NATO: The Indispensable Western Alliance

A Research Paper Developed as part of the Air Command and Staff College program.The 21st century did not start well. Terrorism and war has marked every single year so far. It is not a good sign of what this century will be. In the last century, globalization, the victory over communism, a technology driven revolution, the chance of spreading a model of society thru the internet and modern communication systems, all allowed the rise of political awareness, envy and resentment against the West. The Western societies feel less secure now than they did during the Cold War period. Their values and beliefs are at stake. The problem is not only the asymmetric threats, it is also the political conflicts between Americans and Europeans. Instead of unifying efforts against a common threat, the Allies seem to be drifting further apart, and loosing the war. How can the West escape from this trap and guarantee the preservation of their values? This preservation is essential, so that future generations can have the opportunity to live in a free world and make their choices. NATO is the indispensable Alliance to the preservation of the western values. It is a tool capable of creating a bridge between American and European interests and identities and without it, the western stability will grow weaker. It is true the Allies are different to a certain extent. It is also true their cultural foundations are based on the same core democratic values and beliefs. Although because of their geography, history, nationalism/ethnicity, development and religion, they came to develop different external behaviors. Cultural differences are common and well accepted in both Europe and America. This is not the problem. The problem is diverging and conflicting external policies that separate the Allies and benefit terrorists. To prevent a strategic split it is indispensable to find and implement the right solution, aimed to preserve the Western Values and the freedom they represent. The first possible solution is the creation of ad hoc coalitions, every time a security problem appears. Operation Iraqi Freedom is a good example. Such solutions are not legitimate since they do not rely on international recognized and generally accepted institutions, such as the UNSC. It is not the way of defending the collective security the West needs, since Nations do not commit themselves to develop and enforce rules generally accepted by the international community. It does not guarantee the preservation of the western values, since it can create conflicts among the Allies, just as it happened during the Iraqi War, leaving them in a weaker political position. The second possibility is NATO being replaced by a completely separate European and American Militaries. A complete separation between western military institutions, more than serving the West would hurt the preservation of its values. A European Security and Defense Policy completely separated from NATO would mean that the forum of decision that NATO provides would no longer be available to filter interests and protect higher values. It would mean less unity to fight a common threat and address the global turmoil issues. The solution that matches the challenge is a NATO prepared and redefined for the 21st century and its challenges. It means the establishment of a new framework, within the North Atlantic Alliance. A new marriage of convenience is required, including what seems to be a multilateral Europe and a unilateral America. In the 21st century NATO, Europe needs to assume its full political and economic responsibilities. America needs to compromise its freedom of action towards effective institutionalism, in favor of a global leadership rather than global governance. Only strategically combining efforts can the West guarantee the preservation of freedom and other core democratic values

The C2HDM revisited

The complex two-Higgs doublet model is one of the simplest ways to extend the scalar sector of the Standard Model to include a new source of CP-violation. The model has been used as a benchmark model to search for CP-violation at the LHC and as a possible explanation for the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe. In this work, we re-analyse in full detail the softly broken $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetric complex two-Higgs doublet model (C2HDM). We provide the code C2HDM_HDECAY implementing the C2HDM in the well-known HDECAY program which calculates the decay widths including the state-of-the-art higher order QCD corrections and the relevant off-shell decays. Using C2HDM_HDECAY together with the most relevant theoretical and experimental constraints, including electric dipole moments (EDMs), we review the parameter space of the model and discuss its phenomenology. In particular, we find cases where large CP-odd couplings to fermions are still allowed and provide benchmark points for these scenarios. We examine the prospects of discovering CP-violation at the LHC and show how theoretically motivated measures of CP-violation correlate with observables.The work of D.F., J.C.R. and J.P.S. is supported in part by the Portuguese Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) under contracts CERN/FIS-NUC/0010/2015 and UID/FIS/00777/2013. MM acknowledges financial support from the DFG project "Precision Calculations in the Higgs Sector - Paving the Way to the New Physics Landscape" (ID: MU 3138/1-1).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Annona coriacea Mart. fractions promote cell cycle arrest and inhibit autophagic flux in human cervical cancer cell lines

