Discovery From Non-Parties (Third-Party Discovery) in International Arbitration

International arbitration rules and many arbitration laws usually provide procedures that permit tribunals to order parties to disclose documents and other materials to the other parties.1 More complex are the rules that determine opportunities to obtain discovery from persons that are not party to the arbitration (third-party discovery). This article will review third-party discovery under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and the provisions of the US Code s.1782 that authorise US courts to act in aid of actions before foreign tribunals. Section 1782 has unique interest at this time because it figured prominently in the EU antitrust investigation of Intel that was initiated on request from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Early in that investigation, AMD filed a s.1782 request in the US District Court to obtain evidence from US sources for submission to the DG-Competition of the European Commission (EC). This request ultimately led to the Supreme Court’s decision in Intel Corp v Advanced Micro Devices Inc2 which appeared to significantly expand the scope of s.1782. Ironically, after AMD won on key legal issues in the Supreme Court, the District Court on remand exercised its discretion and denied the request for judicial assistance. This paper first describes the FAA non-party discovery rules and the split among the federal appellate courts concerning the authority of arbitrators to order prehearing discovery from non-parties. Next, it provides an analysis of the meaning of the terms “interested party” and “tribunal”—terms that were controversially interpreted by the Supreme Court in Intel and are essential to the application of s.1782. Finally, it discusses the “discretionary” factors used by the federal courts in deciding whether to grant a s.1782 request even when the statutory criteria are met. The opportunity to exercise this discretion seems to rebut the argument that the Supreme Court’s interpretation of s.1782 gives participants before foreign tribunals more discovery rights in the United States than are available to the parties in arbitrations covered by the FAA

Nb-doped TiO2 air-electrode for advanced Li-air batteries

As new substrate materials to replace a conventional carbon substrate, TiO2 and Nb-doped TiO2 air-electrodes for Li-air batteries were investigated. Through a simple two-step process, we successfully synthesized anatase Nb-doped TiO2 nanoparticles and demonstrated the potential applicability of TiO2-based materials for use in Li-air battery electrode. An air-electrode with Nb-doped TiO2 nanoparticles could deliver a higher discharge capacity than a bare TiO2 electrode due to the enhanced conductivity, which implies the importance of facile electron transport during the discharge process. © 2014 The Ceramic Society of Japan and the Korean Ceramic Society.

Green Tea Consumption and Stomach Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVES: Green tea has been suggested to have a chemopreventive effect against various cancers including stomach cancer. The aim of this study is to elucidate the relationship between green tea consumption and stomach cancer risk by meta-analysis. METHODS: Eighteen observational studies were identified using MEDLINE, THE COCHRANE LIBRARY, RISS, and a manual search. Summary relative risks/odds ratios (RR/ORs) for the highest versus non/lowest green tea consumption levels were calculated on the basis of fixed and random effect models. Subgroup analyses were used to examine heterogeneity across the studies. RESULTS: The combined results indicate a reduced risk of stomach cancer with intake of green tea (RR/OR=0.86, 95% CI=0.74-1.00). Subgroup analysis with six studies that reported differences between the highest and lowest consumption levels equal to or greater than five cups/day revealed a statistically significant protective effect (RR/OR=0.68, 95% CI=0.53-0.87). CONCLUSION: Green tea appears to play a protective role against the development of stomach cancer. The results also suggest that a higher level of green tea consumption might be needed for a clear preventive effect to appear. This conclusion, however, should be interpreted with caution because various biases can affect the results of a meta-analysis.ope

Seed Bio-priming of wheat with a novel bacterial strain to modulate drought stress in Daegu, South Korea

Wheat is one of the major cereal crop grown food worldwide and, therefore, plays has a key role in alleviating the global hunger crisis. The effects of drought stress can reduces crop yields by up to 50% globally. The use of drought-tolerant bacteria for biopriming can improve crop yields by countering the negative effects of drought stress on crop plants. Seed biopriming can reinforce the cellular defense responses to stresses via the stress memory mechanism, that its activates the antioxidant system and induces phytohormone production. In the present study, bacterial strains were isolated from rhizospheric soil taken from around the Artemisia plant at Pohang Beach, located near Daegu, in the South Korea Republic of Korea. Seventy-three isolates were screened for their growth-promoting attributes and biochemical characteristics. Among them, the bacterial strain SH-8 was selected preferred based on its plant growth-promoting bacterial traits, which are as follows: abscisic acid (ABA) concentration = 1.08 ± 0.05 ng/mL, phosphate-solubilizing index = 4.14 ± 0.30, and sucrose production = 0.61 ± 0.13 mg/mL. The novel strain SH-8 demonstrated high tolerance oxidative stress. The antioxidant analysis also showed that SH-8 contained significantly higher levels of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and ascorbic peroxidase (APX). The present study also quantified and determined the effects of biopriming wheat (Triticum aestivum) seeds with the novel strain SH-8. SH-8 was highly effective in enhancing the drought tolerance of bioprimed seeds; their drought tolerance and germination potential (GP) were increased by up to 20% and 60%, respectively, compared with those in the control group. The lowest level of impact caused by drought stress and the highest germination potential, seed vigor index (SVI), and germination energy (GE) (90%, 2160, and 80%, respectively), were recorded for seeds bioprimed with with SH-8. These results show that SH-8 enhances drought stress tolerance by up to 20%. Our study suggests that the novel rhizospheric bacterium SH-8 (gene accession number OM535901) is a valuable biostimulant that improves drought stress tolerance in wheat plants and has the potential to be used as a biofertilizer under drought conditions

