Curtailing the Arbitrator\u27s Power: Valid Withholding of Jurisdictionor Judicial Flaw

With the movement toward alternative dispute resolution comes the issue of how much freedom arbitrators will be given before the courts will find the arbitrator\u27s rulings to be beyond their jurisdiction. This Note will provide an understanding of the decision in Cobler v. Stanley, Barber, Southard, Brown & Associates, where the court limited the power of the arbitrator. 2 Further, this Note will explain how Cobler is inconsistent with California case law which suggests that great deference shall be given to the power of arbitrators

Privileged Communication Extended to the Corporate Ombudsman-Employee Relationship via Federal Rule of Evidence 501

While there is no universally accepted definition of a corporate ombudsman, many companies view a corporate ombudsman as a neutral manager within a corporation, who may provide informal assistance to both managers and employees in resolving work-related concerns and whose office is located outside of the management structure.2 Serious interest in utilizing a corporate ombudsman did not take a firm hold in the corporate arena until the 1900\u27s.3 Reasons for increased interest in the corporate ombudsman include: an increasingly welleducated employee pool, changing laws and statutes, and stresses associated with huge increases in government contracting.4 Kientzy v. McDonnell Douglas Corp. introduces a new concept into the corporate structure-the ombudsman-employee privilege. 5 In Kientzy, a corporate ombudsman encountered the evidentiary law principle of privileged communication and established another privilege, the ombudsman-employee privilege, which is supported by Federal Rule of Evidence 501.

Gram Negative Wound Infection in Hospitalised Adult Burn Patients-Systematic Review and Metanalysis-

BACKGROUND: Gram negative infection is a major determinant of morbidity and survival. Traditional teaching suggests that burn wound infections in different centres are caused by differing sets of causative organisms. This study established whether Gram-negative burn wound isolates associated to clinical wound infection differ between burn centres. METHODS: Studies investigating adult hospitalised patients (2000-2010) were critically appraised and qualified to a levels of evidence hierarchy. The contribution of bacterial pathogen type, and burn centre to the variance in standardised incidence of Gram-negative burn wound infection was analysed using two-way analysis of variance. PRIMARY FINDINGS: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumanni, Enterobacter spp., Proteus spp. and Escherichia coli emerged as the commonest Gram-negative burn wound pathogens. Individual pathogens' incidence did not differ significantly between burn centres (F (4, 20) = 1.1, p = 0.3797; r2 = 9.84). INTERPRETATION: Gram-negative infections predominate in burn surgery. This study is the first to establish that burn wound infections do not differ significantly between burn centres. It is the first study to report the pathogens responsible for the majority of Gram-negative infections in these patients. Whilst burn wound infection is not exclusive to these bacteria, it is hoped that reporting the presence of this group of common Gram-negative "target organisms" facilitate clinical practice and target research towards a defined clinical demand.peer-reviewe

The bile salt glycocholate induces global changes in gene and protein expression and activates virulence in enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli

Pathogenic bacteria use specific host factors to modulate virulence and stress responses during infection. We found previously that the host factor bile and the bile component glyco-conjugated cholate (NaGCH, sodium glycocholate) upregulate the colonization factor CS5 in enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). To further understand the global regulatory effects of bile and NaGCH, we performed Illumina RNA-Seq and found that crude bile and NaGCH altered the expression of 61 genes in CS5 + CS6 ETEC isolates. The most striking finding was high induction of the CS5 operon (csfA-F), its putative transcription factor csvR, and the putative ETEC virulence factor cexE. iTRAQ-coupled LC-MS/MS proteomic analyses verified induction of the plasmid-borne virulence proteins CS5 and CexE and also showed that NaGCH affected the expression of bacterial membrane proteins. Furthermore, NaGCH induced bacteria to aggregate, increased their adherence to epithelial cells, and reduced their motility. Our results indicate that CS5 + CS6 ETEC use NaGCH present in the small intestine as a signal to initiate colonization of the epithelium

Privileged Communication Extended to the Corporate Ombudsman-Employee Relationship via Federal Rule of Evidence 501

While there is no universally accepted definition of a corporate ombudsman, many companies view a corporate ombudsman as a neutral manager within a corporation, who may provide informal assistance to both managers and employees in resolving work-related concerns and whose office is located outside of the management structure.2 Serious interest in utilizing a corporate ombudsman did not take a firm hold in the corporate arena until the 1900\u27s.3 Reasons for increased interest in the corporate ombudsman include: an increasingly welleducated employee pool, changing laws and statutes, and stresses associated with huge increases in government contracting.4 Kientzy v. McDonnell Douglas Corp. introduces a new concept into the corporate structure-the ombudsman-employee privilege. 5 In Kientzy, a corporate ombudsman encountered the evidentiary law principle of privileged communication and established another privilege, the ombudsman-employee privilege, which is supported by Federal Rule of Evidence 501.