Conducting Informal Discovery of a Party\u27s Former Employees: Legal and Ethical Concerns and Constraints

This Article identifies and critiques existing sources of confusion in the law and proposes revised and alternative discovery procedures to provide equal access to information possessed by ex-employees, while simultaneously safeguarding the integrity of that information. Its primary emphasis is on federal jurisprudence, although important points of consensus and departure between state and federal law are noted, as appropriate. Part I explains the issues that arise in informal discovery, and the difficulties with clearly resolving those issues given the conflicting state of the law. Part II discusses application of the attorney-client privilege to communications between corporate counsel and former employees, concluding that the privilege should not shield the content of such communications from discovery by opposing counsel. Because the attorney-client privilege issue and the debate over ex parte contact both turn on whether a former employee is a party to the litigation, an exposition of the ethical concerns of ex parte contact follows in Part III, which concludes that ex parte contact by opposing counsel should be allowed. Part IV examines the applicability of the work product doctrine in shielding from discovery certain tangible materials related to the interview. This Article advocates absolute immunity from discovery for attorney notes and memoranda, and for collections of documents selected by counsel for discussion with former employees; limited discovery of signed witness statements generated pursuant to the interview; and fairly broad discovery of the content of counsel\u27s questions and statements during the interview. The proposed discovery guidelines in the Conclusion are offered with the ambitious, if not elusive, goal of reconciling the competing interests and policies that rouse litigants to battle when informal discovery is conducted of former employees, while simultaneously giving due regard to the pragmatic impact that new or revised rules may have on the litigants and the adversarial process. The overriding objective is to provide equal access by all parties to the information possessed by former employees, while at the same time providing mechanisms to deter, and if necessary to reveal, inappropriate manipulation of these potential witnesses by counsel

Prolonged cytotoxic effect of colchicine released from biodegradable microspheres

One the main problems of cancer chemotherapy is the unwanted damage to normal cells caused by the high toxicities of anticancer drugs. Any system of controlled drug delivery that would reduce the total amount of drug required, and thus reduce the side effects, would potentially help to improve chemotherapy. In this respect, biodegradable gelatin microspheres were prepared by water/oil emulsion polymerization and by crosslinking with glutaraldehyde (GTA) as the drug-carrier system. Microspheres were loaded with colchicine, a model antimitotic drug, which was frequently used as an antimitotic agent in cancer research involving cell cultures. Microsphere sizes, swelling and degradation properties, drug-release kinetics, and cytotoxities were studied. Swelling characteristics of microspheres changed upon changing GTA concentration. A decrease in swelling values was recorded as GTA crosslink density was increased. In vitro drug release in PBS (0.01M, pH 7.4) showed rapid colchicine release up to similar to83% (at t = 92 h) for microspheres with low GTA (0.05% v/v), whereas a slower release profile (only similar to39%) was obtained for microspheres with high GTA (0.50% v/v) content, for the same period. Cytotoxicity tests with MCF-7, HeLa and H-82 cancer cell lines showed that free colchicine was very toxic, showing an similar to100% lethal effect in both HeLa and H-82 cell lines and more than 50% decrease in viability in MCF-7 cells in 4 days. Indeed, entrapped colchicine indicated similar initial high toxic effect on cell viability in MCF-7 cell line and this effect became more dominant as colchicine continued to be released from microspheres in the same period. In conclusion, the control of the release rate of colchicine from gelatin microspheres was achieved under in vitro conditions by gelatin through the alteration of crosslinking conditions. Indeed, the results suggested the potential application of gelatin microspheres crosslinked with GTA as a sustained drug-delivery system for anticancer drugs for local chemotherapy administrations. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

A cost-effective and simple culture method for primary hepatocytes

WOS: 000288661400003Hepatocytes, the major epithelial cells of the liver, maintain their morphology in culture dishes coated with extracellular matrix (ECM) components such as collagen and fibronectin or biodegradable polymers (e.g. chitosan, gelatin). In these coated dishes, survival of cells and maintaining of liver-specific functions may increase. The aim of this study was to determine a suitable, cost-effective and simple system for hepatocyte isolation and culture which may be useful for various applications such as in vitro toxicology studies, hepatocyte transplantation and bioartificial liver (BAL) systems. In order to obtain primary cultures, hepatocytes were isolated from liver by an enzymatic method and cultured on plates coated with collagen, chitosan or gelatin. Collagen, gelatin-sandwich and gelatin-cell mixture methods were also evaluated. Morphology and attachment of the cells were observed by inverted microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM). An MTT assay was used to determine cell viability and mitochondrial activity.Ege University Science and Technology Society (EBILTET)Ege University [E18/03/06]The authors received partial support from Ege University Science and Technology Society (EBILTET) under the Project No. E18/03/06. In addition, we are grateful to Assoc. Prof. Seda Vatansever, Dr. Feyzan Ozdal Kurt and Dr. Elgin Turkoz from Celal Bayar University for their help in the study