X-linked Opitz G/BBB Syndrome: Identification of a Novel Mutation and Prenatal Diagnosis in a Korean Family

X-linked Opitz G/BBB syndrome (XLOS; MIM 300000) is a rare multiple congenital anomaly disorder that is characterized by facial anomalies, laryngeal/tracheal/esophageal defects and genitourinary abnormalities. XLOS is caused by mutations in the MID1 gene which encodes a microtubule-associated RING-Bbox-Coiled-coil (RBCC) protein. We recently found a four-year Korean male patient who was suspected of having XLOS. Mutation analysis of the MID1 gene in the patient and his mother demonstrated that the patient had a novel insertion mutation (c.1798_1799insC), and his mother was a heterozygous carrier of the mutation. After identification of the causative mutation in this family, prenatal diagnosis of two consecutive fetuses were successfully undertaken. This is the first report on a genetically confirmed case of XLOS in Korea

Low roll-off of efficiency at high current density in phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes

The authors demonstrate that the reduction of quantum efficiency with increasing current density in phosphorescent light emitting diodes (PhOLEDs) is related to the formation of excitons in hole transporting layer based on the analysis of emission spectra and exciton formation zone. Low roll-off of efficiency in a PhOLED was achieved using dual emitting layers (D-EMLs) by confining the exciton formation near the interface between the emitting layers. The external quantum efficiency was maintained almost constant up to 22 mA/cm2 (10 000 cd/m2) by adopting the D-EMLs in Ir(ppy)3 based PhOLEDs, resulting in high external quantum efficiency (ext=13.1%) at high luminance.This work was supported by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy of Korea through the OLED center, Samsung SDI, Dongwoo Finechem, and CKC Program

Association of pathway mutation with survival after recurrence in colorectal cancer patients treated with adjuvant fluoropyrimidine and oxaliplatin chemotherapy

Background Although the prognostic biomarkers associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) survival are well known, there are limited data on the association between the molecular characteristics and survival after recurrence (SAR). The purpose of this study was to assess the association between pathway mutations and SAR. Methods Of the 516 patients with stage III or high risk stage II CRC patients treated with surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy, 87 who had distant recurrence were included in the present study. We analyzed the association between SAR and mutations of 40 genes included in the five critical pathways of CRC (WNT, P53, RTK-RAS, TGF-β, and PI3K). Results Mutation of genes within the WNT, P53, RTK-RAS, TGF-β, and PI3K pathways were shown in 69(79.3%), 60(69.0%), 57(65.5%), 21(24.1%), and 19(21.8%) patients, respectively. Patients with TGF-β pathway mutation were younger and had higher incidence of mucinous adenocarcinoma (MAC) histology and microsatellite instability-high. TGF-β pathway mutation (median SAR of 21.6 vs. 44.4 months, p = 0.021) and MAC (20.0 vs. 44.4 months, p = 0.003) were associated with poor SAR, and receiving curative resection after recurrence was associated with favorable SAR (Not reached vs. 23.6 months, p <  0.001). Mutations in genes within other critical pathways were not associated with SAR. When MAC was excluded as a covariate, multivariate analysis revealed TGF-β pathway mutation and curative resection after distant recurrence as an independent prognostic factor for SAR. The impact of TGF-β pathway mutations were predicted using the PROVEAN, SIFT, and PolyPhen-2. Among 25 mutations, 23(92.0%)-24(96.0%) mutations were predicted to be damaging mutation. Conclusions Mutation in genes within TGF-β pathway may have negative prognostic role for SAR in CRC. Other pathway mutations were not associated with SAR.This research was supported by the Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) Research Fund (03–2014-0440) and a grant of the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant number: HI14C1277 and HI13C2163). The funding bodies had no influence on the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript