legislators and members of Congress, within state delegations, and in issue areas where the interest group community lobbies before both the states and national government. To the extent that states are laboratories for the nation, they may be political laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PATRIOTISM, MINORITY politicians, SOUTH Asian Americans, POLITICAL candidates, MINORITIES in the military, MILITARY service, and GROUP identity

South Asians have seen an increase in representation at all levels of US government, from Congress to the Vice Presidency, yet a paucity of work has been done examining South Asian candidates in America. The distinct nature of South Asian candidacies allows us to examine the intersection between race and religious identity and how emphasizing different social and political identities impact minority candidate evaluations. We theorize the potential effects of racial-political stereotyping of South Asians, focusing specifically on how a Hindu or Muslim background may negatively influence candidate evaluation. Additionally, we consider whether military service has any effect on evaluations of South Asian candidates as dangerous or deficient. We test this theory with a survey experiment that varies both South Asian religious identity, political ideology, and military service. Our findings indicate that white respondents are more hostile to South Asian candidates when compared to white candidates with similar biographies, and that respondents are particularly hostile to Muslim candidates. Cueing military service alleviates this handicap for Muslim candidates, but further analysis reveals that military service only improves perceptions among Democratic respondents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WOMEN legislators, WOMEN in politics, GENDER differences (Psychology), LEGAL status of women, REPRODUCTIVE rights, WOMEN'S health, and MILITARY policy

Scholars interested in substantive representation for women have primarily focused on whether women vote for and prioritize "women's issue" legislation. It is now well established that female lawmakers do vote for and introduce bills on issues like reproductive rights, childcare, and women's health at rates higher than men. With this finding widely accepted, scholars have more recently investigated levels of female involvement on a wider range of topics and find that women are just as active as men—sometimes even more active—on an array of policy topics other than "women's issues." Several studies show women are more active sponsors of defense-related bills than are their male colleagues. We provide a case study that investigates whether female lawmakers offer distinct perspectives on these topics. We use structural topic modeling to explore sex and party differences in floor speeches delivered in the House of Representatives. Our analysis of these floor speeches given in the 109th Congress reveals that women and men do focus their attention on distinct facets of defense issues—focusing on the implications of war for women, civilians, and communities—and that these differences are conditioned by party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UNITED States legislators, REPRESENTATIVE government, DEMOCRACY, RESPECT, POLITICAL parties, and MEDIATION

Canonical theories of democratic representation envision legislators cultivating familiarity to enhance esteem among their constituents. Some scholars, however, argue that familiarity breeds contempt, which if true would undermine incentives for effective representation. Survey respondents who are unfamiliar with their legislator tend not to provide substantive answers to attitude questions, and so we are missing key evidence necessary to adjudicate this important debate. We solve this problem with a randomized field experiment that gave some constituents an opportunity to gain familiarity with their Member of Congress through an online Deliberative Town Hall. Relative to controls, respondents who interacted with their member reported higher esteem as a result of enhanced familiarity, a mediation effect supporting canonical theories of representation. This effect is statistically significant among constituents who are the same political party as the member but not among those of the opposite party, although in neither case did familiarity breed contempt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LEGISLATION, LEGISLATIVE amendments, DELIBERATION, and POLITICAL leadership

While the U.S. House and Senate differ in many significant ways, perhaps the most important is the ability of House leaders to control the legislative process through the usage of special rules, which establish the terms of debate on a bill and can limit the number and content of amendments allowed. House members of both the majority and minority party have complained about their recent increased usage. In contrast, the Senate lacks a comparable tool and scholars have reported sharp increases in the number of floor amendments being proposed. In this paper, we examine the increase in proposed floor amendments in the Senate; arguing that, in addition to an increased value from electoral position-taking, the procedures employed in the House influence the floor behavior of senators. Specifically, we find that senators are more likely to offer amendments to bills that were passed under a restrictive rule in the House. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LOBBYING, CAMPAIGN funds, POLITICAL elites, PUBLIC interest groups, CONSTITUENTS (Persons), LOBBYISTS, and PARTISANSHIP

