The Qualified Legal Compliance Committee: Using the Attorney Conduct Rules to Restructure the Board of Directors

The Securities and Exchange Commission introduced a new corporate governance structure, the qualified legal compliance committee, as part of the professional standards of conduct for attorneys mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. QLCCs are consistent with the Commission\u27s general approach to improving corporate governance through specialized committees of independent directors. This Article suggests, however, that assessing the benefits and costs of creating QLCCs may be more complex than is initially apparent. Importantly, QLCCs are unlikely to be effective in the absence of incentives for active director monitoring. This Article concludes by considering three ways of increasing these incentives

Past electron-positron g-2 experiments yielded sharpest bound on CPT violation for point particles

In our past experiments on a single electron and positron we measured the cyclotron and spin-cyclotron difference frequencies omega_c and omega_a and the ratios a = omega_a/ omega_c at omega_c = 141 Ghz for e^- and e^+ and later, only for e^-, also at 164 Ghz. Here, we do extract from these data, as had not done before, a new and very different figure of merit for violation of CPT symmetry, one similar to the widely recognized impressive limit |m_Kaon - m_Antikaon|/m_Kaon < 10^-18 for the K-mesons composed of two quarks. That expression may be seen as comparing experimental relativistic masses of particle states before and after the C, P, T operations had transformed particle into antiparticle. Such a similar figure of merit for a non-composite and quite different lepton, found by us from our Delta a = a^- - a^+ data, was even smaller, h_bar |omega_a^- - omega_a^+|/2m_0 c^2 = |Delta a| h_bar omega_c/2m_0 c^2) < 3(12) 10^-22.Comment: Improved content, Editorially approved for publication in PRL, LATEX file, 5 pages, no figures, 16

Analysis of State Laws Permitting Intoxication Exclusions in Insurance Contracts and Their Judicial Enforcement

This Policy Brief reviews judicial decisions construing state laws that permit insurers to include intoxication exclusionary clauses in their insurance policies. The cases and state laws examined in this analysis span health, life, disability, accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D), workers compensation, and unemployment insurance. Some variant of the intoxication exclusionary clause appears across all of these products, depending on the state. The widespread nature of such laws has its roots in the 1947 Uniform Accident and Sickness Policy Provision Law (UPPL), a model statute whose broader public policy purpose was to avoid the use of insurance to protect against the risk of unlawful conduct

development of measures of polyneuropathy impairment in hattr amyloidosis from nis to mnis 7

Abstract Hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (hATTR amyloidosis) is a rare, life-threatening disease, caused by point mutations in the transthyretin gene. It is a heterogeneous, multisystem disease with rapidly progressing polyneuropathy (including sensory, motor, and autonomic impairments) and cardiac dysfunction. Measures used to assess polyneuropathy in other diseases have been tested as endpoints in hATTR amyloidosis clinical trials (i.e. Neuropathy Impairment Score [NIS], NIS-lower limb, and NIS + 7), yet the unique nature of the polyneuropathy in this disease has necessitated modifications to these scales. In particular, the heterogeneous impairment and the aggressive disease course have been key drivers in developing scales that better capture the disease burden and progression of polyneuropathy in hATTR amyloidosis. The modified NIS + 7 (mNIS + 7) scale was specifically designed to assess polyneuropathy impairment in patients with hATTR amyloidosis, and has been the primary endpoint in two recent, phase III studies in this disease. The mNIS + 7 uses highly standardized, quantitative, and referenced assessments to quantify decreased muscle weakness, muscle stretch reflexes, sensory loss, and autonomic impairment. Physicians using this scale in clinical trials should be specifically trained and monitored to minimize variability. This article discusses the different scales that have been/are being used to assess polyneuropathy in patients with hATTR amyloidosis, their correlation with other disease assessments, and reflects on how and why scales have evolved to the latest iteration of mNIS + 7

Polyneuropathy improvement following autologous stem cell transplantation for POEMS syndrome

OBJECTIVE: To study the evolution of the neuropathy and long-term disability in a large cohort of patients with POEMS (polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, M protein, and skin changes) syndrome following autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). METHODS: Retrospective chart review documenting the clinical, electrophysiologic, and laboratory characteristics of patients with POEMS syndrome undergoing ASCT at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. RESULTS: Sixty patients with a median follow-up time of 61 months were studied. All patients had peripheral polyneuropathy and demonstrated neurologic improvement after ASCT (apart from one patient who died early). Before ASCT, 27 patients (45%) required a wheelchair and 17 (29%) required a walker or foot brace. At the end of the follow-up period, no patient was using a wheelchair and 23 patients (38%) were using a foot brace. The median Neuropathy Impairment Score improved from 66 to 48 points at 12 months and to 30 points at most recent follow-up (p < 0.0001). Median Rankin Scale score improved from 3 to 1.5 (p < 0.0001). Vascular endothelial growth factor levels decreased from a median of 452 to 63.5 pg/mL (p < 0.0001). The ulnar compound motor action potential amplitude (median) improved from 4.3 to 7.6 mV (p < 0.0001) and ulnar compound motor action potential conduction velocity (median) improved from 34 to 51 m/s (p < 0.0001). Predicted forced vital capacity improved from 81% to 88% (p < 0.0001). Periengraftment syndrome occurred in 24 patients. Fourteen patients required additional chemotherapy and/or radiation following ASCT, but there was no clinical deterioration in the neuropathy in any of these patients. Six patients died: 1 due to POEMS, 1 due to failed engraftment, and 4 due to other malignancies (2 myelodysplastic syndrome, 1 lymphoma, 1 metastatic lung cancer). CONCLUSION: Patients with POEMS syndrome who undergo ASCT have a significant and meaningful improvement of their neuropathy by multiple measurements during both short and long-term follow-up, which corresponds to reduction in morbidity and disability (none are in wheelchair long-term). Periengraftment syndrome was common but manageable. Fatal complications, although rare, did occur, usually in association with other malignancies. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class IV evidence that for patients with POEMS syndrome, ASCT improves neuropathy-related function

