Futuring in the European chemical industry

With the beginning of the new millennium there seems to be growing interest in foresight and futures studies. What was once seen as an intuitive skill practised by individuals with more or less success has grown into a coherent body of techniques and knowledge increasingly described as “futuring” and practised by “think tanks” and professional futurists around the world [1]. It is therefore no surprise that these methodologies are also used in the chemical industry in order to cope with the growing uncertainty and volatility this industry has to deal with. More exceptionally, in the last couple of years different independent industry - wide initiatives were started to evaluate the future of the chemical industry. While in the US the focus was on technology there was in Europe a broader perspective. The European Chemical Marketing & Strategy Association analysed the future success factors, the UK initiative developed a vision for a competitive chemical industry in the UK and the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) developed different alternative scenarios in order to objectify the dialogue with the EU Authorities. Despite the differences in the approach there is common learning and the understanding that industry-wide futuring is a valid step in order to create a sustainable future

Lymph vessel density in seminomatous testicular cancer assessed with the specific lymphatic endothelium cell markers D2-40 and LYVE-1: correlation with pathologic parameters and clinical outcome.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the role of lymph vessel density (LVD) and lymphangiogenesis in seminomatous testicular cancer (STC) by using the lymphatic endothelial cell (LEC) markers LYVE-1 and D2-40. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Paraffin embedded tumor specimens from 40 patients with STC were stained by specific D2-40 and Lyve-1 antibodies. LVD was measured in different representative and standardized areas. Fluorescence double immunostaining for Lyve-1 and Ki-67 was performed and results were correlated with clinicopathologic data. The median follow-up period was 55 (range 10-135) months. RESULTS: Mean intratumoral LVD (D2-40: 1.30 ± 1.99; Lyve-1: 1.82 ± 2.34) was significantly lower than peritumoral LVD (D2-40: 4.94 ± 2.58; Lyve-1: 4.62 ± 2.73) and LVD in nontumoral areas (D2-40: 4.81 ± 3.79; Lyve-1: 4.22 ± 3.19). There was no significant difference between LVD measures when using D2-40 or LYVE-1. Detection rates of lymphatic vascular invasion (LVI) were significantly higher than in conventional HE-stained sections (77.5% vs. 52.5%). No proliferating lymphatic vessels were found. CONCLUSIONS: We found that LVD is decreased within tumor areas of STC. Despite a higher peritumoral LVD, no signs of proliferating endothelial cells were observed, suggesting a lack of lymphangiogenesis in STC. Detection of LVI can be optimized by specific D2-40 or LYVE-1 staining

Aufbau und Implementierung eines Planungs- und Informationssystems fuer das Marketing in der Investitionsgueterindustrie (POM) Schlussbericht. Abschlussdatum: Mai 1981

SIGLETIB: RN 5984 (83-005) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman