Europa: el camino se hace al andar

El ex primer ministro de Polonia repasa las principales vicisitudes del proceso de construcción europeo y sus nuevos desafíos. En su opinión, la actual crisis económica puede ser tanto un factor de integración como de desintegración política. Por ello es esencial establecer un nuevo contrato político con la ciudadanía basado en el mandato popular, la confianza y la exposición sincera de la situación económica y de las reformas estructurales a emprender. El buen gobierno y el papel de los líderes políticos cobran ahora una dimensión fundamental en el camino por el que debe caminar Europa.Poland's former Prime Minister goes over the main vicissitudes of the European construction process and the new challenges it poses. In his opinion, the current economic crisis could act as a trigger for both political integration and disintegration. It is thus essential to establish a new political contract with the citizens based on popular mandate, confidence, and an honest presentation of the economic situation and of the structural reforms to be put in place. Good governance and the role of political leaders thus acquire an essential dimension with regard to the road to be walked by Europe

Fixational Eye Movements in the Earliest Stage of Metazoan Evolution

All known photoreceptor cells adapt to constant light stimuli, fading the retinal image when exposed to an immobile visual scene. Counter strategies are therefore necessary to prevent blindness, and in mammals this is accomplished by fixational eye movements. Cubomedusae occupy a key position for understanding the evolution of complex visual systems and their eyes are assumedly subject to the same adaptive problems as the vertebrate eye, but lack motor control of their visual system. The morphology of the visual system of cubomedusae ensures a constant orientation of the eyes and a clear division of the visual field, but thereby also a constant retinal image when exposed to stationary visual scenes. Here we show that bell contractions used for swimming in the medusae refresh the retinal image in the upper lens eye of Tripedalia cystophora. This strongly suggests that strategies comparable to fixational eye movements have evolved at the earliest metazoan stage to compensate for the intrinsic property of the photoreceptors. Since the timing and amplitude of the rhopalial movements concur with the spatial and temporal resolution of the eye it circumvents the need for post processing in the central nervous system to remove image blur

Ocular and Extraocular Expression of Opsins in the Rhopalium of Tripedalia cystophora (Cnidaria: Cubozoa)

A growing body of work on the neuroethology of cubozoans is based largely on the capabilities of the photoreceptive tissues, and it is important to determine the molecular basis of their light sensitivity. The cubozoans rely on 24 special purpose eyes to extract specific information from a complex visual scene to guide their behavior in the habitat. The lens eyes are the most studied photoreceptive structures, and the phototransduction in the photoreceptor cells is based on light sensitive opsin molecules. Opsins are photosensitive transmembrane proteins associated with photoreceptors in eyes, and the amino acid sequence of the opsins determines the spectral properties of the photoreceptors. Here we show that two distinct opsins (Tripedalia cystophora-lens eye expressed opsin and Tripedalia cystophora-neuropil expressed opsin, or Tc-leo and Tc-neo) are expressed in the Tripedalia cystophora rhopalium. Quantitative PCR determined the level of expression of the two opsins, and we found Tc-leo to have a higher amount of expression than Tc-neo. In situ hybridization located Tc-leo expression in the retinal photoreceptors of the lens eyes where the opsin is involved in image formation. Tc-neo is expressed in a confined part of the neuropil and is probably involved in extraocular light sensation, presumably in relation to diurnal activity

Diminished production of TWEAK by the peripheral blood mononuclear cells is associated with vascular involvement in patients with systemic sclerosis.

Widespread vasculopathy and profound fibrosis are key features of the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis (SSc). We hypothesized that the TNF-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK), a recently recognized multifunctional cytokine which regulates angiogenesis and tissue remodeling, may play a role in the development of SSc. The production of TWEAK by the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was investigated, by means of ELISA, in 24 SSc patients and 14 healthy subjects. Moreover, production of TWEAK was correlated with clinical features of SSc. PBMC were isolated using density gradient centrifugation on Histopaque and were cultured in FCS supplemented RPMI medium at 37 degrees C under 5% CO2. Production of TWEAK by PBMC was significantly diminished in patients with more severe microvascular damage, as indicated by the presence of "active" capillaroscopic pattern, compared with SSc patients with less pronounced microangiopathy ("slow" pattern), and healthy subjects. Moreover production of TWEAK correlated inversely with duration of Raynaud's phenomenon. PBMC from patients with scleroderma-related interstitial lung disease tended to produce lower amounts of TWEAK compared with SSc patients without lung involvement but the difference was not significant. The results of our study suggest that diminished production of TWEAK might play a role in the pathogenesis of vascular injury in SSc patients. Whether TWEAK may represent a new therapeutic target in SSc requires further studies