Plant-based compounds are an option to explore and perhaps overcome the limitations of current antitumor treatments. Annona coriacea Mart. is a plant with a broad spectrum of biological activities, but its antitumor activity is still unclear. The purpose of our study was to determine the effects of A. coriacea fractions on a panel of cervical cancer cell lines and a normal keratinocyte cell line. The antitumor effect was investigated in vitro by viability assays, cell cycle, apoptosis, migration, and invasion assays. Intracellular signaling was assessed by Western blot, and major compounds were identified by mass spectrometry. All fractions exhibited a cytotoxic effect on cisplatin-resistant cell lines, SiHa and HeLa. C3 and C5 were significantly more cytotoxic and selective than cisplatin in SiHa and Hela cells. However, in CaSki, a cisplatin-sensitive cell line, the compounds did not demonstrate higher cytotoxicity when compared with cisplatin. Alkaloids and acetogenins were the main compounds identified in the fractions. These fractions also markedly decreased cell proliferation with p21 increase and cell cycle arrest in G2/M. These effects were accompanied by an increase of H2AX phosphorylation levels and DNA damage index. In addition, fractions C3 and C5 promoted p62 accumulation and decrease of LC3II, as well as acid vesicle levels, indicating the inhibition of autophagic flow. These findings suggest that A. coriacea fractions may become effective antineoplastic drugs and highlight the autophagy inhibition properties of these fractions in sensitizing cervical cancer cells to treatment.e FINEP (MCTI/FINEP/MS/SCTIE/DECIT-01/ 2013—FP XII-BIOPLAT), Barretos Cancer Hospital, CAPES, CNPq, FAPEMIG, UFSJ. RMR is a recipient of CNPq Productivity Gran

Geoeconomic variations in epidemiology, ventilation management, and outcomes in invasively ventilated intensive care unit patients without acute respiratory distress syndrome: a pooled analysis of four observational studies

Background: Geoeconomic variations in epidemiology, the practice of ventilation, and outcome in invasively ventilated intensive care unit (ICU) patients without acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) remain unexplored. In this analysis we aim to address these gaps using individual patient data of four large observational studies. Methods: In this pooled analysis we harmonised individual patient data from the ERICC, LUNG SAFE, PRoVENT, and PRoVENT-iMiC prospective observational studies, which were conducted from June, 2011, to December, 2018, in 534 ICUs in 54 countries. We used the 2016 World Bank classification to define two geoeconomic regions: middle-income countries (MICs) and high-income countries (HICs). ARDS was defined according to the Berlin criteria. Descriptive statistics were used to compare patients in MICs versus HICs. The primary outcome was the use of low tidal volume ventilation (LTVV) for the first 3 days of mechanical ventilation. Secondary outcomes were key ventilation parameters (tidal volume size, positive end-expiratory pressure, fraction of inspired oxygen, peak pressure, plateau pressure, driving pressure, and respiratory rate), patient characteristics, the risk for and actual development of acute respiratory distress syndrome after the first day of ventilation, duration of ventilation, ICU length of stay, and ICU mortality. Findings: Of the 7608 patients included in the original studies, this analysis included 3852 patients without ARDS, of whom 2345 were from MICs and 1507 were from HICs. Patients in MICs were younger, shorter and with a slightly lower body-mass index, more often had diabetes and active cancer, but less often chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure than patients from HICs. Sequential organ failure assessment scores were similar in MICs and HICs. Use of LTVV in MICs and HICs was comparable (42·4% vs 44·2%; absolute difference -1·69 [-9·58 to 6·11] p=0·67; data available in 3174 [82%] of 3852 patients). The median applied positive end expiratory pressure was lower in MICs than in HICs (5 [IQR 5-8] vs 6 [5-8] cm H2O; p=0·0011). ICU mortality was higher in MICs than in HICs (30·5% vs 19·9%; p=0·0004; adjusted effect 16·41% [95% CI 9·52-23·52]; p<0·0001) and was inversely associated with gross domestic product (adjusted odds ratio for a US$10 000 increase per capita 0·80 [95% CI 0·75-0·86]; p<0·0001). Interpretation: Despite similar disease severity and ventilation management, ICU mortality in patients without ARDS is higher in MICs than in HICs, with a strong association with country-level economic status