Before Vietnam: Understanding the Initial Stages of US Involvement in Southeast Asia, 1945-1949

The Vietnam War, widely considered the worst foreign policy debacle in American history, remains the most controversial event of the twentieth century. Much criticism for Vietnam involvement stems from two sources: 1) disapproval with how American leadership conducted the war, and 2) disagreement over the reason for the conflict in the first place. Few historians, if any, dispute the first criticism. The historical community remains divided, however, in terms of a definitive position on the basis or origin for the conflict. For a holistic approach to the origin of the Vietnam War, one must first elucidate the conception of American intervention in the region, including “why” and “how” it arose. Any analysis of American involvement in Vietnam must begin with President Truman and his administration following the conclusion of the Second World War. This can only be accurately accomplished viewed in the context of US foreign policy during the Cold War. The initial American involvement in Southeast Asia in the context of the developing Cold War must be thoroughly examined to more fully understand the origins of the Vietnam War. Considering the increasingly complex situation in Southeast Asia following the Second World War, Truman and his administration acted consistently, bearing in mind the vested interests of the United States, their Allies, and the people of Southeast Asia, in light of the threat of Communist expansion in the region and across the world

Hitler, Anti-Semitism, and the Demise of the Third Reich

Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, is most well-known for two particular political/societal standpoints: German nationalism, and namely, anti-Semitism. Hitler served as the chairman of the Nazi party from 1921 till its questionable rise as the dominant party in pre-war Germany. He then rose to the position of Chancellor, and ultimately, the Fuhrer. Historically, the Nazi Party was known for anti-Marxism (anti-communism), anti-capitalism, anti-democracy, and anti-Semitism. Hitler’s rise to power in the Nazi Party shifted the focus, drawing the party away from many of its foundational tenants. During the Second World War, the “Final Solution” to the Jewish question became the chief focus of the Nazi Party. Its preeminence is demonstrated by Hitler’s allocation of large numbers of militarily valuable men and resources to systematic extermination of Jewish people all over Europe. Two schools of thought, Functionalists and Intentionalists, represent the historical debate on this topic. Intentionalists argue that Hitler was planning the Holocaust even before his political career, whereas functionalists argue that the Nazi Party itself was responsible. This essay will argue that Adolf Hitler took control of the Nazi Party, elevated his own doctrine to the forefront, in effect, using the Nazi organization as a political tool to carry out his personal desires, demonstrated in his relentless pursuit of the “Final Solution.” In short, Hitler’s commitment to the eradication of the Jewish people overshadowed even his military aspirations, hastening the demise of the Third Reich

The Nuremberg Trials: A Troubled Legacy

The Second World War wreaked a measure of destruction unseen in human history. An unprecedented number of people died or were killed during the conflict across the European and Pacific theatres of war. Fighting waged for the better part of a decade, claiming nearly one hundred million lives, soldiers and civilians combined. American, British, and Russian forces finally surrounded Berlin in April 1945. Adolf Hitler, the cunning, vengeful, ideologically-driven leader who plunged the world in war, took a cyanide tablet and shot himself in his underground bunker only a week before Germany finally surrendered. The fighting in Europe finally ended in May 1945, signaling an end to the bloodshed (Japan would surrender in August of the same year). The surrender of Germany, however, did not conclude the work of the Allies in Germany. An equally daunting task now faced the leaders of the free world: the trial of Nazi war criminals. While the Allies conducted numerous war trials in the years following, the most famous remains the Nuremberg Trial, conducted by the International Military Tribunal from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946. The trial represented an unprecedented in law and changed the face of international law for all time. Although the trials inevitably allowed many criminals to evade punishment, the circumstances surrounding the trial, its unprecedented nature, and the conviction of major war criminals proved equally important for the legacy of Nuremberg Trials in the years to come

