Civil Justice Reform in the United States — Opportunity for Learning from \u27Civilized\u27 European Procedure Instead of Continued Isolation?

This article reports on present and past efforts at civil justice reform in the United States and assesses the opportunities for learning from Continental models. European jurists have long urged that their American colleagues consider using continental approaches in dealing with the serious problems that afflict the American system of civil justice. A few years back, our colleague Kötz noted that If there is a desire to reform American civil procedure, either by making changes within the adversary system or by developing alternative methods of dispute resolution, the Continental experience may be well worth studying

Civil Justice Reform in the United States — Opportunity for Learning from \u27Civilized\u27 European Procedure Instead of Continued Isolation?

This article reports on present and past efforts at civil justice reform in the United States and assesses the opportunities for learning from Continental models. European jurists have long urged that their American colleagues consider using continental approaches in dealing with the serious problems that afflict the American system of civil justice. A few years back, our colleague Kötz noted that If there is a desire to reform American civil procedure, either by making changes within the adversary system or by developing alternative methods of dispute resolution, the Continental experience may be well worth studying

Why Are U.S. Lawyers Not Learning from Comparative Law?

Address the problem of comparative law in the United States. Explains why comparative law matters. Gives reasons why U.S. lawyers are not learning from comparative law. These include lack of skills, lack of institutional supports, and legal structures that resist comparative law and an attitude that comparative law has little to teach

A new model for preclinical testing of dermal substitutes for human skin reconstruction

BACKGROUND: Currently, acellular dermal substitutes used for skin reconstruction are usually covered with split-thickness skin grafts. The goal of this study was to develop an animal model in which such dermal substitutes can be tested under standardized conditions using a bioengineered dermo-epidermal skin graft for coverage. METHODS: Bioengineered grafts consisting of collagen type I hydrogels with incorporated human fibroblasts and human keratinocytes seeded on these gels were produced. Two different dermal substitutes, namely Matriderm(®), and an acellular collagen type I hydrogel, were applied onto full-thickness skin wounds created on the back of immuno-incompetent rats. As control, no dermal substitute was used. As coverage for the dermal substitutes either the bioengineered grafts were used, or, as controls, human split-thickness skin or neonatal rat epidermis were used. Grafts were excised 21 days post-transplantation. Histology and immunofluorescence was performed to investigate survival, epidermis formation, and vascularization of the grafts. RESULTS: The bioengineered grafts survived on all tested dermal substitutes. Epidermis formation and vascularization were comparable to the controls. CONCLUSION: We could successfully use human bioengineered grafts to test different dermal substitutes. This novel model can be used to investigate newly designed dermal substitutes in detail and in a standardized way

Impact of Adaptation Currents on Synchronization of Coupled Exponential Integrate-and-Fire Neurons

The ability of spiking neurons to synchronize their activity in a network depends on the response behavior of these neurons as quantified by the phase response curve (PRC) and on coupling properties. The PRC characterizes the effects of transient inputs on spike timing and can be measured experimentally. Here we use the adaptive exponential integrate-and-fire (aEIF) neuron model to determine how subthreshold and spike-triggered slow adaptation currents shape the PRC. Based on that, we predict how synchrony and phase locked states of coupled neurons change in presence of synaptic delays and unequal coupling strengths. We find that increased subthreshold adaptation currents cause a transition of the PRC from only phase advances to phase advances and delays in response to excitatory perturbations. Increased spike-triggered adaptation currents on the other hand predominantly skew the PRC to the right. Both adaptation induced changes of the PRC are modulated by spike frequency, being more prominent at lower frequencies. Applying phase reduction theory, we show that subthreshold adaptation stabilizes synchrony for pairs of coupled excitatory neurons, while spike-triggered adaptation causes locking with a small phase difference, as long as synaptic heterogeneities are negligible. For inhibitory pairs synchrony is stable and robust against conduction delays, and adaptation can mediate bistability of in-phase and anti-phase locking. We further demonstrate that stable synchrony and bistable in/anti-phase locking of pairs carry over to synchronization and clustering of larger networks. The effects of adaptation in aEIF neurons on PRCs and network dynamics qualitatively reflect those of biophysical adaptation currents in detailed Hodgkin-Huxley-based neurons, which underscores the utility of the aEIF model for investigating the dynamical behavior of networks. Our results suggest neuronal spike frequency adaptation as a mechanism synchronizing low frequency oscillations in local excitatory networks, but indicate that inhibition rather than excitation generates coherent rhythms at higher frequencies

