Retrieval and molecule sensitivity studies for the global ozone monitoring experiment and the scanning imaging absorption spectrometer for atmospheric chartography

The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) and the SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) are diode based spectrometers that will make atmospheric constituent and aerosol measurements from European satellite platforms beginning in the mid 1990's. GOME measures the atmosphere in the UV and visible in nadir scanning, while SCIAMACHY performs a combination of nadir, limb, and occultation measurements in the UV, visible, and infrared. A summary is presented of the sensitivity studies that were performed for SCIAMACHY measurements. As the GOME measurement capability is a subset of the SCIAMACHY measurement capability, the nadir, UV, and visible portion of the studies is shown to apply to GOME as well

Defining the Costs of an Outbreak of Karnal Bunt of Wheat

In determining the economic impact of a possible outbreak of the quarantinable wheat disease Karnal Bunt, an examination was made of the detailed components of the costs involved. The costs were classified as: (a) Direct costs (yield and quality losses); (b) Reaction costs (export bans, quality down-grading, seed industry costs); and (c) Control costs (quarantine zones, fungicides, spore destruction). The relative importance of each of these cost components is measured for a hypothetical outbreak of Karnal Bunt in the European Union, as a means of ensuring that the policy responses to such an outbreak are appropriate considering the costs involved.disease, quarantine, cost, wheat, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries,

Recent Cases

The principle that the government must not only refrain from providing special preference to a particular religion, but, that it also must stand apart from religion in general is abridged once the government seeks to provide sustenance to religious interests. Government neutrality is preserved, however, when the government merely provides fertile ground on which religious interests can thrive independently. Because state-imposed employment accommodation of religious precepts creates proselytizing opportunities upon which religious interests flourish and because there is no overriding government interest in requiring such accommodation, Title VII\u27s Randolph Amendment transgresses establishment clause prohibitions. John P. Kelly ========================= The court perhaps considered it unnecessary to explicate fully the parameters of the employer\u27s duty, since the instant case involved an activity that was not related directly to the employer\u27s business operations and required no great expenditure to eliminate. The lack of a clear delineation of what duty an employer owes, however, renders the opinion of questionable usefulness in cases that involve more difficult factual situations.The court also fails to analyze whether injunctive relief is appropriate in all cases in which an employer has breached his duty to provide a safe workplace. Normally, injunctive relief is available only when all remedies at law are inadequate either because the impending harm is not compensable in monetary damages or because the harm is a continuing one that would necessitate a multiplicity of legal actions. Although the plaintiff in the instant case easily could have satisfied either of these conditions, the failure of the court to impose the traditional equity requirements, coupled with the court\u27s broad statement as to its equity powers, may imply that injunctive relief is always available when an employer breaches his duty to provide a safe workplace. The propriety of such expansive injunctive relief, however, may be seriously questioned in states that have enacted occupational safety and health acts patterned after OSHA. The traditional requirement that all remedies at law be inadequate before equitable relief is available embraces administrative avenues of relief as well as judicial relief, and all of the state occupational safety and health acts provide extensive administrative remedies for occupational hazards. Courts in those states therefore may require those remedies to be exhausted, or at least shown to be ineffective or inapplicable, before they make injunctive relief available. Although analytically incomplete in several respects, the opinion of the instant court appears to reach the correct result. The common law purported to impose upon employers a duty to provide a safe workplace for their employees, but it provided no adequate remedy to compel compliance with that duty. The instant decision corrects this anomaly in the law and may well promote an invigorating reconsideration of the role of the common law in the field of occupational health and safety. G. David Dod

DNA methylation of ESR-1 and N-33 in colorectal mucosa of patients with Ulcerative Colitis (UC)

Introduction: Epigenetic marking such as DNA methylation influence gene transcription and chromosomal stability and may also be affected by environmental exposures. Few studies exist on alteration in DNA methylation profiles (genomic and gene specific methylation) in patients with Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and none assessing its relationship with lifestyle exposures. Aims & Methods: To assess genomic methylation and promoter methylation of the ESR-1 (oestrogen receptor - 1) and N-33 (tumour suppressor candidate-3) genes in the macroscopically normal mucosa of UC patients as well as to investigate effects of anthropometric and lifestyle exposures on DNA methylation. Sixty eight subjects were recruited (24 UC and 44 age and sex matched controls). Colorectal mucosal biopsies were obtained and DNA was extracted. Genomic DNA methylation was quantified using the tritium-labelled cytosine extension assay (3[H] dCTP) whilst gene specific methylation was quantified using the COBRA method. Results: The methylation level of both ESR-1 and N-33 genes were significantly higher in UC subjects compared with controls (7.9% vs 5.9%; p = 0.015 and 66% vs 9.3%; p < 0.001 respectively). There was no detectable difference in global DNA methylation between patients with UC and age and sex matched controls. No associations between indices of DNA methylation and anthropometric measures or smoking patterns were detected. Conclusions: For the first time, we have shown increased methylation in the promoter regions of the putative tumour suppressor gene N-33 in macroscopically normal mucosa of patients with UC. In addition, we have confirmed that methylation of ESR-1 promoter is higher in UC patients compared with age and sex matched controls. These findings suggests that, inactivation through methylation of the putative tumour suppressor genes N-33 and ESR-1, may not be associated with colorectal carcinogenesis in UC

