Internal investigations - legal situation, possible options and legal-political need for action

In June 2018, the German Constitutional Court decided on the search of a law firm and the securing of documents and data in the firm’s premises by the Public Prosecutors’ Office. The Court rejected the respective constitutional complaints and regarded the prosecutions’measures as lawful. The Court’s orders received immense public attention as the constitutional complaints were filed by Volkswagen AG, Jones Day, and the firm’s lawyer in connection with the “diesel emissions scandal”. Besides, the orders were discussed intensely among legal experts, as the Court severely limited legal privilege in Germany. This article examines the Court’s orders and its consequences, in particular with regard to internal investigations. In addition, the authors draw a comparison with legal privilege under U.S. law and discuss possible options to avoid extensive disclosure of documents and data. Finally, they demand legislative action and request the legislator to provide adequate safeguards for internal investigations

Recent advances in drug discovery for diabetic kidney disease

Introduction: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and 40% of patients with diabetes develop DKD. Although some pathophysiological mechanisms and drug targets of DKD have been described, the effectiveness or clinical usefulness of such treatment has not been well validated. Therefore, searching for new targets and potential therapeutic candidates has become an emerging research area. Areas covered: The pathophysiological mechanisms, new drug targets and potential therapeutic compounds for DKD are addressed in this review. Expert opinion: Although preclinical and clinical evidence has shown some positive results for controlling DKD progression, treatment regimens have not been well developed to reduce the mortality in patients with DKD globally. Therefore, the discovery of new therapeutic targets and effective target-based drugs to achieve better and safe treatment are urgently required. Preclinical screening and clinical trials for such drugs are needed

Living with a diagnosis of behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia: The person’s experience.

YesResearch investigating behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia has concentrated on identifying and quantifying people’s difficulties; yet few studies have considered how people with behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia make sense of their difficulties. Five participants were interviewed and interpretive phenomenological analysis used to analyse the data. Two superordinate themes emerged: ‘Bewilderment’ and ‘Relationships with others’. ‘Bewilderment’ reflected the feelings of the participants from the start of their dementia, and was divided into two main themes (1) ‘Awareness of change: What’s the problem? and (2) Threats to self: This is not me. The superordinate theme, ‘Relationships with others’, reflected difficulties with social relationships and comprised two main themes (1) ‘Family and friends: Things haven’t changed… but do I say anything wrong?’ and (2) Coping with threats to self: Blame others or just avoid them. The themes were discussed in relation to literature evaluating the difficulties associated with behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia together with implications for clinical practice

Effect on gastric function and symptoms of drinking wine, black tea, or schnapps with a Swiss cheese fondue: randomised controlled crossover trial

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of drinking white wine or black tea with Swiss cheese fondue followed by a shot of cherry schnapps on gastric emptying, appetite, and abdominal symptoms. DESIGN: Randomised controlled crossover study. PARTICIPANTS: 20 healthy adults (14 men) aged 23-58. INTERVENTIONS: Cheese fondue (3260 kJ, 32% fat) labelled with 150 mg sodium (13)Carbon-octanoate was consumed with 300 ml of white wine (13%, 40 g alcohol) or black tea in randomised order, followed by 20 ml schnapps (40%, 8 g alcohol) or water in randomised order. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cumulative percentage dose of (13)C substrate recovered over four hours (higher values indicate faster gastric emptying) and appetite and dyspeptic symptoms (visual analogue scales). RESULTS: Gastric emptying was significantly faster when fondue was consumed with tea or water than with wine or schnapps (cumulative percentage dose of (13)C recovered 18.1%, 95% confidence interval 15.2% to 20.9% v 7.4%, 4.6% to 10.3%; P<0.001). An inverse dose-response relation between alcohol intake and gastric emptying was evident. Appetite was similar with consumption of wine or tea (difference 0.11, -0.12 to 0.34; P=0.35), but reduced if both wine and schnapps were consumed (difference -0.40, -0.01 to -0.79; P<0.046). No difference in dyspeptic symptoms was present. CONCLUSIONS: Gastric emptying after a Swiss cheese fondue is noticeably slower and appetite suppressed if consumed with higher doses of alcohol. This effect was not associated with dyspeptic symptoms. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00943696

Guiding center picture of magnetoresistance oscillations in rectangular superlattices

We calculate the magneto-resistivities of a two-dimensional electron gas subjected to a lateral superlattice (LSL) of rectangular symmetry within the guiding-center picture, which approximates the classical electron motion as a rapid cyclotron motion around a slowly drifting guiding center. We explicitly evaluate the velocity auto-correlation function along the trajectories of the guiding centers, which are equipotentials of a magnetic-field dependent effective LSL potential. The existence of closed equipotentials may lead to a suppression of the commensurability oscillations, if the mean free path and the LSL modulation potential are large enough. We present numerical and analytical results for this suppression, which allow, in contrast to previous quantum arguments, a classical explanation of similar suppression effects observed experimentally on square-symmetric LSL. Furthermore, for rectangular LSLs of lower symmetry they lead us to predict a strongly anisotropic resistance tensor, with high- and low-resistance directions which can be interchanged by tuning the externally applied magnetic field.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

Planar cyclotron motion in unidirectional superlattices defined by strong magnetic and electric fields: Traces of classical orbits in the energy spectrum

We compare the quantum and the classical description of the two-dimensional motion of electrons subjected to a perpendicular magnetic field and a one-dimensional lateral superlattice defined by spatially periodic magnetic and electric fields of large amplitudes. We explain in detail the complicated energy spectra, consisting of superimposed branches of strong and of weak dispersion, by the correspondence between the respective eigenstates and the ``channeled'' and ``drifting'' orbits of the classical description.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, to appear in Physical Review

Deriving Historical Temperature and Precipitation Time Series For Alaska Climate Divisions Via Climatologically Aided Interpolation

This paper describes the construction of temperature and precipitation time series for climate divisions in Alaska for 1925-2015. Designed for NOAA climate monitoring applications, these new series build upon the divisional data of Bieniek et al. (2014) through the inclusion of additional observing stations, temperature bias adjustments, supplemental temperature elements, and enhanced computational techniques (i.e., climatologically aided interpolation). The new NOAA series are in general agreement with Bieniek et al. (2014), differences being attributable to the underlying methods used to compute divisional averages in each dataset. Trends in minimum temperature are significant in most divisions whereas trends in maximum temperature are generally not significant in the eastern third of the state. Likewise, the statewide rate of warming in minimum temperature (0.158°C dec-1) is roughly 50% larger than that of maximum temperature (0.101 °C dec-1). Trends in precipitation are not significant for most divisions or for the state as a whole