Treading the fine white line: cocaine trafficking

The illicit drug’s trade is a highly profitable business that grasps the interest of millions of people and equally affects millions of others. Cocaine is a highly addictive drug that plagues many countries. It is trafficked through various routes using a variety of methods by traffickers who adapt to the efforts of the authorities. This paper reviews all aspects of the cocaine trade: from how a market came to exist for cocaine to the well-established lucrative market that it is today. A thorough understanding of all aspects of the cocaine market is essential in order to be able to assess the effectiveness of the current methods that are being employed to combat the illicit cocaine trade. To discuss, seeking to reach a conclusion as to whether cocaine trafficking can be completely eradicated when such a lucrative market for cocaine exists

Institutional conceptualisations of teacher education as academic work in England

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Teaching and Teacher Education. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2012 Elsevier B.V.Through an analysis of job recruitment texts, and interviews with academic leaders, this article shows how the university-based teacher educator is produced as a category of academic worker in England. Focussing on the discursive processes of categorisation provides insights into how English universities conceptualise teacher education. Variations in conceptualisations are noted within and between institutions, with the teacher educator produced as a hybrid or exceptional category. Often, variations are produced around a practitioner/researcher contradiction. The article concludes by asking whether such variations and potential lack of coherence matter, in the context of national policy and funding constraints, and internationally

European Registry on the management of Helicobacter pylori infection (Hp-EuReg): N analysis of 2360 patients receiving first-line therapy in Russia

© 2018 Media Sphera Publishing Group. All rights reserved. European Registry on the management of Helicobacter pylori infection («Hp-EuReg») - a multicenter prospective observational study initiated by the European Helicobacter and Microbiota Study Group, conducted in 27 European countries in order to evaluate the real clinical practice of diagnosis and treatment of H. pylori and its comparison with international recommendations. Materials and methods. The analysis of 2360 patients entered in the register by the Russian centres of «Hp-EuReg» in 2013-2017, who were underwent 1st line eradication therapy. Results. The most common methods of primary diagnosis of H. pylori are histological (37.7%), rapid urease test (29.2%) and serology (29.7%). The duration of eradication therapy in 9.4% of cases was 7 days, in 65.3% - 10 days, and in 25.3% - 14 days. To control the effectiveness of treatment, H. pylori antigen in feces (31.3%), urea breath test (23.4%) and histological method (23.3%) were used. In 3.6% cases was used serology by mistake. In 17.3% of patients control was not carried out. The effectiveness of triple therapy with a PPI, amoxicillin, clarithromycin (per protocol) was 67.6%, with 7-day course, 81.1% at 10-day and 86.7% at 14-day course. Åradication rate of triple therapy with addition of bismuth (per protocol) reached 90,6% in the group receiving 10-day scheme and 93.6% in the group receiving the 14-day treatment. Conclusion. Significant deviations of clinical practice from expert recommendations, most pronounced at the stage of monitoring the effectiveness of therapy, were noted. The suboptimal efficacy of triple therapy is shown

Laser Photochemistry and Transient Raman Spectroscopy of Silyl-Substituted Fischer-Type Carbene Complexes

Pulsed laser irradiation of the silyl-substituted carbene complexes (CO)5W=C(XR)SiPh3 (XR = NC4H8 (1); = OEt (2)) in various solvents has been investigated using transient absorbance and time-resolved resonance Raman scattering as monitoring techniques. Irradiation of (1) in noncoordinating or weakly-coordinating solvents at 355 nm within the ligand field absorption band results in the rapid formation, within the laser pulse duration, of a permanent photoproduct. Saturation of the irradiated solution with CO results in regeneration of the starting complex 1. IR and Raman spectral data suggest that the photoproduct is the internally stabilized 16- electron species (CO)4W=C(NC,iH8)SiPh3. The observations are discussed in relation to the previously reported formation of the same 16-electron species by thermolysis of 1. When the irradiation is carried out in CH3CN as solvent, UV-visible evidence suggests formation of the photosubstituted species (CO)4(CH3CN) W=C(NC4Hg)SiPh3. No photoactivity, either transient or permanent, is seen in any solvent when the irradiation is carried out at 416 nm, a wavelength which falls within the MLCT absorption region of 1. When the ethoxy-substituted carbene complex 2 is irradiated in either the LF or MLCT absorption regions a transient species forms rapidly, within the laser pulse duration, and decays on a time scale of several μß, with a lifetime dependent on solvent polarity but independent of CO concentration in solution. Time-resolved resonance Raman studies in which the sample is photolyzed at 355 nm and probed by means of a delayed pulse at 406 nm show the formation and decay of a transient consistent with the flash photolysis results. The data are interpreted in terms of photoinduced anti-syn isomerization of 2 about the Ccarbene~0 bond

Microwave Spectroscopy

Contains research objectives and reports on five research projects.Signal Corps Contract DA36-039-sc-73014Signal Corps Contract DA36-039-sc-7489

学会抄録

<p><b>Pod-IVR Pharmacokinetics in macaques</b> (A) <i>In vivo</i> release of TDF and FTC from each pod-IVR (N = 6/time point) over the course of the efficacy study determined by residual drug measurements from the pod-IVRs that were in place for 19 weeks with IVRs exchanged for new devices every 2 weeks. The top and bottom of the boxes show the 75th and 25th percentiles, respectively, and the line in the middle of the box is the median value. The dotted lines show the mean (N = 6) <i>in vivo</i> release from identical pod-IVRs obtained during the PK study preceding this efficacy study [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0157061#pone.0157061.ref026" target="_blank">26</a>]. (B) <i>In vivo</i> release profile for individual macaques (T1-T6) shows variability between animals. (C) TDF, TFV, TDF+TFV, and FTC levels in vaginal fluids collected at each ring exchange. Vaginal fluids were collected with Weck-Cel sponges proximal and distal to the pod-IVR placement. The dotted horizontal lines correspond to the medians from our previous PK study [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0157061#pone.0157061.ref026" target="_blank">26</a>]. Left panels-proximal; Right panels-distal; Dots-median.</p

Surfing a genetic association interaction network to identify modulators of antibody response to smallpox vaccine

The variation in antibody response to vaccination likely involves small contributions of numerous genetic variants, such as single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which interact in gene networks and pathways. To accumulate the bits of genetic information relevant to the phenotype that are distributed throughout the interaction network, we develop a network eigenvector centrality algorithm (SNPrank) that is sensitive to the weak main effects, gene–gene interactions and small higher-order interactions through hub effects. Analogous to Google PageRank, we interpret the algorithm as the simulation of a random SNP surfer (RSS) that accumulates bits of information in the network through a dynamic probabilistic Markov chain. The transition matrix for the RSS is based on a data-driven genetic association interaction network (GAIN), the nodes of which are SNPs weighted by the main-effect strength and edges weighted by the gene–gene interaction strength. We apply SNPrank to a GAIN analysis of a candidate-gene association study on human immune response to smallpox vaccine. SNPrank implicates a SNP in the retinoid X receptor α (RXRA) gene through a network interaction effect on antibody response. This vitamin A- and D-signaling mediator has been previously implicated in human immune responses, although it would be neglected in a standard analysis because its significance is unremarkable outside the context of its network centrality. This work suggests SNPrank to be a powerful method for identifying network effects in genetic association data and reveals a potential vitamin regulation network association with antibody response

Daily and Nondaily Oral Preexposure Prophylaxis in Men and Transgender Women Who Have Sex With Men: The Human Immunodeficiency Virus Prevention Trials Network 067/ADAPT Study

Background: Nondaily dosing of oral preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) may provide equivalent coverage of sex events compared with daily dosing. Methods: At-risk men and transgender women who have sex with men were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 dosing regimens: 1 tablet daily, 1 tablet twice weekly with a postsex dose (time-driven), or 1 tablet before and after sex (event-driven), and were followed for coverage of sex events with pre- and postsex dosing measured by weekly self-report, drug concentrations, and electronic drug monitoring. Results: From July 2012 to May 2014, 357 participants were randomized. In Bangkok, the coverage of sex events was 85% for the daily arm compared with 84% for the time-driven arm (P = .79) and 74% for the event-driven arm (P = .02). In Harlem, coverage was 66%, 47% (P = .01), and 52% (P = .01) for these groups. In Bangkok, PrEP medication concentrations in blood were consistent with use of ≥2 tablets per week in >95% of visits when sex was reported in the prior week, while in Harlem, such medication concentrations occurred in 48.5% in the daily arm, 30.9% in the time-driven arm, and 16.7% in the event-driven arm (P < .0001). Creatinine elevations were more common in the daily arm (P = .050), although they were not dose limiting. Conclusions: Daily dosing recommendations increased coverage and protective drug concentrations in the Harlem cohort, while daily and nondaily regimens led to comparably favorable outcomes in Bangkok, where participants had higher levels of education and employment

Assessment of BED HIV-1 Incidence Assay in Seroconverter Cohorts: Effect of Individuals with Long-Term Infection and Importance of Stable Incidence

BACKGROUND: Performance of the BED assay in estimating HIV-1 incidence has previously been evaluated by using longitudinal specimens from persons with incident HIV infections, but questions remain about its accuracy. We sought to assess its performance in three longitudinal cohorts from Thailand where HIV-1 CRF01_AE and subtype B' dominate the epidemic. DESIGN: BED testing was conducted in two longitudinal cohorts with only incident infections (a military conscript cohort and an injection drug user cohort) and in one longitudinal cohort (an HIV-1 vaccine efficacy trial cohort) that also included long-term infections. METHODS: Incidence estimates were generated conventionally (based on the number of annual serocoversions) and by using BED test results in the three cohorts. Adjusted incidence was calculated where appropriate. RESULTS: For each longitudinal cohort the BED incidence estimates and the conventional incidence estimates were similar when only newly infected persons were tested, whether infected with CRF01_AE or subtype B'. When the analysis included persons with long-term infections (to mimic a true cross-sectional cohort), BED incidence estimates were higher, although not significantly, than the conventional incidence estimates. After adjustment, the BED incidence estimates were closer to the conventional incidence estimates. When the conventional incidence varied over time, as in the early phase of the injection drug user cohort, the difference between the two estimates increased, but not significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Evaluation of the performance of incidence assays requires the inclusion of a substantial number of cohort-derived specimens from individuals with long-term HIV infection and, ideally, the use of cohorts in which incidence remained stable. Appropriate adjustments of the BED incidence estimates generate estimates similar to those generated conventionally