The Absence of Love and Hopes of Shion Uzuki in the Xenosaga Trilogy

Among video games, The Xenosaga Trilogy is widely recognized due to its complex storyline. The psychological struggle of the main character, Shion Uzuki, is one of the aspects that drives the story from the beginning up to its conclusion. Despite her seemingly bright personality, Shion has an absence of love and hopes, as she lives her life monotonously without any set goal. It later leads her to develop a strong attachment to KOS-MOS, an android. As such, in this study, we want to analyze the reasons Shion has the absence of love and hopes in the first place and the ways she struggles to recover from that absence. In order to answer these questions, we use 3 psychological theories, namely Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Transference, and Countertransference. We find out that Shion's absence of love and hopes is apparently caused by her traumatic past and her PTSD. As a unconscious response to this, Shion tries to recover by using transference. This attempt fails, but Shion is finally healed thanks to KOS-MOS' countertransference. In conclusion, Shion fully recovers from her traumatic past and PTSD because of KOS-MOS' countertransference instead of her own transference

Dimensi Mutu Pelayanan pada Unit Rawat Inap Rumah Sakit Umum Daerah Karel Sadsuitubun Langgur Kabupaten Maluku Tenggara

Masih banyak keluhan pasien yang disampaikan, yaitu pasien mengeluhkan tentang ketepatan waktu dalam pemeriksaan rutin, perawat sering mengacuhkan pasien yang datang, juga keluhan yang disampaikan adalah faktor fasilitas. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui gambaran mutu pelayanan kesehatan. Metode penelitian ini adalah observasional deskriptif, yaitu untuk mengetahui gambaran mutu pelayanan di Rumah Sakit Umum Daerah (RSUD) Karel Sadsuitubun Langgur. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah pasien yang menggunakan rawat inap RSUD Karel Sadsuitubun Langgur. Penelitian dilaksanakan pada bulan Januari–Februari tahun 2013, dengan besar sampel 80 responden. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah survei dengan menggunakan kuesioner. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa sebagian besar responden RSUD Karel Sadsuitubun Langgur menyatakan cukup baik terhadap ketepatan waktu (98,7%), informasi (85,0%), dan hubungan antar manusia (95,0%). Berbeda halnya dengan Kenyamanan (65,0%), sebagian besar responden menyatakan kurang nyaman. Secara keseluruhan persepsi responden terhadap mutu pelayanan pada RSUD Karel Sadsuitubun Langgur Kabupaten Maluku Tenggara 51,3% menyatakan cukup baik dan 48,7% menyatakan kurang baik. Kesimpulannya adalah mutu pelayanan pada unit rawat inap cukup baik

The Prevalence of Reflux Esophagitis in the Elderly and Its Associated Risk Factors

Background: Reflux esophagitis is a common problem in the elderly. Compare to the Western Countries, esophageal cancer where reflux esophagitis is the most predominant risk factor is considered rare in Asia. Many other risk factors have not been well studied especially in most Asian countries. The objective of this study is to evaluate the presence of reflux esophagitis in elderly patients and its associated risk factors.Method: This was a cross-sectional study in elderly patients who underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Patients who received long-term proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy, suffered from gastrointestinal Malignancies, recently receiving chemotherapy agents, diagnosed with cerebrovascular disease or Helicobacter pylori infection were excluded. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS software version 17.00 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA).Results: A total of 238 elderly patients were enrolled. Patients\u27 mean age was 69.8 ± 6.8 years old. Reflux esophagitis was found in 22 (9.2%) patients. Several comorbidities were found in these patients, such as diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, chronic kidney disease, and liver cirrhosis. The only factor that associated with reflux esophagitis was the presence of hiatus hernia esophagus (p = 0.038). However, reflux esophagitis seemed to be more found in the elderly patients who have history of reflux inducing drugs consumption without any proton pump inhibitor (PPI) protection.Conclusion: Reflux esophagitis is still a major problem in the elderly. The presence of hiatus hernia might give an important consideration of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy screening. However, it would be a debate matter with regards to the cost burden and the low risk of esophageal cancer in Asian countries

Avalanches in self-organized critical neural networks: A minimal model for the neural SOC universality class

The brain keeps its overall dynamics in a corridor of intermediate activity and it has been a long standing question what possible mechanism could achieve this task. Mechanisms from the field of statistical physics have long been suggesting that this homeostasis of brain activity could occur even without a central regulator, via self-organization on the level of neurons and their interactions, alone. Such physical mechanisms from the class of self-organized criticality exhibit characteristic dynamical signatures, similar to seismic activity related to earthquakes. Measurements of cortex rest activity showed first signs of dynamical signatures potentially pointing to self-organized critical dynamics in the brain. Indeed, recent more accurate measurements allowed for a detailed comparison with scaling theory of non-equilibrium critical phenomena, proving the existence of criticality in cortex dynamics. We here compare this new evaluation of cortex activity data to the predictions of the earliest physics spin model of self-organized critical neural networks. We find that the model matches with the recent experimental data and its interpretation in terms of dynamical signatures for criticality in the brain. The combination of signatures for criticality, power law distributions of avalanche sizes and durations, as well as a specific scaling relationship between anomalous exponents, defines a universality class characteristic of the particular critical phenomenon observed in the neural experiments. The spin model is a candidate for a minimal model of a self-organized critical adaptive network for the universality class of neural criticality. As a prototype model, it provides the background for models that include more biological details, yet share the same universality class characteristic of the homeostasis of activity in the brain.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

