Causaliteit in het verzekeringsrecht

Sinds het begin van de 20e eeuw hebben juristen gezocht naar een theorie die in het kader van het strafrecht en de privaatrechtelijke onrechtmatige daad het richtsnoer zou moeten zijn voor het vereiste causaal verband tussen de verwijtbare gedraging en de schade. Uiteindelijk heeft dit voor het privaatrecht geresulteerd in de leer van de toerekening naar redelijkheid zoals opgenomen in artikel 6:98 BW. Ook in het verzekeringsrecht heeft men lange tijd gedacht aan een dergelijke verklarende theorie en overeenkomsten gezocht met causaliteit bij de onrechtmatige daad en in het strafrecht. De laatste decennia is echter het inzicht ontstaan dat voor het verzekeringsrecht andere principes voor het causaal verband gelden en voornoemde theorieën lijken slechts een bijrol te vervullen. Niet aan de orde is het zoeken naar een verband tussen een verwijtbare gedraging en de schade. Centraal staat de vraag of de verzekeraar op basis van polisbepalingen, met het eigen stelsel van gedekte en uitgesloten oorzaken – naast de grenzen die de wet daaraan stelt – gehouden is schade-uitkeringen aan de verzekerde te doen. Het verzekeringsrecht kent voor het antwoord op deze vraag een gecompliceerde systematiek die is gebaseerd op de betekenis van een aantal verzekeringsrechtelijke begrippen, uitleg van polisbepalingen en het beginsel van redelijkheid en billijkheid. Causaliteit neemt in deze systematiek een centrale positie in.The purpose of this dissertation is exploring the role of cause and causation in insurance law (indemnity). Cause and causatiom appear to play a central role in the system of coverage in insurance policies. Coverage and exceptions are formulated in causal wordings. That makes causation in insurance law different from causation in tort law and penal law. Whether or not circumstances are covered or excepted from coverage in insurance policies is a matter of construction of the policies. Despite this notion most insurance law literature has been influenced by socalled theories about causality in tort and penal law (conditio sine qua non, theory of adequacy and reasonable imputation). This dissertation consists of three parts. The first part deals with the meaning of ‘cause’ in the context of insurance policies. This term is, in a rather complex way, connected with several other terms which are, at least in part, typical for insurance law. The term ‘cause’ is compared with the terms ‘uncertain event’ (uncertainty), event, fortuitous event, inherent vice and wear and tear, damage and loss, accident, peril of the sea. There is a tendency to equalize uncertain event and cause. In my opinion these terms must be distinguished. Essential is the definition of ‘cause’ in insurance law, which is derived from a definition given to that term in tort law. Cause is a specific circumstance which differs from the normal course of events/things. This definition is useful because now circumstances which are relevant in a ‘causal’ sense can be separated from circumstances which are not relevant in this way. The second part deals with ‘causation’ as opposed to ‘cause’. To ascertain whether or not there is coverage, it is necessary to make a choice among various causes (covered and excepted) within the meaning of Part I. In case (one of the) parties put(s) forward a certain circumstance as the relevant (proximate) cause but the circumstance is not self-evident the court may put the burden of proof on one of the parties. This burden of proof can be decisive for the judgement. In other cases where several possible causes are known, the judge has to choose. According to Dutch insurance law the interpretation of the contract is decisive for the outcome of this choice. Furthermore several theories of causation are explored. Part three contains the subject ‘obligations of the insured’ (Obliegenheiten according to German law). May the insurer deny indemnification when non fulfillment of the obligations by the insured as stipulated in statute or contract does not have a causal relationship with the loss? Important case law is restricted to two subjects: non-disclosure/misrepresentation and alteration (aggravation) of the risk under the policy/warranties. In two chapters these subjects are described

Codon Usage Heterogeneity in the Multipartite Prokaryote Genome. Selection-Based Coding Bias Associated with Gene Location, Expression Level, and Ancestry

