Has HIV evolved to induce immune pathogenesis?

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) induces a chronic generalized activation of the immune system, which plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AIDS. This ability of the virus might either be an evolved (adaptive) trait or a coincidental side effect of jumping to a new host species. We argue that selection favours the ability of HIV to induce immune activation at the local sites of infection (e.g. lymph follicles) but not at the systemic level. Immune activation increases the supply of susceptible target cells; however, mutations that increase systemic immune activation benefit all virus variants equally and are therefore selectively neutral. We thus conclude that the generalized immune acti- vation that is probably responsible for pathogenesis is probably not directly under selection

Faunistical results of the Trichoptera investigations carried out in the frames of the ecological survey of the surface waters of Hungary (ECOSURV) in 2005

In 2005 caddisfly larvae were collected at 317 sites in Hungary. 88 caddisfly species belonging 15 families were identified (3 Rhyacophilidae, 3 Glossosomatidae, 1 Philopotamidae, 11 Hydropsychidae, 9 Polycentropodidae, 3 Psychomyidae, 1 Ecnomidae, 3 Phryganeidae, 1 Brachycentridae, 28 Limnephilidae, 4 Goeridae, 17 Leptoceridae, 1 Sericostomatidae, 1 Beraeidae, 1 Odontoceridae). New larval data for the following rare species are important faunistical results: Rhyacophila obliterata, Hydropsyche incognita, Hydropsyche ornatula, Annitella obscurata, Limnephilus fuscicornis, Potamophylax luctuosus, Silo piceus, Erotesis baltica, Oecetis testacea

The Fetish of the Ephemeral, the Praxis of Repetition, and the Logic of the Archive

Abstract: When the very special nature of performance’s evanescence gets emphasized, it is the logic of the archive that lurks beneath the argument, the logic which opposes the residue with the lost and vanished. For a good part of theater scholars, it is the lost and vanished that is valuable; for the archivist it is always the remainder, haunted forever by what’s lost. This paper shall not offer a theoretical overview of the scholarship on repetition or its philosophical interpretations; instead, it will use the concept exclusively in relation with theater plays, theater art, and more broadly the so-called performance arts, in order to reaffirm the bodily dimension of preservation and archiving the theatrical experience

EFFECTS OF PREPARATION METHODS ON THE STRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF WET CONDITIONED STARCH/MONTMORILLONITE NANOCOMPOSITE FILMS

TPS/Na-montmorillonite nanocomposite films were prepared by solution and melt blending. Clay content changed between 0 and 25 wt% based on the amount of dry starch. Structure, tensile properties, and water content of wet conditioned films were determined as a function of clay content. Intercalated structure and VH-type crystallinity of starch were found for all the nanocomposites independently of clay and plasticizer content or preparation method, but at larger than 10 wt% clay content nanocomposites prepared by melt intercalation contained aggregated particles as well. In spite of the incomplete exfoliation clay reinforces TPS considerably. Preparation method has a strong influence on mechanical properties of wet conditioned films. Mechanical properties of the conditioned samples prepared by solution homogenization are much better than those of nanocomposites prepared by melt blending. Water, which was either adsorbed or bonded in the composites in conditioning or solution mixing process, respectively, has different effect on mechanical properties

Improper Supplementation Habits of Folic Acid Intake by Hungarian Pregnant Women: Improper Recommendations

Background: Neural tube defects (NTDs) are some of the most common congenital anomalies. Proper folic acid supplementation is a dominant risk factor, which has been shown to decrease the incidence of NTDs. In Canada, the incidence of neuroblastoma has presented a considerable decrease of 60% as a result of enrichment cereal grain flours with synthetic folic acid. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of folic acid intake by pregnant women on the incidence of NTDs and neuroblastoma. Methods: Regular folic acid intake has been recommended to pregnant women in Hungary since the eighties of the last century by health visitors eventually raking effect as an official protocol which had been released in 1997. During 2001, 2002 and 2003. folic acid intake habits of pregnant women were evaluated by health visitors, proving to be successful in collecting data front 95.06% of the pregnant women. The incidence of NTDs has been registered by the Hungarian National Centre of Epidemiology, Department of Human Genetics and Teratology. The Pediatric Cancer Registry provided the incidence of neuroblastoma in children. Results: Consistent findings revealed a regular intake of supplementary folic acid products by 68.71% of the pregnant women. Out of these. 93.13% of pregnant women who were taking folic acid, started the supplementation after their 7 weeks of pregnancies, a time designated as the completion period of the development of the neural tube. The dose of folic acid supplementation was evaluated as less than 5 mg/day in 84.75% of the pregnant women. In Hungary, the incidence of NTDs has remained constant, while the incidence of neuroblastoma has shown constant slight increase in spite of the introduction of folic acid supplementation in 1997. Conclusions: Based on our experience, folic acid supplementation was initiated after the recognition of pregnancy and its application in a dose of lower than 5 mg/day neither decreased the incidence of NTDs nor did it have an effect on the neuroblastoma incidence. It is implicated that proper folic acid supplementation, which is started front the conception. can be achieved only with the enrichment of cereal grain flours