Granting Derivative Standing to a Creditors’ Committee

(Excerpt) A party has “standing” (the right to challenge the conduct of another in court) when that person or entity has suffered an “injury in fact.” “Derivative standing” is when a person or entity other than the harmed party steps in to assert the claim in place of the harmed party. In a case under Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”), a bankruptcy court may grant derivative standing to a creditors’ committee or similar body, rather than the bankruptcy estate itself, to bring a claim on behalf of a debtor’s estate. This often occurs when a debtor or bankruptcy trustee is unwilling or unable to assert the claim itself. Courts support granting derivative standing to a creditors’ committee when doing so will generate value for the estate from litigation recoveries. In 2000, when the Supreme Court of the United States had the opportunity to answer whether granting derivative standing to a creditors’ committee was allowable, the Court did not directly answer the question. There, the Court analyzed section 506(c) of the Bankruptcy Code and denied granting a creditor standing to surcharge collateral. According to the Court, section 506(c) should be read narrowly to apply only to the party listed in the statute, not to other interested parties. Thus, only a trustee could surcharge collateral. However, the Court added that its decision “[did] not address whether a bankruptcy court can allow other interested parties to act in the trustee\u27s stead in pursuing recovery[,]” leaving the question of derivative standing unanswered. The Court’s dicta has led many courts to interpret the Bankruptcy Code broadly. These courts, starting with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, have used a four-part test (laid out in Part I of this Memo) to analyze when to grant derivative standing to a creditors’ committee. Other courts have reasoned, consistent with the holding of Hartford, that the Bankruptcy Code should be narrowly construed to prevent an interested party from asserting standing on behalf of a debtor in possession. This memorandum discusses the justifications accepted by an overwhelming majority of circuits for granting derivative standing in two parts. Part I lays out the requirements for a creditors’ committee seeking to assert derivative standing on a debtor in possession and a breakdown of the most contestable of those requirements. Part II examines bankruptcy courts’ usage of sections 1109(b) and 503(b)(3)(B) to support derivative standing, providing the historical and contextual foundations of these sections. Ultimately, these parts will highlight that most circuits favor granting derivative standing to increase judicial economy, efficiency, and returns for stakeholders and debtors

Alien Registration- Laburge, Milite J. (South Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/20071/thumbnail.jp

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of new small molecule modulators of Arginine methyltransferases

2009 - 2010The methylation of arginine residues is a prevalent post-translational modification, found on both nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins, catalyzed by the protein arginine N-methyltransferase (PRMT) family of enzymes. To date there have been only a few publications describing small-molecule chemical modulators of the PRMTs. In this thesis are report the synthesis of a number of compounds structurally related to arginine methyltransferase inhibitor 1 (AMI-1). The structural alterations that we made included: 1) the substitution of the sulfonic groups with the bioisosteric carboxylic groups; 2) the replacement of the ureidic function with a bisamidic and mixed urea-amidic moiety; 3) the introduction of a N-containing basic moiety; 4) the positional isomerization of the amino- hydroxynaphthoic moiety; and 5) bioisosteric substitution of naphthol with indol. The biological activity of these compounds has been assessed against a panel of arginine methyltransferases (fungal RmtA, hPRMT1, hCARM1, hPRMT3, hPRMT6) and lysine methyltransferase (SET7/9 and G9a) using histone and nonhistone proteins as substrates. Molecular modeling studies for a deep binding-mode analysis of test compounds were also performed. The bis-carboxylic acid derivatives 1b and 7b emerged as the most effective PRMT inhibitors, both in vitro and in vivo, being comparable or even better than the reference compound (AMI-1) and practically inactive against the lysine methyltransferase SET7/9. We also identified 33a as the first powerful and selective activator of CARM-1. Moreover an enantioselective α-amination of aryl oxindoles catalyzed by a dimeric quinidine has been developed. This procedure is general, broad in substrate scope, and affords the desired products in good yields with good to excellent enantioselectivities. [edited by author]IX n.s

Un’ altra implicazione senese per un sonetto di Galeazzo di Tarsia

Nel 1998 Massimo Danzidiede notizia di una redazione fino ad allora sconosciuta del sonetto tarsiano Come in limpido vetro o in onda pura, numero 16 nell’edizione Bozzetti,rinvenuta adespota nel manoscritto I.XI.49 della Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati di Siena entro un gruppo di rime attribuite esplicitamente all’accademico Deserto Antonio Barozzi. Del medesimo Barozzi nella medesima carta (c.27r) del medesimo manoscritto si trova anche un sonetto che il Danzi riproduceva e giudicava, mi ..

International mobility and friendship relationships: Do they contribute to the development of a sense of global citizenship?

The growing changes that have taken place globally over the last decades have revealed how humanity is strongly interconnected and how responsible actions and cooperation between “citizens of the world” are needed to face emerging challenges. The principal aim of this study was to test a model of a process leading from international friendship relationships and mobility experiences through awareness about global issues and interdependency to a sense of global citizenship. Sense of global citizenship has been conceptualized as encompassing identification as a global citizen, sense of global community, and sense of global social responsibility. Data were collected from a sample of 216 Italian students through a self-report questionnaire. Results showed that international friendship relationships (but not international mobility experiences) were associated with global awareness. In turn, global awareness was related to global citizenship identification, sense of global community, and sense of global social responsibility. Our theory-based structural equation model highlighted a complex process leading from international friendship relationships through awareness about global issues and interdependency to a sense of global citizenship.

