Thinking Like a Lawyer, Designing Like an Architect: Preparing Students for the 21st Century Practice

Various law schools—Chicago-Kent Law School, New York Law School, Vermont Law School, and Georgetown Law Center among them—are beginning to offer innovative classes in which students learn to build legal expert systems intended to enhance access to the legal system. Working in platforms that do not require technical expertise, students are able to build apps that incorporate rules-based logic, factor balancing, and mathematical operations to implement the reasoning of a regulatory regime. In this essay, we suggest that teaching students to design apps furthers pedagogic goals associated with the traditional law school curriculum and clinical teaching. In designing legal expert systems, students are required to engage in careful legal analysis and anticipate the problems and questions a typical user will have. Students also need to learn to communicate legal concepts and categories in precise and plain language. Contrary to the traditional law school curriculum, however, which emphasizes case-by-case analysis, in clinics that focus on building legal expert systems, students learn to develop systemic solutions to legal problems. By exposing students to principle of systems design, these classes prepare them for the emerging challenges of 21st century practice

Thinking Like a Lawyer, Designing Like an Architect: Preparing Students for the 21st Century Practice

Various law schools—Chicago-Kent Law School, New York Law School, Vermont Law School, and Georgetown Law Center among them—are beginning to offer innovative classes in which students learn to build legal expert systems intended to enhance access to the legal system. Working in platforms that do not require technical expertise, students are able to build apps that incorporate rules-based logic, factor balancing, and mathematical operations to implement the reasoning of a regulatory regime. In this essay, we suggest that teaching students to design apps furthers pedagogic goals associated with the traditional law school curriculum and clinical teaching. In designing legal expert systems, students are required to engage in careful legal analysis and anticipate the problems and questions a typical user will have. Students also need to learn to communicate legal concepts and categories in precise and plain language. Contrary to the traditional law school curriculum, however, which emphasizes case-by-case analysis, in clinics that focus on building legal expert systems, students learn to develop systemic solutions to legal problems. By exposing students to principle of systems design, these classes prepare them for the emerging challenges of 21st century practice

Patient and physician satisfaction in an observational study with methyl aminolevulinate daylight-photodynamic therapy in the treatment of multiple actinic keratoses of the face and scalp in 6 European countries

BACKGROUND Guidelines recommend treating actinic keratoses (AKs) as they are recognized as precursors of invasive squamous cell carcinoma. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to collect real-world clinical data on the use of methyl aminolevulinate daylight photodynamic therapy (MAL DL-PDT) for the treatment of face and scalp AK in Europe. METHODS A prospective, multicenter, non-interventional study was conducted in six European countries in patients receiving a single treatment of MAL DL-PDT for face and/or scalp AK. Patient-reported outcomes were assessed by patient questionnaires at baseline and at 3 months after treatment, efficacy was assessed at 3 months using a 6-point global improvement scale, and adverse events (AE) were recorded at each visit. RESULTS Overall, 325 patients were enrolled from 52 investigational centres, 314 of whom attended the 3-month visit. Most patients had multiple lesions (58.4% had >10 lesions) with lesions mainly located on the scalp (60.0%) and/or forehead (54.2%). AKs were predominantly grade I (39.4%) or grade II (33.2%), and 10.5% of patients had grade III lesions. The proportions of patients and physicians that were overall satisfied to very satisfied with the MAL DL-PDT treatment were 80.4% and 90.3%, respectively. The vast majority of patients (90.0%) would consider using MAL DL-PDT again if needed. Physician-assessed efficacy at 3 months was at least much improved in 83.5% of patients, with 45.9% of patients requiring no retreatment. Related AEs were reported in 15% of patients. CONCLUSION Use of MAL DL-PDT for multiple face and/or scalp AKs resulted in high levels of patient and physician satisfaction in clinical practice in Europe, reflecting the good efficacy and high tolerability of this convenient procedure

Climate change and cultural resilience in late pre-Columbian Amazonia

The long term response of ancient societies to climate change has been a matter of global debate. Until recently, the lack of integrative studies between archaeological, palaeoecological, and palaeoclimatological data had prevented an evaluation of the relationship between climate change, distinct subsistence strategies, and cultural transformations across the largest rainforest of the world, Amazonia. Here, we review the most relevant cultural changes seen in the archaeological record of six different regions within Greater Amazonia during late pre-Columbian times. We compare the chronology of those cultural transitions with high-resolution regional palaeoclimate proxies, showing that, while some societies faced major reorganisation during periods of climate change, others were unaffected and even flourished. We propose that societies with intensive, specialised land-use systems were vulnerable to transient climate change. In contrast, land-use systems that relied primarily on polyculture agroforestry, resulting in the formation of enriched forests and fertile Amazonian Dark Earths in the long term, were more resilient to climate change

European consensus statement on diagnosis and treatment of adult ADHD: The European Network Adult ADHD.

BACKGROUND: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is among the most common psychiatric disorders of childhood that persists into adulthood in the majority of cases. The evidence on persistence poses several difficulties for adult psychiatry considering the lack of expertise for diagnostic assessment, limited treatment options and patient facilities across Europe. METHODS: The European Network Adult ADHD, founded in 2003, aims to increase awareness of this disorder and improve knowledge and patient care for adults with ADHD across Europe. This Consensus Statement is one of the actions taken by the European Network Adult ADHD in order to support the clinician with research evidence and clinical experience from 18 European countries in which ADHD in adults is recognised and treated. RESULTS: Besides information on the genetics and neurobiology of ADHD, three major questions are addressed in this statement: (1) What is the clinical picture of ADHD in adults? (2) How can ADHD in adults be properly diagnosed? (3) How should ADHD in adults be effectively treated? CONCLUSIONS: ADHD often presents as an impairing lifelong condition in adults, yet it is currently underdiagnosed and treated in many European countries, leading to ineffective treatment and higher costs of illness. Expertise in diagnostic assessment and treatment of ADHD in adults must increase in psychiatry. Instruments for screening and diagnosis of ADHD in adults are available and appropriate treatments exist, although more research is needed in this age group

Evidence confirms an anthropic origin of Amazonian Dark Earths

Archaeology of the America

Evidence confirms an anthropic origin of Amazonian Dark Earths.

Arising from: Silva et al. Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20184-2 (2021

A Congo Basin ethnographic analogue of pre-Columbian Amazonian raised fields shows the ephemeral legacy of organic matter management

The functioning and productivity of pre-Columbian raised fields (RFs) and their role in the development of complex societies in Amazonian savannas remain debated. RF agriculture is conducted today in the Congo Basin, offering an instructive analogue to pre-Columbian RFs in Amazonia. Our study of construction of present-day RFs documents periodic addition of organic matter (OM) during repeated field/fallow cycles. Field investigations of RF profiles supported by spectrophotometry reveal a characteristic stratigraphy. Soil geochemistry indicates that the management of Congo RFs improves soil fertility for a limited time when they are under cultivation, but nutrient availability in fallow RFs differs little from that in uncultivated reference topsoils. Furthermore, examination of soil micromorphology shows that within less than 40 years, bioturbation almost completely removes stratigraphic evidence of repeated OM amendments. If Amazonian RFs were similarly managed, their vestiges would thus be unlikely to show traces of such management centuries after abandonment. These results call into question the hypothesis that the sole purpose of constructing RFs in pre-Columbian Amazonia was drainage