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The myth of amateurism is on the verge of being eliminated. It suffered a fatal blow in the modern Olympic Movement when the international federation for boxing agreed to allow professionals to compete at the Rio Games in 2016. Although the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) still defends amateurism in the United States as an important theme, many challenges to the NCAA's amateurism rules have arisen in the courts and most recently at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This Article examines the tradition of amateurism in college sports from both cultural and legal perspectives. It looks at the historical underpinnings of amateurism in the parallel dimensions of the Olympics and the NCAA. Born in nineteenth century England as a means to separate the aristocracy from the working classes, American universities adopted the theme of amateurism in sports to promote competitive balance. However, as collegiate athletics grew in popularity and developed into a massive commercial enterprise, universities, under the leadership of the NCAA, used amateurism to ward off challenges from their athletes. Although the NCAA has found some judicial support for the "revered tradition" of amateurism, more recent court challenges have enjoyed some success under claims that the NCAA's rules violate antitrust laws. More recently, student-athletes at Northwestern University gained support from the NLRB for the proposition that players should be deemed "employees" under the law. Moreover, significant challenges to the NCAA's position on amateurism are working their way through the court system. This Article concludes that it is time for the NCAA to abandon the theme of amateurism and proposes a new tradition in college sports--one that takes into account the players whose efforts nutke the enterprise possible. This new tradition would have two prongs: First, collegiate players--like their counterparts in the Olympics--should have the right to exploit their name and likeness for commercial purposes. Second, practical guidelines should be established to compensate college athletes (regardless of whether they participate in the money sports of football and basketball) reasonably for their labors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Concurrent chemoradiation is the standard of care in inoperable locally advanced squamous cell head and neck cancers. The most widely accepted schedule of concomitant cisplatin is 100mg/m2 given on a 3 weekly basis but the optimal regime is unknown. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the tolerability, compliance, and clinical outcomes of weekly cisplatin (40mg/m2). Methods: During the period of January 2007-December 2009, we analyzed retrospectively 122 patients with histologically proven squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck (nasopharynx, oropharynx, larynx, hypopharynx, and oral cavity) treated with definitive chemoradiation. All patients received 63 Gy in 30 daily fractions with concomitant weekly cisplatin 40mg/m2. We assessed treatment toxicities and patient compliance. We estimated overall survival using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: Sixty-eight percent of patients managed to complete all six cycles of chemotherapy while 87% of patients completed at least 5 cycles of weekly cisplatin. Incidence of grade 3/4 toxicity was as follows: mucositis 33%, dermatitis 41%, dysphagia 15%, mouth/neck pain 17%, neutropenia 2%, and renal impairment 3%. 53% patients required at least one hospital admission for symptom control. The 5-year overall survival rate was 60%. Conclusion: Concurrent chemoradiotherapy using weekly cisplatin at 40mg/m2 per week is an effective, well tolerated regimen allowing most patients to receive at least 5 cycles of chemotherapy. However, a phase III randomized control trial comparing the standard dose of 100mg/m2 cisplatin tri-weekly with a weekly regimen is needed to establish the long term clinical outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence has shown activation of T and B cells in gingival tissues in experimental models and in humans diagnosed with periodontitis. The results of this adaptive immune response are noted both locally and systemically with antigenic specificity for an array of oral bacteria, including periodontopathic species, e.g., Porphyromonas gingivalis and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. It has been recognized through epidemiological studies and clinical observations that the prevalence of periodontitis increases with age. This report describes our studies evaluating gingival tissue transcriptomes in humans and specifically exploiting the use of a non-human primate model of naturally occurring periodontitis to delineate gingival mucosal tissue gene expression profiles focusing on cells/genes critical for the development of humoral adaptive immune responses. Patterns of B cell and plasmacyte genes were altered in aging healthy gingival tissues. Substantial increases in a large number of genes reflecting antigen-dependent activation, B cell activation, B cell proliferation, and B cell differentiation/maturation were observed in periodontitis in adults and aged animals. Finally, evaluation of the relationship of these gene expression patterns with those of various tissue destructive molecules (MMP2, MMP9, CTSK, TNFα, and RANKL) showed a greater frequency of positive correlations in healthy tissues versus periodontitis tissues, with only MMP9 correlations similar between the two tissue types. These results are consistent with B cell response activities in healthy tissues potentially contributing to muting the effects of the tissue destructive biomolecules, whereas with periodontitis this relationship is adversely affected and enabling a progression of tissue destructive events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The objectives of this studywere to comprehensively assess mRNA expression of 84 drug transporters in human colorectal biopsies and six representative cell lines, and to investigate the alteration of drug transporter gene expression after exposure to three candidate microbicidal antiretroviral (ARV) drugs (tenofovir, darunavir and dapivirine) in the colorectal epithelium. The outcome of the objectives informs development of optimal ARV-based microbicidal formulations for prevention of HIV-1 infection. Methods: Drug transporter mRNA expression was quantified from colorectal biopsies and cell lines by quantitative real-time PCR. Relative mRNA expression was quantified in Caco-2 cells and colorectal explants after induction with ARVs. Data were analysed using Pearson's product moment correlation (r), hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis (PCA). Results: Expression of 58 of the 84 transporters was documented in colorectal biopsies, with genes for CNT2, P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and MRP3 showing the highest expression. No difference was noted between individual subjects when analysed by age, gender or anatomical site (rectum or recto-sigmoid) (r¼0.95-0.99). High expression of P-gp and CNT2 proteins was confirmed by immunohistochemical staining. Similarity between colorectal tissue and cell-line drug transporter gene expression was variable (r¼0.64-0.84). PCA showed distinct clustering of human colorectal biopsy samples, with the Caco-2 cells defined as the best surrogate system. Induction of Caco-2 cell lines with ARV drugs suggests that darunavir-based microbicides incorporating tenofovir may result in drug-drug interactions likely to affect distribution of individual drugs to sub-epithelial target cells. Conclusions: These findings will help optimize complex formulations of rectal microbicides to realize their full potential as an effective approach for pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV-1 infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]