The Emergence of Complex Silver Metallurgy in the Americas: A Case Study from the Lake Titicaca Basin of Southern Peru

This paper discusses the emergence of silver metallurgy some two millennia ago in the south central Andes. It is argued that the availability of multiple abundant resources and a high population density were instrumental in the development of this complex technology. The potential for such resource-rich environments to stimulate and sustain innovation is briefly discussed, particularly for prestige goods in societies engaged in socially competitive networks. The Puno Bay area of Lake Titicaca and its hinterland is shown to be one such resource-rich region, which may have contributed to its role in developing a complex and labour-intensive silver metallurgy as part of a larger mining-metallurgical landscape

Quality of life, tuberculosis and treatment outcome; a case-control and nested cohort study

BACKGROUND: Global tuberculosis policy increasingly emphasises broad tuberculosis impacts and highlights the lack of evidence concerning tuberculosis-related quality of life (QOL). METHODS: Participants were recruited in 32 Peruvian communities 13/7/2016-24/2/2018 and followed-up until 8/11/2019. Inclusion criteria were: age ≥15 years for "patients" (n=1545) starting treatment for tuberculosis disease in health centres; "contacts" (n=3180) who shared a patient's household for ≥6 h·week-1; and randomly-selected "controls" (n=277). The EUROHIS-QOL questionnaire quantified satisfaction with: QOL; health; energy; activities of daily living (ADL); self; relationships; money; and living place. FINDINGS: Newly-diagnosed tuberculosis was most strongly associated with lower QOL scores (p<0.001). Patients initially had lower QOL than controls for all EUROHIS-QOL questions (p≤0.01), especially concerning health, ADL and self. Lower initial QOL in patients predicted adverse treatment outcomes and scores <13-points had 4.2-times (95%CI=2.3,7.6) increased risk of death versus those with higher QOL scores (both p<0.001). Patient QOL was re-assessed 6 months later and for patients with successful treatment, QOL became similar to participants who never had tuberculosis, whereas patients who did not complete treatment continued to have low QOL (p<0.001). Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis was associated with lower QOL before and during treatment (both p<0.001). Contacts had lower QOL if they lived with a patient who had low QOL score (p<0.0001) or were a caregiver for the patient (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Tuberculosis was associated with impaired psycho-socio-economic QOL which recovered with successful treatment. Low QOL scores predicted adverse treatment outcome. This brief EUROHIS-QOL 8-item questionnaire quantified the holistic needs of tuberculosis-affected people, potentially guiding patient-centred care

NAS battery demonstration at American Electric Power:a study for the DOE energy storage program.

The first U.S. demonstration of the NGK sodium/sulfur battery technology was launched in August 2002 when a prototype system was installed at a commercial office building in Gahanna, Ohio. American Electric Power served as the host utility that provided the office space and technical support throughout the project. The system was used to both reduce demand peaks (peak-shaving operation) and to mitigate grid power disturbances (power quality operation) at the demonstration site. This report documents the results of the demonstration, provides an economic analysis of a commercial sodium/sulfur battery energy storage system at a typical site, and describes a side-by-side demonstration of the capabilities of the sodium/sulfur battery system, a lead-acid battery system, and a flywheel-based energy storage system in a power quality application

Methyl iodide poisoning presenting as a mimic of acute stroke: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Stroke mimics are usually non-vascular disease processes. These raise the possibility of a stroke and are common in clinical practice. It is necessary to distinguish these mimics in order to provide early and appropriate management, as well as reduce possible harm on our patient.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 50-year-old Caucasian man who developed symptoms suggestive of posterior circulation stroke after he was exposed to methyl iodide at his workplace. Results of stroke investigations of our patient were negative, and a detailed occupational history clinched the diagnosis. Acute presentation with a stroke-like picture is rare in cases of methyl iodide poisoning. We have attempted to discuss the differential diagnosis of stroke mimics through a review of literature.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Stroke mimics are difficult to diagnose in an emergency room situation and may be initially treated as stroke. This case report underlines the importance of history taking, especially occupational history, in the differential diagnosis of stroke. We also stress the need to recognize mimics at presentation in order to arrive at an early and appropriate management of patients.</p

What we talk about when we talk about "global mindset": managerial cognition in multinational corporations