Campaign donors and corporate interests have greater access to Congress, and the legislative agenda and policy outcomes reflect their preferences. How this privileged access converts into influence remains unclear because petitioner-legislator interactions are unobserved. In this article, we report the results of an original survey experiment of 436 congressional staffers. The vignette manipulates a petitioner's identity, the substance of the request, and the supporting evidence being offered. We test how likely staff are to take a meeting, to use the information being offered, and to recommend taking a position consistent with the request, as well as whether they perceive the request to be congruent with constituent preferences. Donors and lobbyists are no more likely to be granted access than constituents, but staffers are more likely to use information and to make legislative action recommendations when the information source is an ideologically aligned think tank. Subgroup analysis suggests these effects are particularly strong among ideological extremists and strong partisans. And, information offered by aligned think tanks are thought to be representative of constituent opinion. Our results reveal the partisan and ideological predispositions that motivate legislative action that is more costly than merely granting access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our overarching goal in this paper was to both test and identify applications for a fundamental theorem of replacement-level populations known as the Stationary Population Identity (SPI), a mathematical model that equates the fraction of a population age x and the fraction with x years to live. Since true stationarity is virtually non-existent in human populations as well as in populations of non-human species, we used historical data on the memberships in both chambers of the U.S. Congress as populations. We conceived their fixed numbers (e.g., 100 Senators; 435 Representatives) as stationary populations, and their years served and years remaining as the equivalent of life lived and life remaining. Our main result was the affirmation of the mathematical prediction—i.e., the robust symmetry of years served and years remaining in Congress over the approximately 230 years of its existence (1789–2022). A number of applications emerged from this regularity and the distributional patterns therein including (1) new metrics such as Congressional half-life and other quantiles (e.g., 95% turnover); (2) predictability of the distribution of member's years remaining; (3) the extraordinary information content of a single number—the mean number of years served [i.e., derive birth (b) and death (d) rates; use of d as exponential rate parameter for model life tables]; (4) the concept of and metrics associated with period-specific populations (Congress); (5) Congressional life cycle concept with Formation, Growth, Senescence and Extinction Phases; and (6) longitudinal party transition rates for 100% Life Cycle turnover (Democrat/Republican), i.e., each seat from predecessor party-to-incumbent party and from incumbent party-to-successor party. Although our focus is on the use of historical data for Congressional members, we believe that most of the results are general and thus both relevant and applicable to all types of stationary or quasi-stationary populations including to the future world of zero population growth (ZPG). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PRICE inflation

In August 2022, the US Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a comprehensive piece of legislation aiming to stimulate the US economy and to increase its resilience. At an estimated 430 billion euros, it is a massive government investment and spending program in the welfare state, federal infrastructure, climate action, and environmental protection. At the same time, the IRA is intended to secure the USA's leading position as the largest energy producer in the long term, to support the reindustrialization of the US economy, and to provide a strong response to China's economic and technological hegemonic aspirations. The program's design provides enormous incentives and, in some cases, imposes obligations to relocate production to the US. These local content requirements can have a significant impact on the European economy if production is moved from the EU to the US. The IRA requires strategic economic policy responses that the EU has partially already announced, such as easing state aid rules. However, it must also make urgent changes in other areas, especially in the security of supply of critical raw materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CITIZENSHIP, NATIVE Americans, RACISM, CHILD sexual abuse, EMIGRATION & immigration, COURTS, HEALTH care teams, GOVERNMENT agencies, and CRIMINAL justice system

In 1997, Jimcy McGirt was convicted by the State of Oklahoma for sex crimes against a minor. McGirt appealed his conviction, citing that Oklahoma lacked jurisdiction over the case due to his tribal citizenship, since the crime took place on tribal territory. On July 9, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) reversed the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals' original decision for the case, citing that Congress had failed to disestablish reservations with regard to the Major Crimes Act, which gave the federal government jurisdiction over major felony crimes perpetrated by Native Americans on reservations. This ruling has already caused sweeping changes in the investigations and prosecutions of child maltreatment in eastern Oklahoma, as such cases may fall under the jurisdiction of federal agencies or tribal law enforcement. This article details the historic significance of the decision and the experiences of 3 child abuse pediatricians working as part of a multidisciplinary team while jurisdictional changes were implemented following the SCOTUS ruling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WOMEN legislators, POLITICS & gender, LEGISLATIVE hearings, and LEGISLATIVE committees

Women in Congress are highly effective legislators. Yet, if women are more likely than men to be interrupted during committee work, they may face a gender-related impediment. We examine speech patterns during more than 24,000 congressional committee hearings from 1994 to 2018 to determine whether women Members are more likely to be interrupted than men. We find that they are. This is especially true in Senate committees—where women are about 10% more likely to be interrupted. Furthermore, in hearings that discuss women's issues, women are more than twice as likely to be interrupted than while discussing other issues. We see a similar pattern for rapid-fire "interruption clusters," an aggressive form of interruption. We further consider a range of moderating factors, which yields little evidence that women change their communication strategy as they gain experience in Congress. We also find suggestive evidence that interruptions are driven by mixed-gender interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

POLITICIANS, WITNESSES, LEGISLATIVE hearings, and LEGISLATIVE committees

How are politicians informed and who do politicians seek information from? The role of information has been at the center for research on legislative organizations but there is a lack of systematic empirical work on the information that Congress seeks to acquire and consider. To examine the information flow between Congress and external groups, we construct the most comprehensive dataset to date on 74,082 congressional committee hearings and 755,540 witnesses spanning 1960–2018. We show descriptive patterns of how witness composition varies across time and committee and how different types of witnesses provide varying levels of analytical information. We develop theoretical expectations for why committees may invite different types of witnesses based on committee intent, interbranch relations, and congressional capacity. Our empirical evidence shows how committees' partisan considerations can affect how much committees turn to outsiders for information and from whom they seek information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LABOR supply -- Law & legislation, SUBSTANCE abuse, HEALTH services accessibility, STRATEGIC planning, PRACTICAL politics, GOVERNMENT aid, MENTAL illness, MENTAL health services, MEDICARE, and PERSONNEL management

At the end of 2022, Congress approved (and President Biden signed it, just in time to avert a government shutdown) a spending bill that includes measures to reauthorize vital mental health and substance use programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was passed by the 117th U.S. Congress on August 16, 2022 and signed into law by President Joe Biden. The wide‐ranging Act invests in domestic energy production and manufacturing, funds energy and climate provisions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and contains sweeping healthcare reforms, among other new policies. The IRA contains a myriad of benefits across the energy sector for companies and customers alike. This article describes the financial and environmental benefits of the energy and climate provisions of the Act, with a focus on the impacts to electric utilities, natural gas utilities, and independent power producers (IPPs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the first Federal Commission on Diabetes issued its report in 1975, the diabetes epidemic in the U.S. has accelerated, and efforts to translate advances in diabetes treatment into routine clinical practice have stalled. In 2021, the National Clinical Care Commission (NCCC) delivered a report to Congress that provided recommendations to leverage federal policies and programs to more effectively prevent and treat diabetes and its complications. In the five articles in this series, we present the NCCC's evidence-based recommendations to 1) reduce diabetes-related risks, prevent type 2 diabetes, and avert diabetes complications through changes in federal policies and programs affecting the general population; 2) prevent type 2 diabetes in at-risk individuals through targeted lifestyle and medication interventions; and 3) improve the treatment of diabetes and its complications to improve the health outcomes of people with diabetes. In this first article, we review the successes and limitations of previous federal efforts to combat diabetes. We then describe the establishment of and charge to the NCCC. We discuss the development of a hybrid conceptual model that guided the NCCC's novel all-of-government approach to address diabetes as both a societal and medical problem. We then review the procedures used by the NCCC to gather information from federal agencies, stakeholders, key informants, and the public and to conduct literature reviews. Finally, we review the NCCC's three foundational recommendations: 1) improve the coordination of non–health-related and health-related federal agencies to address the social and environmental conditions that are accelerating the diabetes epidemic; 2) ensure that all Americans at risk for and with diabetes have health insurance and access to health care; and 3) ensure that all federal policies and programs promote health equity in diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The etiology of type 2 diabetes is rooted in a myriad of factors and exposures at individual, community, and societal levels, many of which also affect the control of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Not only do such factors impact risk and treatment at the time of diagnosis but they also can accumulate biologically from preconception, in utero, and across the life course. These factors include inadequate nutritional quality, poor access to physical activity resources, chronic stress (e.g., adverse childhood experiences, racism, and poverty), and exposures to environmental toxins. The National Clinical Care Commission (NCCC) concluded that the diabetes epidemic cannot be treated solely as a biomedical problem but must also be treated as a societal problem that requires an all-of-government approach. The NCCC determined that it is critical to design, leverage, and coordinate federal policies and programs to foster social and environmental conditions that facilitate the prevention and treatment of diabetes. This article reviews the rationale, scientific evidence base, and content of the NCCC's population-wide recommendations that address food systems; consumption of water over sugar-sweetened beverages; food and beverage labeling; marketing and advertising; workplace, ambient, and built environments; and research. Recommendations relate to specific federal policies, programs, agencies, and departments, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, and others. These population-level recommendations are transformative. By recommending health-in-all-policies and an equity-based approach to governance, the NCCC Report to Congress has the potential to contribute to meaningful change across the diabetes continuum and beyond. Adopting these recommendations could significantly reduce diabetes incidence, complications, costs, and inequities. Substantial political resolve will be needed to translate recommendations into policy. Engagement by diverse members of the diabetes stakeholder community will be critical to such efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with an elevated fasting glucose level, elevated glucose level after glucose challenge, or elevated hemoglobin A1c level below the diagnostic threshold for diabetes (collectively termed prediabetes) are at increased risk for type 2 diabetes. More than one-third of U.S. adults have prediabetes but fewer than one in five are aware of the diagnosis. Rigorous scientific research has demonstrated the efficacy of both intensive lifestyle interventions and metformin in delaying or preventing progression from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes. The National Clinical Care Commission (NCCC) was a federal advisory committee charged with evaluating and making recommendations to improve federal programs related to the prevention of diabetes and its complications. In this article, we describe the recommendations of an NCCC subcommittee that focused primarily on prevention of type 2 diabetes in people with prediabetes. These recommendations aim to improve current federal diabetes prevention activities by 1) increasing awareness of and diagnosis of prediabetes on a population basis; 2) increasing the availability of, referral to, and insurance coverage for the National Diabetes Prevention Program and the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program; 3) facilitating Food and Drug Administration review and approval of metformin for diabetes prevention; and 4) supporting research to enhance the effectiveness of diabetes prevention. Cognizant of the burden of type 1 diabetes, the recommendations also highlight the importance of research to advance our understanding of the etiology of and opportunities for prevention of type 1 diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. is experiencing an epidemic of type 2 diabetes. Socioeconomically disadvantaged and certain racial and ethnic groups experience a disproportionate burden from diabetes and are subject to disparities in treatment and outcomes. The National Clinical Care Commission (NCCC) was charged with making recommendations to leverage federal policies and programs to more effectively prevent and control diabetes and its complications. The NCCC determined that diabetes cannot be addressed simply as a medical problem but must also be addressed as a societal problem requiring social, clinical, and public health policy solutions. As a result, the NCCC's recommendations address policies and programs of both non–health-related and health-related federal agencies. The NCCC report, submitted to the U.S. Congress on 6 January 2022, makes 39 specific recommendations, including three foundational recommendations that non–health-related and health-related federal agencies coordinate their activities to better address diabetes, that all federal agencies and departments ensure that health equity is a guiding principle for their policies and programs that impact diabetes, and that all Americans have access to comprehensive and affordable health care. Specific recommendations are also made to improve general population-wide policies and programs that impact diabetes risk and control, to increase awareness and prevention efforts among those at high risk for type 2 diabetes, and to remove barriers to access to effective treatments for diabetes and its complications. Finally, the NCCC recommends that an Office of National Diabetes Policy be established to coordinate the activities of health-related and non–health-related federal agencies to address diabetes prevention and treatment. The NCCC urges Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to implement these recommendations to protect the health and well-being of the more than 130 million Americans at risk for and living with diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PEDIATRIC neurology and EPILEPSY surgery

