THE TWOFOLD (INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL) DIMENSION OF EUROPEAN UNION’S MIGRATION AND ASYLUM POLICIES: RECENT CASES AND FUTURE SCENARIOS

European Union’s policies on migration and asylum raise double-ditched problems. In the EU, the latter’s Court stated that in these areas solidarity is a binding principle: consequently, EU Member States must comply with EU decisions assigning quotas of international protection seekers to each EU State. The paper inspects also agreements between, on one hand, EU Member States (or the EU as such) and, on the other, non-EU countries as origin or transit States of international protection seekers with the view of relocating such individuals to those latter countries. This practice raises doubts if latter countries were deemed non-safe states, e.g. in case they weren’t part to 1951 Geneva Convention. These issues are relevant for the development of relations between EU and its member states as well as in the perspective that EU performs its international legal personality in full compliance to international law rules on migration and human rights protection

Waterborne outbreak of Norwalk-like virus gastroenteritis at a tourist resort, Italy.

In July 2000, an outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred at a tourist resort in the Gulf of Taranto in southern Italy. Illness in 344 people, 69 of whom were staff members, met the case definition. Norwalk-like virus (NLV) was found in 22 of 28 stool specimens tested. The source of illness was likely contaminated drinking water, as environmental inspection identified a breakdown in the resort water system and tap water samples were contaminated with fecal bacteria. Attack rates were increased (51.4%) in staff members involved in water sports. Relative risks were significant only for exposure to beach showers and consuming drinks with ice. Although Italy has no surveillance system for nonbacterial gastroenteritis, no outbreak caused by NLV has been described previously in the country

Estudio preliminar sobre la determinacion del sitio de muestreo de raices para estudios nematologicos en banano (Musa AAA Simmonds)

Debido a la poca información existente sobre el sitio más adecuado para la toma de la muestra en estudios nematológicos en el cultivo del banano (Musa AAA Simmnonds), se planeó el presente trabajo con el propósito de lograr establecer la mejor distancia y profundidad a la cual debe hacerse la toma de la muestra, así como para ver si existía alguna relación entre las poblaciones de los géneros y las distancias y profundidades probadas. Con el fin de cumplir con los objetivos propuestos, se procedió a la selección de cinco fincas que actuaron como réplicas de los tratamientos, que consistieron en el uso de dos distancias (d1 y d2 = 25 cm y 75 cm) y cuatro profundidades (pl, p2, p3 y p4 . 20; 30; 40 y 60 cm). En cada finca se sortearon al azar las 8 combinaciones, de suerte que correspondiera por lo menos una de las combinaciones a cada uno de los lotes y se tomaba la planta para la toma de la muestra según el tratamiento indicado en la tarjeta del sorteo. En la rizosfera de la planta recién parida se hacía un hueco de 28 x 28 cm a la profundidad y a la distancia respectiva, de manera que se extraía un volumen de suelo del cual se obtenían todas las raíces, las cuales se empacaban en una bolsa de polietileno, se etiqueteaban y llevaban a una caja de icopor con hielo, para luego trasladarlas al laboratorio. En el laboratorio se procedía a la extracción por el método licuado tamizado y del material colectado en 100 ml de agua se tomaban 2,54 ml (volumen de la cámara) y se analizaban las poblaciones y géneros de nemátodos en cada una de las muestras. Los resultados obtenidos en este trabajo muestran que no hay significación estadística para ninguno de los dos factores, ni para la interacción entre ellos con respecto a la población total, como tampoco la hubo con los géneros por separado; más sin embargo, los datos numéricos de las poblaciones totales nos revelan que el nivel dos de la distancia (d2 = 75 cm) se muestra bastante estable en todas las combinaciones hechas, indicándonos en la práctica que esta es la mejor distancia entre las probadas. En relación con las profundidades, se observa que ninguna de éstas se mantuvo estable con respecto a los géneros, ya que cada uno de ellos tiende a estar ligado con una determinada profundidad, pero el nivel cuatro (p4 =60 cm) mostró cierta estabilidad numérica en la población total. En relación con la población total de nemátodos se observa que, a pesar de no haber diferencia significativa entre combinaciones, si se detecta a p4d2 (60 - 75 cm) como la que dio la más altas densidades poblacionales por unidad de volumen; sin embargo, la combinación pld2 (20 - 75 cm) difiere levemente de la combinación p4d2 (60 - 75 cm), y sería recomendable utilizar p1d2 (20 - 75 cm) por el ahorro de tiempo, de trabajo y porque se le hace menos daño al sistema radical del vegetal

