To Abstain or Not To Abstain: A New Framework for Application of the Abstention Doctrine in International Parallel Proceedings

It is obvious to most that the ties between people and businesses in different countries have increased dramatically in recent years. One of the effects of this globalization of the world’s economies and societies is an increase in international or transnational litigation. As traveling and conducting business across international borders becomes easier and cheaper, and the number of international business transactions increases, so too have the number of lawsuits involving parties and transactions or occurrences from different countries. This development has led to a corresponding increase in the number of lawsuits before United States courts which are similar, or indeed sometimes exactly parallel, to lawsuits pending before foreign courts. This comment argues that federal courts need a single framework for analyzing how to determine whether they should stay or dismiss a proceeding in favor of a concurrent, parallel proceeding in a foreign court

To Abstain or Not To Abstain: A New Framework for Application of the Abstention Doctrine in International Parallel Proceedings

It is obvious to most that the ties between people and businesses in different countries have increased dramatically in recent years. One of the effects of this globalization of the world’s economies and societies is an increase in international or transnational litigation. As traveling and conducting business across international borders becomes easier and cheaper, and the number of international business transactions increases, so too have the number of lawsuits involving parties and transactions or occurrences from different countries. This development has led to a corresponding increase in the number of lawsuits before United States courts which are similar, or indeed sometimes exactly parallel, to lawsuits pending before foreign courts. This comment argues that federal courts need a single framework for analyzing how to determine whether they should stay or dismiss a proceeding in favor of a concurrent, parallel proceeding in a foreign court

Freshwater reptile persistence and conservation in cities:Insights from species occurrence records

Reptiles are rarely included in urban freshwater biodiversity monitoring and conservation. We explored the global persistence of freshwater dependent turtles, lizards, crocodilians and snakes in cities with a population greater than 100,000 using species occurrence data in online databases from a five-year period (2013-2018). We then used ecological niche models to help identify the locations of suitable habitats for three freshwater reptile species in Sydney, Australia. Our Global analysis showed that sightings of a majority of known species of crocodilians and freshwater turtles were recorded in databases within this 5-year period in contrast to about one in three freshwater lizard species and one in ten freshwater snake species and that freshwater reptiles were observed within 50 km of the center of 40% of the 3525 cities. While global databases hold substantial recent species occurrence records for some regions, they contain very little data for large parts of the world. Modelling showed that potential suitable habitat for the three freshwater species in Sydney was distributed across areas with different levels of urban development. The persistence of populations of freshwater reptiles in and around a large proportion of the world's cities show that this group can play an important role in urban biodiversity conservation

Effects of local Joule heating on the reduction of contact resistance between carbon nanotubes and metal electrodes

We report here a practical application of known local Joule heating processes to reduce the contact resistance between carbon nanotubes and metallic electrical contacts. The results presented in this study were obtained from a series of systematic Joule heating experiments on 289 single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and 107 multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Our experimental results demonstrate that the Joule heating process decreases the contact resistances of SWCNTs and MWCNTs to 70.4% and 77.9% of their initial resistances, respectively. The I-V characteristics of metallic nanotubes become more linear and eventually become independent of the gate voltages (Vgs). For semiconducting nanotubes, the contact resistance has a similar decreasing tendency but the dependency of source-drain current (Ids) on Vgs does not change with the Joule heating process. This suggests that the reduction of the contact resistance and the decrease of the transport potential barrier are largely attributed to the thermal-energy-induced desorption of adsorbates such as water and oxygen molecules from the nanotube surface and the interface region, as well as thermal-energy-enhanced bonding between the nanotubes and electrode surfaces. In comparison to several other methods including rapid thermal annealing, e-beam lithography patterning of the top metal layer, and focused ion beam induced metal deposition of the top layer, the Joule heating process not only effectively reduces the contact resistance but also simultaneously measures the resistance and monitors the change in the transport potential barrier at the interface region

Association of Remdesivir Treatment With Mortality Among Hospitalized Adults With COVID-19 in the United States.

IMPORTANCE: SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, poses considerable morbidity and mortality risks. Studies using data collected during routine clinical practice can supplement randomized clinical trials to provide needed evidence, especially during a global pandemic, and can yield markedly larger sample sizes to assess outcomes for important patient subgroups. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association of remdesivir treatment with inpatient mortality among patients with COVID-19 outside of the clinical trial setting. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A retrospective cohort study in US hospitals using health insurance claims data linked to hospital chargemaster data from December 1, 2018, to May 3, 2021, was conducted among 24 856 adults hospitalized between May 1, 2020, and May 3, 2021, with newly diagnosed COVID-19 who received remdesivir and 24 856 propensity score-matched control patients. EXPOSURE: Remdesivir treatment. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: All-cause inpatient mortality within 28 days of the start of remdesivir treatment for the remdesivir-exposed group or the matched index date for the control group. RESULTS: A total of 24 856 remdesivir-exposed patients (12 596 men [50.7%]; mean [SD] age, 66.8 [15.4] years) and 24 856 propensity score-matched control patients (12 621 men [50.8%]; mean [SD] age, 66.8 [15.4] years) were included in the study. Median follow-up was 6 days (IQR, 4-11 days) in the remdesivir group and 5 days (IQR, 2-10 days) in the control group. There were 3557 mortality events (14.3%) in the remdesivir group and 3775 mortality events (15.2%) in the control group. The 28-day mortality rate was 0.5 per person-month in the remdesivir group and 0.6 per person-month in the control group. Remdesivir treatment was associated with a statistically significant 17% reduction in inpatient mortality among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 compared with propensity score-matched control patients (hazard ratio, 0.83 [95% CI, 0.79-0.87]). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this retrospective cohort study using health insurance claims and hospital chargemaster data, remdesivir treatment was associated with a significantly reduced inpatient mortality overall among patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Results of this analysis using data collected during routine clinical practice and state-of-the-art methods complement results from randomized clinical trials. Future areas of research include assessing the association of remdesivir treatment with inpatient mortality during the circulation of different variants and relative to time from symptom onset