Inclusive electron scattering off 4He

Inclusive electron scattering off 4He is calculated exactly with a complete treatment of the final state interaction within a simple semirealistic potential model. We discuss results for both the longitudinal and the transverse response functions, at various momentum transfers. A consistent meson exchange current is implemented. Good agreement with available experimental data is found for the longitudinal response function, while some strength is still missing in the transverse response function.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. to appear in the proceedings of the 18th International IUPAP Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics, Santos-S.Paulo, August 21-26, 200

Leucoreduction of blood components. an effective way to increase blood safety?

Over the past 30 years, it has been demonstrated that removal of white blood cells from blood components is effective in preventing some adverse reactions such as febrile non-haemolytic transfusion reactions, immunisation against human leucocyte antigens and human platelet antigens, and transmission of cytomegalovirus. In this review we discuss indications for leucoreduction and classify them into three categories: evidence-based indications for which the clinical efficacy is proven, indications based on the analysis of observational clinical studies with very consistent results and indications for which the clinical efficacy is partial or unproven

Healing Fair Dealing?: A Comparative Copyright Analysis of Canadian Fair Dealing to UK Fair Dealing and US Fair Use

As a result of the March 4, 2004 Supreme Court of Canada decision in CCH Canadian Ltd v Law Society of Upper Canada for the first time in Canadian copyright history, the court determined that Canadian law must recognize a user right to carry on exceptions generally and fair dealing in particular. This paper compares the Canadian fair dealing legislation and jurisprudence to that of the UK and the US. It is observed that because of CCH, the Canadian common law fair dealing factors are more flexible than those entrenched in the US. For the UK, certain criteria have emerged from the caselaw consonant to Canada\u27s pre-CCH framework and in many ways there is now a hierarchy of factors with market considerations at the fore. The real differences, however, ultimately lie in the policy preoccupations held by the respective courts, with Canada\u27s top court alone concerned in championing user rights above all other rights. The paper concludes that Canadian fair dealing does not require too much healing but would benefit from some remedies outside (and complementary to) the law and the courts. While doing nothing does not seem to be the appropriate response, legal intervention as many advocate may not be warranted either. Rather than, or at the very least together with, reforming the law, establishing fair dealing best practices is most promising. The parties directly affected in a specific industry can together develop these guidelines to ultimately aid in clearer and ongoing fairer fair dealing decision-making in the courts. It is here that US initiatives can serve as most fruitful to emulate

Human parvovirus B19 and blood product safety. A tale of twenty years of improvements

Parvovirus B19 (B19V), long known to be the causative agent of erythema infectiosum (fifth disease), is not a newly emerging agent. The aim of this review is to analyse the role played by this virus in compromising safety in transfusion medicine and the progressive measures to reduce the risks associated with the virus

Effect of obesity and metabolic syndrome on plasma oxysterols and fatty acids in human

BACKGROUND: Obesity and the related entity metabolic syndrome are characterized by altered lipid metabolism and associated with increased morbidity risk for cardiovascular disease and cancer. Oxysterols belong to a large family of cholesterol-derived molecules known to play crucial role in many signaling pathways underlying several diseases. Little is known on the potential effect of obesity and metabolic syndrome on oxysterols in human. OBJECTIVES: In this work, we questioned whether circulating oxysterols might be significantly altered in obese patients and in patients with metabolic syndrome. We also tested the potential correlation between circulating oxysterols and fatty acids. METHODS: 60 obese patients and 75 patients with metabolic syndrome were enrolled in the study along with 210 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects, used as control group. Plasma oxysterols were analyzed by isotope dilution GC/MS, and plasma fatty acids profiling was assessed by gas chromatography coupled with flame ionization detection. RESULTS: We found considerable differences in oxysterols profiling in the two disease groups that were gender-related. Compared to controls, males showed significant differences only in 4α- and 4β-hydroxycholesterol levels in obese and metabolic syndrome patients. In contrast, females showed consistent differences in 7-oxocholesterol, 4α-hydroxycholesterol, 25-hydroxycholesterol and triol. Concerning fatty acids, we found minor differences in the levels of these variables in males of the three groups. Significant changes were observed in plasma fatty acid profile of female patients with obesity or metabolic syndrome. We found significant correlations between various oxysterols and fatty acids. In particular, 4β-hydroxycholesterol, which is reduced in obesity and metabolic syndrome, correlated with a number of saturated and mono-unsaturated fatty acids that are end-products of de novo lipogenesis. CONCLUSIONS: Our data provide the first evidence that obesity and metabolic syndrome are associated with major, gender-specific, changes in circulating oxysterols and fatty acids. These findings suggest a metabolic link between oxysterols and fatty acids, and that oxysterols may contribute to the epidemic diseases associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome in female

Immunosenescence, inflammation and Alzheimer’s disease

Ageing impacts negatively on the development of the immune system and its ability to fight pathogens. Progressive changes in the T-cell and B-cell systems over the lifespan of individuals have a major impact on the capacity to respond to immune challenges. The cumulative age-associated changes in immune competence are termed immunosenescence that is characterized by changes where adaptive immunity deteriorates, while innate immunity is largely conserved or even upregulated with age. On the other hand, ageing is also characterized by “inflamm-ageing”, a term coined to explain the inflammation commonly present in many age-associated diseases. It is believed that immune inflammatory processes are relevant in Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia in older people. In the present paper we review data focusing on changes of some immunoinflammatory parameters observed in patients affected by Alzheimer’s diseas

Role of cyclooxygenae-2 and 5-lypoxygenase polymorphisms in Alzheimer's disease in a population from northern Italy:implications for pharmacogenomics

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder clinically characterized by cognitive deficit with progressive worsening of memory. Recent data indicate that neurons, as well as other brain cells, can express enzymes such as cyclooxygenases (COXs) and 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) which are considered important in inflammatory cells. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that COX-2 and 5-LO enzymes play a considerable role in the pathophysiology of AD. In order to assess the possible role of COX-2 and 5-LO single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in AD, we examined their distribution in 341 AD patients and 190 controls from Northern Italy. A significant difference was observed in the distribution of the -765G COX-2 and -1708A 5-LO alleles between AD cases and controls (p=0.03 for -765G/C COX-2 SNP; and p=0.007 for -1708G/A 5-LO SNP). Hence, COX-2 -765G and 5-LO -1708A alleles were overrepresented in AD patients and underrepresented in controls. Our data suggest that these alleles of COX-2 and 5-LO could be risk factors for AD. These results seem of some importance for a pharmacogenomic approach