Intoxicants and the invention of 'consumption'

In 1600 the word ‘consumption’ was a term of medical pathology describing the ‘wasting, petrification of things’. By 1700 it was also a term of economic discourse: ‘In commodities, the value rises as its quantity is less and vent greater, which depends upon it being preferred in its consumption’. The article traces the emergence of this key category of economic analysis to debates over the economy in the 1620s and subsequent disputes over the excise tax, showing how ‘consumption’ was an early term in the developing lexicon of political economy. In so doing the article demonstrates the important role of ‘intoxicants’ – i.e. addictive and intoxicating commodities like alcohols and tobaccos – in shaping these early meanings and uses of ‘consumption’. It outlines the discursive importance of intoxicants, both as the foci for discussions of ‘superfluous’ and ‘necessary’ consumption and the target of legislation on consumption. And it argues that while these discussions had an ideological dimension, or dimensions, they were also responses to material increases in the volume and diversity of intoxicants in early seventeenth-century England. By way of conclusion the article suggests the significance of the Low Countries as a point of reference for English writers, as well as a more capacious and semantically sensitive approach to changes in early-modern consumption practices

An Examination of Not-For-Profit Stakeholder Networks for Relationship Management: A Small-Scale Analysis on Social Media

Using a small-scale descriptive network analysis approach, this study highlights the importance of stakeholder networks for identifying valuable stakeholders and the management of existing stakeholders in the context of mental health not-for-profit services. We extract network data from the social media brand pages of three health service organizations from the U.S., U.K., and Australia, to visually map networks of 579 social media brand pages (represented by nodes), connected by 5,600 edges. This network data is analyzed using a collection of popular graph analysis techniques to assess the differences in the way each of the service organizations manage stakeholder networks. We also compare node meta-information against basic topology measures to emphasize the importance of effectively managing relationships with stakeholders who have large external audiences. Implications and future research directions are also discussed

Multiple order-up-to policy for mitigating bullwhip effect in supply chain network

This paper proposes a multiple order-up-to policy based inventory replenishment scheme to mitigate the bullwhip effect in a multi-stage supply chain scenario, where various transportation modes are available between the supply chain (SC) participants. The proposed policy is similar to the fixed order-up-to policy approach where replenishment decision “how much to order” is made periodically on the basis of the predecided order-up-to inventory level. In the proposed policy, optimal multiple order-up-to levels are assigned to each SC participants, which provides decision making reference point for deciding the transportation related order quantity. Subsequently, a mathematical model is established to define optimal multiple order-up-to levels for each SC participants that aims to maximize overall profit from the SC network. In parallel, the model ensures the control over supply chain pipeline inventory, high satisfaction of customer demand and enables timely utilization of available transportation modes. Findings from the various numerical datasets including stochastic customer demand and lead times validate that—the proposed optimal multiple order-up-to policy based inventory replenishment scheme can be a viable alternative for mitigating the bullwhip effect and well-coordinated SC. Moreover, determining the multiple order-up-to levels is a NP hard combinatorial optimization problem. It is found that the implementation of new emerging optimization algorithm named bacterial foraging algorithm (BFA) has presented superior optimization performances. The robustness and applicability of the BFA algorithm are further validated statistically by employing the percentage heuristic gap and two-way ANOVA analysis

The role of neutral Rh(PONOP)H, free NMe2H, boronium and ammonium salts in the dehydrocoupling of dimethylamine-borane using the cationic pincer [Rh(PONOP)(η2-H2)]+ catalyst

The σ-amine-borane pincer complex [Rh(PONOP)(η1-H3B·NMe3)][BArF4] [2, PONOP = κ3-NC5H3-2,6-(OPtBu2)2] is prepared by addition of H3B·NMe3 to the dihydrogen precursor [Rh(PONOP)(η2-H2)][BArF4], 1. In a similar way the related H3B·NMe2H complex [Rh(PONOP)(η1-H3B·NMe2H)][BArF4], 3, can be made in situ, but this undergoes dehydrocoupling to reform 1 and give the aminoborane dimer [H2BNMe2]2. NMR studies on this system reveal an intermediate neutral hydride forms, Rh(PONOP)H, 4, that has been prepared independently. 1 is a competent catalyst (2 mol%, ∼30 min) for the dehydrocoupling of H3B·Me2H. Kinetic, mechanistic and computational studies point to the role of NMe2H in both forming the neutral hydride, via deprotonation of a σ-amine-borane complex and formation of aminoborane, and closing the catalytic cycle by reprotonation of the hydride by the thus-formed dimethyl ammonium [NMe2H2]+. Competitive processes involving the generation of boronium [H2B(NMe2H)2]+ are also discussed, but shown to be higher in energy. Off-cycle adducts between [NMe2H2]+ or [H2B(NMe2H)2]+ and amine-boranes are also discussed that act to modify the kinetics of dehydrocoupling

Polymorphisms at the F12 and KLKB1 loci have significant trait association with activation of the renin-angiotensin system

BACKGROUND: Plasma coagulation Factor XIIa (Hageman factor; encoded by F12) and kallikrein (KAL or Fletcher factor; encoded by KLKB1) are proteases of the kallikerin-kinin system involved in converting the inactive circulating prorenin to renin. Renin is a key enzyme in the formation of angiotensin II, which regulates blood pressure, fluid and electrolyte balance and is a biomarker for cardiovascular, metabolic and renal function. The renin-angiotensin system is implicated in extinction learning in posttraumatic stress disorder. METHODS & RESULTS: Active plasma renin was measured from two independent cohorts- civilian twins and siblings, as well as U.S. Marines, for a total of 1,180 subjects. Genotyping these subjects revealed that the carriers of the minor alleles at the two loci- F12 and KLKB1 had a significant association with reduced levels of active plasma renin. Meta-analyses confirmed the association across cohorts. In vitro studies verified digestion of human recombinant pro-renin by kallikrein (KAL) to generate active renin. Subsequently, the active renin was able to digest the synthetic substrate angiotensinogen to angiotensin-I. Examination of mouse juxtaglomerular cell line and mouse kidney sections showed co-localization of KAL with renin. Expression of either REN or KLKB1 was regulated in cell line and rodent models of hypertension in response to oxidative stress, interleukin or arterial blood pressure changes. CONCLUSIONS: The functional variants of KLKB1 (rs3733402) and F12 (rs1801020) disrupted the cascade of enzymatic events, resulting in diminished formation of active renin. Using genetic, cellular and molecular approaches we found that conversion of zymogen prorenin to renin was influenced by these polymorphisms. The study suggests that the variant version of protease factor XIIa due to the amino acid substitution had reduced ability to activate prekallikrein to KAL. As a result KAL has reduced efficacy in converting prorenin to renin and this step of the pathway leading to activation of renin affords a potential therapeutic target

An investigation on opioid peptide precursors, in striatum

Imperial Users onl