Release of anandamide from blood cells

Background: Endogenous ligands of cannabinoid receptors ( endocannabinoids), in particular anandamide ( arachidonylethanolamide), have been recognized as being of crucial importance in a variety of physiological functions. Plasma concentrations of anandamide have been measured in a number of investigations; however, discrepant data on "normal'' anandamide plasma concentrations were reported. Since this might be caused by pre-analytical variables, we investigated the impact of different sample handling conditions on measured plasma anandamide concentrations. Methods: Blood samples were taken from healthy volunteers in EDTA- or heparin-containing tubes; whole blood samples were kept at +4 degrees C, room temperature, or 37 degrees C, respectively, for up to 120 min before obtaining plasma by centrifugation. Plasma anandamide concentrations were measured by an isotope-dilution liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry ( LC-MS/MS) method. Results: A marked time- and temperature-dependent increase in plasma anandamide concentrations ex vivo was observed in both EDTA- and heparin-containing tubes. Mean anandamide concentrations approximately doubled when EDTA samples were kept at 4 degrees C for 60 min before centrifugation {[}immediately centrifuged, 1.3 mg/L ( SD 0.3 mg/L); 2.8 mg/L ( SD 0.5 mg/L) after storage for 60 min; n=12). After storage of heparinized whole-blood samples for 120 min at 37 degrees C, a mean plasma anandamide concentration of 11.9 mg/L ( SD 1.8 mg/L) was found. In cell-free plasma, no increase in anandamide concentrations was found. Conclusion: Anandamide is released from blood cells ex vivo at a very high rate; therefore, strictly standardized pre-analytical protocols have to be applied for plasma anandamide determination

Bottomed Analog of Z+(4433)

The newly observed $Z^+ (4433)$ resonance by BELLE is believed to be a tetraquark bound state made up of $(cu)(\bar c \bar d)$. We propose the bottomed analog of this bound state, namely, by replacing one of the charm quarks by a bottom quark, thus forming $Z_{bc}^{0, \pm, \pm\pm}$. One of the $Z_{bc}$ is doubly charged. The predicted mass of $Z_{bc}$ is around 7.6 GeV. This doubly-charged bound state can be detected by its decay into $B_c^\pm \pi^\pm$. Similarly, we can also replace both charm quark and antiquark of the $Z^+ (4433)$ by bottom quark and antiquark, respectively, thus forming $Z_{bb}$ the bottomonium analog of $Z^+ (4433)$. The predicted mass of $Z_{bb}$ is about 10.7 GeV.Comment: 5 page

Taiwan strait crises and Chiang Kai-shek\u27s strategic thinking : a perspective from the Taiwan\u27s archive

This paper uses Taiwan\u27s archival documents to reexamine the two Taiwan Strait crises and the characteristics of Chiang Kai-shek\u27s strategic thinking. Section 2 examines the oscillation of U.S. policy concerning the ROC\u27s offensive toward mainland China and the defense of the Da-chen islands before and after the initiation of the First Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1954-1955. Doing so will highlight the contradictory U.S. attitude that contributed to the crisis and weakened its ability to control Chiang. Section 3 focuses on Chiang Kai-shek\u27s strategic vision toward East Asia. In particular, this section focuses on his strategic thinking and tries to assess whether or not he was a "reckless" or "irrational" leader as often described in the previous research on his personality

The Global Financial Crisis: Decoupling of East Asia—Myth or Reality?

The “decoupling” of East Asia from its economic interactions—both in trade and finance—with the rest of the world refers to the phenomenon of a weakening of the impact of demand and supply shocks emanating from the advanced countries on the region’s economic performance since the early 1990s. Available empirical evidence, including the faster recovery of East Asia from the 2008 global economic crisis, does not appear to lend credence to the decoupling thesis. However, with increases in income throughout the region and the three free trade agreements of the People’s Republic of China, Japan, and Korea with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (which have entered into force), East Asia will witness a continuing expansion in intra-regional trade, much of which will consist of horizontal intra-industry trade. At the same time, if East Asia succeeds in instituting an efficient capital control regime and in strengthening the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization, it will be able to cope better with the volatility of capital flows to the region. Together these developments will then help speed up economic integration among ASEAN+3 member states to build a region that is more self-contained than it has been.global economic crisis; decoupling east asia; free trade agreements; intra-regional trade; chiang mai initiative multilateralization

Log mirror symmetry and local mirror symmetry

We study Mirror Symmetry of log Calabi-Yau surfaces. On one hand, we consider the number of ``affine lines'' of each degree in the complement of a smooth cubic in the projective plane. On the other hand, we consider coefficients of a certain expansion of a function obtained from the integrals of dxdy/xy over 2-chains whose boundaries lie on B_\phi where {B_\phi} is a family of smooth cubics. Then, for small degrees, they coincide. We discuss the relation between this phenomenon and local mirror symmetry for projective plane in a Calabi-Yau 3-fold by Chiang-Klemm-Yau-Zaslow.Comment: 6 page

Strong Phases in the Decays B to pi pi

Two sources of strong phases in the decays $B$ to $\pi\pi$ are identified: (1) "quasi-elastic scattering" corresponding to intermediate states like $\pi\pi$ and $\rho\rho$, (2) ``$c\bar{c}$'' corresponding to intermediate states like $D\bar{D}$ and $D^{*}\bar{D}^{*}$. Possibilities of using data to identify these two sources are discussed and illustrated. Present data suggests both sources may be significant.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure