The Cold Peace: Russo-Western Relations as a Mimetic Cold War

In 1989–1991 the geo-ideological contestation between two blocs was swept away, together with the ideology of civil war and its concomitant Cold War played out on the larger stage. Paradoxically, while the domestic sources of Cold War confrontation have been transcended, its external manifestations remain in the form of a ‘legacy’ geopolitical contest between the dominant hegemonic power (the United States) and a number of potential rising great powers, of which Russia is one. The post-revolutionary era is thus one of a ‘cold peace’. A cold peace is a mimetic cold war. In other words, while a cold war accepts the logic of conflict in the international system and between certain protagonists in particular, a cold peace reproduces the behavioural patterns of a cold war but suppresses acceptance of the logic of behaviour. A cold peace is accompanied by a singular stress on notions of victimhood for some and undigested and bitter victory for others. The perceived victim status of one set of actors provides the seedbed for renewed conflict, while the ‘victory’ of the others cannot be consolidated in some sort of relatively unchallenged post-conflict order. The ‘universalism’ of the victors is now challenged by Russia's neo-revisionist policy, including not so much the defence of Westphalian notions of sovereignty but the espousal of an international system with room for multiple systems (the Schmittean pluriverse)

Reducing Tumour Hypoxia via Oral Administration of Oxygen Nanobubbles

Hypoxia has been shown to be a key factor inhibiting the successful treatment of solid tumours. Existing strategies for reducing hypoxia, however, have shown limited efficacy and/or adverse side effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential for reducing tumour hypoxia using an orally delivered suspension of surfactant-stabilised oxygen nanobubbles. Experiments were carried out in a mouse xenograft tumour model for human pancreatic cancer (BxPc-3 cells in male SCID mice). A single dose of 100 μL of oxygen saturated water, oxygen nanobubbles or argon nanobubbles was administered via gavage. Animals were sacrificed 30 minutes post-treatment (3 per group) and expression of hypoxia-inducible-factor-1α (HIF1α) protein measured by real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis of the excised tumour tissue. Neither the oxygen saturated water nor argon nanobubbles produced a statistically significant change in HIF1α expression at the transcriptional level. In contrast, a reduction of 75% and 25% in the transcriptional and translational expression of HIF1α respectively (p<0.001) was found for the animals receiving the oxygen nanobubbles. This magnitude of reduction has been shown in previous studies to be commensurate with an improvement in outcome with both radiation and drug-based treatments. In addition, there was a significant reduction in the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in this group and corresponding increase in the expression of arrest-defective protein 1 homolog A (ARD1A)

Population statistics for oxygen nanobubbles, argon nanobubbles and oxygenated water as measured by SPOS.

<p>Population statistics for oxygen nanobubbles, argon nanobubbles and oxygenated water as measured by SPOS.</p

Partial pressure of oxygen (pO₂) in water following introduction of oxygen nanobubbles (circles), argon nanobubbles (triangles) and oxygenated water (squares).I initial reading represents air-saturated water.

<p>Partial pressure of oxygen (pO₂) in water following introduction of oxygen nanobubbles (circles), argon nanobubbles (triangles) and oxygenated water (squares).I initial reading represents air-saturated water.</p

Average change in partial pressure of oxygen relative to pre-gavage value over different time periods in a mouse xenograft tumour model for human pancreatic cancer following administration of oxygen nanobubbles (dark grey), argon nanobubbles (black) and oxygenated water (light grey).

<p>(n = 8) No statistically significant differences were observed. The mean pO₂ value recorded for the 20 min before gavage is also shown for completeness (white) (n = 24).</p

Sovereign democracy, populism, and depoliticization in Russia. Power and discourse during Putin's first presidency

Legitimizing strategies used to stabilize the regime during the 2000-2008 presidency of Vladimir Putin included—from a discourse-theoretical perspective—democracy, populism, depoliticization, retraditionalization, and modernization