Southeast Asia and theories of regional integration

Southeast Asia has historically been an area of much turmoil and perhaps more so during the last three decades than any other region. Certainly the conflicts that have occurred have tended to be of a more spectacular kind than those elsewhere, and the spectacular and contemporary usually leave a great imprint on people's mind. But while other regions have their conflicts , simultaneous processes of cooperation and integration at various levels have taken place. It is in this context sufficient to mention developments in Western Europe, Latin America, and East Africa. As a result of a combination of factors such as traditional rivalries , internal in stability , external intervention and so on, the countries of Southeast Asia have been slower in developing the cooperative side of their relations than other parts of the world. The latter have experienced a development towards what Karl Deutsch and others have called a 'sense of community', that is , 'a belief on the part of individuals in a group that they have come to an agreement on at least this one point; that common social problems must and can be resolved by processes of "peaceful change". By peaceful change we mean the resolution of social problems, normally by institutionalised procedures without resort to large scale physical force. Whatever else Southeast Asia may be said to be, the region does not constitute a security community in the sense referred to by Deutsch. Nor have any two or more countries within the region reached such a level in their relations. What then is the situation in Southeast Asia? Is there a trend towards increased cooperation, a greater sense of community and integration? What are the most significant factors urging such processes along? What are on the other hand the factors hampering such developments? The answer to these and similar questions may for those familiar with experiences in Western Europe in particular seem rather straightforward. Once the conditions which existed and exist in Western Europe and elsewhere, for that matter, obtain in Southeast Asia, the region is firmly set on the path to community and in tegration . But apart from the fact that these conditions may never obtain in Southeast Asia, those that do exist today would seem to be the very negation of those assisting the integration process in Europe. Conditions such as advanced economies, near to similar levels of industrialization , pluralism, and democratic political systems are not on the whole characteristics of Southeast Asian societies . Must one, then, conclude that developments akin to those taking place in other regions cannot eventuate in Southeast Asia? In order to throw some light on this question this study will examine some of the conditions and processes in Southeast Asia favourable and unfavourable to integration and community formation, and it will seek to relate the findings to the already existing body of knowledge about regional integration. Such an analysis has interest both in terms of the light it may throw on regional processes in Southeast Asia, and the contribution it may make to knowledge about regional integration in general either by confirming, modifying, or discontinuing existing hypotheses, or by generating the formulation of new ones

Spatially-resolved electronic and vibronic properties of single diamondoid molecules

Diamondoids are a unique form of carbon nanostructure best described as hydrogen-terminated diamond molecules. Their diamond-cage structures and tetrahedral sp3 hybrid bonding create new possibilities for tuning electronic band gaps, optical properties, thermal transport, and mechanical strength at the nanoscale. The recently-discovered higher diamondoids (each containing more than three diamond cells) have thus generated much excitement in regards to their potential versatility as nanoscale devices. Despite this excitement, however, very little is known about the properties of isolated diamondoids on metal surfaces, a very relevant system for molecular electronics. Here we report the first molecular scale study of individual tetramantane diamondoids on Au(111) using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. We find that both the diamondoid electronic structure and electron-vibrational coupling exhibit unique spatial distributions characterized by pronounced line nodes across the molecular surfaces. Ab-initio pseudopotential density functional calculations reveal that the observed dominant electronic and vibronic properties of diamondoids are determined by surface hydrogen terminations, a feature having important implications for designing diamondoid-based molecular devices.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures. to appear in Nature Material

Visual outcomes and predictors in optic pathway glioma: a single centre study

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Optic pathway gliomas (OPGs) may cause progressive visual loss despite chemotherapy. Newer, less toxic treatments might be given earlier, depending on visual prognosis. We aimed to investigate the prognostic value of visual evoked potentials (VEP) and optical coherence tomography (OCT). METHODS: A retrospective study of OPG patients (treated 2003–2017) was conducted. Primary outcome was PEDIG category visual acuity in better and worse eyes (good  = 0.7 logMAR). Binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors of these outcomes. RESULTS: 60 patients (32 Neurofibromatosis type 1 [NF1] and 28 sporadic) had median presentation age 49 months (range 17–183) (NF1) and 27 months (range 4–92) (sporadic). Median follow up was 82 months (range 12–189 months). At follow up 24/32 (75%) of NF1 children and 14/28 (50%) of sporadic children had good better eye visual acuity and 11/32 (34%) of NF1 children and 15/28 (54%) of sporadics had poor worse eye acuity. Mean peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness predicted good better eye final acuity (OR 0.799, 95%CI 0.646–0.987, p = 0.038). Presenting with visual symptoms (OR 0.22 95% CI 0.001–0.508, p = 0.017) and poorer VEP scores (OR 2.35 95% CI 1.1–5.03, p = 0.027) predicted poor worse eye final acuity. 16 children had homonymous hemianopias at follow up, predicted by poor presenting binocular VEP score (OR 1.449 95%CI 1.052–1.995, p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: We found that both RNFL thickness on OCT and VEP were useful in predicting future visual acuity and vision and potentially in planning treatment. We had a high prevalence of homonymous hemianopia

Increased Expression of Viral Sensor MDA5 in Pancreatic Islets and in Hormone-Negative Endocrine Cells in Recent Onset Type 1 Diabetic Donors

The interaction between genetic and environmental factors determines the development of type 1 diabetes (T1D). Some viruses are capable of infecting and damaging pancreatic β-cells, whose antiviral response could be modulated by specific viral RNA receptors and sensors such as melanoma differentiation associated gene 5 (MDA5), encoded by the IFIH1 gene. MDA5 has been shown to be involved in pro-inflammatory and immunoregulatory outcomes, thus determining the response of pancreatic islets to viral infections. Although the function of MDA5 has been previously well explored, a detailed immunohistochemical characterization of MDA5 in pancreatic tissues of nondiabetic and T1D donors is still missing. In the present study, we used multiplex immunofluorescence imaging analysis to characterize MDA5 expression and distribution in pancreatic tissues obtained from 22 organ donors (10 nondiabetic autoantibody-negative, 2 nondiabetic autoantibody-positive, 8 recent-onset, and 2 long-standing T1D). In nondiabetic control donors, MDA5 was expressed both in α- and β-cells. The colocalization rate imaging analysis showed that MDA5 was preferentially expressed in α-cells. In T1D donors, we observed an increased colocalization rate of MDA5-glucagon with respect to MDA5-insulin in comparison to nondiabetic controls; such increase was more pronounced in recent-onset with respect to long-standing T1D donors. Of note, an increased colocalization rate of MDA5-glucagon was found in insulin-deficient-islets (IDIs) with respect to insulin-containing-islets (ICIs). Strikingly, we detected the presence of MDA5-positive/hormone-negative endocrine islet-like clusters in T1D donors, presumably due to dedifferentiation or neogenesis phenomena. These clusters were identified exclusively in donors with recent disease onset and not in autoantibody-positive nondiabetic donors or donors with long-standing T1D. In conclusion, we showed that MDA5 is preferentially expressed in α-cells, and its expression is increased in recent-onset T1D donors. Finally, we observed that MDA5 may also characterize the phenotype of dedifferentiated or newly forming islet cells, thus opening to novel roles for MDA5 in pancreatic endocrine cells