Fine Structure of Avalanches in the Abelian Sandpile Model

We study the two-dimensional Abelian Sandpile Model on a square lattice of linear size L. We introduce the notion of avalanche's fine structure and compare the behavior of avalanches and waves of toppling. We show that according to the degree of complexity in the fine structure of avalanches, which is a direct consequence of the intricate superposition of the boundaries of successive waves, avalanches fall into two different categories. We propose scaling ans\"{a}tz for these avalanche types and verify them numerically. We find that while the first type of avalanches has a simple scaling behavior, the second (complex) type is characterized by an avalanche-size dependent scaling exponent. This provides a framework within which one can understand the failure of a consistent scaling behavior in this model.Comment: 10 page

Antisense oligonucleotides for the arterial hypertension mechanisms study and therapy

Arterial hypertension is one of the most common chronic diseases in adults all over the world. This pathology can not only reduce patients’ life quality, but can also be accompanied by a number of complications. Despite the fact that there is a large group of antihypertensive drugs on the market, mainly representing different combinations of inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin system, adrenoreceptor blockers in combination with diuretics, there is no generally accepted “gold standard” for drugs that would not have side effects. The review discusses the main aspects of antisense oligonucleotides use in the context of arterial hypertension. It is well known that the medical implementation of antisense oligonucleotides aims to block the expression of particular genes involved in the pathology development, and a key advantage of this technique is a high selectivity of the effect. However, with the undoubted advantages of the method, there are difficulties in its application, related both to the properties of the oligonucleotides themselves (insufficient stability and poor penetration into cells), and to the variety of mechanisms of the origin of a particular pathology, arterial hypertension, in our case. The review provides a brief description of the main molecular targets for antisense treatment of hypertensive disease. The newest targets for therapy with oligonucleotides – microRNAs – are discussed. The main modifications of antisense nucleotides, designed to increase the duration of their effects and simplify the delivery of this type of drugs to the targets are discussed, in particular, combining antisense oligonucleotides with adenovirus-based expression vectors. Particular attention is given to antisense oligonucleotides in the complex with nanoparticles. The review discusses the results of the use of titanium dioxide (TiO2) containing antisense nanocomposites for the angiotensin converting enzyme in rats with stress induced arterial hypertension (ISIAH). It was shown that the use of antisense oligonucleotides continues to be a promising technique for studying the mechanisms of various forms of hypertensive disease and has a high potential for therapeutic use

Non-hemagglutinating flaviviruses: molecular mechanisms for the emergence of new strains via adaptation to European ticks

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) causes human epidemics across Eurasia. Clinical manifestations range from inapparent infections and fevers to fatal encephalitis but the factors that determine disease severity are currently undefined. TBEV is characteristically a hemagglutinating (HA) virus; the ability to agglutinate erythrocytes tentatively reflects virion receptor/fusion activity. However, for the past few years many atypical HA-deficient strains have been isolated from patients and also from the natural European host tick, Ixodes persulcatus. By analysing the sequences of HA-deficient strains we have identified 3 unique amino acid substitutions (D67G, E122G or D277A) in the envelope protein, each of which increases the net charge and hydrophobicity of the virion surface. Therefore, we genetically engineered virus mutants each containing one of these 3 substitutions; they all exhibited HA-deficiency. Unexpectedly, each genetically modified non-HA virus demonstrated increased TBEV reproduction in feeding Ixodes ricinus, not the recognised tick host for these strains. Moreover, virus transmission efficiency between infected and uninfected ticks co-feeding on mice was also intensified by each substitution. Retrospectively, the mutation D67G was identified in viruses isolated from patients with encephalitis. We propose that the emergence of atypical Siberian HA-deficient TBEV strains in Europe is linked to their molecular adaptation to local ticks. This process appears to be driven by the selection of single mutations that change the virion surface thus enhancing receptor/fusion function essential for TBEV entry into the unfamiliar tick species. As the consequence of this adaptive mutagenesis, some of these mutations also appear to enhance the ability of TBEV to cross the human blood-brain barrier, a likely explanation for fatal encephalitis. Future research will reveal if these emerging Siberian TBEV strains continue to disperse westwards across Europe by adaptation to the indigenous tick species and if they are associated with severe forms of TBE

Somatostatin subtype-2 receptor-targeted metal-based anticancer complexes

Conjugates of a dicarba analogue of octreotide, a potent somatostatin agonist whose receptors are overexpressed on tumor cells, with [PtCl 2(dap)] (dap = 1-(carboxylic acid)-1,2-diaminoethane) (3), [(η 6-bip)Os(4-CO 2-pico)Cl] (bip = biphenyl, pico = picolinate) (4), [(η 6-p-cym)RuCl(dap)] + (p-cym = p-cymene) (5), and [(η 6-p-cym)RuCl(imidazole-CO 2H)(PPh 3)] + (6), were synthesized by using a solid-phase approach. Conjugates 3-5 readily underwent hydrolysis and DNA binding, whereas conjugate 6 was inert to ligand substitution. NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics calculations showed that conjugate formation does not perturb the overall peptide structure. Only 6 exhibited antiproliferative activity in human tumor cells (IC 50 = 63 ± 2 μ in MCF-7 cells and IC 50 = 26 ± 3 μ in DU-145 cells) with active participation of somatostatin receptors in cellular uptake. Similar cytotoxic activity was found in a normal cell line (IC 50 = 45 ± 2.6 μ in CHO cells), which can be attributed to a similar level of expression of somatostatin subtype-2 receptor. These studies provide new insights into the effect of receptor-binding peptide conjugation on the activity of metal-based anticancer drugs, and demonstrate the potential of such hybrid compounds to target tumor cells specifically. © 2012 American Chemical Society