Effectiveness of State and Federal Government Agreements with Major Credit Card and Shipping Companies to Block Illegal Internet Cigarette Sales

Most Internet vendors offer tax-free cigarettes making them cheaper than those sold at stores. This undermines the impact that higher prices have upon reducing consumption. Most Internet tobacco sales have violated taxation and youth access laws, which led to landmark voluntary agreements in 2005 with the major credit card companies and major private shippers to ban payment transactions and shipments for all Internet cigarette sales

Reclaiming the political : emancipation and critique in security studies

The critical security studies literature has been marked by a shared commitment towards the politicization of security – that is, the analysis of its assumptions, implications and the practices through which it is (re)produced. In recent years, however, politicization has been accompanied by a tendency to conceive security as connected with a logic of exclusion, totalization and even violence. This has resulted in an imbalanced politicization that weakens critique. Seeking to tackle this situation, the present article engages with contributions that have advanced emancipatory versions of security. Starting with, but going beyond, the so-called Aberystwyth School of security studies, the argument reconsiders the meaning of security as emancipation by making the case for a systematic engagement with the notions of reality and power. This revised version of security as emancipation strengthens critique by addressing political dimensions that have been underplayed in the critical security literature

Skin friction blistering: computer model

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Friction blisters, a common injury in sports and military operations, can adversely effect or even halt performance. Given its frequency and hazardous nature, recent research efforts appear limited. Blistering can be treated as a delamination phenomenon; similar issues in materials science have been extensively investigated in theory and experiment. An obstacle in studying blistering is the difficulty of conducting experiment on humans and animals. Computer modeling thus becomes a preferred tool. METHOD: This paper used a dynamic non-linear finite-element model with a blister-characterized structure and contact algorithm for outer materials and blister roof to investigate the effects on deformation and stress of an existing blister by changing the friction coefficient and elastic modulus of the material in contact with the blister. RESULTS: Through the dynamics mode and harmonic frequency approach, we demonstrated that the loading frequency leads to dramatic changes of displacement and stress in spite of otherwise similar loading. Our simulations show that an increased friction coefficient does not necessarily result in an increase in either the stress on the hot spot or blister deformation; local maximum friction stress and Von Mises stress exist for some friction coefficients over the wide range examined here. In addition, the stiffness of contact material on blistering is also investigated, and no significant effects on deformation and Von Mises stress are found, again at the range used. The model and method provided here may be useful for evaluating loading environments and contact materials in reducing blistering incidents. CONCLUSION: The coupling finite-element model can predict the effects of friction coefficient and contacting materials' stiffness on blister deformation and hot spot stress

Neuropeptide-Y causes coronary microvascular constriction and is associated with reduced ejection fraction following ST-elevation myocardial infarction

Aims: The co-transmitter neuropeptide-Y (NPY) is released during high sympathetic drive, including ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), and can be a potent vasoconstrictor. We hypothesized that myocardial NPY levels correlate with reperfusion and subsequent recovery following primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI), and sought to determine if and how NPY constricts the coronary microvasculature. Methods and results: Peripheral venous NPY levels were significantly higher in patients with STEMI (n = 45) compared to acute coronary syndromes/stable angina ( n = 48) or with normal coronary arteries (NC, n = 16). Overall coronary sinus (CS) and peripheral venous NPY levels were significantly positively correlated (r = 0.79). STEMI patients with the highest CS NPY levels had significantly lower coronary flow reserve, and higher index of microvascular resistance measured with a coronary flow wire. After 2 days they also had significantly higher levels of myocardial oedema and microvascular obstruction on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, and significantly lower ejection fractions and ventricular dilatation 6 months later. NPY (100–250 nM) caused significant vasoconstriction of rat microvascular coronary arteries via increasing vascular smooth muscle calcium waves, and also significantly increased coronary vascular resistance and infarct size in Langendorff hearts. These effects were blocked by the Y1 receptor antagonist BIBO3304 (1 μM). Immunohistochemistry of the human coronary microvasculature demonstrated the presence of vascular smooth muscle Y1 receptors. Conclusion: High CS NPY levels immediately after reperfusion correlate with microvascular dysfunction, greater myocardial injury, and reduced ejection fraction 6 months after STEMI. NPY constricts the coronary microcirculation via the Y1 receptor, and antagonists may be a useful PPCI adjunct therapy

Protocol for a randomized controlled trial of a specialized health coaching intervention to prevent excessive gestational weight gain and postpartum weight retention in women: the HIPP study

