Naval History by Conspiracy Theory: The British Admiralty before the First World War and the Methodology of Revisionism

Revisionist interpretations of British naval policy in the Fisher era claim that an elaborate smoke screen was created to hide the Royal Navy’s real policies; while documents showing the true goals were systematically destroyed. By asserting this, revisionists are able to dismiss those parts of the documentary record that contradict their theories, while simultaneously excusing the lack of evidence for their theories by claiming it has been destroyed. This article shows that this methodology is misleading and untenable

Combined operations and the European theatre during the Nine Years' War, 1688-97

This is the author's PDF version of an article published in Historical research© 2005. The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com.This article discusses the strategic and operational purpose of England's combined army-navy operations within the European theatre during the Nine Years' War, 1688-97. Specifically, the historical consensus that these operations were simply a compromise product of the contemporary political discourse, and consistently suffered from poor preparation and implementation, is reassessed. In so doing, the article considers the combined service descents planned and executed against the northern French coastline between 1691 and 1694, including in particular the renowned operation at Brest in June 1694, and also those operations undertaken by Admiral Russell's Mediterranean fleet in 1695.This article was submitted to the RAE2008 for the University of Chester - History

Abnormal systolic blood pressure response during exercise is related to subendocardial hypoperfusion detected by exercise 201Tl myocardial scintigraphy in patient with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Balcells, EugèniaPla general, d'alguns dels elements que formen la taula periòdica. Cadascun dels 112 elements és representat pel seu espectre de color. Es van produir diverses còpies de l'obra, aquesta està a la Biblioteca de la Facultat de Química

High pressure X-ray preionized TEMA-CO2 laser

The construction of a high-pressure (up to 20 atm) transversely excited CO2 laser using transverse X-ray preionization is described. High pressure operation was found to be greatly improved in comparison to UV-preionized systems. Homogeneous discharges have been achieved in the pressure range 5–20 atm, yielding a specific laser output in the order of 35 J/l

An aerogel Cherenkov detector for multi-GeV photon detection with low sensitivity to neutrons

We describe a novel photon detector which operates under an intense flux of neutrons. It is composed of lead-aerogel sandwich counter modules. Its salient features are high photon detection efficiency and blindness to neutrons. As a result of Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, the efficiency for photons with the energy larger than 1 GeV is expected to be higher than 99.5% and that for 2 GeV/$c$ neutrons less than 1%. The performance on the photon detection under such a large flux of neutrons was measured for a part of the detector. It was confirmed that the efficiency to photons with the energy $>$1 GeV was consistent with the MC expectation within 8.2% uncertainty.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Prog. Theor. Exp. Phy

Pharmacological And Genetic Reversal Of Age-Dependent Cognitive Deficits Attributable To Decreased Presenilin Function

Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) is the leading cause of cognitive loss and neurodegeneration in the developed world. Although its genetic and environmental causes are not generally known, familial forms of the disease (FAD) are attributable to mutations in a single copy of the Presenilin (PS) and amyloid precursor protein genes. The dominant inheritance pattern of FAD indicates that it may be attributable to gain or change of function mutations. Studies of FAD-linked forms of presenilin (psn) in model organisms, however, indicate that they are loss of function, leading to the possibility that a reduction in PS activity might contribute to FAD and that proper psn levels are important for maintaining normal cognition throughout life. To explore this issue further, we have tested the effect of reducing psn activity during aging in Drosophila melanogaster males. We have found that flies in which the dosage of psn function is reduced by 50% display age-onset impairments in learning and memory. Treatment with metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) antagonists or lithium during the aging process prevented the onset of these deficits, and treatment of aged flies reversed the age-dependent deficits. Genetic reduction of Drosophila metabotropic glutamate receptor (DmGluRA), the inositol trisphosphate receptor (InsP(3)R), or inositol polyphosphate 1-phosphatase also prevented these age-onset cognitive deficits. These findings suggest that reduced psn activity may contribute to the age-onset cognitive loss observed with FAD. They also indicate that enhanced mGluR signaling and calcium release regulated by InsP(3)R as underlying causes of the age-dependent cognitive phenotypes observed when psn activity is reduced

Coincidence between transcriptome analyses on different microarray platforms using a parametric framework

