The EU’s Trade Policy in the Doha Development Agenda – An Interim Assessment on Rules Negotiations

At Doha Ministerial Conference in 2001, WTO members agreed to launch new trade negotiations on a range of subjects and other work, including issues concerning the implementation of the present agreements. Various issues in the WTO Doha Development Agenda were dealt with in the form of ‘single undertaking’ which include the trade remedy rules, i.e., anti-dumping and subsidies rules. The EU, being the largest regional economy in the world, was no doubt a heavyweight in the Doha multilateral trade negotiations and so was its trade policy of great weight. To date, the EU had put forward a total of 10 submissions to clarify and improve the AD Agreement and the SCM Agreement at the end of 2006, and the submissions revealed the EU’s attitude toward the Rules negoation; not aggressive but prudent and cautious. While Doha Round seemed doomed and gloomy, the EU, on the other hand, launched its new trade policy, the ‘Global Europe’ framework in 2006 pursuant to the goals set up by the conclusions of Lisbon European Council. The new EU’s trade policy is comprised of a wider array of trade issues, aiming at maintaining its global competitiveness, and in light of the growing fragmentation and complexity of the process of production and supply chains as well as the growth of major new economic actors, particularly in Asia, there was a need for a revision of the EU Trade Defence Instruments (TDI) . A “Green Paper” on TDI was thus drafted and presented for public consultation by the Commission at the end of 2006, which is intended to make sure EU TDI fit in the trend of globalization as well as the European multinational corporations' competiveness in the new economic context. This paper intends to explore if the possible trade policy adjustment in the EU TDI will also facilitate to resolve the discrepancy between the EU and its counterparts in the Rules negotiations and provide a solid basis for the conclusion thereof. Section II of the article presents the ongoing DDA negotiations, inter alia, Rules negotiations. Section III will probe the negotiation objective and issues that EU concern by examining its submissions to the Negotiating Group on Rules as well as its implementation assessment. The EU’s new trade policy, in particular, that on the newly released “Green Paper” on the TDI will also be analyzed in section IV. This paper concludes that the EU policy on TDI is expected to be adjusted toward a framework favorable to other economic operators, such as users and consumers. Whether the public consultation for “Green Paper” is a process of consensus building is still an argument. It is likely that EU delegate will narrow down the gap between the EU and other exporting-oriented members in the Rules negotiations should the revised TDI be expanded to a large extent

Comparison of visual outcomes after epiretinal membrane surgery

AbstractPurposeTo elucidate the anatomical and visual outcomes of patients with idiopathic epiretinal membranes (ERM) who underwent vitrectomy, membrane removal only, or with internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling under the assistance of different dyes.MethodsA retrospective chart review of patients with idiopathic ERM who received surgical treatment between January 2004 and December 2009. The patients were grouped according to the usage of staining materials assisting ILM peeling. Group 1 consisted of 61 eyes that underwent conventional vitrectomy and ERM peeling without staining-assisted ILM peeling. Group 2 consisted of 20 eyes with triamcinolone acetonide-assisted ILM peeling following conventional vitrectomy. Group 3 consisted of 23 eyes with indocyanine green-assisted ILM peeling following conventional vitrectomy.ResultsThis study included 104 eyes from 104 patients. There was no significant difference in age, sex, preoperative visual acuity, retinal thickness or follow-up duration among the three groups. Overall, the mean best-corrected visual acuity improved significantly from baseline 0.15 to postoperative 0.41 (p<0.0001). Among the three groups, the mean logarithm minimum angle of resolution acuity markedly improved. There was no significant difference in postoperative visual acuity among groups. As measured by ocular coherent tomography, the mean central foveal thickness decreased from 465.21±86.18 to 299.16±70.14μm. Although there was no difference between groups, postoperative retinal thickness was thicker than that observed in the normal population. The incidence of recurrent ERM was 13.1% in Group 1 and 0% in Groups 2 and 3; this incidence was significantly higher than in the conventional surgery group. Visual outcome was statistically more deteriorated in recurrent cases than in non-recurrent cases (p=0.011).ConclusionsERM surgeries with or without dye-assisted ILM peeling showed similar results. Moreover, the incidence of recurrence is lower in the ILM peeling groups and plays a primary role in determining the final postoperative vision outcome