Glucose availability and sensitivity to anoxia of isolated rat peripheral nerve

The contrast between resistance to ischemia and ischemic lesions in peripheral nerves of diabetic patients was explored by in vitro experiments. Isolated and desheathed rat peroneal nerves were incubated in the following solutions with different glucose availability: 1) 25 mM glucose, 2) 2.5 mM glucose, and 3) 2.5 mM glucose plus 10 mM 2-deoxy-D-glucose. Additionally, the buffering power of all of these solutions was modified. Compound nerve action potential (CNAP), extracellular pH, and extracellular potassium activity (aKe) were measured simultaneously before, during, and after a period of 30 min of anoxia. An increase in glucose availability led to a slower decline in CNAP and to a smaller rise in aKe during anoxia. This resistance to anoxia was accompanied by an enhanced extracellular acidosis. Postanoxic recovery of CNAP was always complete in 25 mM HCO3(-)-buffered solutions. In 5 mM HCO3- and in HCO3(-)-free solutions, however, nerves incubated in 25 mM glucose did not recover functionally after anoxia, whereas nerves bathed in solutions 2 or 3 showed a complete restitution of CNAP. We conclude that high glucose availability and low PO2 in the combination with decreased buffering power and/or inhibition of HCO3(-)-dependent pH regulation mechanisms may damage peripheral mammalian nerves due to a pronounced intracellular acidosis

Possible Spontaneous Breaking of Lorentz and CPT Symmetry

One possible ramification of unified theories of nature such as string theory that may underlie the conventional standard model is the possible spontaneous breakdown of Lorentz and CPT symmetry. In this talk, the formalism for inclusion of such effects into a low-energy effective field theory is presented. An extension of the standard model that includes Lorentz- and CPT-breaking terms is developed. The restriction of the standard model extension to the QED sector is then discussed.Comment: Talk presented at Non-Accelerator New Physics, Dubna, Russia, July 199

Completing the bedrock mapping of southern Baffin Island, Nunavut; plutonic suites and regional stratigraphy

This paper summarizes the field observations and initial interpretations following eight weeks of regional and targeted bed- rock mapping on south-central Baffin Island, Nunavut. The 2015 field campaign completes a two-decade mission to update the geoscience knowledge for the whole of Baffin Island south of latitude 70°N. The bedrock in the area is dominated by a Paleoproterozoic metaplutonic suite, ranging in composition from gabbro to syenogranite, with crosscutting relations indi- cating a progression from mafic to silicic magmatism. Phase-equilibria modelling reveals that the prevailing upper-amphi- bolite– to lower-granulite–facies metamorphic conditions overlap the stability limits of magnetite and orthopyroxene for a typical granitoid bulk composition, which is consistent with field observations of the discontinuous presence of both phases throughout the map area. This result is also consistent with regional aeromagnetic data that show complex structures within relatively homogeneous map units, which are primarily attributed to variations in the abundance of magnetite. The granitoid rocks are interpreted as part of the middle Paleoproterozoic Cumberland Batholith. Metasedimentary rocks, including quartzite, pelite, marble and metagreywacke, are present as enclaves and screens within and between plutonic bodies. An examination of the ‘ghost’stratigraphy suggests that the metasedimentary rocks through- out most of the map area can be correlated with the middle Paleoproterozoic Lake Harbour Group, except in the northeast, where the unique presence of greywacke suggests a middle Paleoproterozoic Piling Group affinity. This transition in strata is consistent with the proposal that a middle Paleoproterozoic tectonic suture (the Baffin suture) associated with the Trans- Hudson Orogen runs through Cumberland Sound. Completion of the bedrock mapping in southern Baffin Island indicates that the region offers a world-class exposure of a reworked Paleoproterozoic convergent margin, which affords valuable in- sight into a variety of magmatic and tectonic processes that can be applied to younger collisional belt

International Public Health Research Involving Interpreters: a Case Study from Bangladesh

Background: Cross-cultural and international research are important components of public health research, but the challenges of language barriers and working with interpreters are often overlooked, particularly in the case of qualitative research. Methods: A case-study approach was used to explore experiences of working with an interpreter in Bangladesh as part of a research project investigating women's experiences of emergency obstetric care. The case study: Data from the researcher's field notes provided evidence of experiences in working with an interpreter and show how the model of interviewing was adapted over time to give a more active role to the interpreter. The advantages of a more active role were increased rapport and "flow" in interviews. The disadvantages included reduced control from the researcher's perspective. Some tensions between the researcher and interpreter remained hard to overcome, irrespective of the model used. Independent transcription and translation of the interviews also raised questions around accuracy in translation. Conclusion: The issues examined in this case study have broader implications for public health research. Further work is needed in three areas: 1) developing effective relationships with interpreters; 2) the impact of the interpreter on the research process; and 3) the accuracy of the translation and level of analysis needed in any specific public health research. Finally, this paper highlights the importance to authors of reflecting on the potential impact of translation and interpretation on the research process when disseminating their research