López JL, Lozano MJ, Lagares A, et al. Codon Usage Heterogeneity in the Multipartite Prokaryote Genome. Selection-Based Coding Bias Associated with Gene Location, Expression Level, and Ancestry. mBio. 2019;10(3): e00505-19.Prokaryotes represent an ancestral lineage in the tree of life and constitute optimal resources for investigating the evolution of genomes in unicellular organisms. Many bacterial species possess multipartite genomes offering opportunities to study functional variations among replicons, how and where new genes integrate into a genome, and how genetic information within a lineage becomes encoded and evolves. To analyze these issues, we focused on the model soil bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti, which harbors a chromosome, a chromid (pSymB), a megaplasmid (pSymA), and, in many strains, one or more accessory plasmids. The analysis of several genomes, together with 1.4 Mb of accessory plasmid DNA that we purified and sequenced, revealed clearly different functional profiles associated with each genomic entity. pSymA, in particular, exhibited remarkable interstrain variation and a high density of singletons (unique, exclusive genes) featuring functionalities and modal codon usages that were very similar to those of the plasmidome. All this evidence reinforces the idea of a close relationship between pSymA and the plasmidome. Correspondence analyses revealed that adaptation of codon usages to the translational machinery increased from plasmidome to pSymA to pSymB to chromosome, corresponding as such to the ancestry of each replicon in the lineage. We demonstrated that chromosomal core genes gradually adapted to the translational machinery, reminiscent of observations in several bacterial taxa for genes with high expression levels. Such findings indicate a previously undiscovered codon usage adaptation associated with the chromosomal core information that likely operates to improve bacterial fitness. We present a comprehensive model illustrating the central findings described here, discussed in the context of the changes occurring during the evolution of a multipartite prokaryote genome. IMPORTANCE Bacterial genomes usually include many thousands of genes which are expressed with diverse spatial-temporal patterns and intensities. A well-known evidence is that highly expressed genes, such as the ribosomal and other translation-related proteins (RTRPs), have accommodated their codon usage to optimize translation efficiency and accuracy. Using a bioinformatic approach, we identify core-genes sets with different ancestries, and demonstrate that selection processes that optimize codon usage are not restricted to RTRPs but extended at a genome-wide scale. Such findings highlight, for the first time, a previously undiscovered adaptation strategy associated with the chromosomal-core information. Contrasted with the translationally more adapted genes, singletons (i.e., exclusive genes, including those of the plasmidome) appear as the gene pool with the less-ameliorated codon usage in the lineage. A comprehensive summary describing the inter- and intra-replicon heterogeneity of codon usages in a complex prokaryote genome is presented.</jats:p

EDGAR: A software framework for the comparative analysis of prokaryotic genomes

Blom J, Albaum S, Doppmeier D, et al. EDGAR: a software framework for the comparative analysis of prokaryotic genomes. BMC Bioinformatics. 2009;10(1): 154.Background:The introduction of next generation sequencing approaches has caused a rapid increase in the number of completely sequenced genomes. As one result of this development, it is now feasible to analyze large groups of related genomes in a comparative approach. A main task in comparative genomics is the identification of orthologous genes in different genomes and the classification of genes as core genes or singletons. Results: To support these studies EDGAR – ''Efficient Database framework for comparative Genome Analyses using BLAST score Ratios'' – was developed. EDGAR is designed to automatically perform genome comparisons in a high throughput approach. Comparative analyses for 582 genomes across 75 genus groups taken from the NCBI genomes database were conducted with the software and the results were integrated into an underlying database. To demonstrate a specific application case, we analyzed ten genomes of the bacterial genus Xanthomonas, for which phylogenetic studies were awkward due to divergent taxonomic systems. The resultant phylogeny EDGAR provided was consistent with outcomes from traditional approaches performed recently and moreover, it was possible to root each strain with unprecedented accuracy. Conclusion: EDGAR provides novel analysis features and significantly simplifies the comparative analysis of related genomes. The software supports a quick survey of evolutionary relationships and simplifies the process of obtaining new biological insights into the differential gene content of kindred genomes. Visualization features, like synteny plots or Venn diagrams, are offered to the scientific community through a web-based and therefore platform independent user interface http://edgar.cebitec.uni-bielefeld.de webcite, where the precomputed data sets can be browsed