Progesterone receptor does not improve the performance and test effectiveness of the conventional 3-marker panel, consisting of estrogen receptor, vimentin and carcinoembryonic antigen in distinguishing between primary endocervical and endometrial adenocarcinomas in a tissue microarray extension study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>Endocervical adenocarcinomas (ECA) and endometrial adenocarcinomas (EMA) are uterine malignancies that have differing biological behaviors. The choice of an appropriate therapeutic plan rests on the tumor's site of origin. In this study, we propose to evaluate whether PR adds value to the performance and test effectiveness of the conventional 3-marker (ER/Vim/CEA) panel in distinguishing between primary ECA and EMA.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A tissue microarray was constructed using paraffin-embedded, formalin-fixed tissues from 38 hysterectomy specimens, including 14 ECA and 24 EMA. Tissue microarray (TMA) sections were immunostained with 4 antibodies, using the avidin-biotin complex (ABC) method for antigen visualization. The staining intensity and extent of the immunohistochemical (IHC) reactions were appraised using a semi-quantitative scoring system.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The three markers (ER, Vim and CEA) and their respective panel expressions showed statistically significant (p < 0.05) frequency differences between ECA and EMA tumors. Although the additional ancillary PR-marker also revealed a significant frequency difference (p < 0.05) between ECA and EMA tumors, it did not demonstrate any supplementary benefit to the 3-marker panel.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>According to our data, when histomorphological and clinical doubt exists as to the primary site of origin, we recommend that the conventional 3-marker (ER/Vim/CEA) panel is easier, sufficient and appropriate to use in distinguishing between primary ECA and EMA. Although the 4-marker panel containing PR also reveals statistically significant results, the PR-marker offers no supplemental benefit to the pre-existing 3-marker (ER/Vim/CEA) panel in the diagnostic distinction between ECA and EMA.</p

Organic Electrochemical Transistors/SERS-Active Hybrid Biosensors Featuring Gold Nanoparticles Immobilized on Thiol-Functionalized PEDOT Films

In this study we immobilized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) onto thiol-functionalized poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) films as bioelectronic interfaces (BEIs) to be integrated into organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) for effective detection of dopamine (DA) and also as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)—active substrates for the selective detection of p-cresol (PC) in the presence of multiple interferers. This novel PEDOT-based BEI device platform combined (i) an underlying layer of polystyrenesulfonate-doped PEDOT (PEDOT:PSS), which greatly enhanced the transconductance and sensitivity of OECTs for electrochemical sensing of DA in the presence of other ascorbic acid and uric acid metabolites, as well as amperometric response toward DA with a detection limit (S/N = 3) of 37 nM in the linear range from 50 nM to 100 μM; with (ii) a top interfacial layer of AuNP-immobilized three-dimensional (3D) thiol-functionalized PEDOT, which not only improved the performance of OECTs for detecting DA, due to the signal amplification effect of the AuNPs with high catalytic activity, but also enabled downstream analysis (SERS detection) of PC on the same chip. We demonstrate that PEDOT-based 3D OECT devices decorated with a high-density of AuNPs can display new versatility for the design of next-generation biosensors for point-of-care diagnostics

Thrombomodulin Regulates Keratinocyte Differentiation and Promotes Wound Healing

The membrane glycoprotein thrombomodulin (TM) has been implicated in keratinocyte differentiation and wound healing, but its specific function remains undetermined. The epidermis-specific TM knockout mice were generated to investigate the function of TM in these biological processes. Primary cultured keratinocytes obtained from TMlox/lox; K5-Cre mice, in which TM expression was abrogated, underwent abnormal differentiation in response to calcium induction. Poor epidermal differentiation, as evidenced by downregulation of the terminal differentiation markers loricrin and filaggrin, was observed in TMlox/lox; K5-Cre mice. Silencing TM expression in human epithelial cells impaired calcium-induced extracellular signal–regulated kinase pathway activation and subsequent keratinocyte differentiation. Compared with wild-type mice, the cell spreading area and wound closure rate were lower in keratinocytes from TMlox/lox; K5-Cre mice. In addition, the lower density of neovascularization and smaller area of hyperproliferative epithelium contributed to slower wound healing in TMlox/lox; K5-Cre mice than in wild-type mice. Local administration of recombinant TM (rTM) accelerated healing rates in the TM-null skin. These data suggest that TM has a critical role in skin differentiation and wound healing. Furthermore, rTM may hold therapeutic potential for the treatment of nonhealing chronic wounds