B 3-5 March 2023 b B 5th ILAE School on EEG in the First Year of Life: From newborn to toddler b Cochin, Kerala, India https://www.ilae.org/congresses/eeg-in-the-first-year-of-life2 B 19-22 July 2023 b B 12th ILAE School for Neuropathology and Neuroimaging in Epilepsy (INES 2023) b Campinas, Brazil https://www.ilae.org/congresses/12th-ilae-school-for-neuropathology-and-neuroimaging-in-epilepsy-ines-2023 B 28 August - 1 September 2023 b B XVII Workshop on Neurobiology of Epilepsy (WONOEP 2023) b Ireland www.ilae.org/wonoep2023 B 2-6 September 2023 b B 35th International Epilepsy Congress b Dublin, Ireland www.ilae.org/iec2023 B 3-8 March 2024 b B 4th International Training Course on Neuropsychology in Epilepsy b Lyon, France https://www.ilae.org/congresses/4th-international-training-course-on-neuropsychology-in-epilepsy B 7-11 September 2024 b B 15th European Epilepsy Congress b Rome, Italy https://www.ilae.org/congresses/15th-european-epilepsy-congress OTHER CONGRESSES: B 8-11 February 2023 b B 14th International Newborn Brain Conference b Clearwater, Florida, USA https://www.mcascientificevents.eu/inbc/ B 9-12 February 2023 b B 4th AACE Epilepsy Surgery Workshop: MRI Negative Epilepsies b Kochi, India https://amritahospitals.org/aacecon/ B 23 February - 3 March 2023 b B 16th Latin American Summer School on Epilepsy (LASSE 2023) b São Paulo, Brazil https://lasse.med.br/ B 23 February-25 June 2023 b B International Online Course on Pathogenesis of Epilepsy b Online https://4euepilepsy.lf2.cuni.cz/ B 7-10 March 2023 b B International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Epilepsy and Neurological Disorders b Breckenridge, CO, USA https://www.aiepilepsy-neuro.com/ B 15-18 March 2023 b B 12. Epilepsia - February 2023 - Announcements. [Extracted from the article]

UNITED States Senate elections, ELECTIONS, RUNNING races, FEMALES, and VOTERS

This paper examines whether and how electoral rules moderate the effect of voter bias on candidate choice. Voter bias against female candidates follows a pattern known as aversive sexism, which denotes that voters discriminate when the choice structure does not make the bias clear to others and to themselves. As a result, voters are less likely to vote for women when they can substitute ideologically close female candidates with male co-partisans. The paper uses survey data and a ballot experiment in Brazil to investigate why, contrary to conventional wisdom on the topic, voters are more likely to elect women running in plurality races for the Senate than in proportional races for the Chamber of Deputies. The results shed light on how institutions can produce voting patterns that harm the electoral prospects of female candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CENSUS, INTERNET surveys, RACE, DATABASES, ENDOUROLOGY, UROLOGICAL surgery, and PERCUTANEOUS nephrolithotomy

The Endourological Society, the premier urologic society encompassing endourology, robotics, and focal surgery, is composed of a diverse group of >1300 urologists. However, limited information has been collected about society members. Recognizing this need, a survey was initiated to capture data regarding current member practices, as well as help the Society shape the future direction of the organization. Presented herein is the inaugural Endourological Society census report as the beginning of a continued effort for global improvement in the field of endourology. Using a REDCap® database, an email survey was circulated to the membership of the Endourological Society from May through June 2021. Twenty questions were posed, categorizing member data in terms of epidemiology/demographics, practice patterns, member opinions, and future educational preferences. Responses were received from 534 members, representing 40.3% of membership. Data demonstrated that the average age, gender, race, and ethnicity of the typical Society member respondent is a 48-year-old Caucasian male working in the United States, with a mean of 25 years in practice. Retrograde endoscopy and percutaneous nephrolithotomy were identified as the most common practice skills, and 50% of members are involved in robotics. Importantly, the census confirmed that the World Congress of Endourology and Technology remains popular with Society members as a means of educational advancement. To sustain and advance the Society, information is required to understand the career interests and future educational desires of its members. This inaugural census provides crucial data regarding its membership and how the Society can achieve continued success and adjust its focus. Future census efforts will expand on the initial findings and stratify the data to elucidate changes in the needs of the Society as a whole. Circulating an annual census will allow for continued improvements in the field of endourology and, ultimately, better care for urologic patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CIVIL disobedience, GUERRILLAS, PROTEST movements, SOCIAL movements, SOCIAL interaction, GARDENS, and COMMUNITY gardens

More than just everyday acts of appropriation, guerrilla gardens have appeared in a growing number of civic protests. During Seattle's Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) in 2020, a guerrilla garden was featured prominently within the six-block area taken over by protesters following a standoff with the Seattle Police. Through informal and semi-structured interviews with the garden leaders, volunteers, protesters, and neighbours who lived near the site, this study examines the garden's role and significance during the month-long protest. Findings suggested that the CHOP garden provided opportunities for social interactions among protesters as well as non-protesters. Through expanded engagement, the garden brought a wider range of individuals to the protest site. With its ability to engage broader participation, the garden helped mobilise additional human and material resources for the movement. Furthermore, the garden functioned as a place of learning that deepened the meanings and narrative of the movement. It also served as a place of refuge and relief during the tense occupation. Lastly, the social networks and relationships that emerged from the garden serve as a vehicle for sustaining the movement beyond the protest. As a place that facilitated these multilayered processes, these findings suggest that the CHOP Garden functioned as a "thick" space of civil resistance. The notion of thick space highlights the importance of specific spatial practices that can contribute significantly to the transformative outcomes of social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STOCHASTIC models, RANDOM graphs, QUALITY control charts, LEGISLATIVE voting, and PARAMETER estimation

