The Impossible Quest – Problems with Diligent Search for Orphan Works

Digital technologies allow unprecedented preservation and sharing of world-wide cultural heritage. Public and private players are increasingly entering the scene with mass digitisation projects that will make this possible. In Europe, legislative action has been taken to allow cultural institutions to include in their online collections copyright works whose owners are either unknown or non-locatable (“orphan works”). However, according to the Orphan Works Directive, cultural institutions must attempt to locate the owner of a work before using it. This is the so-called “diligent search” requirement. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the conditions under which a diligent search can feasibly be carried out. The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Italy, all of which have implemented the Orphan Works Directive, have been selected as case studies. For each jurisdiction, this analysis determines what the requirements for a diligent search to locate copyright holders are, what the authoritative sources and databases to be consulted are in practice and, most importantly, to what extent these are freely accessible online. In doing so, our analysis provides insights into the two main issues affecting cultural heritage institutions: (1) how much legal certainty does the implementation provide, and (2) what is the practical burden of a diligent search. The analysis reveals that the jurisdictions have given different meanings to the term “diligent”. While the UK’s extensive guidance makes it unlikely that a search would not be deemed diligent, the search burden is onerous. On the other hand, Italy and especially the Netherlands have a lighter search burden, but in the absence of clear, definite guidance, the likelihood of accidental infringement by failing to meet the diligence standard is greater. In addition, all three jurisdictions have so far failed to take the accessibility of the sources into account, making the searches even more onerous than the numbers suggest at first sight. Therefore, it will be difficult for cultural institutions to clear the rights for their collections while fully complying with the requirements of the legislation. This article concludes that legislative action, official guidelines, or jurisprudence are needed to establish a different legal value of sources for a diligent search, with various degrees of optionality depending on data relevance and accessibility

Production of volatile compounds by mixed cultures of Pichia guilliermondii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae

During fermentation it was necessary to evaluate the united interactions in the metabolic activity of Saccharomyces cervevisiae x Saccharomyces uvarum (S6u) and Pichia guilliermondii, yeast which was present on the grapes in different proportions at the time of harvest.The results highlight the fact that Pichia guilliermondii strongly influences the fermentation process and the total metabolic result. For this reason, the presence of Pichia guilliermondii which is on the grapes at the time of harvest needs to be evaluated closely due to the fact it is competitive against Saccharomyces and it is important to note a velocity of sugar fermentation which is inferior to Saccharomyces. For optimal regulation of fermentation it is necessary for the technician to detect Pichia guilliermondi presence in musts. The massive presence of Pichia guilliermondii at pressing leads to slowing down or stoppage of fermentation and the production of high concentrations of benzyl alcohol and acetoin; it is therefore important to use healthy grapes at harvest and filtering the must if necessary to reduce the presence of Pichia guilliermondii.

Metabolic activity and interactions between two strains, Saccharomyces cerevisiae r.f. bayanus (SBC2) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae r.f. uvarum (S6u), in pure and mixed culture fermentations

We have studied the metabolic activity of and interactions between two strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae r.f. bayanus (SBC2) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae r.f. uvarum (S6u), fermenting in a synthetic must medium in pure culture, co-inoculation and sequential inoculation. The second strain was added with or without sterile filtration. We monitored the rate of fermentation; at the end, total and viable cells, percentage of each strain, alcohol, volatile acidity, total sulphur dioxide, glycerol, acetaldehyde and volatile compounds were determined. The rate of alcohol production was different during fermentation: at the onset, S6u was faster than SBC2, while lateron it was inverse. When fermentation was stopped simultaneously, S6u showed the highest total cell number when grown in pure culture and the highest percentage of viable cells in mixed culture fermentation. Moreover, S6u produced low amounts of alcohol, but more glycerol and volatile compounds (i.e. 2-phenylethanol, acetates, ethyl esters, and fatty acids) than SBC2. The co-inoculated and the sequentially inoculated sample, in which S6u was the first strain, gave values similar to the pure S6u culture. Hence, we conclude that S6u prevails over SBC2 when both strains ferment in a medium. It seems that sequential inoculation of SBC2 as the second strain is of advantage only with regard to the relatively fast ethanol production.

Tumor infiltrating regulatory t cells in sporadic and colitis-associated colorectal cancer: The red little riding hood and the wolf

Regulatory T cells represent a class of specialized T lymphocytes that suppress unwanted immune responses and size the activation of the immune system whereby limiting collateral damages in tissues involved by inflammation. In cancer, the accumulation of Tregs is generally associated with poor prognosis. Many lines of evidence indicate that Tregs accumulation in the tumor microenvironment (TME) suppresses the immune response against tumor-associated antigens (TAA), thus promoting tumor progression in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSLC), breast carcinoma and melanoma. In colorectal cancer (CRC) the effect of Tregs accumulation is debated. Some reports describe the association of high number of Tregs in CRC stroma with a better prognosis while others failed to find any association. These discordant results stem from the heterogeneity of the immune environment generated in CRC in which anticancer immune response may coexists with tumor promoting inflammation. Moreover, different subsets of Tregs have been identified that may exert different effects on cancer progression depending on tumor stage and their location within the tumor mass. Finally, Tregs phenotypic plasticity may be induced by cytokines released in the TME by dysplastic and other tumor-infiltrating cells thus affecting their functional role in the tumor. Here, we reviewed the recent literature about the role of Tregs in CRC and in colitis-associated colorectal cancer (CAC), where inflammation is the main driver of tumor initiation and progression. We tried to explain when and how Tregs can be considered to be the “good” or the “bad” in the colon carcinogenesis process on the basis of the available data concluding that the final effect of Tregs on sporadic CRC and CAC depends on their localization within the tumor, the subtype of Tregs involved and their phenotypic plasticity

Predictors of exercise capacity in dilated cardiomyopathy with focus on pulmonary venous flow recorded with transesophageal eco-doppler

The aim of this study was to clarify the relative contribution of elevated left ventricle (LV) filling pressure (FP) estimated by pulmonary venous (PV) and mitral flow, transesophageal Doppler recording (TEE), and other extracardiac factors like obesity and renal insufficiency (KI) to exercise capacity (ExC) evaluated by cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPX) in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). During the CPX test, 119 patients (pts) with DCM underwent both peak VO2 consumption and then TEE with color-guided pulsed-wave Doppler recording of PVF and transmitral flow. In 78 patients (65%), peak VO2 was normal or mildly reduced (>14 mL/kg/min) (group 1) while it was markedly reduced (≤14 mL/kg/min) in 41 (group 2). In univariate analysis, systolic fraction (S Fract), a predictor of elevated pre-a LV diastolic FP, appeared to be the best diastolic parameter predicting a significantly reduced peak VO2. Logistic regression analysis identi-fied five parameters yielding a unique, statistically significant contribution in predicting reduced ExC: creatinine clearance < 52 mL/min (odds ratio (OR) = 7.4, p = 0.007); female gender (OR = 7.1, p = 0.004); BMI > 28 (OR = 5.8, p = 0.029), age > 62 years (OR = 5.5, p = 0.03), S Fract < 59% (OR = 4.9, p = 0.02). Conclusion: KI was the strongest predictor of reduced ExC. The other modifiable factors were obesity and severe LV diastolic dysfunction expressed by blunted systolic venous flow. Contrar-ily, LV ejection fraction was not predictive, confirming other previous studies. This has important clinical implications