The US and ASEM: why the hegemon didn't bark

Relationships with the United States and American policy preferences have been important to the Asian and European members of ASEM in its establishment and activities. Yet US policy, business, and media elites have paid little public attention to ASEM. The puzzle is why not. Explanations of inattentiveness or foresight about Asia’s economic difficulties are unpersuasive. Instead, American ‘silence’ fits with a reasoned understanding among internationally oriented policy and business leaders that ASEM has and will pose little in the way of difficulties for their preferences about Asia and the EU for security, civil society, and economic matters. Indeed, the maneuverings in and around ASEM about those three policy areas have been and are likely to continue to be of some modest help to American internationalists. Their domestic persuasiveness benefits from ASEM developments which bolster actions they desire, and reduce pressure for policy positions they wish to avoid or believe are unlikely to gain approval in the American political economy

Bi-allelic Loss-of-Function CACNA1B Mutations in Progressive Epilepsy-Dyskinesia.

The occurrence of non-epileptic hyperkinetic movements in the context of developmental epileptic encephalopathies is an increasingly recognized phenomenon. Identification of causative mutations provides an important insight into common pathogenic mechanisms that cause both seizures and abnormal motor control. We report bi-allelic loss-of-function CACNA1B variants in six children from three unrelated families whose affected members present with a complex and progressive neurological syndrome. All affected individuals presented with epileptic encephalopathy, severe neurodevelopmental delay (often with regression), and a hyperkinetic movement disorder. Additional neurological features included postnatal microcephaly and hypotonia. Five children died in childhood or adolescence (mean age of death: 9 years), mainly as a result of secondary respiratory complications. CACNA1B encodes the pore-forming subunit of the pre-synaptic neuronal voltage-gated calcium channel Cav2.2/N-type, crucial for SNARE-mediated neurotransmission, particularly in the early postnatal period. Bi-allelic loss-of-function variants in CACNA1B are predicted to cause disruption of Ca2+ influx, leading to impaired synaptic neurotransmission. The resultant effect on neuronal function is likely to be important in the development of involuntary movements and epilepsy. Overall, our findings provide further evidence for the key role of Cav2.2 in normal human neurodevelopment.MAK is funded by an NIHR Research Professorship and receives funding from the Wellcome Trust, Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital Charity, and Rosetrees Trust. E.M. received funding from the Rosetrees Trust (CD-A53) and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. K.G. received funding from Temple Street Foundation. A.M. is funded by Great Ormond Street Hospital, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and Biomedical Research Centre. F.L.R. and D.G. are funded by Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. K.C. and A.S.J. are funded by NIHR Bioresource for Rare Diseases. The DDD Study presents independent research commissioned by the Health Innovation Challenge Fund (grant number HICF-1009-003), a parallel funding partnership between the Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (grant number WT098051). We acknowledge support from the UK Department of Health via the NIHR comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre award to Guy's and St. Thomas' National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust in partnership with King's College London. This research was also supported by the NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre. J.H.C. is in receipt of an NIHR Senior Investigator Award. The research team acknowledges the support of the NIHR through the Comprehensive Clinical Research Network. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, Department of Health, or Wellcome Trust. E.R.M. acknowledges support from NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, an NIHR Senior Investigator Award, and the University of Cambridge has received salary support in respect of E.R.M. from the NHS in the East of England through the Clinical Academic Reserve. I.E.S. is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (Program Grant and Practitioner Fellowship)

The political and economic role of the Military in the Chinese Communist Movement, 1927-1959

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics and Social Science, 1962.Vita.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 754-777).by Davis Bernard Bobrow.Ph.D

Anti-Americanism and international security: Indications in international public opinion

International public opinion (that is, non-US public opinion) provides an important set of clues about the asserted rise of anti-Americanism and its implications for international security. Accordingly, this paper examines what polling in the first years of the 21st century reveals about the degree of anti-Americanism internationally, and prevailing differences between national publics. The polls examined were taken before and after September 11 and the invasion and occupation of Iraq. A central question is that of the extent to which negative views are specific to particular US policies and a particular American Administration (Bush II) or of a more encompassing nature. The former argues against the rise of the sort of anti-Americanism which would have broad international security implications; the latter argues for it. That appraisal should not assume that international public opinion can only take a pro-American or anti-American position. A third alternative would have publics less pro- or anti-American than they are uncertain, divided, or ambivalent about the US and its world role.Published versio