Extracellular Calcium-Sensing Receptor Inhibition of Intestinal EpithelialTNF Signaling Requires CaSR-Mediated Wnt5a/Ror2 Interaction

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and its receptor TNFR1 play a central role in the development of colitis-associated colon cancer. To understand a role for the extracellular calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) and its non-canonical Wnt mediators, Wnt5a/Ror2, we used reductionistic systems. We added lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to mouse peritoneal macrophages, RAW264.7 cells, a murine macrophage cell line, and 18Co colonic myofibroblasts, to stimulate TNFα secretion and then activated endogenous CaSR. CaSR activation inhibited TNFα secretion, which in RAW264.7 cells knockdown of CaSR by short-interfering RNA (siRNA) duplex reversed. LPS-stimulated NFκB promoter activity in RAW264.7 cells was inhibited by CaSR activation with Ca2+ or other polyvalent CaSR agonists. Reducing CaSR expression with siRNA duplex prevented this inhibition. Following LPS addition to CaSR–HEK cells or RAW264.7 macrophages, CaSR stimulation deneddylated Cullin1. Wnt5a added to HT-29 cells which overexpressed Ror2 or T84 monolayers treated with 3 mM Ca2+ reduced TNFR1 protein expression ∼70%. TNFα/INFγ addition to high resistance T84 monolayers reduced transepithelial resistance 50% within 4 h. CaSR activation (3 mM Ca2+) together with rhWnt5a (200 ng/ml) prevented this reduction while Wnt3a addition had no effect. LPS-stimulated TNFα secretion from RAW264.7 cells was not effected by rhWnt5a but increased 10-fold by Wnt3a. Together our results suggest that following LPS challenge, CaSR activation will inhibit NFκB activity and reduce TNFα secretion from macrophages and stroma while Wnt5a/Ror2 engagement on intestinal epithelia reduces TNFR1 expression, allowing TNFα signaling to be titrated. Our results also suggest that canonical Wnt signaling may enhance TLR4 stimulation of TNFα secretion from murine macrophages

In-depth critical analysis of complications following robot-assisted radical cystectomy with intracorporeal urinary diversion

Background: Robot-assisted radical cystectomy with intracorporeal urinary diversion (iRARC) is an attractive option to open cystectomy, but the benefit in terms of improved outcomes is not established. Objective: To evaluate the early postoperative morbidity and mortality of patients undergoing iRARC and conduct a critical analysis of complications using standardised reporting criteria as stratified according to urinary diversion. Design, setting, and participants: A total of 134 patients underwent iRARC for bladder cancer at a single centre between June 2011 and July 2015. Intervention: Radical cystectomy with iRARC. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: Patient demographics, pathologic data, and 90-d perioperative mortality and complications were recorded. Complications were reported according to the Clavien-Dindo (CD) classification and stratified according to urinary diversion type and either surgical or medical complications. The chi-square test and t test were used for categorical and continuous variables respectively. Multivariable logistic regression was performed on variables with significance in univariate analysis. Results and limitations: The 90-d all complication rate following ileal conduit and continent diversion was 68% and 82.4%, and major complications were 21.0% and 20.6% respectively. The 90-d mortality was 3% and 2.9% for ileal conduit and continent diversion patients, respectively. On multivariate analysis, the blood transfusion requirement was independently associated with major complications (p = 0.002) and all 30-d (p = 0.002) and 90-d (p = 0.012) major complications. Male patients were associated with 90-d major complications (p = 0.015). Critical analysis identified that surgical complications were responsible for 39.4% of all 90-d major complications. The incidence of surgical complications did not decline with increasing number of iRARC cases performed (p = 0.742, r = 0.31). Limitations of this study include its retrospective nature, limited sample size, and limited multivariate analysis due to the low number of major complications events. Conclusions: Although complications following iRARC are common, most are low grade. A critical analysis identified surgical complications as a cause of major complications. Addressing this issue could have a significant impact on lowering the morbidity associated with iRARC. Patient summary: We looked at the surgical outcomes in bladder cancer patients treated with minimally invasive robotic surgery. We found that surgical complications account for most major complications and previous surgical experience may be a confounding factor when interpreting results from a different centre even in a randomised trial setting

The modest professor:Interpretive charity and interpretive humility in John Rawls's lectures on the history of political philosophy

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