Impacto da adiposidade nos parâmetros imunológicos

Studies evaluating immune function in obese humans and experimental animals indicate that the excess adiposity is associated with impaired in immune responses. Obesity is related to a higher rate of infections and to some types of cancer. Nutritional, metabolic and endocrine factors are implicated in the immunological changes. The adipose tissue directly produces substances with various functions related to immune system. Furthermore, some investigations suggest that certain types of weight reduction strategies can alter the immune function. Nevertheless, long-term studies should be carried out to address whether these changes positively affects the ability of these obese individuals to control infections and tumor development.Estudos acerca da função imunológica em animais experimentais e humanos obesos indicam que o excesso de adiposidade associa-se ao prejuízo da resposta imune. A obesidade está relacionada a uma taxa maior de infecções e a alguns tipos de câncer. Fatores nutricionais, metabólicos e endócrinos estão implicados nessas alterações imunológicas. O próprio tecido adiposo produz diretamente substâncias com várias funções relacionadas ao sistema imune. Além disso, algumas investigações sugerem que certas estratégias para perda de peso podem alterar a função imune. Entretanto, estudos em longo prazo são necessários para avaliar se tais alterações afetam positivamente a capacidade desses pacientes obesos de controlar infecções e desenvolver tumores

Abnormal plasticity of sensorimotor circuits extends beyond the affected body part in focal dystonia

Objective: To test whether abnormal sensorimotor plasticity in focal hand dystonia is a primary abnormality or is merely a consequence of the dystonic posture. Methods: This study used the paired associative stimulation (PAS) paradigm, an experimental intervention, capable of producing long term potentiation (LTP) like changes in the sensorimotor system in humans. PAS involves transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with median nerve stimulation. 10 patients with cranial and cervical dystonia, who showed no dystonic symptoms in the hand, and nine patients with hemifacial spasm (HFS), a non-dystonic condition, were compared with 10 healthy age matched controls. Motor evoked potential amplitudes and cortical silent period (CSP) duration were measured at baseline before PAS and for up to 60 min (T0, T30 and T60) after PAS in the abductor pollicis brevis and the first dorsal interosseus muscles. Results: Patients with dystonia showed a stronger increase in corticospinal excitability than healthy controls and patients with HFS. In addition, patients with dystonia showed a loss of topographical specificity of PAS induced effects, with a facilitation in both the median and ulnar innervated muscles. While PAS conditioning led to a prolonged CSP in healthy controls and patients with HFS, it had no effect on the duration of the CSP in patients with cranial and cervical dystonia. Conclusion: The data suggests that excessive motor cortex plasticity is not restricted to the circuits clinically affected by dystonia but generalises across the entire sensorimotor system, possibly representing an endophenotypic trait of the disease

Circulating microRNAs in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients (pts) treated with regorafenib

Abstract not availabl

Orthogonal U(1)'s, Proton Stability and Extra Dimensions

In models with a low quantum gravity scale, one might expect that all operators consistent with gauge symmetries are present in the low-energy effective theory. If this is the case, some mechanism must be present to adequately suppress operators that violate baryon number. Here we explore the possibility that the desired suppression is a consequence of an additional, spontaneously-broken, non-anomalous U(1) symmetry that is orthogonal to hypercharge. We show that successful models can be constructed in which the additional particle content necessary to cancel anomalies is minimal, and compatible with the constraints from precision electroweak measurements and gauge unification. If unification is sacrificed, and only the new U(1) and its associated Higgs fields live in the bulk, it is possible that the gauge field zero mode and first few Kaluza-Klein excitations lie within the kinematic reach of the Tevatron. For gauge couplings not much smaller than that of hypercharge, we show that these highly leptophobic states could evade detection at Run I, but be discovered at Run II. Our scenario presents an alternative to the `cartographic' solution to baryon number violation in which leptons and quarks are separated in an extra dimension.Comment: 16 pages LaTeX, 4 figure