Recent developments in the global economy and in multinational corporations have placed significant emphasis on the cognitive orientations of managers, giving rise to a number of concepts such as “global mindset” that are presumed to be associated with the effective management of multinational corporations (MNCs). This paper reviews the literature on global mindset and clarifies some of the conceptual confusion surrounding the construct. We identify common themes across writers, suggesting that the majority of studies fall into one of three research perspectives: cultural, strategic, and multidimensional. We also identify two constructs from the social sciences that underlie the perspectives found in the literature: cosmopolitanism and cognitive complexity and use these two constructs to develop an integrative theoretical framework of global mindset. We then provide a critical assessment of the field of global mindset and suggest directions for future theoretical and empirical research

Oscillatory cAMP signaling rapidly alters H3K4 methylation

receptors (GPCRs) alter H3K4 methylation via oscillatory intracellular cAMP. Activation of Gs-coupled receptors caused a rapid decrease of H3K4me3 by elevating cAMP, whereas stimulation of Gi-coupled receptors increased H3K4me3 by diminishing cAMP. H3K4me3 gradually recovered towards baseline levels after the removal of GPCR ligands, indicating that H3K4me3 oscillates in tandem with GPCR activation. cAMP increased intracellular labile Fe(II), the cofactor for histone demethylases, through a non-canonical cAMP target—Rap guanine nucleotide exchange factor-2 (RapGEF2), which subsequently enhanced endosome acidification and Fe(II) release from the endosome via vacuolar H+-ATPase assembly. Removing Fe(III) from the media blocked intracellular Fe(II) elevation after stimulation of Gs-coupled receptors. Iron chelators and inhibition of KDM5 demethylases abolished cAMP-mediated H3K4me3 demethylation. Taken together, these results suggest a novel function of cAMP signaling in modulating histone demethylation through labile Fe(II)

Clinical Implication of Targeting of Cancer Stem Cells

The existence of cancer stem cells (CSCs) is receiving increasing interest particularly due to its potential ability to enter clinical routine. Rapid advances in the CSC field have provided evidence for the development of more reliable anticancer therapies in the future. CSCs typically only constitute a small fraction of the total tumor burden; however, they harbor self-renewal capacity and appear to be relatively resistant to conventional therapies. Recent therapeutic approaches aim to eliminate or differentiate CSCs or to disrupt the niches in which they reside. Better understanding of the biological characteristics of CSCs as well as improved preclinical and clinical trials targeting CSCs may revolutionize the treatment of many cancers. Copyright (c) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base

Mass Spectrometric Analyses of Organophosphate Insecticide Oxon Protein Adducts

OBJECTIVE: Organophosphate (OP) insecticides continue to be used to control insect pests. Acute and chronic exposures to OP insecticides have been documented-to cause adverse health effects, but few OP-adducted proteins have been correlated with these illnesses at the molecular level. Our aim was to review the literature covering the current state of the art in mass spectrometry (MS) used to identify OP protein biomarkers. DATA SOURCES AND EXTRACTION: We identified general and specific research reports related to OP insecticides, OP toxicity, OP structure, and protein MS by searching PubMed and Chemical Abstracts for articles published before December 2008. DATA SYNTHESIS: A number of OP-based insecticides share common structural elements that result in predictable OP-protein adducts. The resultant OP-protein adducts show an increase in molecular mass that can be identified by MS and correlated with the OP agent. Customized OP-containing probes have also been used to tag and identify protein targets that can be identified by MS. CONCLUSIONS: MS is a useful and emerging tool for the identification of proteins that are modified by activated organophosphate insecticides. MS can characterize the structure of the OP adduct and also the specific amino acid residue that forms the key bond with the OP. Each protein that is modified in a unique way by an OP represents a unique molecular biomarker that with further research can lead to new correlations with exposure

Bioelectrochemical conversion of CO2 to value added product formate using engineered Methylobacterium extorquens

The conversion of carbon dioxide to formate is a fundamental step for building C1 chemical platforms. Methylobacterium extorquens AM1 was reported to show remarkable activity converting carbon dioxide into formate. Formate dehydrogenase 1 from M. extorquens AM1 (MeFDH1) was verified as the key responsible enzyme for the conversion of carbon dioxide to formate in this study. Using a 2% methanol concentration for induction, microbial harboring the recombinant MeFDH1 expressing plasmid produced the highest concentration of formate (26.6 mM within 21 hours) in electrochemical reactor. 60 ??M of sodium tungstate in the culture medium was optimal for the expression of recombinant MeFDH1 and production of formate (25.7 mM within 21 hours). The recombinant MeFDH1 expressing cells showed maximum formate productivity of 2.53 mM/g-wet cell/hr, which was 2.5 times greater than that of wild type. Thus, M. extorquens AM1 was successfully engineered by expressing MeFDH1 as recombinant enzyme to elevate the production of formate from CO2 after elucidating key responsible enzyme for the conversion of CO2 to formate