Buckman extended: federal preemption of state fraud-on-the-FDA statutes.

A number of states have enacted statutes that provide protection to drug manufacturers in product liability actions. Additionally, several of these states have enacted "fraud-on-the-FDA" statutory provisions, which remove statutory protection afforded to drug manufacturers in product liability actions if plaintiffs can provide evidence that the drug manufacturer made misrepresentations to the FDA during the process of obtaining marketing approval for the drug. Currently, the federal circuits are in disagreement over whether these state "fraud-on-the-FDA" statutes should be federally preempted.

A novel adipose-specific gene deletion model demonstrates potential pitfalls of existing methods.

Adipose-specific gene deletion in mice is crucial in determining gene function in adipocyte homeostasis and the development of obesity. We noted 100% mortality when the Hdac3 gene was conditionally deleted using Fabp4-Cre mice, the most commonly used model of adipose-targeted Cre recombinase. However, this surprising result was not reproduced using other models of adipose targeting of Cre, including a novel Retn-Cre mouse.

Histone deacetylase 3 is an epigenomic brake in macrophage alternative activation.

Macrophages, a key cellular component of inflammation, become functionally polarized in a signal- and context-specific manner. Th2 cytokines such as interleukin 4 (IL-4) polarize macrophages to a state of alternative activation that limits inflammation and promotes wound healing. Alternative activation is mediated by a transcriptional program that is influenced by epigenomic modifications, including histone acetylation.