Gokyo Khumbu/Ama Dablam Trek 2012

In the expedition Gokyo Khumbu/Ama Dablam Trek 2012, we studied the effects of two 12-day training periods performed both at sea level and at high altitude. The main results on adult women have been published in six original articles. In women, high altitude trekking induced CD69 T cell activation and promoted anti-stress effects of the immune responses and the oxidative balance (1). Low-to-moderate exercise training at s.l. improves the regenerative capacity of skeletal muscle and depicted the epigenetic signature of satellite cells. The cell differentiation was favored by increased [Ca2+]i and fusion index (2). On the contrary, the training in hypobaric-hypoxia induced oxidative stress and impaired the regenerative capacity of satellite cells (6). Although training did not significantly modify muscle phenotype , it induced beneficial adaptations of the oxygen transport-utilization systems witnessed by faster VO2 kinetics at exercise onset (3). The two training periods did not influence the postural stability (4). In young adult women, micturition physiological parameters were affected during adaptation to hypoxia; the correlation with SpO2 strongly suggests a role of hypoxia in these changes (5

'The AGM and Shareholder Engagement Submission’ (Corporations and Markets Advisor Commission, December 2012) (as part of the UWS Law Association Group)

The Discussion paper, The AGM and Shareholder Engagement, considers the future of AGMs in Australia and discusses the introduction of strategies that may improve shareholders’ engagement at AGMs. The observations of the UWS Law of Associations Group can be summarised in the following manner:• Corporate briefing content should be available to retail shareholders;• The ‘100 member rule’ should be abolished. In its place, s 249D should provide that5% of the shareholders in the company may request a meeting from the directors;• Reforms need to be made to the reporting requirements. Changes to the reporting system need to be accompanied with a safe-harbor to directors (see [4.3]);• The statutory time frame for AGMs need to be extended;• Any member should be able to place items on the agenda of an AGM to encourageshareholders involvement;• Direct voting prior and during the meeting should be introduced;• Greater use of technology is needed to enhance different aspects of AGMs such as notices, the meetings themselves, the reporting requirements...• The AGM should not be abolished but its format should be changed. AGMs should take the form of hybrid physical-online meetings. This should be compulsory for listed public companies and a replaceable rule for unlisted public companies

Thermodynamic Hydricities of Biomimetic Organic Hydride Donors

Thermodynamic hydricities (Δ GH-) in acetonitrile and dimethyl sulfoxide have been calculated and experimentally measured for several metal-free hydride donors: NADH analogs (BNAH, CN-BNAH, Me-MNAH, HEH), methylene tetrahydromethanopterin analogs (BIMH, CAFH), acridine derivatives (Ph-AcrH, Me2N-AcrH, T-AcrH, 4OH, 2OH, 3NH), and a triarylmethane derivative (6OH). The calculated hydricity values, obtained using density functional theory, showed a reasonably good match (within 3 kcal/mol) with the experimental values, obtained using "potential p Ka" and "hydride-transfer" methods. The hydride donor abilities of model compounds were in the 48.7-85.8 kcal/mol (acetonitrile) and 46.9-84.1 kcal/mol (DMSO) range, making them comparable to previously studied first-row transition metal hydride complexes. To evaluate the relevance of entropic contribution to the overall hydricity, Gibbs free energy differences (Δ GH-) obtained in this work were compared with the enthalpy (Δ HH-) values obtained by others. The results indicate that, even though Δ HH- values exhibit the same trends as Δ GH-, the differences between room-temperature Δ GH- and Δ HH- values range from 3 to 9 kcal/mol. This study also reports a new metal-free hydride donor, namely, an acridine-based compound 3NH, whose hydricity exceeds that of NaBH4. Collectively, this work gives a perspective of use metal-free hydride catalysts in fuel-forming and other reduction processes