Space Assurance or Space Dominance? The Case Against Weaponizing Space

Argues that the pursuit of space dominance could impair global commerce, produce long-lasting, environmental debris in space, and harm alliance ties as well as relations between the United States and Russia and China

The Starvation Myth: the U.S. Blockade of Japan in World War II

Though he was one of the first to see its effects, Lewis was not the first to question the decision to use the atomic bomb nor would it be the last. The decision still sits at the center of one of the most debated historical (as well as historiographic) questions. The focus on this episode is justified. This singular event divides the Twentieth Century in numerous ways, but perhaps most relevantly it ends a hot and bloody war, and marks the beginning of a colder conflict. And since we examine the event in the year 2000, we must try to avoid the biases of the post-Cold War era. This paper tries to focus on two different realities: the first is what actually, really happened, the true state of affairs, then secondly the perceptions of that actuality

A New History of India. 6th edition. By Stanley Wolpert. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp. ix, 450. $49.95.)

On May II, 1998, the newly constituted government of India, headed by the Hindunationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), detonated a nuclear device at Pokhran. The same site had been used twenty-four years earlier when Indira Gandhi had done the same thing This time, the world was aghast for a multitude of reasons. This device was detonated to further India's program of nuclear weaponization, whereas Indira's program was for peaceful purposes. Secondly, the decision was made by a Hindu-nationalist party, rather than the secular Congress party. Finally, this nuclear detonation essentially forced the government of Pakistan to respond two weeks later with its own detonation and weaponization. Overnight, "South Asia has thus achieved the dreaded distinction of becoming the world's most perilous region of potential nuclear conflict in the twenty-first century.·(454) A region that still has not resolved long-festering Indo-Pak tensions over Kashmir, that are only exacerbated by religious differences

Dissuasion and Regional Allies: The Case of Pakistan; Strategic Insights, v. 3 issue 10 (October 2004)

This article appeared in Strategic Insights, v.3 issue 10 (October 2004)PROBLEM BITSTREA

Monterey Strategy Seminar: Day 1: Capabilities Based Planning.

Monterey Strategy Seminar: Day 1: Capabilities Based Planning. Day 2: Dissuasion in the U.S. Defense Strategy. Day 3: Global Strike WarfareNaval Postgraduate SchoolCenter for Contemporary Conflict (CCC

Genome-wide screening of mouse knockouts reveals novel genes required for normal integumentary and oculocutaneous structure and function.

Oculocutaneous syndromes are often due to mutations in single genes. In some cases, mouse models for these diseases exist in spontaneously occurring mutations, or in mice resulting from forward mutatagenesis screens. Here we present novel genes that may be causative for oculocutaneous disease in humans, discovered as part of a genome-wide screen of knockout-mice in a targeted single-gene deletion project. The International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC) database (data release 10.0) was interrogated for all mouse strains with integument abnormalities, which were then cross-referenced individually to identify knockouts with concomitant ocular abnormalities attributed to the same targeted gene deletion. The search yielded 307 knockout strains from unique genes with integument abnormalities, 226 of which have not been previously associated with oculocutaneous conditions. Of the 307 knockout strains with integument abnormalities, 52 were determined to have ocular changes attributed to the targeted deletion, 35 of which represent novel oculocutaneous genes. Some examples of various integument abnormalities are shown, as well as two examples of knockout strains with oculocutaneous phenotypes. Each of the novel genes provided here are potentially relevant to the pathophysiology of human integumentary, or oculocutaneous conditions, such as albinism, phakomatoses, or other multi-system syndromes. The novel genes reported here may implicate molecular pathways relevant to these human diseases and may contribute to the discovery of novel therapeutic targets

Positive Surgical Margins in the 10 Most Common Solid Cancers.

A positive surgical margin (PSM) following cancer resection oftentimes necessitates adjuvant treatments and carries significant financial and prognostic implications. We sought to compare PSM rates for the ten most common solid cancers in the United States, and to assess trends over time. Over 10 million patients were identified in the National Cancer Data Base from 1998-2012, and 6.5 million had surgical margin data. PSM rates were compared between two time periods, 1998-2002 and 2008-2012. PSM was positively correlated with tumor category and grade. Ovarian and prostate cancers had the highest PSM prevalence in women and men, respectively. The highest PSM rates for cancers affecting both genders were seen for oral cavity tumors. PSM rates for breast cancer and lung and bronchus cancer in both men and women declined over the study period. PSM increases were seen for bladder, colon and rectum, and kidney and renal pelvis cancers. This large-scale analysis appraises the magnitude of PSM in the United States in order to focus future efforts on improving oncologic surgical care with the goal of optimizing value and improving patient outcomes

Metabolites related to purine catabolism and risk of type 2 diabetes incidence; modifying effects of the TCF7L2-rs7903146 polymorphism.

Studies examining associations between purine metabolites and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are limited. We prospectively examined associations between plasma levels of purine metabolites with T2D risk and the modifying effects of transcription factor-7-like-2 (TCF7L2) rs7903146 polymorphism on these associations. This is a case-cohort design study within the PREDIMED study, with 251 incident T2D cases and a random sample of 694 participants (641 non-cases and 53 overlapping cases) without T2D at baseline (median follow-up: 3.8 years). Metabolites were semi-quantitatively profiled with LC-MS/MS. Cox regression analysis revealed that high plasma allantoin levels, including allantoin-to-uric acid ratio and high xanthine-to-hypoxanthine ratio were inversely and positively associated with T2D risk, respectively, independently of classical risk factors. Elevated plasma xanthine and inosine levels were associated with a higher T2D risk in homozygous carriers of the TCF7L2-rs7903146 T-allele. The potential mechanisms linking the aforementioned purine metabolites and T2D risk must be also further investigated