A parametric framework for the analysis of transcriptome data is demonstrated to yield coincident results when applied to data acquired using two different microarray platforms. Discrepancies among transcriptome studies are frequently reported, casting doubt on the reliability of collected data. The inconsistency among observations can be largely attributed to differences among the analytical frameworks employed for data analysis. The existing frameworks normalizes data against a standard determined from the data to be analyzed. In the present study, a parametric framework based on a strict model for normalization is applied to data acquired using an in-house printed chip and GeneChip. The framework is based on a common statistical characteristic of microarray data, and each data is normalized on the basis of a linear relationship with this model. In the proposed framework, the expressional changes observed and genes selected are coincident between platforms, achieving superior universality of data compared to other methods

Experimental study of the decay KL0→π0ννˉK_L^0\to\pi^0\nu\bar{\nu}

The first dedicated search for the rare neutral-kaon decay $K_L^0\to\pi^0\nu\bar{\nu}$ has been carried out in the E391a experiment at the KEK 12-GeV proton synchrotron. The final upper limit of 2.6 $\times 10^{-8}$ at the 90% confidence level was set on the branching ratio for the decay.Comment: 23 pages, 27 figures, accepted for publication as a regular article in Physical Review

Deletion of parasite immune modulatory sequences combined with immune activating signals enhances vaccine mediated protection against filarial nematodes

<p>Background: Filarial nematodes are tissue-dwelling parasites that can be killed by Th2-driven immune effectors, but that have evolved to withstand immune attack and establish chronic infections by suppressing host immunity. As a consequence, the efficacy of a vaccine against filariasis may depend on its capacity to counter parasite-driven immunomodulation.</p> <p>Methodology and Principal Findings: We immunised mice with DNA plasmids expressing functionally-inactivated forms of two immunomodulatory molecules expressed by the filarial parasite Litomosoides sigmodontis: the abundant larval transcript-1 (LsALT) and cysteine protease inhibitor-2 (LsCPI). The mutant proteins enhanced antibody and cytokine responses to live parasite challenge, and led to more leukocyte recruitment to the site of infection than their native forms. The immune response was further enhanced when the antigens were targeted to dendritic cells using a single chain Fv-αDEC205 antibody and co-administered with plasmids that enhance T helper 2 immunity (IL-4) and antigen-presenting cell recruitment (Flt3L, MIP-1α). Mice immunised simultaneously against the mutated forms of LsALT and LsCPI eliminated adult parasites faster and consistently reduced peripheral microfilaraemia. A multifactorial analysis of the immune response revealed that protection was strongly correlated with the production of parasite-specific IgG1 and with the numbers of leukocytes present at the site of infection.</p> <p>Conclusions: We have developed a successful strategy for DNA vaccination against a nematode infection that specifically targets parasite-driven immunosuppression while simultaneously enhancing Th2 immune responses and parasite antigen presentation by dendritic cells.</p&gt

Assessment of a novel, capsid-modified adenovirus with an improved vascular gene transfer profile

<p>Background: Cardiovascular disorders, including coronary artery bypass graft failure and in-stent restenosis remain significant opportunities for the advancement of novel therapeutics that target neointimal hyperplasia, a characteristic of both pathologies. Gene therapy may provide a successful approach to improve the clinical outcome of these conditions, but would benefit from the development of more efficient vectors for vascular gene delivery. The aim of this study was to assess whether a novel genetically engineered Adenovirus could be utilised to produce enhanced levels of vascular gene expression.</p> <p>Methods: Vascular transduction capacity was assessed in primary human saphenous vein smooth muscle and endothelial cells using vectors expressing the LacZ reporter gene. The therapeutic capacity of the vectors was compared by measuring smooth muscle cell metabolic activity and migration following infection with vectors that over-express the candidate therapeutic gene tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-3 (TIMP-3).</p> <p>Results: Compared to Adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5), the novel vector Ad5T*F35++ demonstrated improved binding and transduction of human vascular cells. Ad5T*F35++ mediated expression of TIMP-3 reduced smooth muscle cell metabolic activity and migration in vitro. We also demonstrated that in human serum samples pre-existing neutralising antibodies to Ad5T*F35++ were less prevalent than Ad5 neutralising antibodies.</p> <p>Conclusions: We have developed a novel vector with improved vascular transduction and improved resistance to human serum neutralisation. This may provide a novel vector platform for human vascular gene transfer.</p&gt