The stochastic block model (SBM) is a random graph model that focuses on partitioning the nodes into blocks or communities. A degree‐corrected stochastic block model (DCSBM) considers degree heterogeneity within nodes. Investigation of the type of edge label can be useful for studying networks. We have proposed a labeled degree‐corrected stochastic block model (LDCSBM), added the probability of the occurrence of each edge label, and monitored the behavior of this network. The LDCSBM is a dynamic network that varies over time; thus, we applied the monitoring process to both the US Senate voting network and simulated networks by defining structural changes. We used the Shewhart control chart for detecting changes and studied the effect of Phase I parameter estimation on Phase II performance. The efficiency of the model for surveillance has been evaluated using the average run length for estimated parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Members of the United States Congress labor under a pressing fundraising imperative. Congresspersons believe that they must raise very large sums of money in order to secure re-election, to help their fellow partisans in Congress get re-elected, and to rise to positions of Congressional and party leadership. This leads members of Congress to accord tremendous importance to fundraising while in office. In this article, I draw on the normative scholarship on domination to offer a novel critique of the Congressional fundraising imperative. There is good reason, I argue here, to believe that the fundraising imperative promotes the domination of non-affluent Americans by their wealthy counterparts, thereby unjustifiably depriving citizens of ordinary means of their freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTERNATIONAL taxation, LEGISLATIVE committees, and COMPOUND annual growth rate

Chair of the Senate Finance Committee [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

JUDICIAL elections, APPELLATE courts, CONSTITUTIONAL courts, PARTISANSHIP, PANEL analysis, and FEDERAL aid

Supreme Court vacancies are now characterized by great partisan efforts to confirm—or impede—the nomination. Amid a politicized vacancy before the 2020 election, there was cause to question the conclusion that these vacancies do not harm the judiciary in the public's eyes. We utilize panel data collected before and after Justice Ginsburg's death to investigate the effects of the vacancy and partisan posturing to fill it. We find that the battle over the vacancy yielded decreases in diffuse support among Democrats, particularly among those who read a story about Senate Republicans' willingness to fill an election-year vacancy after refusing to in 2016. Support for federal judicial elections decreased across survey waves, but only among certain subsets of respondents. Finally, belief that one's preferred 2020 candidate would nominate the next justice significantly influenced support for curbing. Elected branch politics appear capable of influencing the mass public's level of support for the Court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

JUDICIAL selection & appointment, JUDICIAL process, CONSERVATISM, CIRCUIT courts, PRACTICAL politics, and UNITED States presidential elections

Significant changes to the federal judicial confirmation process have manifested over the past decade, including multiple procedural reforms in the United States Senate. We argue the "nuclear option," the reduction of the vote-threshold required to proceed to a final confirmation vote on judicial nominees (i.e., to invoke cloture) from three-fifths to a simple majority, contributed to a renewed escalation of partisan confirmation battles on which the Federalist Society capitalized. Pundits and politicians alike show growing concern about the role of interest groups, especially those associated with the conservative legal movement, in judicial nominations. The intersection of these two sets of changes raises questions about the contemporary judicial nominations process. Utilizing a novel dataset of Federalist Society (FedSoc) affiliates drawn from event listings (1993–2020), we analyze the interactive role of FedSoc affiliation with Senate procedural changes to the judicial confirmation process. We find affiliation with the Federalist Society, after the initial nuclear option was implemented, increases the probability of a circuit court nominee's confirmation by approximately 20%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ANIMAL welfare, PHARMACEUTICAL policy, ETHYLENE glycol, PHYSICIANS, and DRUG development

However, these areas of study are nascent and the robust data cohorts to empirically prove that these systems accurately measure drug toxicology, drug effects on physiology, and predict responses to drugs for a vast array of human physiological endpoints do not exist. Congress updated its 1906 version of the FDA law to its 1938 status, requiring new drugs to be both tested and their data reported to the FDA I before i it enters the market. With the legislation enacted, drug development teams should stick to what they know is true, I in vivo i testing using a safety species (or I multiple species i ) has been critical to the development of safe drugs using evidence-based approaches. [Extracted from the article]

