China’s foreign policy in Afghanistan

Examines China\u27s policy options in Afghanistan once the NATO-led mission there comes to an end in December 2014. Key findings Beijing is unlikely to make any meaningful security commitment to Afghanistan. Instead China will continue to enhance its diplomatic and economic engagement with the country. Beijing views economic engagement as its key contribution to stability in Afghanistan. The type of economic commitment will depend greatly on the security situation, the attitudes of Chinese companies, as well as requests from the Afghan government. Diplomatically, China will strengthen its contact with a range of political groups in Afghanistan including the Taliban, to prevent the country functioning as a haven for Uyghur militants and engage surrounding countries to increase regional cooperation

Microfabrics and deformation processes in magmatic veins of the Thuringian Forest, Germany

The research area is located in the Ruhla-Brotterode crystalline complex in the western part of the Thuringian Forest (Germany), about 20km southsouthwest of Eisenach. The investigated outcrops occur at the eastern and western flanks of the valleys north of the villages Trusetal and Hohleborn. Deformed magmatic veins only occur in the Hohleborn area. Both areas have relative fresh outcropping rocks, due to the steep relief, former quarries and fresh road cuts. According to Obst & Katzung (2000) several periods with the formation of magmatic veins with different chemical composition occur in the Ruhla-Brotterode crystalline complex. Presumably older lamprophyric veins and younger doleritic, syenitporphyric and granitporphyric veins have been identified (Obst & Katzung 2000). Benek & Schust (1988) already pointed out that some of these magmatic veins have experienced ductile deformation. The subject of this work is the occurrence of deformed magmatic veins in the Hohleborn area. The contact to their host rocks, their petrography and their microfabrics have been investigated and related to deformation processes, which led to a better understanding of their deformation conditions within the late-to post-variscan development of the area.conferenc

Transcatheter interventions for structural heart disease

Treatment of valvular heart disease changed significantly inthe last two decades. This thesis focuses on diagnosis, patient selection and transcatheter therapies for structural heart disease. LUMC / Geneeskund

De betekenis van tweezaadlobbige graslandplanten voor de minerale samenstelling van weidegras

In 169 paddocks of widely different soil fertility three random samples, one of dicotyledons, one of associated grasses and one of the soil were obtained. The mineral compositions of Plantago lanceolata, Trifolium pratense and T.repens and Taraxacum officinale were compared with those of the corresponding grass samples. The variance of their differences was analysed and partial regressions of these differences on stage of growth, temperature and soil conditions were calculated.Clovers and herbs were richest in Na 2 0, CaO and MgO, in cation excess, alkaline earth alkalinity, and to a lesser extent also in alkali alkalinity. These results were discussed from the aspect of mineral requirements for animals. The actual differences between dicotyledons and grasses varied greatly, however. The effects of herbs and clovers on the incidence of grass tetany was often small or absent.This was explained by the observation that the preference K>Na>Mg>Ca was normally greater with cation intake by grasses than by dicotyledons. This might be related to the cation-exchange capacities of plant roots. At higher increments of soil K the effect of the root's cation-exchange capacity on K uptake decreased. Differences between dicotyledons may also be correlated with cation- exchange capacities of plant roots

Methyldibromoglutaronitrile is an important contact allergen in The Netherlands

Contains fulltext : 22488___.PDF (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Pacemaker lead-induced tricuspid regurgitation: consider leaflet remodeling

Cardiolog

Improved biomass conversion with Trichoderma reesei beta-glucosidase Cel3A engineered for broader substrate specificity

Fungal cellulolytic enzyme cocktails are widely used for the hydrolysis of biomass into fermentable sugars. Beta-Glucosidases enhance enzymatic biomass conversion by relieving cellobiose inhibition of endoglucanases and cellobiohydrolases. Fungal GH3 beta-glucosidases are often specific for hydrolysis of pyranose glycosides and severely inhibited by monomeric glucose. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Il Nordest prima del Nordest

L'articolo introduce un volume monografico dedicato a casi di conflitto sociale (scioperi, occupazioni, vertenze sindacali, ma anche trasformazioni più lente) nel Veneto degli anni settanta, illustrando l'evoluzione del dibattito sul "decentramento produttivo" e sui distretti industriali e come questa prospettiva teorica abbia finito per negare il ruolo determinante svolto dai conflitti sociali (non sempre di classe e non sempre di fabbrica) nel consentire una evoluzione socialmente sostenibile di un modello produttivo inizialmente caratterizzato dal semplice abbassamento dei costi consentito dalla minore regolamentazione ambientale e sociale della piccola impresa e dell'artigianato

Filamin C-related myopathies: pathology and mechanisms

The term filaminopathy was introduced after a truncating mutation in the dimerization domain of filamin C (FLNc) was shown to be responsible for a devastating muscle disease. Subsequently, the same mutation was found in patients from diverse ethnical origins, indicating that this specific alteration is a mutational hot spot. Patients initially present with proximal muscle weakness, while distal and respiratory muscles become affected with disease progression. Muscle biopsies of these patients show typical signs of myofibrillar myopathy, including disintegration of myofibrils and aggregation of several proteins into distinct intracellular deposits. Highly similar phenotypes were observed in patients with other mutations in Ig-like domains of FLNc that result in expression of a noxious protein. Biochemical and biophysical studies showed that the mutated domains acquire an abnormal structure causing decreased stability and eventually becoming a seed for abnormal aggregation with other proteins. The disease usually presents only after the fourth decade of life possibly as a result of ageing-related impairments in the machinery that is responsible for disposal of damaged proteins. This is confirmed by mutations in components of this machinery that cause a highly similar phenotype. Transfection studies of cultured muscle cells reflect the events observed in patient muscles and, therefore, may provide a helpful model for testing future dedicated therapeutic strategies. More recently, FLNC mutations were also found in families with a distal myopathy phenotype, caused either by mutations in the actin-binding domain of FLNc that result in increased actin-binding and non-specific myopathic abnormalities without myofibrillar myopathy pathology, or a nonsense mutation in the rod domain that leads to RNA instability, haploinsufficiency with decreased expression levels of FLNc in the muscle fibers and myofibrillar abnormalities, but not to the formation of desmin-positive protein aggregates required for the diagnosis of myofibrillar myopathy