BackgroundPregnancy is a time of significant physiological and physical change for women. In particular, it is a time at which many women are at risk of gaining excessive weight. We describe the rationale and methods of the Health in Pregnancy and Post-birth (HIPP) Study, a study which aims primarily to determine the effectiveness of a specialized health coaching (HC) intervention during pregnancy, compared to education alone, in preventing excessive gestational weight gain and postpartum weight retention 12 months post birth. A secondary aim of this study is to evaluate the mechanisms by which our HC intervention impacts on weight management both during pregnancy and post birth.Methods/DesignThe randomized controlled trial will be conducted with 220 women who have a BMI &gt; 18.5 (American IOM cut-off for normal weight), are 18 years of age or older, English speaking, no history of disordered eating or diabetes and are less than 18 weeks gestation at recruitment. Women will be randomly allocated to either a specialized HC intervention group or an Education Alone group. Our specialized HC intervention has two components: (1) one-on-one sessions with a Health Coach, and (2) two by two hour educational group sessions led by a Health Coach. Women in the Education Alone group will receive two by two hour educational group sessions with no HC components. Body Mass Index, waist circumference, and psychological factors including motivation, readiness to change, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and body dissatisfaction will be assessed at baseline (14-16 weeks gestation), and again at follow-up: 32 weeks gestation, 6 weeks, 6 months and 12 months postpartum.DiscussionOur study responds to the urgent need to design effective interventions in pregnancy to prevent excessive gestational weight gain and postpartum weight retention. Our pregnancy HC intervention is novel and innovative and has been designed to be easily adopted by health professionals who work with pregnant women, such as obstetricians, midwives, allied health professionals and health psychologists. <br /

Detection and attribution of human influence on regional precipitation

Understanding how human influence on climate is affecting precipitation around the world is immensely important for defining mitigation policies, and for adaptation planning. Yet despite increasing evidence for the influence of climate change on global patterns of precipitation, and expectations that significant changes in regional precipitation should have already occurred as a result of human influence on climate, compelling evidence of anthropogenic fingerprints on regional precipitation is obscured by observational and modelling uncertainties and is likely to remain so using current methods for years to come. This is in spite of substantial ongoing improvements in models, new reanalyses and a satellite record that spans over thirty years. If we are to quantify how human-induced climate change is affecting the regional water cycle, we need to consider novel ways of identifying the effects of natural and anthropogenic influences on precipitation that take full advantage of our physical expectations

Multi-omic profiling reveals the ataxia protein sacsin is required for integrin trafficking and synaptic organization.

Autosomal recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay (ARSACS) is a childhood-onset cerebellar ataxia caused by mutations in SACS, which encodes the protein sacsin. Cellular ARSACS phenotypes include mitochondrial dysfunction, intermediate filament disorganization, and progressive death of cerebellar Purkinje neurons. It is unclear why the loss of sacsin causes these deficits or why they manifest as cerebellar ataxia. Here, we perform multi-omic profiling in sacsin knockout (KO) cells and identify alterations in microtubule dynamics and mislocalization of focal adhesion (FA) proteins, including multiple integrins. Deficits in FA structure, signaling, and function can be rescued by targeting PTEN, a negative regulator of FA signaling. ARSACS mice possess mislocalization of ITGA1 in Purkinje neurons and synaptic disorganization in the deep cerebellar nucleus (DCN). The sacsin interactome reveals that sacsin regulates interactions between cytoskeletal and synaptic adhesion proteins. Our findings suggest that disrupted trafficking of synaptic adhesion proteins is a causal molecular deficit in ARSACS

Do Larval Supply and Recruitment Vary among Chemosynthetic Environments of the Deep Sea?

BACKGROUND: The biological communities that inhabit chemosynthetic environments exist in an ephemeral and patchily distributed habitat with unique physicochemical properties that lead to high endemicity. Consequently, the maintenance and recovery from perturbation of the populations in these habitats is, arguably, mainly regulated by larval supply and recruitment. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: WE USE DATA FROM THE PUBLISHED SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE TO: (1) compare the magnitudes of and variability in larval supply and settlement and recruitment at hydrothermal vents, seeps, and whale, wood and kelp falls; (2) explore factors that affect these life history processes, when information is available; and (3) explore taxonomic affinities in the recruit assemblages of the different chemosynthetic habitats, using multivariate statistical techniques. Larval supply at vents can vary across segments by several orders of magnitude for gastropods; for bivalves, supply is similar at vents on different segments, and at cold seeps. The limited information on larval development suggests that dispersal potential may be highest for molluscs from cold seeps, intermediate for siboglinids at vents and lowest for the whale-bone siboglinid Osedax. Settlement is poorly studied and only at vents and seeps, but tends to be highest near an active source of emanating fluid in both habitats. Rate of recruitment at vents is more variable among studies within a segment than among segments. Across different chemosynthetic habitats, recruitment rate of bivalves is much more variable than that of gastropods and polychaetes. Total recruitment rate ranges only between 0.1 and 1 ind dm(-2) d(-1) across all chemosynthetic habitats, falling above rates in the non-reducing deep sea. The recruit assemblages at vents, seeps and kelp falls have lower taxonomic breadth, and include more families and genera that have many species more closely related to each other than those at whale and wood falls. Vents also have the most uneven taxonomic structure, with fewer recruits represented by higher taxonomic levels (phyla, orders, classes) compared to seeps and wood and kelp falls, whereas the opposite is true at whale falls. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Based on our evaluation of the literature, the patterns and regulatory factors of the early history processes in chemosynthetic environments in the deep sea remain poorly understood. More research focused on these early life history stages will allow us to make inferences about the ecological and biogeographic linkages among the reducing habitats in the deep sea