DIAGNOSTIC ultrasonic imaging, TESTIS physiology, and MANAGEMENT by objectives

Objectives: To report the management outcomes of men with ≤20‐mm small testicular masses (STMs) and to identify clinical and histopathological factors associated with malignancy. Patients and methods: A retrospective analysis of men managed at a single centre between January 2010 and December 2020 with a STM ≤20 mm in size was performed. Results: Overall, 307 men with a median (interquartile range [IQR]) age of 36 (30–44) years were included. Of these, 161 (52.4%), 82 (26.7%), 62 (20.2%) and 2 men (0.7%) underwent surveillance with interval ultrasonography (USS), primary excisional testicular biopsy (TBx) or primary radical orchidectomy (RO), or were discharged, respectively. The median (IQR) surveillance duration was 6 (3–18) months. The majority of men who underwent surveillance had lesions <5 mm (59.0%) and no lesion vascularity (67.1%) on USS. Thirty‐three (20.5%) men undergoing surveillance had a TBx based on changes on interval USS or patient choice; seven (21.2%) were found to be malignant. The overall rate of malignancy in the surveillance cohort was 4.3%. The majority of men who underwent primary RO had lesions ≥10 mm (85.5%) and the presence of vascularity (61.7%) on USS. Nineteen men (23.2%) who underwent primary TBx (median lesion size 6 mm) had a malignancy confirmed on biopsy and underwent RO. A total of 88 men (28.7%) underwent RO, and malignancy was confirmed in 73 (83.0%) of them. The overall malignancy rate in the whole STM cohort was 23.8%. Malignant RO specimens had significantly larger lesion sizes (median [IQR] 11 [8–15] mm, vs benign: median [IQR] 8 [5–10] mm; P = 0.04). Conclusions: Small testicular masses can be stratified and managed based on lesion size and USS features. The overall malignancy rate in men with an STM was 23.8% (4.3% in the surveillance group). Surveillance should be considered in lesions <10 mm in size, with a TBx or frozen‐section examination offered prior to RO in order to preserve testicular function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CITIZENSHIP, TREATIES, and HISPANIC Americans

The English‐language text of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the accord conceding Puerto Rico to the United States, misspelled the island's name as Porto Rico. The treaty's ratification entrenched the error in US law and prompted a decades‐long campaign to restore the territory's original name. More than a comedy of errors, this incident exposes conflicting interpretations of US citizenship and the worthiness of different sets of citizens. Puerto Ricans discovered that the statutory citizenship they acquired was attenuated by their perceived worthiness: a status limited by their membership of the so‐called Spanish race. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DRUG control, HUMAN trafficking, MONEY laundering, DRUG abuse treatment, DRUG traffic, PUNISHMENT, PUBLIC opinion, POLITICAL participation, and CAPITAL punishment

The CCINC designated Hong Kong among twenty "priority countries" for U.S. anti-narcotics efforts, noting that the colony "undoubtedly plays a major role in the transit/trafficking of Southeast Asian heroin" and urging that "the seriousness of the trafficking problem demands increasing CCINC attention to enforcement efforts in Hong Kong."[23] Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress proved equally energetic in meeting public demands for tougher action against drug abuse. 16 For description of the Thailand-Hong Kong pipeline, see: McCoy et al. I The Politics of Heroin i , 236-237; "Southeast Asia: The Road to Hong Kong", I Drug Enforcement i 1, no. 5 (1974): 32-33. 17 For an overview of Hong Kong police corruption and narcotics trafficking, see Peter N. S. Lee, "The Causes and Effects of Police Corruption: A Case in Political Modernization", in I Corruption and its Control in Hong Kong: Situations up to the Late Seventies i , ed. C. K. Hawkins, "The Drug Problem in Hong Kong", May 7, 1957, enclosure in "Memorandum for Executive Council", February 11, 1958, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (hereafter FCO) 1030/899, The National Archives, Kew, United Kingdom (hereafter TNA); and Hong Kong Legislative Council, I The Problem of Narcotic Drugs in Hong Kong i (Hong Kong, 1959). U.S. Treasury officials during the early 1980s, for instance, noted that the flow of money from the United States to Hong Kong closely followed the flow of heroin from Southeast Asia to the United States.[72] Narcotics trafficking and money laundering, in other words, were tightly correlated, so while Hong Kong was no longer the "heroin-producing capital of the world", it remained at the center of various illicit global flows well after the 1970s. [Extracted from the article]

STATE power, AFRICAN American civil rights, and APARTHEID

In sum, this well-documented book provides an excellent overview of U.S. Africa policy during the period of decolonization and the Cold War. During the Kennedy administration, Cold War concerns in Berlin (1961) and Cuba (1962) strengthened the hand of pro-European factions in Congress and the State Department. This welcome addition to diplomatic history focuses on U.S. involvement in Africa during the periods of decolonization and the Cold War, examining the half century between World War II and the end of apartheid in 1994. [Extracted from the article]

NATIVE Americans, APOCALYPSE, TRIBAL sovereignty, HORSEMEN & horsewomen, and DEVELOPING countries

On August 8, 2022, in anticipation of an important meeting of the leadership of the National Congress of American Indians, the Chairman of the Center for World Indigenous Studies wrote a brief letter to the President of the National Congress of American Indians. The letter was a product of earlier discussions between the Chairman and the President of the two organizations. The central thesis of the letter is a discussion of the emergent political dangers to tribal sovereignty in the United States and elsewhere in the world. The letter discussed the "five horsemen of the Apocalypse. Over the six months since the letter was written, new information became available and is now included in the updated letter. We publish its content in the Fourth World Journal to encourage a broader understanding of the challenges faced by indigenous peoples in the United States and other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CONSTITUTIONS, LEGISLATIVE bodies, FEDERAL government, and RATIFICATION of constitutional amendments

The author discusses the difference between the Constitution designed by the framers, and constitution defended by the Federalists. Topics discussed include difference between power vested in the Congress and the constitution in the government, harmony of U.S. affected by the power to legislate issues, and conceived federal powers after ratification.

The Supreme Court’s jurisprudence surrounding the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”) reflects the phenomenon of shadow amendments, an inevitable outcome of statutory construction. These judicial interpretations altered the ATS and narrowed its reach. Through repeated shadow amendments, the Court has moved the ATS far beyond its original thirty-three word configuration and understanding. These shadow amendments reflect an aggressive form of statutory construction, an ironic description for a Court that has long championed deference to Congress and fealty to legislative text. This dynamic is evident in Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe, the Court’s most recent ATS decision. But shadow amendments are not limited to the ATS; they occur whenever courts interpret statutes, regulatory provisions, or even constitutional text. Characterizing judicial interpretations as shadow amendments highlights their unique status and practical impact. They are not formal amendments—only Congress can amend a statute. Yet, they achieve a similar outcome. The term “shadow amendment” provides an accurate description of judicial interpretation as legislation. Because of their ubiquity and profound consequences, shadow amendments merit careful monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BIG data, NATURAL language processing, DEMOCRATS (United States), ELECTIONS, and SIGN language

The current paper details a novel quantitative framework leveraging recent advances in AI and Natural Language Processing to quantitatively assess language convergence and accommodation. This new framework is computationally cheap and straightforward to implement. The framework is then applied to a case study of immigration rhetoric in the lead up to the 2016 general election in the USA. Major results from the case study show that (1) Democrats and Republicans exhibited significant language convergence with members of their own parties, (2) President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton converged with Senate Democrats' immigration rhetoric, (3) Democrats accommodated the immigration rhetoric of both President Barack Obama and (candidate) Hillary Clinton, (4) contrary to initial hypotheses, Donald Trump's vitriolic immigration rhetoric did not show signs of language convergence with Republicans in the Senate, and (5) equally surprising, Senate Republicans showed significant non-accommodation to Donald Trump despite potential political costs for having done so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NEW product development, NALOXONE, BELL'S palsy, INVESTIGATIONAL drugs, MACULAR degeneration, and G protein coupled receptors

Neurotech Pharmaceuticals announced results in 2 replicative Phase 3 clinical trials with their investigational encapsulated cell therapy of Ciliary Neurotropic Factor for the treatment of Macular telangiectasia type 2 (November 2022). In this review period, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provided further details on some aspects of the recently passed Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) VII law, and the U.S. Congress continues to be concerned with drug prices - in this case, evaluating the impact of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). Tarsus Pharmaceuticals announced that the FDA accepted the company's NDA for TP-03 (lotilaner) for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis (November 2022). [Extracted from the article]