Case Report - Chondrosarcoma in the forefoot

Chondrosarcoma is a tumour rarely seen in the foot. An 18-year-old male patient visited our clinic with the complaints of swelling and pain in his right foot. On plain radiographs, there were lytic areas in the fifth metatarsal and the fourth and fifth fingers of the right foot. Computerized tomography revealed that there were mass lesions in the fourth and fifth fingers' phalanges, causing a wearing off irregularly limited to adjacent fat plans and hypodense calcifications the fifth metatarsus, occurring destruction in bone. An open biopsy was taken from the region of the lesion under local anaesthesia. Histopathological diagnosis was reported as low-grade chondrosarcoma. We applied ray amputation to the patient under general anaesthesia from the fourth finger disarticulation and the fifth metatarsus. In a 3-year follow-up, no local recurrence and metastasis were observed. The difference of our case from the ones reported in the literature is that the patient was young (18-year-old) and had a lesion involving two different compartments synchronously as localization

Case Report - Chondrosarcoma in the forefoot

Chondrosarcoma is a tumour rarely seen in the foot. An 18-year-old male patient visited our clinic with the complaints of swelling and pain in his right foot. On plain radiographs, there were lytic areas in the fifth metatarsal and the fourth and fifth fingers of the right foot. Computerized tomography revealed that there were mass lesions in the fourth and fifth fingers\u2032 phalanges, causing a wearing off irregularly limited to adjacent fat plans and hypodense calcifications the fifth metatarsus, occurring destruction in bone. An open biopsy was taken from the region of the lesion under local anaesthesia. Histopathological diagnosis was reported as low-grade chondrosarcoma. We applied ray amputation to the patient under general anaesthesia from the fourth finger disarticulation and the fifth metatarsus. In a 3-year follow-up, no local recurrence and metastasis were observed. The difference of our case from the ones reported in the literature is that the patient was young (18-year-old) and had a lesion involving two different compartments synchronously as localization

Semi-IPN Chitosan/PEG Microspheres and Films for Biomedical Applications: Characterization and Sustained Release Optimization

WOS: 000308847100016Micro drug carriers are one of the efficient methods for local or systemic cancer treatment. In this study, the aim was to prepare a novel semi-interpenetrated (semi-IPN) micro system by using biocompatible chitosan (CH) and polyethylene glycol (PEG). Various combinations of the systems were prepared and loaded with a model chemotherapeutic drug, methotrexate (MTX), and the effects of composition on the properties and the release behavior of microspheres were examined. Also, the mechanical and thermal properties were examined on film forms of similar compositions. Increase in cross-linking caused a decrease in particle size of CH from 144 to 91 mu m, while the addition of PEG caused an increase up to 163 mu m. Elastic modulus values of the films first increased and then decreased parallel to PEG content. In vitro studies showed faster MTX release from semi-IPN CH-PEG microspheres as compared to pure CH ones. Promising results were obtained in the development of biodegradable drug vehicles

Comparison of in vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of MMA-based polymeric materials and various metallic materials

WOS: 000285565200011Aim: To determine the in vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of some polymeric and metallic implant materials used as base materials in dentistry, based on ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development) test protocols. Materials and methods: Three different acrylate-based polymeric materials were tested for their in vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity (polymethylmethacrylate microspheres [PMMA], a solid cement prepared by mixing PMMA with its monomer methylmethacrylate [PMMA+MMA], a solid cement prepared by mixing PMMA, MMA, and hydroxyapatite [PMMA+MMA+HA], as wells as 4 different metallic materials (titanium [Ti grade 41, nickel alloy 625 [Ni-625], stainless steel alloy 304L [SS-304L], and stainless steel alloy 321 [SS-321]). Cytotoxic effects of the materials were determined using L929 mouse fibroblasts by MTT assay. Cell attachment properties related to the biocompatibility of the materials were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Genotoxicity of the materials was determined with human peripheral lymphocytes via micronucleus assay. Results: The highest compatibility was exhibited by Ti grade 4, followed by Ni-625, SS-304L and, SS-321. Among the polymeric materials, PMMA+MMA+HA had the highest biocompatibility, followed by PMMA+MMA and PMMA. Conclusion: The biocompatibility of the metallic materials was higher than that of the polymeric materials. Ti, the most inert metal, exhibited the highest biocompatibility. The addition of HA reduced the cytotoxic and mutagenic effects of MMA monomer and leachable ingredients.Ege University, Directorate of Administrative and Financial Affairs, Izmir, TurkeyEge University [05/MUH/40]We thank Profs. Daryush Ila and Satilmis Budak of the Center for Irradiation of Materials, Department of Physics, Alabama University, for providing the metallic materials. This study was partially funded by Ege University, Directorate of Administrative and Financial Affairs (Grant No: 05/MUH/40), Izmir, Turkey