Measuring transcutaneous bilirubin: a comparative analysis of three devices on a multiracial population

BACKGROUND: Hyperbilirubinemia can lead to potentially irreversible bilirubin-induced neurotoxicity. Transcutaneous bilirubin (TcB) determination has become a valuable aid in non invasive screening of neonatal jaundice. The aim of this study is to compare the performance of three most widespread transcutaneous bilirubinometers on a multiracial population of term and late pre-term neonates. METHODS: Bilirubin concentration was determined using traditional photometric determination and transcutaneously with Bilicheck, BiliMed and JM-103, in random order. Total serum bilirubin (TSB) was determined over a wide concentration range (15,8–0,7 mg/dl) with a mean of 9,5 mg/dl. Related TcB values using Bilicheck (TcB-BC), BiliMed (TcB-BM), and JM-103 (TcB-JM) are reported in Table 1. RESULTS: A multiracial population of 289 neonates was enrolled with a gestational age ranging from 35 to 41 weeks; birth weight ranging from 1800to 4350 grams; hours of life ranging from 4 to 424. In the total study population correlation analysis using Pearson coefficients showed good results for Bilicheck (r = 0.86) and JM-103 (r = 0.85) but poor for BiliMed (r = 0,70). Similar results were found for the non-Caucasian neonates subgroup. Bilicheck and JM-103 had a greater area under the curve than BiliMed when TSB =14 mg/dl was chosen as a threshold value both for the total study population and the non-Caucasian subgroup. CONCLUSIONS: Bilicheck and JM-103, but not BiliMed, are equally reliable screening tools for hyperbilirubinemia in our multiracial neonatal population

Reverse transcriptase inhibition potentiates target therapy in BRAF-mutant melanomas. effects on cell proliferation, apoptosis, DNA-damage, ROS induction and mitochondrial membrane depolarization

Target therapies based on BRAF and MEK inhibitors (MAPKi) have changed the therapeutic landscape for metastatic melanoma patients bearing mutations in the BRAF kinase. However, the emergence of drug resistance imposes the necessity to conceive novel therapeutic strategies capable to achieve a more durable disease control. In the last years, retrotransposons laying in human genome have been shown to undergo activation during tumorigenesis, where they contribute to genomic instability. Their activation can be efficiently controlled with reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs) frequently used in the treatment of AIDS. These drugs have demonstrated anti-proliferative effects in several cancer models, including also metastatic melanoma. However, to our knowledge no previous study investigated the capability of RTIs to mitigate drug resistance to target therapy in BRAF-mutant melanomas. In this short report we show that the non-nucleoside RTI, SPV122 in combination with MAPKi strongly inhibits BRAF-mutant melanoma cell growth, induces apoptosis, and delays the emergence of resistance to target therapy in vitro. Mechanistically, this combination strongly induces DNA double-strand breaks, mitochondrial membrane depolarization and increased ROS levels. Our results shed further light on the molecular activity of RTI in melanoma and pave the way to their use as a novel therapeutic option to improve the efficacy of target therapy. Video Abstract

Modulation of the activity of histone acetyltransferases by long chain alkylidenemalonates (LoCAMs)

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Beam Test of Silicon Strip Sensors for the ZEUS Micro Vertex Detector

For the HERA upgrade, the ZEUS experiment has designed and installed a high precision Micro Vertex Detector (MVD) using single sided micro-strip sensors with capacitive charge division. The sensors have a readout pitch of 120 microns, with five intermediate strips (20 micron strip pitch). An extensive test program has been carried out at the DESY-II testbeam facility. In this paper we describe the setup developed to test the ZEUS MVD sensors and the results obtained on both irradiated and non-irradiated single sided micro-strip detectors with rectangular and trapezoidal geometries. The performances of the sensors coupled to the readout electronics (HELIX chip, version 2.2) have been studied in detail, achieving a good description by a Monte Carlo simulation. Measurements of the position resolution as a function of the angle of incidence are presented, focusing in particular on the comparison between standard and newly developed reconstruction algorithms.Comment: 41 pages, 21 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in NIM

Straightforward, Metal-free, and Stereoselective Synthesis of 9-Oxo- and 10-Hydroxy-2(E)-decenoic acids, Important Components of Honeybee (Apis mellifera) secretions

10-Hydroxy-2E-decenoic (10-HDA) and 9-oxo-2E-decenoic (9-ODA) acids, two components identified in honeybee secretions, have both received considerable recent interest due to their involvement in caste switch and maintenance. Herein we report for the first time a metal-free, gram scale, and stereoselective synthesis of these honeybee secretion components by TEMPO catalyzed oxidation of readily available alcohols and subsequent Doebner–Knoevenagel reactions between the resulting aldehydes and malonic acid. Mechanistic investigations undertaken highlighted the crucial role of the Doebner–Knoevenagel reaction in the high yielding and selective preparation of the α,β-unsaturated acids 10-HDA and 9-ODA. The combination of inexpensive and environmentally friendly reagents with simple synthetic procedures renders this approach a valuable green strategy for the gram scale preparation of these biologically relevant natural molecules