317 research outputs found

    The early Japanese translations of Sigmund Freud's works an annotated list /

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    European Paediatric Formulation Initiative workshop report: Improving the administration of oral liquid medicines in paediatrics using dosing syringes and enteral accessories

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    Accurate dosing of the right medicine to the right patient is a key element of safe and efficacious pharmacotherapy, yet prone to technical challenges and human error when dosing involves the administration of small volumes of liquid medicines. For this reason, the topic has gained increased attention over the last decade from multiple stakeholder parties e.g. academia, hospital pharmacy, the medical device and pharmaceutical industry, and regulatory agencies. It is now well acknowledged that spoons and cups are not suitable for the measurement of small volumes of oral liquid medicines and that syringes are a better alternative, but syringes for parenteral use should not be used for oral dosing in order to avoid accidental parenteral delivery of oral products. However, dosing accuracy of very small volumes of liquid medicines to young children, and especially pre-term neonates, is still not sufficiently ensured. A workshop was organised in 2018 by the European Paediatric Formulation Initiative to reflect on current status and challenges (first part) and possible strategies to improve the present situation (second part). A voting system (n = 24) was used to consider the most favourable solutions. The harmonisation and/or standardisation of the technical design of oral syringes (including e.g. female/male connection) was considered a key priority

    Birmingham’s Eastside story: making steps towards sustainability?

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    Sustainability has come to play a dominant discursive role in the UK planning system, particularly relating to urban regeneration. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the role that sustainability plays in a major regeneration programme, known as Eastside, currently underway in Birmingham, the UK. That this ÂŁ6 billion redevelopment is now widely talked about by such key players as Birmingham City Council and the Regional Development Agency, Advantage West Midlands, as having a central sustainability agenda points to the growing importance of the ideal of sustainability in planning and regeneration agendas. In this paper, we investigate in detail how and why sustainability has become part of the planning discourse for Eastside and critically evaluate what impact, if any, this is having on public policy decision-making

    Germline mutations in MAP3K6 are associated with familial gastric cancer

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    Gastric cancer is among the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. While heritable forms of gastric cancer are relatively rare, identifying the genes responsible for such cases can inform diagnosis and treatment for both hereditary and sporadic cases of gastric cancer. Mutations in the E-cadherin gene, CDH1, account for 40% of the most common form of familial gastric cancer (FGC), hereditary diffuse gastric cancer (HDGC). The genes responsible for the remaining forms of FGC are currently unknown. Here we examined a large family from Maritime Canada with FGC without CDH1 mutations, and identified a germline coding variant (p.P946L) in mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 6 (MAP3K6). Based on conservation, predicted pathogenicity and a known role of the gene in cancer predisposition, MAP3K6 was considered a strong candidate and was investigated further. Screening of an additional 115 unrelated individuals with non-CDH1 FGC identified the p.P946L MAP3K6 variant, as well as four additional coding variants in MAP3K6 (p.F849Sfs*142, p.P958T, p.D200Y and p.V207G). A somatic second-hit variant (p.H506Y) was present in DNA obtained from one of the tumor specimens, and evidence of DNA hypermethylation within the MAP3K6 gene was observed in DNA from the tumor of another affected individual. These findings, together with previous evidence from mouse models that MAP3K6 acts as a tumor suppressor, and studies showing the presence of somatic mutations in MAP3K6 in non-hereditary gastric cancers and gastric cancer cell lines, point towards MAP3K6 variants as a predisposing factor for FGC.The following agencies provided funding for this project: Genome Canada, Genome Atlantic, Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation, Nova Scotia Research and Innovation Trust, Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie Department of Ophthalmology, Health Canada, The Centre for Drug Research and Development, Capital District Health Authority, IWK Health Centre Foundation, Capital Health Research Fund, and The COMPETE/FEDER Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Projects Ref. FCT PTDC/SAU-GMG/110785/2009 and Post-doc grant SFRH/BPD/79499/2011 to HP “financiados no Ăąmbito do Programa Operacional TemĂĄtico Factores de Competitividade (COMPETE) e comparticipado pelo fundo ComunitĂĄrio Europeu FEDER.” MES is supported by the CHU Ste-Justine Centre de Recherche. The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of: the Genome Quebec High Throughput Sequencing Platform; and SĂłnia Sousa and JosĂ© Carlos Machado from the IPATIMUP Diagnostics Unit, Porto, Portugal. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

    Comparing nuclear power trajectories in Germany and the UK: from ‘regimes' to ‘democracies’ in sociotechnical transitions and Discontinuities

