The Eastern Origins of the Rise of the West and the “Return” of Asia

With the current interest in China (and India) proliferating within the Western Academy, this article claims that what we are witnessing today is not the rise but the “return” of China (and India). Many academics assume that the West has been the dominant civilization in the world economy in the last 500 years and that the current “rise” of China threatens to knock the West off its perch. However, this article provides an alternative take to this cherished axiom of Eurocentric world history by inverting the standard belief that the West pioneered modernity and then expanded outwards to remake the world. Thus, I argue not only that globalization preceded the rise of the West but that it was Eastern-led on the one hand and that it enabled the Western breakthrough into modernity on the other. This, in turn, rests on my claim that Chinese development stems back not to 1978 but to 960 ce as the Sung Dynasty emerged and subsequently undertook a quasi-industrial miracle. Moreover, between 1450/1492 and ca. 1830 China lay at the centre of the nascent global economy, fanning the integration process alongside other key non-Western regions such as India and West Asia/North Africa. And, while the West was the dominant player after ca. 1830 down to the turn of the third millennium, nevertheless, what we witness today is the return of China to the centre of the global economy whence it came

(Micro)evolutionary changes and the evolutionary potential of bird migration

Seasonal migration is the yearly long-distance movement of individuals between their breeding and wintering grounds. Individuals from nearly every animal group exhibit this behavior, but probably the most iconic migration is carried out by birds, from the classic V-shape formation of geese on migration to the amazing nonstop long-distance flights undertaken by Arctic Terns Sterna paradisaea. In this chapter, we discuss how seasonal migration has shaped the field of evolution. First, this behavior is known to turn on and off quite rapidly, but controversy remains concerning where this behavior first evolved geographically and whether the ancestral state was sedentary or migratory (Fig. 7.1d, e). We review recent work using new analytical techniques to provide insight into this topic. Second, it is widely accepted that there is a large genetic basis to this trait, especially in groups like songbirds that migrate alone and at night precluding any opportunity for learning. Key hypotheses on this topic include shared genetic variation used by different populations to migrate and only few genes being involved in its control. We summarize recent work using new techniques for both phenotype and genotype characterization to evaluate and challenge these hypotheses. Finally, one topic that has received less attention is the role these differences in migratory phenotype could play in the process of speciation. Specifically, many populations breed next to one another but take drastically different routes on migration (Fig. 7.2). This difference could play an important role in reducing gene flow between populations, but our inability to track most birds on migration has so far precluded evaluations of this hypothesis. The advent of new tracking techniques means we can track many more birds with increasing accuracy on migration, and this work has provided important insight into migration's role in speciation that we will review here

Autism as a disorder of neural information processing: directions for research and targets for therapy

The broad variation in phenotypes and severities within autism spectrum disorders suggests the involvement of multiple predisposing factors, interacting in complex ways with normal developmental courses and gradients. Identification of these factors, and the common developmental path into which theyfeed, is hampered bythe large degrees of convergence from causal factors to altered brain development, and divergence from abnormal brain development into altered cognition and behaviour. Genetic, neurochemical, neuroimaging and behavioural findings on autism, as well as studies of normal development and of genetic syndromes that share symptoms with autism, offer hypotheses as to the nature of causal factors and their possible effects on the structure and dynamics of neural systems. Such alterations in neural properties may in turn perturb activity-dependent development, giving rise to a complex behavioural syndrome many steps removed from the root causes. Animal models based on genetic, neurochemical, neurophysiological, and behavioural manipulations offer the possibility of exploring these developmental processes in detail, as do human studies addressing endophenotypes beyond the diagnosis itself

RIC-7 Promotes Neuropeptide Secretion

Secretion of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides is mediated by exocytosis of distinct secretory organelles, synaptic vesicles (SVs) and dense core vesicles (DCVs) respectively. Relatively little is known about factors that differentially regulate SV and DCV secretion. Here we identify a novel protein RIC-7 that is required for neuropeptide secretion in Caenorhabditis elegans. The RIC-7 protein is expressed in all neurons and is localized to presynaptic terminals. Imaging, electrophysiology, and behavioral analysis of ric-7 mutants indicates that acetylcholine release occurs normally, while neuropeptide release is significantly decreased. These results suggest that RIC-7 promotes DCV–mediated secretion

A Whole Virus Pandemic Influenza H1N1 Vaccine Is Highly Immunogenic and Protective in Active Immunization and Passive Protection Mouse Models

The recent emergence and rapid spread of a novel swine-derived H1N1 influenza virus has resulted in the first influenza pandemic of this century. Monovalent vaccines have undergone preclinical and clinical development prior to initiation of mass immunization campaigns. We have carried out a series of immunogenicity and protection studies following active immunization of mice, which indicate that a whole virus, nonadjuvanted vaccine is immunogenic at low doses and protects against live virus challenge. The immunogenicity in this model was comparable to that of a whole virus H5N1 vaccine, which had previously been demonstrated to induce high levels of seroprotection in clinical studies. The efficacy of the H1N1 pandemic vaccine in protecting against live virus challenge was also seen to be equivalent to that of the H5N1 vaccine. The protective efficacy of the H1N1 vaccine was also confirmed using a severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mouse model. It was demonstrated that mouse and guinea pig immune sera elicited following active H1N1 vaccination resulted in 100% protection of SCID mice following passive transfer of immune sera and lethal challenge. The immune responses to a whole virus pandemic H1N1 and a split seasonal H1N1 vaccine were also compared in this study. It was demonstrated that the whole virus vaccine induced a balanced Th-1 and Th-2 response in mice, whereas the split vaccine induced mainly a Th-2 response and only minimal levels of Th-1 responses. These data supported the initiation of clinical studies with the same low doses of whole virus vaccine that had previously been demonstrated to be immunogenic in clinical studies with a whole virus H5N1 vaccine

Peritoneal changes due to laparoscopic surgery

Item does not contain fulltextBACKGROUND: Laparoscopic surgery has been incorporated into common surgical practice. The peritoneum is an organ with various biologic functions that may be affected in different ways by laparoscopic and open techniques. Clinically, these alterations may be important in issues such as peritoneal metastasis and adhesion formation. METHODS: A literature search using the Pubmed and Cochrane databases identified articles focusing on the key issues of laparoscopy, peritoneum, inflammation, morphology, immunology, and fibrinolysis. Results : Laparoscopic surgery induces alterations in the peritoneal integrity and causes local acidosis, probably due to peritoneal hypoxia. The local immune system and inflammation are modulated by a pneumoperitoneum. Additionally, the peritoneal plasmin system is inhibited, leading to peritoneal hypofibrinolysis. CONCLUSION: Similar to open surgery, laparoscopic surgery affects both the integrity and biology of the peritoneum. These observations may have implications for various clinical conditions.1 januari 201

Gut-central nervous system axis is a target for nutritional therapies

Historically, in the 1950s, the chemist Linus Pauling established a relationship between decreased longevity and obesity. At this time, with the advent of studies involving the mechanisms that modulate appetite control, some researchers observed that the hypothalamus is the "appetite centre" and that peripheral tissues have important roles in the modulation of gut inflammatory processes and levels of hormones that control food intake. Likewise, the advances of physiological and molecular mechanisms for patients with obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel diseases, bariatric surgery and anorexia-associated diseases has been greatly appreciated by nutritionists. Therefore, this review highlights the relationship between the gut-central nervous system axis and targets for nutritional therapies

Circuit-based interrogation of sleep control.

Sleep is a fundamental biological process observed widely in the animal kingdom, but the neural circuits generating sleep remain poorly understood. Understanding the brain mechanisms controlling sleep requires the identification of key neurons in the control circuits and mapping of their synaptic connections. Technical innovations over the past decade have greatly facilitated dissection of the sleep circuits. This has set the stage for understanding how a variety of environmental and physiological factors influence sleep. The ability to initiate and terminate sleep on command will also help us to elucidate its functions within and beyond the brain

The waking brain: an update

Wakefulness and consciousness depend on perturbation of the cortical soliloquy. Ascending activation of the cerebral cortex is characteristic for both waking and paradoxical (REM) sleep. These evolutionary conserved activating systems build a network in the brainstem, midbrain, and diencephalon that contains the neurotransmitters and neuromodulators glutamate, histamine, acetylcholine, the catecholamines, serotonin, and some neuropeptides orchestrating the different behavioral states. Inhibition of these waking systems by GABAergic neurons allows sleep. Over the past decades, a prominent role became evident for the histaminergic and the orexinergic neurons as a hypothalamic waking center