The German National Registry of Primary Immunodeficiencies (2012-2017)

Introduction: The German PID-NET registry was founded in 2009, serving as the first national registry of patients with primary immunodeficiencies (PID) in Germany. It is part of the European Society for Immunodeficiencies (ESID) registry. The primary purpose of the registry is to gather data on the epidemiology, diagnostic delay, diagnosis, and treatment of PIDs. Methods: Clinical and laboratory data was collected from 2,453 patients from 36 German PID centres in an online registry. Data was analysed with the software Stata® and Excel. Results: The minimum prevalence of PID in Germany is 2.72 per 100,000 inhabitants. Among patients aged 1–25, there was a clear predominance of males. The median age of living patients ranged between 7 and 40 years, depending on the respective PID. Predominantly antibody disorders were the most prevalent group with 57% of all 2,453 PID patients (including 728 CVID patients). A gene defect was identified in 36% of patients. Familial cases were observed in 21% of patients. The age of onset for presenting symptoms ranged from birth to late adulthood (range 0–88 years). Presenting symptoms comprised infections (74%) and immune dysregulation (22%). Ninety-three patients were diagnosed without prior clinical symptoms. Regarding the general and clinical diagnostic delay, no PID had undergone a slight decrease within the last decade. However, both, SCID and hyper IgE- syndrome showed a substantial improvement in shortening the time between onset of symptoms and genetic diagnosis. Regarding treatment, 49% of all patients received immunoglobulin G (IgG) substitution (70%—subcutaneous; 29%—intravenous; 1%—unknown). Three-hundred patients underwent at least one hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Five patients had gene therapy. Conclusion: The German PID-NET registry is a precious tool for physicians, researchers, the pharmaceutical industry, politicians, and ultimately the patients, for whom the outcomes will eventually lead to a more timely diagnosis and better treatment

Guttmann / Sotheby's Case Collection 1907-1984 Bulk date: 1984

This collection contains the materials of attorney Ernst C. Stiefel relating to the Alexander Guttmann/Sotheby's case. The case revolved around a 1984 Sotheby's auction of Hebraica from the Lehranstalt für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin that had been brought from Germany to the United States by Guttmann in 1938. The materials include pleadings, clippings, and Stiefel's files.Professor Alexander Guttmann was Hauptdozent at the Lehranstalt für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin. In 1938, he fled to the United States, smuggling with him the most valuable of the Lehranstalt's library books. In the United States, he became a professor at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio.On June 26, 1984, Sotheby's auctioned a lot of rare and valuable Hebrew manuscripts and books, on behalf of an anonymous owner, for over one million dollars. The New York State attorney-general filed suit to block completion of the sale, pending determination of rightful ownership of the materials. The anonymous owner was soon revealed to be Dr. Guttmann, and he admitted that these were the Lehranstalt books he had transported from Germany in 1938. The case hinged on whether Guttmann was given the items as a gift or whether they were simply entrusted to him for safekeeping. In 1985, the case was settled, with those books not publically accessible being recalled from the sale and placed with public institutions. The remaining sales were ratified, and Guttmann received about $900,000.Attorney Ernst C. Stiefel was retained by the State of New York to help investigate the conditions surrounding Guttmann's removal of the books from Germany.Synopsis in fileProcesseddigitize