Economic Sanctions as Instruments of American Foreign Policy

Throughout history, military and economic powers have used economic sanctions, blockades and boycotts as parts of their policies against other countries for many reasons. The United States is no exception. The United States uses economic sanctions as a foreign policy tool to pressure other countries for human rights violations, nuclear proliferation and aggressions and international terrorism. There is an assumption that economic sanctions imposed by the United States will become more and more effective because the United States has become more and more economically and militarily powerful after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The United States is a sole global power both militarily and economically. The effectiveness of sanctions, however, cannot be measure by regime or behavior change of a target country. It is naive to believe that regime or behavior change of a regime can take place just because of American foreign policy. There are many instances in the past where American diplomatic actions failed to change the behavior of a regime. There are also many examples in the past where American military actions, especially military intervention in Vietnam, failed to produce behavior or a regime changes. There are many cases of economic sanctions that failed to produce behavior change of a regime. The imposition of economic sanctions, in one form or another, as an instrument of foreign policy developed over centuries. There are many good reasons why economic sanctions, in one form or another, such as blockades, boycotts and sieges, developed over centuries, and why some powerful countries are still using those as foreign policy tool. Economic sanctions are important and essential parts of effective and complex foreign policy. American foreign policy will be as simple as black and white and as weak as a paper tiger without economic sanctions. This thesis attempts to explain why economic sanctions are essential parts of American foreign policy. This thesis also examines arguments and counter-arguments regarding economic sanctions

Chromium (III) adsorption from aqueous solution by Rhizophora apiculata Tannins

Adsorption of Cr3+ from aqueous solution by Rhizophora apiculata tannins was investigated in batch shaking experiments. Tannins extracted from R. apiculata mangrove barks was chemically modified with formaldehyde in the basic solution of sodium hydroxide. The performance of the produced adsorbent on the adsorption of Cr3+ was evaluated based on the effect of several parameters like initial pH, adsorbent dosage, initial Cr3+ concentration and contact time. Equilibrium adsorption data was analyzed by Langmuir, Freundlich, Sips and Dubinin-Raduskhevich (D-R) isotherms. The fitness of the isotherms to the experimental data was determined by non-linear regression analysis. Adsorption capacity calculated from Langmuir isotherm was found to be 10.14 mg Cr3+/g of adsorbent at optimum adsorption pH of 4.5. Mean energy of adsorption with the value of 10.35 kJ/mol indicated that adsorption Cr3+ on Rhizophora apiculata tannins followed ion-exchange reaction. Kinetic study showed that the adsorption process followed the pseudo second-order kinetic model

Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of the essential oil of Pinus caribaea from Nigeria

The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained from the needles of Pinus caribaea by hydrodistillation was analyzed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. A total of twenty ninecompounds, representing 93.8% of the oil were identified. The major constituents of the essential oil were β-phellandrene (67.9%), β-caryophyllene (10.2%) and β-pinene (5.4%). High concentration of β- phellandrene in the oil suggests its usefulness as fragrance. The antibacterial activity of the essential oil was evaluated using disc diffusion method. The essential oil exhibited moderate activity againstPseudomonas aeruginosa at minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 1000 ug/ml and no activity against Candida albican, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus typhi, Bacillus aureus and Proteus mirabilis. The antibacterial activity of the oil against P. aeruginosa suggests its potential use as a remedy for food-borne diseases

Cadmium, lead, arsenic and selenium levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

There is accumulating evidence that the metabolism of several trace metals are altered in diabetes mellitus and these micronutrients might have specific roles in the pathogenesis and progression of the disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the level of toxic elements: lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) levels in whole blood and selenium (Se) (an antioxidant element) in serum of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Fifty diabetic patients and 40 apparently healthy non-diabetic individuals were recruited into this study. After an overnight fasting, blood was collected from each subject and blood/serum concentrations of these elements were measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometer after acid digestion. The mean value of Pb and Cd were significantly higher in the serum of diabetic patients when compared with the control (p < 0.01) but there was no significant difference in the concentration of As (p > 0.05). The serum concentration of Se was significantly lower in diabetic patients than in healthy control group (P < 0.01). Also, the concentration of the toxic elements showed positive correlation with fasting plasma glucose (Cd r = 0.378, Pb r = 0.425, p < 0.01) and inverse correlation with serum selenium (r = -0.599, p < 0.01). This study showed that, increased toxic metals are associated with diabetes mellitus. Thus, these elements may play a role in the development and pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus. In addition, depression in antioxidant concentration (especially, Se) may further aggravate this effect.Key words: Toxic elements, antioxidant, diabetes mellitus, adult Nigerians

