Foley Hoag (United States)

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics will shift from experimental tools to core operational infrastructure across legal services and luxury hospitality. This editorial insight discusses that the decisive competitive advantage will not come from model novelty, but from system design in terms of how AI is integrated, governed, supervised, and defended under real-world scrutiny. In legal services, courts and ethics regulators have made clear that AI does not dilute professional responsibility; verification, supervision, confidentiality, and candor remain non-negotiable. In luxury hospitality and timeshare, the challenge is parallel but distinct: automation must reduce friction and labor strain without eroding trust, personalization, or brand integrity. The analysis highlights a common convergence across both sectors: the move from AI “copilots” to orchestrated workflows; consolidation around fewer, governed platforms; and the elevation of governance from policy language to daily operations. Agentic systems, voice AI, predictive optimization, and robotics will increasingly execute multi-step tasks, but success will depend on bounded use, auditable outputs, and human-in-the-loop control. Ultimately, the next phase of adoption will reward organizations that treat AI as professional infrastructure such as measurable, defensible, and aligned with ethical and experiential standards rather than as a shortcut for speed or cost alone.

Abstract Disputed maritime areas are often sources of valuable natural resources, but they are also often sources of conflict. It is thus important for investors investing in such areas to know the array of investment protection mechanisms available to them. This article examines four such mechanisms (dispute settlement under international investment agreements (IIAs), dispute settlement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), dispute settlement under contracts, and political risk insurance) in the context of three scenarios of disputed maritime areas (unregulated areas, joint development areas, and provisionally delimited areas). It concludes that dispute settlement under IIAs and UNCLOS face significant obstacles not only on jurisdiction and admissibility, but also on the merits. As a result, the most practical solution for investors is to rely on dispute settlement under contracts or political risk insurance to protect their investments.

Extracellular tumors found with the spermatic cord, known as neoplasms, are usually identified to be benign. However, the accurate and timely diagnosis of spermatic cord masses is highly crucial, especially when most results are often overlooked or unclear. In this review, we discuss the anatomy and embryology of the spermatic cord. Upon rooting these fundamental concepts, we discuss an array of benign and malignant neoplastic tumors, including their origin, pathological features, clinical evaluation and management, as well as other case-specific characteristics of unique presentation. Many of these neoplasms are based on local neurological, vascular, muscular, bone, soft tissue, or lymphatic origin, while others have metastasized from particular areas of the body.

Stress is increasingly associated with adverse cardiac outcomes; however the mechanisms underlying these effects are poorly understood. Glucocorticoids are primary stress hormones that regulate cell and tissue homeostasis through two closely related nuclear receptors, the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). Cardiomyocytes express both these receptors but little is known concerning their coordinated actions in heart physiology and whether an imbalance in their signaling contributes to cardiac disease. Here, we show that patients with failing hearts have a disparity in the relative levels of GR and MR compared to non-failing donor hearts. To examine the in vivo function of glucocorticoid signaling in the heart, we generated mice with cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of GR (cardioGRKO), MR (cardioMRKO), or both GR and MR (cardioGRMRdKO). The cardioMRKO mice exhibited normal heart function whereas the cardioGRKO mice spontaneously developed cardiac hypertrophy and left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Surprisingly, the cardioGRMRdKO mice were protected from the cardiac disease observed for the cardioGRKO mice. At a molecular level, pathological gene changes present in the GR deficient hearts were also found in the double knockout hearts whereas specific cardioprotective gene changes were detected only in hearts from the cardioGRMRdKO mice. Re-installation of MR into the cardioGRMRdKO hearts by adeno-associated virus gene delivery reversed these cardioprotective gene changes and resulted in cardiac dysfunction. These findings reveal critical gene-regulatory roles for both GR and MR in the heart and suggest that an imbalance in these two signaling pathways leads to heart disease. Therapies designed to modulate cardiomyocyte glucocorticoid signaling to favor more GR and less MR activity may provide new approaches for treating the failing heart.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an activity-based work (ABW) office environment on physical activity and sedentary behavior, work ability, and musculoskeletal discomfort. Eighty-eight office workers trialed ABW for 4 weeks. Accelerometer and self-reported outcomes were measured at baseline, end-intervention, and follow-up. Data were analyzed using linear mixed models. Accelerometry measured sedentary time; sedentary breaks and step count did not significantly change from baseline to end-intervention (P = 0.13, 0.09, 0.18, respectively). Self-reported sitting-time was 14% lower, with standing-time and walking 11% and 3% higher in ABW than baseline (P < 0.01 for all). Low back pain was lower in ABW than baseline (odds ratio 2.0, 95% confidence interval 1.1 to 3.7). Work ability reduced from 8.4 to 7.8 points (P < 0.01) at follow-up. ABW environment appears to reduce self-reported sedentary behavior and low back pain and increase standing time.

Invest in what you know." That quotation is frequently attributed to Peter Lynch, the retired Fidelity Magellan fund manager. The myths surrounding Lynch's legendary stock-picking ability often focus on the sudden arrival of profitable insights when he was out shopping or at home with his family.