Discovery From Non-Parties (Third-Party Discovery) in International Arbitration

International arbitration rules and many arbitration laws usually provide procedures that permit tribunals to order parties to disclose documents and other materials to the other parties.1 More complex are the rules that determine opportunities to obtain discovery from persons that are not party to the arbitration (third-party discovery). This article will review third-party discovery under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and the provisions of the US Code s.1782 that authorise US courts to act in aid of actions before foreign tribunals. Section 1782 has unique interest at this time because it figured prominently in the EU antitrust investigation of Intel that was initiated on request from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Early in that investigation, AMD filed a s.1782 request in the US District Court to obtain evidence from US sources for submission to the DG-Competition of the European Commission (EC). This request ultimately led to the Supreme Court’s decision in Intel Corp v Advanced Micro Devices Inc2 which appeared to significantly expand the scope of s.1782. Ironically, after AMD won on key legal issues in the Supreme Court, the District Court on remand exercised its discretion and denied the request for judicial assistance. This paper first describes the FAA non-party discovery rules and the split among the federal appellate courts concerning the authority of arbitrators to order prehearing discovery from non-parties. Next, it provides an analysis of the meaning of the terms “interested party” and “tribunal”—terms that were controversially interpreted by the Supreme Court in Intel and are essential to the application of s.1782. Finally, it discusses the “discretionary” factors used by the federal courts in deciding whether to grant a s.1782 request even when the statutory criteria are met. The opportunity to exercise this discretion seems to rebut the argument that the Supreme Court’s interpretation of s.1782 gives participants before foreign tribunals more discovery rights in the United States than are available to the parties in arbitrations covered by the FAA

The Antiviral Effect of High-Molecular Weight Poly-Gamma-Glutamate against Newcastle Disease Virus on Murine Macrophage Cells

This study demonstrates the capacity of HM-γ-PGA treatment to significantly protect murine macrophage cells (RAW 264.7 cells) against NDV infection. Such protection can be explained by the induction of antiviral state of HM-γ-PGA in RAW 264.7 cells via TLR4-mediated IRF-3, IRF-7, IFN-β, and IFN-related gene induction as shown in time-dependent changes in mRNA expression confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Moreover, the present research also showed that HM-γ-PGA can induce proinflammatory cytokine secretion in RAW 264.7 as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Therefore, our findings suggest that HM-γ-PGA can be a potential antiviral substance that can inhibit NDV infection through its stimulation of antiviral state on RAW 264.7 cells. These results have been consistent with the previous studies showing that HM-γ-PGA can protect RAW 264.7 cells and mice against influenza infection. However, it should be noted that although murine macrophage cells are susceptible to NDV, they are not the natural host cells of the virus; thus further in vivo and in vitro studies involving chicken and chicken immune cells are needed to fully assess the efficacy and applicability of HM-γ-PGA in the poultry industry

Ultrafast Control of Excitonic Rashba Fine Structure by Phonon Coherence in the Metal Halide Perovskite CH3NH3PbI3

We discover hidden Rashba fine structure in CH3NH3PbI3 and demonstrate its quantum control by vibrational coherence through symmetry-selective vibronic (electron-phonon) coupling. Above a critical threshold of a single-cycle terahertz pump field, a Raman phonon mode distinctly modulates the middle excitonic states with persistent coherence for more than ten times longer than the ones on two sides that predominately couple to infrared phonons. These vibronic quantum beats, together with first-principles modeling of phonon periodically modulated Rashba parameters, identify a threefold excitonic fine structure splitting, i.e., optically forbidden, degenerate dark states in between two bright ones with a narrow, similar to 3 nm splitting. Harnessing of vibronic quantum coherence and symmetry inspires light-perovskite quantum control and sub-THz-cycle Rashba engineering of spin-split bands for ultimate multifunction device

Fluoroscopically guided anterior atlantoaxial transarticular screws: a feasibility and trajectory study using CT-based simulation software