Modeling Vortex Swarming In Daphnia

Based on experimental observations in \textit{Daphnia}, we introduce an agent-based model for the motion of single and swarms of animals. Each agent is described by a stochastic equation that also considers the conditions for active biological motion. An environmental potential further reflects local conditions for \textit{Daphnia}, such as attraction to light sources. This model is sufficient to describe the observed cycling behavior of single \textit{Daphnia}. To simulate vortex swarming of many \textit{Daphnia}, i.e. the collective rotation of the swarm in one direction, we extend the model by considering avoidance of collisions. Two different ansatzes to model such a behavior are developed and compared. By means of computer simulations of a multi-agent system we show that local avoidance - as a special form of asymmetric repulsion between animals - leads to the emergence of a vortex swarm. The transition from uncorrelated rotation of single agents to the vortex swarming as a function of the swarm size is investigated. Eventually, some evidence of avoidance behavior in \textit{Daphnia} is provided by comparing experimental and simulation results for two animals.Comment: 24 pages including 11 multi-part figs. Major revisions compared to version 1, new results on transition from uncorrelated rotation to vortex swarming. Extended discussion. For related publications see http://www.sg.ethz.ch/people/scfrank/Publication

Nuclear trapping through inhibition of exosomal export by indomethacin increases cytostatic efficacy of doxorubicin and pixantrone.

Purpose: Although R-CHOP–based immunochemotherapy cures significant proportions of patients with aggressive B-cell lymphoma, tumor cell susceptibility to chemotherapy varies, with mostly fatal outcome in cases of resistant disease. We and others have shown before that export of cytostatic drugs contributes to drug resistance. Now we provide a novel approach to overcome exosome-mediated drug resistance in aggressive B-cell lymphomas. Experimental Design: We used well-established centrifugation protocols to purify exosomes from DLBCL cell lines and detected anthracyclines using FACS and HPLC. We used shRNA knockdown of ABCA3 to determine ABCA3 dependence of chemotherapy susceptibility and monitored ABCA3 expression after indomethacin treatment using qPCR. Finally, we established an in vivo assay using a chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay to determine the synergy of anthracycline and indomethacin treatment. Results: We show increased efficacy of the anthracycline doxorubicin and the anthracenedione pixantrone by suppression of exosomal drug resistance with indomethacin. B-cell lymphoma cells in vitro efficiently extruded doxorubicin and pixantrone, in part compacted in exosomes. Exosomal biogenesis was critically dependent on the expression of the ATP-transporter A3 (ABCA3). Genetic or chemical depletion of ABCA3 augmented intracellular retention of both drugs and shifted the subcellular drug accumulation to prolonged nuclear retention. Indomethacin increased the cytostatic efficacy of both drugs against DLBCL cell lines in vitro and in vivo in a CAM assay. Conclusions: We propose pretreatment with indomethacin toward enhanced antitumor efficacy of anthracyclines and anthracenediones. Clin Cancer Res; 22(2); 395–404. ©2015 AACR

Molecular imaging of pulmonary inflammation in electronic and combustible cigarette users: a pilot study.

Electronic cigarette (EC) use has increased dramatically, particularly among adolescents and young adults, which, like cigarette use, can cause pulmonary inflammation and increase the risk of lung disease. This preliminary study used positron emission tomography with F-6-(1/2)(2-fluoro-propyl)-4-methylpyridin-2-amine (F-NOS) to quantify inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression to characterize oxidative stress and inflammation in the lungs in vivo in three age- and sex-matched groups: (1) 5 EC users, (2) 5 cigarette smokers, and (3) 5 never smoke/vape controls. EC users showed greater F-NOS non-displaceable binding potential (BPND) than cigarette smokers ( = 0.03) and never smoke/vape controls ( = 0.01); whereas BPND in cigarette smokers did not differ from controls (p> 0.1). F-NOS lung tissue delivery and iNOS distribution volume did not significantly differ between groups. Although there were no group differences in peripheral inflammatory biomarker concentrations, F-NOS BPND correlated with the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α concentrations (rs= 0.87, = 0.05) in EC users. Additionally, when EC users and cigarette smokers were pooled together, vaping episodes/cigarettes per day correlated with interleukin-6 levels (rs= 0.86, = 0.006). This is the first PET imaging study to compare lung inflammation between EC and cigarette users in vivo. We found preliminary evidence EC users had greater pulmonary inflammation than cigarette smokers and never smoke/vape controls, with a positive association between pulmonary and peripheral measures of inflammation