Textiles and clothing in the Uruguay Round: Current situation and future perspectives

The success of the entire Uruguay Round of the GATT depends considerably upon the success of the negotiations on the liberalization of world trade in textiles and clothing, since a number of developing countries have made their support for progress in the negotiations on services or safeguards contingent upon progress in this field. What are the present controversies? And what are the chances of resolving them in time

The problems of the southward enlargement of the EC

The process of southward enlargement of the European Community is now well under way; Greece has been a full member since 1st January 1981 and intensive negotiations with Spain and Portugal are proceeding, although a successful conclusion is not yet in sight. Our article discusses the political and economic implications of enlargement for both the acceding countries and the existing community, concluding with a number of proposals regarding the course to be followed in future

Das neue Verständnis von Familie und Haushalt in der gegenwärtigen Gesellschaft

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Cerebral autoregulation is compromised during simulated fluctuations in gravitational stress

Gravity places considerable stress on the cardiovascular system but cerebral autoregulation usually protects the cerebral blood vessels from fluctuations in blood pressure. However, in conditions such as those encountered on board a high-performance aircraft, the gravitational stress is constantly changing and might compromise cerebral autoregulation. In this study we assessed the effect of oscillating orthostatic stress on cerebral autoregulation. Sixteen (eight male) healthy subjects [aged 27 (1)years] were exposed to steady-state lower body negative pressure (LBNP) at −15 and −40mmHg and then to oscillating LBNP at the same pressures. The oscillatory LBNP was applied at 0.1 and 0.2Hz. We made continuous recordings of RR-interval, blood pressure, cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV), respiratory frequency and end-tidal CO2. Oscillations in mean arterial pressure (MAP) and CBFV were assessed by autoregressive spectral analysis. Respiration was paced at 0.25Hz to avoid interference from breathing. Steady-state LBNP at −40mmHg significantly increased low-frequency (LF, 0.03-0.14Hz) powers of MAP (P<0.01) but not of CBFV. Oscillatory 0.1Hz LBNP (0 to −40mmHg) significantly increased the LF power of MAP to a similar level as steady-state LBNP but also resulted in a significant increase in the LF power of CBFV (P<0.01). Oscillatory LBNP at 0.2Hz induced oscillations in MAP and CBFV at 0.2Hz. Cross-spectral analysis showed that the transfer of LBNP-induced oscillations in MAP onto the CBFV was significantly greater at 0.2Hz than at 0.1Hz (P<0.01). These results show that the ability of the cerebral vessels to modulate fluctuations in blood pressure is compromised during oscillatory compared with constant gravitational stress. Furthermore, this effect seems to be more pronounced at higher frequencies of oscillatory stres

First aid in acute stroke: Introducing a concept of first action to laypersons

OBJECTIVE: First aid training is well established to teach the public how to recognize a medical emergency and take appropriate action. Though it is now handled as a high priority emergency stroke is not among the main topics of first aid. We investigated if first aid training may be useful for enhancing stroke awareness. METHODS: We developed a 15–20 minute teaching session about stroke as an emergency including signs and symptoms and first hands-on measures. The session was integrated in standard first aid training of the St John Ambulance of Germany and participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding their knowledge about stroke. Subjects were questioned before the stroke lesson and again at the end of the training. RESULTS: 532 participants of the training responded to the questionnaire (mean age 28.6 years, 53.6% male). There was a significant increase in proportion of subjects correctly defining what stroke is (28.4% vs. 69.9%, p < 0,001) and in the mean number of stroke symptoms listed (1.52 vs. 3.35, p < 0,001) by the participants. The number of participants unable to list at least 1 symptom decreased significantly (12.8 vs. 3.6%, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In our study a teaching lesson integrated in first aid training was effective in improving stroke knowledge of participants. First aid training should be used for stroke information complementary to other activities like mass media campaigns as it is effective, could reach younger people that are not primarily interested in stroke and provides connections to other health topics