Contract Formation Jurisdiction of the United States Claims Court

This new United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has jurisdiction over appeals in contract and patent infringement cases. The former Court of Claims\u27 trial division has also been replaced with a new United States Claims Court. This court, inter alia, has been invested with the jurisdiction to conduct trials in contract and patent cases. Of particular interest to the government contracting community, is the provision of the Act regarding the contract formation or pre-award jurisdiction of the new Claims Court. The Claims Court has the potential to provide the most effective forum for the resolution of protests against the award of federal government contracts. Early decisions by the Claims Court defining both the court\u27s jurisdiction over pre-award issues and the scope of review in cases found to be within the court\u27s jurisdiction, however, raised substantial fears whether that potential ever would be reached. The March 23, 1983 decision of the new Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in United States v. Grimberg Co. and subsequent Claims Court opinions applying that decision now confirm those fears. Section I looks at the situation in government contracts cases before the creation of the new court. Section II briefly acknowledges the limitations of the former system, and how Congress sought to fix these problems in the Federal Courts Improvement Act. Then Section II turns to discuss the decision in US v. Grimberg

Contract Formation Jurisdiction of the United States Claims Court

This new United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has jurisdiction over appeals in contract and patent infringement cases. The former Court of Claims\u27 trial division has also been replaced with a new United States Claims Court. This court, inter alia, has been invested with the jurisdiction to conduct trials in contract and patent cases. Of particular interest to the government contracting community, is the provision of the Act regarding the contract formation or pre-award jurisdiction of the new Claims Court. The Claims Court has the potential to provide the most effective forum for the resolution of protests against the award of federal government contracts. Early decisions by the Claims Court defining both the court\u27s jurisdiction over pre-award issues and the scope of review in cases found to be within the court\u27s jurisdiction, however, raised substantial fears whether that potential ever would be reached. The March 23, 1983 decision of the new Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in United States v. Grimberg Co. and subsequent Claims Court opinions applying that decision now confirm those fears. Section I looks at the situation in government contracts cases before the creation of the new court. Section II briefly acknowledges the limitations of the former system, and how Congress sought to fix these problems in the Federal Courts Improvement Act. Then Section II turns to discuss the decision in US v. Grimberg

Plant genetic resources for agriculture, plant breeding, and biotechnology: Experiences from Cameroon, Kenya, the Philippines, and Venezuela

"Local farming communities throughout the world face binding productivity constraints, diverse nutritional needs, environmental concerns, and significant economic and financial pressures. Developing countries address these challenges in different ways, including public and private sector investments in plant breeding and other modern tools for genetic crop improvement. In order to measure the impact of any technology and prioritize investments, we must assess the relevant resources, human capacity, clusters, networks and linkages, as well as the institutions performing technological research and development, and the rate of farmer adoption. However, such measures have not been recently assessed, in part due to the lack of complete standardized information on public plant breeding and biotechnology research in developing countries. To tackle this void, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in consultation with the International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI) and other organizations, designed a plant breeding and biotechnology capacity survey for implementation by FAO consultants in 100 developing countries. IFPRI, in collaboration with FAO and national experts contracted by FAO to complete in-country surveys, identified and analyzed plant breeding and biotechnology programs in four developing countries: Cameroon, Kenya, the Philippines, and Venezuela. Here, we use an innovation systems framework to examine the investments in human and financial resources and the distribution of resources among the different programs, as well as the capacity and policy development for agricultural research in the four selected countries. Based on our findings, we present recommendations to help sustain and increase the efficiency of publicly- and privately-funded plant breeding programs, while maximizing the use of genetic resources and developing opportunities for GM crop production. Policy makers, private sector breeders, and other stakeholders can use this information to prioritize investments, consider product advancement, and assess the relative magnitude of the potential risks and benefits of their investments." from Author's Abstractplant breeding, biotechnology, public research, Funding, Innovation systems, Capacity building, Biosafety,

Patient experiences of nurse-facilitated advance care planning in a general practice setting: a qualitative study

Background: Advance care planning (ACP) can offer benefits to patients and their families, especially when delivered in outpatient settings, but uptake remains low. Common barriers for health professionals include a perceived lack of time and adequate training, experience, and confidence in conducting ACP. Patient-reported barriers include a lack of awareness of ACP or discomfort initiating or engaging in discussions about end-of-life. Methods: We aimed to explore patients\u27 perspectives of an ACP intervention designed to address common barriers to uptake in the general practice setting. We provided training and support to doctors and general practice nurses (GPNs) to initiate and lead ACP discussions at their respective practices (2014 to 2015). Following the intervention, we conducted interviews with patients to explore their experience of engaging in ACP in the general practice setting. Thematic analysis was used to inductively code transcripts and identify key themes from semi-structured interviews with patients. Results: Six major themes relating to patient experiences of GPN-facilitated ACP were identified: Working through ideas, therapeutic relationship with nurses, significance of making wishes known, protecting family from burden, autonomy in decision-making, and challenges of family communication. The patients valued the opportunity to speak about issues that are important to them with the GPN who they found to be compassionate and caring. The patients felt that ACP would lead to significant benefits not only to themselves but also for their family. Despite encouragement to involve other family members, most patients attended the ACP discussions alone or as a couple; many did not see the relevance of their family being involved in the discussions. Some patients felt uncomfortable or reluctant in communicating the results of their discussion with their family. Conclusions: With adequate training and support, GPNs are able to initiate and facilitate ACP conversations with patients. Their involvement in ACP can have significant benefits for patients. Psychosocial and relational elements of care are critical to patient satisfaction. Our findings show that some patients may feel uncomfortable or reluctant to communicate the results of their ACP discussions with their family. A future larger study is required to verify the findings of this pilot study

Nitric Oxide-Releasing Nanoparticles Prevent Propionibacterium acnes-Induced Inflammation by Both Clearing the Organism and Inhibiting Microbial Stimulation of the Innate Immune Response.

Propionibacterium acnes induction of IL-1 cytokines through the NLRP3 (NLR, nucleotide oligomerization domain-like receptor) inflammasome was recently highlighted as a dominant etiological factor for acne vulgaris. Therefore, therapeutics targeting both the stimulus and the cascade would be ideal. Nitric oxide (NO), a potent biological messenger, has documented broad-spectrum antimicrobial and immunomodulatory properties. To harness these characteristics to target acne, we used an established nanotechnology capable of generating/releasing NO over time (NO-np). P. acnes was found to be highly sensitive to all concentrations of NO-np tested, although human keratinocyte, monocyte, and embryonic zebra fish assays revealed no cytotoxicity. NO-np significantly suppressed IL-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), IL-8, and IL-6 from human monocytes, and IL-8 and IL-6 from human keratinocytes, respectively. Importantly, silencing of NLRP3 expression by small interfering RNA did not limit NO-np inhibition of IL-1 β secretion from monocytes, and neither TNF-α nor IL-6 secretion, nor inhibition by NO-np was found to be dependent on this pathway. The observed mechanism by which NO-np impacts IL-1β secretion was through inhibition of caspase-1 and IL-1β gene expression. Together, these data suggest that NO-np can effectively prevent P. acnes-induced inflammation by both clearing the organism and inhibiting microbial stimulation of the innate immune response