Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) effects on subchorionic hematoma. Preliminary clinical results

OBJECTIVE: The clinic use of alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) is linked to its capability to exert antioxidant effects and, more interestingly, to counteract the pathologic changes of complex networks of cytokines, chemokines and growth factors, restoring their physiological state. The aim of this randomized controlled clinical trial was to test the contribution of oral supplementation of ALA to the standard treatment with Progesterone vaginal suppositories, in healing subchorionic hematomas in patients with threatened miscarriage. Controls were administered only Progesterone suppositories. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Nineteen pregnant women in the first trimester of gestation, with threatened miscarriage and ultrasound evidence of subchorionic hematoma, were included in the trial and randomly divided in two groups: controls, treated with 400 mg Progesterone (200 mg 2 times per day), given by vaginal suppositories, and case study treated with the same Progesterone dosage, plus ALA, given orally at the dose of 600 mg (300 mg 2 times per day, DAV®, Lo.Li. Pharma srl, Italy). Sixteen patients completed the trial. Treatment was performed until complete resolution of the clinical picture. RESULTS: In both groups, the subjects improved significantly but, in general, a better and faster evolution in the major signs of threatened miscarriage was observed in the subjects treated with ALA and Progesterone. In these patients, the speed of resorption of subchorionic hematoma was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) superior compared to controls. The ALA and Progesterone group showed a faster decrease or disappearance of all symptoms than that observed in the control group, however the difference was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary results suggest that ALA supplementation significantly contributes to speed up the process of restoration of physiological conditions in threatened miscarriage and ameliorates the medical conditions of both the mothers and the foetus, probably modulating the networks of cytokines, growth factors and other molecules

The Politics of the Retail Trade Liberalization Law of the Philippines: An Assessment of the Policymaking for R.A. 8762

The proposal to amend R.A. 1180, otherwise known as the Retail Trade Nationalization Act of 1954, was contentious as the shift from the protectionist to the liberalist mode was considered a drastic policy change. The proponents questioned the effectiveness as well as soundness of the law. They argued that the policy was outmoded, was not in tune with global capitalist development, and resulted in an inefficient industry. In the process, the stakeholders were drawn to two groups, those for liberalizing the retail trade and those for maintaining protectionism in the industry. The contradicting positions led to a passionate debate among the stakeholders and the policy actors. To understand the politics of policy change, several essential factors need to be examined: the context, the stakeholders and the cost-benefit equation, the rationale, the political resources and the concessions, and public perception. All these factors worked together to bring about the enactment of Retail Trade Liberalization Law or R.A. 8762 and the repeal of R.A. 1180. The experience illustrates the complexities of radical policy shift as well as the intricacies of policymaking in the Philippines

The Financial Action Task Force and the Anti–Money Laundering Act of the Philippines: Dynamics between Veto Players and a Nonveto Player in Policymaking

The article is about the dynamics between an international organization and the institutional actors vis-à-vis the policymaking process. It argues that the Anti–Money Laundering Law (AMLA) was exogenously driven, as the policy was instigated purely by external demand and enacted under external pressure. AMLA is considered an imposition of the Paris-based intergovernmental organization the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The swiftness of the enactment of AMLA exemplifies the immense influence that an international financial organization can have on the policy actors as well as on the policymaking process. The policymaking process in this type of institutional engagement—between institutional actors (executive and legislature) within a polity and an international organization—is efficient in producing a policy output. However, the process represents an issue of international override on a state, as a nonveto player dictates to the institutional veto players. This experience supports the global pattern that in issues associated with global financial standards, policymaking will less be shaped by the institutional actors and will extensively be defined by international actors. The making of AMLA presents an archetype of how international organizations can hold sway over the state

Experimental techniques to study structure and thermodynamics at ultra- high temperatures

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Density and excess volume of the liquid Ti–V system measured in electromagnetic levitation

The density of the liquid Ti–V system was systematically measured using the optical dilatometry method in electromagnetic levitation. Possible error sources have been discussed and minimized. A linear temperature dependency with negative slope of the density was found for all investigated alloys. Pure vanadium shows the highest density, pure titanium the lowest with every measured alloy ranging between these two extrema. The molar volume was utilized in order to interpret the compositional density dependency. No significant excess volume was evident. It was therefore shown that the Ti–V system acts like an ideal solution regarding density, molar volume and temperature coefficient. This result allows to reliably calculate the density for the complete Ti–V system at any given temperature

Impact of convection on the damping of an oscillating droplet during viscosity measurement using the ISS-EML facility

Oscillating droplet experiments are conducted using the Electromagnetic Levitation (EML) facility under microgravity conditions. The droplet of molten metal is internally stirred concurrently with the pulse excitation initiating shape oscillations, allowing viscosity measurement of the liquid melts based on the damping rate of the oscillating droplet. We experimentally investigate the impact of convection on the droplet’s damping behavior. The effective viscosity arises and increases as the internal convective flow becomes transitional or turbulent, up to 2–8 times higher than the intrinsic molecular viscosity. The enhanced effective viscosity decays when the stirring has stopped, and an overshoot decay pattern is identified at higher Reynolds numbers, which presents a faster decay rate as the constraint of flow domain size becomes influential. By discriminating the impact of convection on the viscosity results, the intrinsic viscosity can be evaluated with improved measurement accuracy

Surface tension and excess volume of the liquid Ti-V system measured in electromagnetic levitation

Due to their light weight, high strength, increased ductility, large corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility, Ti-based alloys have raised significant interest in recent years. They are ideal candidates for operation under extreme conditions, such as high temperature or aggressive chemical environment. alpha + beta titanium alloys in particular are of high interest for aerospace applications as well as for medical applications, with vanadium being one of the most prominent beta stabilisers. The addition of vanadium can elevate the thermal as well as the corrosive stability of Ti-Al alloys, especially those of lower aluminum content. The fast-growing interest in these alloys requires precise knowledge of thermophysical properties of the liquid phase as input for process optimization, phase calculation and atomic modelling. Density and the molar volume are two of the most fundamental thermophysical properties. The rather high melting temperatures of titanium and vanadium of 1941K (1668°C) and 2183K (1910°C), respectively greatly complicate their measurement using conventional container-based methods. Due to the highly reactive nature of the liquid Ti-V system, a container-less measurement needs to be implemented in order to avoid any reactions of the investigated liquid with existing container walls. In this work the already established optical dilatometry method is used for the density and molar volume determination of the liquid Ti-V system in electromagnetic levitation [1]. So far, there is not yet any model or rule of thumb in order to predict the molar volume of any liquid alloy, its density, its excess volume, or even the sign of the latter. Titanium alloys generally show a strongly non-ideal behavior with regard to their mixing properties, depending on the alloying element [2]. However, it has been shown that liquid alloys consisting of elements with similar electronic configuration, which is the case for titanium and vanadium, seem to exhibit almost ideal behavior with respect to the molar volume [3]. It is therefore especially interesting to investigate, how Ti-V behaves with respect to the molar volume and density. The present work uses electromagnetic levitation in order to containerlessly measure density and thermal expansion of Ti-V as function of both, temperature and composition. Thereupon, the molar volume of the Ti-V system is discussed in relation to existing trends predicting the excess volume of metallic alloys. First data is presented

Psychological Preference of Chinese Students in Learning English as a Foreign Language: Case of Shaanxi Normal University

Students’ outlook in life is an important factor necessary for building a character, and so with creating an optimistic view in schooling as they explore unfamiliar things. In the context of Shaanxi Normal University, communicating with Chinese students using the English language will lead them to the line “Sorry, my English is poor”. This concept paved the way to explore the psychological preference of undergraduate students at Shaanxi Normal University towards learning the English language using quantitative research design. Also, the present study explored whether there is a significant difference in students’ psychological preference towards the English language based on gender, year level, and courses or field of specialization. A modified survey questionnaire aligned to Chinese students’ context was made to describe their ways of studying English. A total of 200 randomly selected students answered a 30-item survey questionnaire from different academic disciplines. Results show that Chinese students have a moderate psychological preference for studying the English language. T-test and one-way ANOVA test results show no significant difference in gender, year level, and academic disciplines. The implication of this study is for EFL teachers to have an idea of the psychological preferences of Chinese students towards learning the art of the English language. In conclusion, Chinese students have a moderate preference for learning the English language. Thus, teachers are recommended to boost the preference of Chinese students to the highest level possible in English classroom instruction for a more productive outcome. Keywords: Psychological preference, English as a Foreign Language (EFL), Classroom instruction DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-35-13 Publication date: December 31st 201

Influence of Surface Tension and Evaporation on Melt Dynamics of Aluminum Alloys for Laser Powder Bed Fusion

One of the most important factors during Laser Powder Bed Fusion is a robust and stable process to generate reproducibly dense and crack-free components with the same homogenous and fine-grained microstructure. Among other factors, surface tension influences the robustness of this process. Three aluminum alloys were investigated by means of 3D laser printing with respect to their ability to form lightweight and high-performance structures. The alloys include two Al-Cr based alloys (Zicromal®: Al-Cr-Zr-Mn, Scancromal®: Al-Cr-Sc-Zr) and an Al-Mg based alloy (Scalmalloy®: Al-Mg-Sc-Mn-Zr). The surface tensions of their liquid melts were measured by means of the oscillating droplet method in electromagnetic levitation. Scalmalloy® exhibited a surface tension that was by 3-8% smaller than the other two alloys, over a temperature range of 500 K above their liquidus temperature; the evaporation analysis showed that Scancromal® exhibits significantly less evaporation compared to the other two alloys by an order of magnitude. During the Laser Powder Bed Fusion process, Scalmalloy® presented the most unstable melt dynamics, and Scancromal® appeared to be more robust and stable with less weld spatters and negligible dust deposition, as evidence from the high-speed video observations. The results support the idea that surface tension and evaporation are potentially crucial factors influencing the melt dynamics and also demonstrate the capability of additive manufacturing that produces customized aluminum alloys for aerospace applications