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    This paper focuses on arguably the single most striking contrast in contemporary major energy politics in Europe (and even the developed world as a whole): the starkly differing civil nuclear policies of Germany and the UK. Germany is seeking entirely to phase out nuclear power by 2022. Yet the UK advocates a ‘nuclear renaissance’, promoting the most ambitious new nuclear construction programme in Western Europe.Here,this paper poses a simple yet quite fundamental question: what are the particular divergent conditions most strongly implicated in the contrasting developments in these two countries. With nuclear playing such an iconic role in historical discussions over technological continuity and transformation, answering this may assist in wider understandings of sociotechnical incumbency and discontinuity in the burgeoning field of‘sustainability transitions’. To this end, an ‘abductive’ approach is taken: deploying nine potentially relevant criteria for understanding the different directions pursued in Germany and the UK. Together constituted by 30 parameters spanning literatures related to socio-technical regimes in general as well as nuclear technology in particular, the criteria are divided into those that are ‘internal’ and ‘external’ to the ‘focal regime configuration’ of nuclear power and associated ‘challenger technologies’ like renewables. It is ‘internal’ criteria that are emphasised in conventional sociotechnical regime theory, with ‘external’ criteria relatively less well explored. Asking under each criterion whether attempted discontinuation of nuclear power would be more likely in Germany or the UK, a clear picture emerges. ‘Internal’ criteria suggest attempted nuclear discontinuation should be more likely in the UK than in Germany– the reverse of what is occurring. ‘External’ criteria are more aligned with observed dynamics –especially those relating to military nuclear commitments and broader ‘qualities of democracy’. Despite many differences of framing concerning exactly what constitutes ‘democracy’, a rich political science literature on this point is unanimous in characterising Germany more positively than the UK. Although based only on a single case,a potentially important question is nonetheless raised as to whether sociotechnical regime theory might usefully give greater attention to the general importance of various aspects of democracy in constituting conditions for significant technological discontinuities and transformations. If so, the policy implications are significant. A number of important areas are identified for future research, including the roles of diverse understandings and specific aspects of democracy and the particular relevance of military nuclear commitments– whose under-discussion in civil nuclear policy literatures raises its own questions of democratic accountability

    Impacts of selected Ecological Focus Area options in European farmed landscapes on climate regulation and pollination services: a systematic map protocol

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    Background: This systematic map protocol responds to an urgent policy need to evaluate key environmental benefits of new compulsory greening measures in the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), with the aim of building a policy better linked to environmental performance. The systematic map will focus on Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs), in which larger arable farmers must dedicate 5% of their arable land to ecologically beneficial habitats, landscape features and land uses. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre has used a software tool called the ‘EFA calculator’ to inform the European Commission about environmental benefits of EFA implementation. However, there are gaps in the EFA calculator’s coverage of ecosystem services, especially ‘global climate regulation’, and an opportunity to use systematic mapping methods to enhance its capture of evidence, in advance of forthcoming CAP reforms. We describe a method for assembling a database of relevant, peer-reviewed research conducted in all agricultural landscapes in Europe and neighbouring countries with similar biogeography, addressing the primary question: what are the impacts of selected EFA features in agricultural land on two policy-relevant ecosystem service outcomes—global climate regulation and pollination? The method is streamlined to allow results in good time for the current, time-limited opportunity to influence reforms of the CAP greening measures at European and Member State level. Methods: We will search four bibliographic databases in English, using a predefined and tested search string that focuses on a subset of EFA options and ecosystem service outcomes. The options and outcomes are selected as those with particular policy relevance and traction. Only articles in English will be included. We will screen search results at title, abstract and full text levels, recording the number of studies deemed non-relevant (with reasons at full text). A systematic map database that displays the meta-data (i.e. descriptive summary information about settings and methods) of relevant studies will be produced following full text assessment. The systematic map database will be published as a MS-Excel database. The nature and extent of the evidence base will be discussed, and the applicability of methods to convert the available evidence into EFA calculator scores will be assessed

    A Systemic approach to scoping of factors influencing more sustainable land use in Herefordshire

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    Defining and putting into practice sustainable land use is a complex, systemic problem. Systems models and techniques were used in a study of Herefordshire to clarify the situation and identify the potential for a more locally focused, learning-based approach to land use. Issues included: (i) uncertainty about the boundary of a 'system of sustainable Herefordshire land use'; (ii) the complexity of economic flows in the county and the absence of some critical data; (iii) the importance of the Herefordshire landscape to tourism and the role of agriculture as a determinant of the state of that landscape; (iv) weakness of the institutional linkage between tourism and agriculture; (v) the current lack of inclusion of many relevant stakeholders in concerted action. Factors favouring a learning approach included a strong local identity, local food-related developments, and educational initiatives. Barriers to such an approach included questions of power and landholding, government policies, and attitudes and skills within organizations. These findings are considered in relation to the wider debate over approaches to sustainability
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