Background context : Anterior transarticular screw (ATAS) fixation has been suggested as a viable alternative to posterior stabilization. However, we are not aware of previous reports attempting to establish the usefulness of specific fluoroscopic landmark-guided trajectories in the use of ATAS, and we could find no reference to it in a computerized search using MEDLINE. Purpose : To determine the anatomic feasibility of ATAS placement using defined fluoroscopic landmarks to guide screw trajectory. Study design : Evaluation using three-dimensional screw insertion simulation software and 1.0-mm-interval computed tomographic scans. Patient sample : Computed tomographic scans of 100 patients including 50 men and 50 women. Outcome measures : Incidence of violation of the vertebral artery groove of C1 and C2, the spinal canal, and the atlanto-occipital joint and screw lengths and lengths of C1 and C2 purchase. Methods : Four screw trajectories were determined: promontory screw (PS), single central facet (CF) screw, and medial (MF) and lateral (LF) double facet screws. Placement of a 4.0-mm screw was simulated using defined fluoroscopic landmarks for each trajectory. The previously mentioned outcome measures were evaluated and compared for the four trajectories. This study was not supported by any financial sources, and there is no topic-specific potential conflict of interest with this study. Results : No violation of the C1 or C2 vertebral artery groove or of the spinal canal was observed for any of the screw types. Screw lengths and the length of C2 purchase were by far the longest for PS (40.4 +/- 2.8 and 25.7 +/- 2.1 mm, respectively; p < .001 in all post hoc comparisons). The length of C1 purchase was longer for CF (16.4 +/- 2.3 mm) and LF (15.8 +/- 1.6 mm) than PS (14.7 +/- 2.0 mm) and MF (14.6 +/- 2.4 mm) (p <= .001, respectively). There was no atlanto-occipital joint violation if the length of C1 purchase was set at 12 mm for CF and LF and at 10 mm for PS and MF. Conclusions : Our results suggest that it may be possible to place ATASs without violating the vertebral artery groove, spinal canal, or the atlanto-occipital joint by using the described entry points, trajectories, and fluoroscopic landmarks.OAIID:oai:osos.snu.ac.kr:snu2013-01/102/0000004226/16SEQ:16PERF_CD:SNU2013-01EVAL_ITEM_CD:102USER_ID:0000004226ADJUST_YN:YEMP_ID:A079510DEPT_CD:801CITE_RATE:3.355FILENAME:e058t_padua_fluoroscopically guided anterior atlantoaxial transarticular screws.pdfDEPT_NM:의학과EMAIL:[email protected]_YN:YCONFIRM:

An Antireflective Nanostructure Array Fabricated by Nanosilver Colloidal Lithography on a Silicon Substrate

An alternative method is presented for fabricating an antireflective nanostructure array using nanosilver colloidal lithography. Spin coating was used to produce the multilayered silver nanoparticles, which grew by self-assembly and were transformed into randomly distributed nanosilver islands through the thermodynamic action of dewetting and Oswald ripening. The average size and coverage rate of the islands increased with concentration in the range of 50–90 nm and 40–65%, respectively. The nanosilver islands were critically affected by concentration and spin speed. The effects of these two parameters were investigated, after etching and wet removal of nanosilver residues. The reflection nearly disappeared in the ultraviolet wavelength range and was 17% of the reflection of a bare silicon wafer in the visible range

Complete Chloroplast Genome Sequences of Important Oilseed Crop Sesamum indicum L

Sesamum indicum is an important crop plant species for yielding oil. The complete chloroplast (cp) genome of S. indicum (GenBank acc no. JN637766) is 153,324 bp in length, and has a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions consisting of 25,141 bp each. The lengths of the large single copy (LSC) and the small single copy (SSC) regions are 85,170 bp and 17,872 bp, respectively. Comparative cp DNA sequence analyses of S. indicum with other cp genomes reveal that the genome structure, gene order, gene and intron contents, AT contents, codon usage, and transcription units are similar to the typical angiosperm cp genomes. Nucleotide diversity of the IR region between Sesamum and three other cp genomes is much lower than that of the LSC and SSC regions in both the coding region and noncoding region. As a summary, the regional constraints strongly affect the sequence evolution of the cp genomes, while the functional constraints weakly affect the sequence evolution of cp genomes. Five short inversions associated with short palindromic sequences that form step-loop structures were observed in the chloroplast genome of S. indicum. Twenty-eight different simple sequence repeat loci have been detected in the chloroplast genome of S. indicum. Almost all of the SSR loci were composed of A or T, so this may also contribute to the A-T richness of the cp genome of S. indicum. Seven large repeated loci in the chloroplast genome of S. indicum were also identified and these loci are useful to developing S. indicum-specific cp genome vectors. The complete cp DNA sequences of S. indicum reported in this paper are prerequisite to modifying this important oilseed crop by cp genetic engineering techniques

