About Galatians, apocalyptic and the switching of paradigms

The article indicates that although apocalyptic is probably not the hermeneutical key par excellence to Pauline theology, it does lie at the heart of Pauline theology and should be thoroughly accounted for in Galatians. Paul employs apocalyptic in Galatians to stress the radical soteriological and ethical change brought about by the advent of Christ and his Spirit. He wished to reframe his readers’ thought world, making abundant use of apocalyptic innuendo carried by terminology akin to Jewish apocalyptic theology and piety. Written against the background of modern day Christianity still grappling with law and the old paradigm two thousand years into new creation, this article hopes to share some of Paul’s vigour toward understanding the time we live in as post-law

Risicoanalyse voor buisleidingen met brandbare vloeistoffen

De minimale veiligheidsafstanden tussen buisleidingen met brandbare vloeistoffen en bebouwingen kunnen gelijk blijven of iets verkleind worden. Dit is de conclusie na een herberekening van de afstanden uit een circulaire uit 1991. In Nederland ligt zo'n 1850 kilometer aan ondergrondse buisleiding waardoor aardolie en aardolieproducten worden getransporteerd. Om bij incidenten het aantal slachtoffers te beperken dient voor bebouwing een minimale veiligheidsafstand tot deze leidingen te worden aangehouden. In dit rapport zijn nieuwe inzichten beschreven die wijziging van deze afstanden rechtvaardigen. De hoogte van het risico, uitgedrukt in plaatsgebonden risico en groepsrisico, is bepalend voor de aan te houden afstand en personendichtheid. Voor dit onderzoek zijn ook de afstanden berekend voor buisleidingen waarvoor in de circulaire van 1991 geen afstand was aangegeven. Hieruit blijkt dat er 35 mogelijke knelpunten zijn, veroorzaakt door 3 kilometer aan buisleidingen. In het totaal gaat het om circa 140 woningen die te dicht bij de leidingen staan.The minimum safety distances between flammable liquid pipelines and residences can stay the same or become smaller. This is concluded after a recalculation of distances from a 1991 circular letter. In the Netherlands, crude oil and petroleum products are transported through an underground pipeline network of about 1850 kilometres in length. To limit the number of casualties in case of incidents, minimum distances between these pipelines and buildings should be held. In this report new opinions are given which justify modification of these distances. The height of the risk, presented through individual and societal risk, is leading for the distance to be kept or the population density allowed. This lead to 35 potential bottlenecks, caused by about 3 kilometres of pipeline. A total number of about 140 houses is situated too close to the pipelines.VROM-DGM-DE

Analysis of intestinal factors contributing to the age-dependency of systemic neuropathogenic Escherichia coli K1 infection in the neonatal rat

Infections by encapsulated bacteria are a major cause of neonatal mortality. Escherichia coli are isolated in a significant proportion of these infections with 80-85% of isolates expressing the K1 polysaccharide capsular antigen. Systemic E. coli K1 infection is age-dependent, the basis of which is likely the capacity of the pathogen to translocate from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract into the bloodstream. This step in pathogenesis is poorly characterized. Post-partum development of the GI microbial population (microbiota) and host tissue may modulate susceptibility to E. coli K1. Two-day old (P2) neonatal rats were susceptible to infection with E. coli K1 strain A192PP, whereas P9 neonates were refractive. This variation was not caused by the capacity of the pathogen to colonize the GI tract. The P2-P9 microbiota was significantly different to that of the adult, but very little variation occurred between the neonatal groups examined. Suppression of the P9 microbiota using antibiotic treatment did not increase susceptibility E. coli K1. A substantial degree of developmental GI tissue expression was observed over P2-P9, including the up-regulation of components of the small intestinal (α-defensin peptides Defa24 and Defa-rs1) and colonic (trefoil factor peptide Tff2) mucus barrier. Colonization with E. coli K1 was dysregulated Tff2 expression in P2 tissues, likely due to IL-1β and NFκB signalling, and was accompanied by a decrease in the mucin Muc2. Alpha-defensin expression was up-regulated in P9 tissues. These results indicated that the intestinal barrier function of the P9 GI tract is more developed than the P2 equivalent. E. coli K1 colonization may compromise the development of the colonic mucus barrier in P2 neonates. This supports the hypothesis that the developmental state of the GI tissue, but not the microbiota, modulates susceptibility to systemic E. coli K1 infection

Frequency of Gestational diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance in urban Sudanese pregnant women in the third trimester

Background: Impaired glucose tolerance may be defined as intermediate group of individuals whose carbohydrate metabolism does not constitute diabetes but is not entirely normal. It carries a higher risk of developing microvascular disease and a significant percentage of these patientseventually become diabetics.Objective: of the study was to estimate the frequency of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in urban Sudanese pregnant women in the third trimester. The study also showed the effect of age and parity on IGT.Methodology: The study was carried out on hundred pregnant women in the third trimester.Results: The frequency of gestational diabetes was 2% and it was 6% for the IGT incidence whereas, 92% of the pregnant women revealed normal fasting plasma levels. The IGT pregnant women were older than the control pregnant women but, the age difference was not significant [28.7± 5.5 years (mean ± S.D) vs. 27.3 ± 4.8 respectively, p>0.05] . Also, the IGT pregnant women were found to have mean parity significantly greater than that of the control group [ 6.7 ± 2 (mean ± S.D.) vs. 3.9 ± 2.1 respectively , p<0.001].Conclusion: The frequency of GDM and IGT in Sudanese pregnant women is within the universal estimates and parity is an important risk factor that affects impaired glucose tolerance incidence in pregnancy.Keywords: microvascular, chemical diabetes, carbohydrate intolerance

Intra-operative Raman spectroscopy and ex vivo Raman mapping for assessment of cartilage degradation

The development of a label-free, non-destructive and safe analytical method such as Raman spectroscopy for assessing cartilage degradation is highly desirable. Compared to non-optical imaging modalities, Raman mapping offers a more sensitive means of directly assessing the chemical composition of cartilage in three-dimensional space and the potential to monitor cartilage degeneration to inform intervention and treatment strategies. Herein, we report the application of Raman spectroscopic methods ex vivo and at arthroscopy to identify molecular alterations in cartilage specimens containing minor focal lesions characteristic of the early disease phase. Our initial ex vivo analysis, obtained by single-point Raman spectroscopy of cartilage samples, supports previous findings based on S-O stretching vibration bands associated with sulphated glycosaminoglycans (sGAGs). We extended the analyses to the high-wavenumber region where we observed that vibrational bands assigned to C-H and O-H stretching modes discriminated early cartilage alterations from healthy cartilage samples. Furthermore, we performed a proof-of-concept in-clinic study using a custom-built optical probe to acquire Raman spectral measurements for the first time in patients undergoing arthroscopy of knee joints. Spectra were obtained with adequate signal-to-noise ratios that similarly discriminated between lesion and adjacent cartilage sites and identified reductions in sGAGs in apparently healthy cartilage. Building on this, we present initial results from Raman mapping to spatially resolve the molecular constituents of cartilage through its depth and across a lesion. Mapping revealed a non-uniform and reduced sGAG distribution within the lesion and peripheral cartilage that was otherwise visually normal, similar to the in-clinic observations, showing that the degradative influence of the lesion extended beyond its border. This was accompanied by a decreased fluorescence signal intensity, which suggests that fluorescence may provide valuable information as an adjunct to the Raman signal in discriminating normal and degenerating cartilage. This work demonstrates the value of Raman mapping over single-point Raman measurements for the analysis of the anisotropy of articular cartilage and highlights the potential of the technology for in vivo articular joint arthroscopy applications

Rapid and complete paraffin removal from human tissue sections delivers enhanced Raman spectroscopic and histopathological analysis

Incomplete removal of paraffin and organic contaminants from tissues processed for diagnostic histology has been a profound barrier to the introduction of Raman spectroscopic techniques into clinical practice. We report a route to rapid and complete paraffin removal from a range of formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissues using super mirror stainless steel slides. The method is equally effective on a range of human and animal tissues, performs equally well with archived and new samples and is compatible with standard pathology lab procedures. We describe a general enhancement of the Raman scatter and enhanced staining with antibodies used in immunohistochemistry for clinical diagnosis. We conclude that these novel slide substrates have the power to improve diagnosis through anatomical pathology by facilitating the simultaneous combination of improved, more sensitive immunohistochemical staining and simplified, more reliable Raman spectroscopic imaging, analysis and signal processing

Investigation of fundamental ultrasonic propagation characteristics in NDT of electron beam melting additive manufactured samples

New approaches for efficient NDT inspection of modern additively manufactured metallic components are required urgently to qualify and validate the next generation of metallic parts across a range of industries. Ultrasonic testing is a fundamental component of NDT for such additive manufacturing processes. This work studies the ultrasonic propagation characteristics of EBM manufactured sample coupons in Alloy 718 material. Fundamental longitudinal and shear wave velocity measurements are experimentally measured in 3 orthogonal build directions of the sample coupons. Results show a dependency of the ultrasonic velocities and the build direction. The measured velocities are further verified in a phased array measurement showing successful results that highlights the potential of continued studies with synthetic apertures techniques

Types of psychosocial job demands and adverse events due to dental mismanagement: a cross sectional study

BACKGROUND: A harsh work environment including psychosocial job demands might cause adverse events due to medical mismanagement, but the association has not been explored. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether some types of psychosocial job demands are associated with adverse events due to dental mismanagement experienced by general dental practitioners. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to members of a local branch of the Japan dental association. A total of 261 dental practitioners responded anonymously (response rate 53%). Psychosocial job demands were measured by a Japanese version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, which comprises five sub-scales: quantitative demands, cognitive demands, emotional demands, demands for hiding emotions, and sensorial demands. The outcome was defined according to whether the respondent's patients experienced one of the following adverse events due to dental mismanagement at least once during the previous one year: dropping of dental instrument or broken injection needle, soft tissue or nerve injury, accidental bleeding, loss of a tooth root into the maxillary sinus, and emphysema. Associations between each demand index and experience of adverse events were examined by logistic regression analyses adjusting for potential confounders. RESULTS: Emotional demands and sensorial demands were significantly associated with the experience of adverse events (odds ratio = 3.9 for each). Other than the indices, male gender, younger age, practice alone, many dental chairs (five or more), and many patients (30 or more per day) were the risks. Working hours per week and number of paramedical staff had no significant associations. CONCLUSION: Emotional and sensorial job demands are a potential target for the reduction of adverse events due to dental mismanagement