Investment strategies and compensation of a mean-variance optimizing fund manager

This paper introduces a general continuous-time mathematical framework for solution of dynamic mean–variance control problems. We obtain theoretical results for two classes of functionals: the first one depends on the whole trajectory of the controlled process and the second one is based on its terminal-time value. These results enable the development of numerical methods for mean–variance problems for a pre-determined risk-aversion coefficient. We apply them to study optimal trading strategies pursued by fund managers in response to various types of compensation schemes. In particular, we examine the effects of continuous monitoring and scheme’s symmetry on trading behavior and fund performance

Mechanical thrombectomy in acute stroke – Five years of experience in Poland

Objectives Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) is not reimbursed by the Polish public health system. We present a description of 5 years of experience with MT in acute stroke in Comprehensive Stroke Centers (CSCs) in Poland. Methods and results We retrospectively analyzed the results of a structured questionnaire from 23 out of 25 identified CSCs and 22 data sets that include 61 clinical, radiological and outcome measures. Results Most of the CSCs (74%) were founded at University Hospitals and most (65.2%) work round the clock. In 78.3% of them, the working teams are composed of neurologists and neuro-radiologists. All CSCs perform CT and angio-CT before MT. In total 586 patients were subjected to MT and data from 531 of them were analyzed. Mean time laps from stroke onset to groin puncture was 250±99min. 90.3% of the studied patients had MT within 6h from stroke onset; 59.3% of them were treated with IV rt-PA prior to MT; 15.1% had IA rt-PA during MT and 4.7% – emergent stenting of a large vessel. M1 of MCA was occluded in 47.8% of cases. The Solitaire device was used in 53% of cases. Successful recanalization (TICI2b–TICI3) was achieved in 64.6% of cases and 53.4% of patients did not experience hemorrhagic transformation. Clinical improvement on discharge was noticed in 53.7% of cases, futile recanalization – in 30.7%, mRS of 0–2 – in 31.4% and mRS of 6 in 22% of cases. Conclusion Our results can help harmonize standards for MT in Poland according to international guidelines

Current Research into Applications of Tomography for Fusion Diagnostics

Retrieving spatial distribution of plasma emissivity from line integrated measurements on tokamaks presents a challenging task due to ill-posedness of the tomography problem and limited number of the lines of sight. Modern methods of plasma tomography therefore implement a-priori information as well as constraints, in particular some form of penalisation of complexity. In this contribution, the current tomography methods under development (Tikhonov regularisation, Bayesian methods and neural networks) are briefly explained taking into account their potential for integration into the fusion reactor diagnostics. In particular, current development of the Minimum Fisher Regularisation method is exemplified with respect to real-time reconstruction capability, combination with spectral unfolding and other prospective tasks

Culture, tradition, and taboo: understanding the social shaping of fuel choices and cooking practices in Nigeria

Wood fuel remains the most widely used domestic fuel amongst resource poor groups in many low-income countries, despite the environmental and health problems associated with exposure to wood smoke. Studies on household air pollution concentrate predominately on socio-economic and behavioural factors and health with little emphasis on socio-cultural factors. The study contributes to the understanding of household air pollution (HAP) and wood fuel harvesting for domestic activities in low-income countries from a cultural perspective that draws on householders’ wood fuel selection and cooking practices in Ado Ekiti, Nigeria. In this paper, we explore how cultural norms influence households’ cooking practices, energy choices and perceptions of the causes of ill health and misfortune. The research draws on household surveys, participant observation and semi-structured interviews with householders of four different ethnic origins in nineteen villages. Key findings reveal low levels of awareness of HAP-related illness coupled with high levels of attachment to traditional biomass-fuelled cooking systems for a range of cultural and pragmatic reasons. It is argued that ‘ethnic-specific’ traditional norms and taboos provide a more important influence on fuel choice, wood fuel harvesting and cooking practices than the lived realities of exposure to household air pollution