Effect of Intravenous or Perivascular Injection of Synthetic Adrenocorticotropic Hormone on Stimulation Test Results in Dogs.

BackgroundStandard protocols for adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) stimulation testing (ACTHst) often involve intravenous (IV) injection of corticotropin. ACTH might be unintentionally injected into the perivascular (PV) space.ObjectiveTo compare stimulation test results after IV and PV injections of ACTH.AnimalsTwenty privately owned dogs were studied: 10 healthy and 10 with trilostane-treated naturally occurring hyperadrenocorticism (HAC).MethodsProspective study. Each of 20 dogs underwent 2 ACTHst not <4 nor more than 14 days apart. Five healthy and 5 HAC dogs had an IV ACTHst first and PV second; 5 healthy and 5 HAC dogs had a PV ACTHst first and IV second. Blood samples for measurement of serum cortisol concentration were collected before and 1 hour after ACTH administration.ResultsNo significant difference in results was demonstrated when comparing serum cortisol concentrations after IV and PV ACTH administration in all 20 dogs (median μg/dL; interval μg/dL: 8.2; 1.4-17.4 versus 7.8; 0.9-16.9; P = .23). No significant difference in results was demonstrated when comparing serum cortisol concentrations after IV and PV ACTH administration in the 10 healthy dogs (median μg/dL; interval μg/dL: 10.9; 7.3-17.4 versus 10.6; 7.1-16.9; P = .54) or in the 10 HAC dogs (median μg/dL; interval μg/dL: 6.3; 1.4-8.6 versus 5.2; 0.9-8.7; P = .061).Conclusions and clinical importancePerivascular administration of ACTH does not significantly alter stimulation test results in healthy dogs or in dogs with HAC undergoing therapy with trilostane

The significance of hazardous chemicals in wastewater treatment works effluents

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Science of The Total Environment. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2012 Elsevier B.V.The advent of increasingly stringent and wider ranging European Union legislation relating to water and the environment has required regulators to assess compliance risk and to respond by formulating appropriate pollution control measures. To support this process the UK Water Industry has completed a national Chemicals Investigation Programme (CIP), to monitor over 160 wastewater treatment works (WwTWs) for 70 determinands. Final effluent concentrations of zinc, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(g,h,i)perylene and indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene), “penta” congeners (BDEs) 47 and 99, tributyltin, triclosan, erythromycin, oxytetracycline, ibuprofen, propranolol, fluoxetine, diclofenac, 17β-estradiol and 17α-ethinyl estradiol exceeded existing or proposed Environmental Quality Standards (EQSs) in over 50% of WwTWs. Dilution by receiving water might ensure compliance with EQSs for these chemicals, apart from the BDEs. However, in some cases there will be insufficient dilution to ensure compliance and additional management options may be required

Economic crisis and the construction of a neo-liberal regulatory regime in Korea

A consistent theme of the literature on the ontology of the 1997 South Korean crisis is the key role played by regulatory failures and the growing weakness of the state. This paper seeks to briefly highlight both the insights and the limitations of this approach to understanding the crisis. Having done so, we shall set out the argument that the crisis created an opportunity for reformist Korean élites to advance their longstanding, but previously frustrated, project to create a comprehensive unambiguously neo-liberal regulatory regime. This paper will also seek to highlight the implications of our reading of the development of the Korean political economy for broader debates on economic liberalisation, crisis and the future of the developmental state

Decaying Dark Matter can explain the electron/positron excesses

PAMELA and ATIC recently reported excesses in e+ e- cosmic rays. Since the interpretation in terms of DM annihilations was found to be not easily compatible with constraints from photon observations, we consider the DM decay hypothesis and find that it can explain the e+ e- excesses compatibly with all constraints, and can be tested by dedicated HESS observations of the Galactic Ridge. ATIC data indicate a DM mass of about 2 TeV: this mass naturally implies the observed DM abundance relative to ordinary matter if DM is a quasi-stable composite particle with a baryon-like matter asymmetry. Technicolor naturally yields these type of candidates.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure

Quantized reduction as a tensor product

Symplectic reduction is reinterpreted as the composition of arrows in the category of integrable Poisson manifolds, whose arrows are isomorphism classes of dual pairs, with symplectic groupoids as units. Morita equivalence of Poisson manifolds amounts to isomorphism of objects in this category. This description paves the way for the quantization of the classical reduction procedure, which is based on the formal analogy between dual pairs of Poisson manifolds and Hilbert bimodules over C*-algebras, as well as with correspondences between von Neumann algebras. Further analogies are drawn with categories of groupoids (of algebraic, measured, Lie, and symplectic type). In all cases, the arrows are isomorphism classes of appropriate bimodules, and their composition may be seen as a tensor product. Hence in suitable categories reduction is simply composition of arrows, and Morita equivalence is isomorphism of objects.Comment: 44 pages, categorical interpretation adde

Audit market structure, fees and choice in a period of structural change: evidence from the UK – 1998–2003

This paper presents evidence on audit market concentration and auditor fee levels in the UK market in the crucial period of structural change following the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) merger and encompassing Andersen’s demise (1998–2003). Given the current interest in auditor choice, analysis is also undertaken at the individual audit firm level and by industry sector. There is evidence of significant upward pressure on audit fees since 2001 but only for smaller auditees. Audit fee income for top tier auditors (Big 5/4) did not change significantly while the number of auditees fell significantly, consistent with a move towards larger, less risky, clients. A decomposition analysis of the aggregate Big 5/4 concentration ratio changes over the period identifies the impact of four distinct consumer-based reasons for change: leavers; net joiners; non-par auditor switches; and (only for the audit fees measure) audit fee changes. Andersen’s demise markedly reduced the level of inequality among the top tier firms but PwC retained its position as a ‘dominant firm’. On switching to the new auditor, former Andersen clients experienced an initial audit fee rise broadly in line with inflation, with no evidence of fee premia or discounting. They also reported significantly lower NAS fees, consistent with audit firms and auditees responding to public concerns about perceptions of auditor independence. There is no general evidence of knowledge spillover effects or cross-subsidisation of the audit fee by NAS. The combined findings provide no evidence to indicate that recent structural changes have resulted in anticompetitive pricing; the key concerns remain the lack of audit firm choice and issues concerning the governance and accountability of audit firms

EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF) ; Scientific Opinion on Flavouring Group Evaluation 06, Revision 4 (FGE.06Rev4 ): Straight - and branched - chain aliphatic unsaturated primary alcohols, aldehydes, carboxylic acids and esters from chemical groups 1, 3 and 4

The Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids of the European Food Safety Authority was requested to evaluate 56 flavouring substances in the Flavouring Group Evaluation 6, Revision 4, using the Procedure in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1565/2000. This revision is made due to the inclusion of six additional flavouring substances, (-)-3,7-dimethyl-6-octen-1-ol [FL-no: 02.229], dec-4(cis)-enal [FL-no: 05.137], neral [FL-no: 05.170], trans-3,7-dimethylocta-2,6-dienal (geranial) [FL-no: 05.188], trans-3-hexenyl formate [FL-no: 09.562] and cis-3-hexenyl 2-methylbutanoate [FL-no: 09.854]. None of the substances were considered to have genotoxic potential. The substances were evaluated through a stepwise approach (the Procedure) that integrates information on structure-activity relationships, intake from current uses, toxicological threshold of concern and available data on metabolism and toxicity. The Panel concluded that the 56 substances [FL-no: 02.125, 02.138, 02.152, 02.170, 02.175, 02.176, 02.195, 02.201, 02.222, 02.229, 02.234, 05.061, 05.082, 05.137, 05.143, 05.170, 05.174, 05.188, 05.203, 05.217, 05.218, 05.220, 05.226, 08.074, 08.100, 08.102, 09.341, 09.368, 09.377, 09.562, 09.567, 09.569, 09.572, 09.575, 09.612, 09.638, 09.640, 09.643, 09.672, 09.673, 09.674, 09.831, 09.838, 09.854, 09.855, 09.871, 09.872, 09.884, 09.885, 09.897, 09.898, 09.928, 09.937, 09.938, 09.939 and 09.950] do not give rise to safety concern at their levels of dietary intake, estimated on the basis of the MSDI approach. Besides the safety assessment of these flavouring substances, the specifications for the materials of commerce have also been considered. Adequate specifications including complete purity criteria and identity for the materials of commerce have been provided for all 56 candidate substances

First measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters using neutrinos and antineutrinos by NOvA.

The NOvA experiment has seen a 4.4σ signal of ν[over ¯]_{e} appearance in a 2 GeV ν[over ¯]_{μ} beam at a distance of 810 km. Using 12.33×10^{20} protons on target delivered to the Fermilab NuMI neutrino beamline, the experiment recorded 27 ν[over ¯]_{μ}→ν[over ¯]_{e} candidates with a background of 10.3 and 102 ν[over ¯]_{μ}→ν[over ¯]_{μ} candidates. This new antineutrino data are combined with neutrino data to measure the parameters |Δm_{32}^{2}|=2.48_{-0.06}^{+0.11}×10^{-3}  eV^{2}/c^{4} and sin^{2}θ_{23} in the ranges from (0.53-0.60) and (0.45-0.48) in the normal neutrino mass hierarchy. The data exclude most values near δ_{CP}=π/2 for the inverted mass hierarchy by more than 3σ and favor the normal neutrino mass hierarchy by 1.9σ and θ_{23} values in the upper octant by 1.6σ