September 11, two years later

Like other historical milestones, the second anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the United States provides a good opportunity for critical evaluation. It invites an interim assessment of the successes and failures of the offensive launched by the US-led international coalition against terrorism and terrorist organizations, first and foremost al-Qaeda and its affiliates. Examining the unique..

Innovation in Terrorist Organizations; Strategic Insights: v.10, issue 2 (Summer 2011)

This article appeared in Strategic Insights (Summer 2011), v.10 no.2, p.17-29"Between the end of the 1960's and the mid 1980's, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and its various offshoots pioneered an innovative terrorist strategy, along with several related tactics. The PFLP's innovation lay, first, in the identification of the global community as the primary target audience for Palestinian activism; second, in the selection of the aviation system as the prime target for their attacks; and third, in the incorporation of foreign nationals into their operations. Offshoots of the PFLP extended this strategy, pioneering significant micro-tactical innovations. These innovations enabled the PFLP and its offshoots to execute some of the most dramatic operations seen in the 20th century, setting a trend that would only be broken decades later by the September 11th, 2001, attacks. Further, these attacks provided a template not only for other Palestinian groups, but for terrorist groups all over the world. This makes the PFLP's record a good starting point for exploring the factors that produce and drive innovation within terrorist organizations. In turn, this exploration builds a solid platform for discussing the extent that security organizations, knowing these factors, can predict and undercut the emergence of innovative capacities in both contemporary and future terrorist networks.

Correlation between Ground State Conformation and Excited State Dynamics in a Multichromophoric Dendrimer Studied by Excitation Wavelength Dependent Fluorescence Upconversion

A time-resolved fluorescence upconversion study on a polyphenylene dendrimer with 16 peryleneimide chromophores at the rim, in which the excitation wavelength is systematically varied while the detection wavelength is kept constant, is reported. A new setup is described which allows excitation at wavelengths as short as 320 nm and throughout the visible range up to 900 nm with a system prompt response on the order of 300 fs. In addition to results reported previously which were obtained at shorter wavelengths indicating the initial formation of a locally excited state which then evolves further into a locally excited state on a 5 ps time scale, the newly obtained data at longer wavelength excitation show the existence of a ground state interaction leading under these conditions of excitation predominantly to a directly formed complex.

Gestational diabetes is driven by microbiota-induced inflammation months before diagnosis

ObjectiveGestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a condition in which women without diabetes are diagnosed with glucose intolerance during pregnancy, typically in the second or third trimester. Early diagnosis, along with a better understanding of its pathophysiology during the first trimester of pregnancy, may be effective in reducing incidence and associated short-term and long-term morbidities. DesignWe comprehensively profiled the gut microbiome, metabolome, inflammatory cytokines, nutrition and clinical records of 394 women during the first trimester of pregnancy, before GDM diagnosis. We then built a model that can predict GDM onset weeks before it is typically diagnosed. Further, we demonstrated the role of the microbiome in disease using faecal microbiota transplant (FMT) of first trimester samples from pregnant women across three unique cohorts. ResultsWe found elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokines in women who later developed GDM, decreased faecal short-chain fatty acids and altered microbiome. We next confirmed that differences in GDM-associated microbial composition during the first trimester drove inflammation and insulin resistance more than 10 weeks prior to GDM diagnosis using FMT experiments. Following these observations, we used a machine learning approach to predict GDM based on first trimester clinical, microbial and inflammatory markers with high accuracy. ConclusionGDM onset can be identified in the first trimester of pregnancy, earlier than currently accepted. Furthermore, the gut microbiome appears to play a role in inflammation-induced GDM pathogenesis, with interleukin-6 as a potential contributor to pathogenesis. Potential GDM markers, including microbiota, can serve as targets for early diagnostics and therapeutic intervention leading to prevention.Peer reviewe