Pre-Hospital Management of Febrile Seizures in Children Seen at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria

Background: Febrile seizures are commonly encountered in emergency paediatric practice. Initial pre-hospital intervention given by caregivers has been shown to impact outcome.Objectives: To describe the spectrum of pre-hospital interventions given for the treatment of childhood febrile seizures in Ibadan, Nigeria.Methods: All consecutive cases of febrile seizures seen at the emergency room of University College Hospital, Ibadan over a period of 13 months were the subjects of the study. Details of history of illness including the interventions given before presentation were recorded. All the children had lumbar puncture and examination of their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). All were followed up till discharge and the outcome was recorded.Results: A total of 147 children, 83 males and 64 females with febrile seizures were studied. Harmful traditional practices were found to be common in the cohort studied. Fifty-nine (40.1%) of the children received at least one form of intervention believed to be capable of aborting the seizure during the attack at home. Herbal preparation was the most common form of pre-hospital treatment, given in 15 (10.2%) of the cases. Other forms of pre-hospital interventions given were application of substances to the eyes (6.1%), incisions on the body (2%) and burns inflicted on the feet and buttocks (1.4%). None of the children received rectal diazepam or buccal midazolam as home remedy for seizures. There was a statistically significant relationship between harmful cultural practices and the socioeconomic class of the caregivers (P=0.008).Conclusions: Pre-hospital treatment of childhood seizures in Ibadan comprises mainly harmful traditional practices. There is a need for appropriate health education to reduce the morbidity and mortalityassociated with febrile seizures in the locality.Keywords: seizures, febrile, cow’s urine, socio-economic statu

Retrospective audit of the acute management of stroke in two districy general hospitals in the UK

Background: There is some evidence to suggest that the standard of acute medical care provided to patients with cerebrovascular disease is a major determinant of the eventual outcome. Consequently, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) of London issues periodic guidelines to assist healthcare providers in the management of patients presenting with stroke.Objective: An audit of the acute management of stroke in two hospitals belonging to the same health care trust in the UK.Method: Retrospective review of 98 randomly selected case-notes of patients managed for cerebrovascular disease in two acute hospitals in the UK between April and June 2004. The pertinent guidelines of RCP (London) are highlighted while audit targets were set at 70%.Results: 84% of patients presenting with cerebrovascular disease had a stroke rather than a TIA, anterior circulation strokes were commonest. All patients with stroke were admitted while those with TIAs were discharged on the same day but most patients with TIA were not followed up by Stroke specialists. Most CT-imaging of the head was done after 24 hours delaying the commencement of anti-platelets for patients with ischaemic stroke orneurosurgical referral for haemorrhagic stroke. Furthermore, there was a  low rate of referral for carotid ultrasound in patients with anterior circulationstrokes. Anti-platelets and statins were commenced for most patients with ischaemic stroke while diabetes was well controlled in most of them. However, ACE-inhibitors and diuretics such as indapamide were under-utilized for secondary prevention in such patients. Warfarin anti-coagulation was underutilized in patients with ischaemic stroke who had underlying chronic atrial fibrillation. While there was significant multi-disciplinary team input, dysphagia and physiotherapy assessments were delayed. Similarly, occupational therapy input and psychological assesment were omitted from the care of most patients.Conclusion: Hospital service provision for the management of  cerebrovascular disease needs to provide appropriate specialist follow up for patients with TIA, prompt radiological imaging and multi-disciplinary team input for patients with stroke. Furthermore, physicians need to utilize appropriate antihypertensives and anti-coagulation more frequently in the secondary prevention of stroke.Keywords: Stroke, anti-platelets, anti-coagulation, carotid stenosis, secondary preventio

Does \Sigma -\Sigma -\alpha Form a Quasi-Bound State?

We have investigated the possible existence of a quasi-bound state for the \Sigma -\Sigma -\alpha system in the framework of Faddeev calculations. We are particularly interested in the state of total iso-spin T=2, since for an inert \alpha particle there is no strong conversion to \Xi -N-\alpha or \Lambda -\Lambda -\alpha possible. A \Sigma -\alpha optical potential based on Nijmegen model D and original \Sigma -\Sigma interactions of the series of Nijmegen potentials NSC97 as well a simulated Gaussian type versions thereof are used. Our investigation of the \Sigma -\Sigma -\alpha system leads to a quasi bound state where, depending on the potential parameters, the energy ranges between -1.4 and -2.4 MeV and the level width is about 0.2MeV.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, 5 table