Crosstalk between Nuclear Factor I-C and Transforming Growth Factor-β1 Signaling Regulates Odontoblast Differentiation and Homeostasis

Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) signaling plays a key role in vertebrate development, homeostasis, and disease. Nuclear factor I-C (NFI-C) has been implicated in TGF-β1 signaling, extracellular matrix gene transcription, and tooth root development. However, the functional relationship between NFI-C and TGF-β1 signaling remains uncharacterized. The purpose of this study was to identify the molecular interactions between NFI-C and TGF-β1 signaling in mouse odontoblasts. Real-time polymerase chain reaction and western analysis demonstrated that NFI-C expression levels were inversely proportional to levels of TGF-β1 signaling molecules during in vitro odontoblast differentiation. Western blot and immunofluorescence results showed that NFI-C was significantly degraded after TGF-β1 addition in odontoblasts, and the formation of the Smad3 complex was essential for NFI-C degradation. Additionally, ubiquitination assay results showed that Smurf1 and Smurf2 induced NFI-C degradation and polyubiquitination in a TGF-β1-dependent manner. Both kinase and in vitro binding assays revealed that the interaction between NFI-C and Smurf1/Smurf2 requires the activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway by TGF-β1. Moreover, degradation of NFI-C induced by TGF-β1 occurred generally in cell types other than odontoblasts in normal human breast epithelial cells. In contrast, NFI-C induced dephosphorylation of p-Smad2/3. These results show that crosstalk between NFI-C and TGF-β1 signaling regulates cell differentiation and homeostatic processes in odontoblasts, which might constitute a common cellular mechanism

Single nucleotide polymorphisms in bone turnover-related genes in Koreans: ethnic differences in linkage disequilibrium and haplotype

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Osteoporosis is defined as the loss of bone mineral density that leads to bone fragility with aging. Population-based case-control studies have identified polymorphisms in many candidate genes that have been associated with bone mass maintenance or osteoporotic fracture. To investigate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are associated with osteoporosis, we examined the genetic variation among Koreans by analyzing 81 genes according to their function in bone formation and resorption during bone remodeling.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We resequenced all the exons, splice junctions and promoter regions of candidate osteoporosis genes using 24 unrelated Korean individuals. Using the common SNPs from our study and the HapMap database, a statistical analysis of deviation in heterozygosity depicted.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We identified 942 variants, including 888 SNPs, 43 insertion/deletion polymorphisms, and 11 microsatellite markers. Of the SNPs, 557 (63%) had been previously identified and 331 (37%) were newly discovered in the Korean population. When compared SNPs in the Korean population with those in HapMap database, 1% (or less) of SNPs in the Japanese and Chinese subpopulations and 20% of those in Caucasian and African subpopulations were significantly differentiated from the Hardy-Weinberg expectations. In addition, an analysis of the genetic diversity showed that there were no significant differences among Korean, Han Chinese and Japanese populations, but African and Caucasian populations were significantly differentiated in selected genes. Nevertheless, in the detailed analysis of genetic properties, the LD and Haplotype block patterns among the five sub-populations were substantially different from one another.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Through the resequencing of 81 osteoporosis candidate genes, 118 unknown SNPs with a minor allele frequency (MAF) > 0.05 were discovered in the Korean population. In addition, using the common SNPs between our study and HapMap, an analysis of genetic diversity and deviation in heterozygosity was performed and the polymorphisms of the above genes among the five populations were substantially differentiated from one another. Further studies of osteoporosis could utilize the polymorphisms identified in our data since they may have important implications for the selection of highly informative SNPs for future association studies.</p