Dancing Together: Church and State in Russia Today

This paper was presented at Dordt College in Spring 2000

Challenges Facing Russia Today: From Communism to Chaos

This paper was presented at Dordt College in Spring 2000

First data about fungal diversity of the “Trekhizbenskyi Step” division of the Luhansk Nature Reserve

One hundred and fifty fungal species were revealed by us in the “Trekhizbenskyi Step” division of the Luhansk Nature Reserve. Of them, 52 species are those belonging to Ascomycota and 98 to Basidiomycota. All the species are reported from the research area for the first time. Eleven species are recorded in Ukraine for the first time. The records of Perrotia cf. succina (W. Phillips) Dennis and Streptotinia caulophylli M.E. Elliott are new to Europe. Phaeosphaeria sp. collected from Chamaecytisus ruthenicus (Fisch. ex Vorosch.) Klask. is supposed to be a new species. Detailed morphological descriptions and illustrations are provided both for taxonomically significant records and the species that are firstly revealed in Ukraine

Targeting women as agents of (climate) change: a human rights based approach

PURPOSE: To review the available evidence-based literature on the components of brief inpatient psychiatric hospital admission as an intervention for patients with borderline personality disorder. DESIGN AND METHOD: Systematic literature search, narrative literature review. Content analysis. FINDINGS: Five key components of brief admission as an intervention were identified: discussion of goals; organization of Brief Admission; clear admission procedure; specification of any other interventions during Brief Admission; and stipulation of conditions for premature (i.e., forced) discharge. RESEARCH AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Brief Admission can be effectively used to prevent self-harm and suicide in patients with borderline personality disorder. During the Brief Admission, psychiatric nurses can support these patients achieving an active coping in dealing with their symptoms

Noise induced hearing loss and other hearing complaints among musicians of symphony orchestras

OBJECTIVES: An investigation of the hearing status of musicians of professional symphony orchestras. Main questions are: (1) Should musicians be treated as a special group with regard to hearing, noise, and noise related hearing problems (2) Do patterns of hearing damage differ for different instrument types (3) Do OAE have an added value in the diagnosis of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) in musicians. METHODS: 241 professional musicians, aged between 23-64 participated. A brief medical history and the subjective judgment of their hearing and hearing problems were assessed. Musicians were subjected to an extensive audiological test battery, which contained testing of audiometric thresholds, loudness perception, diplacusis, tinnitus, speech perception in noise, and otoacoustic emissions. RESULTS: Most musicians could be categorized as normal hearing, but their audiograms show notches at 6 kHz, a frequency that is associated with NIHL. Musicians often complained about tinnitus and hyperacusis, while diplacusis was generally not reported as a problem. Tinnitus was most often localized utmost left and this could not be related to the instrument. It was usually perceived in high frequency areas, associated with NIHL. In general, musicians scored very well on the speech-in-noise test. The results of the loudness perception test were within normal limits. Otoacoustic emissions were more intense with better pure-tone thresholds, but due to large individual differences it can still not be used as an objective test for early detection of NIHL. CONCLUSIONS: Musicians show more noise induced hearing loss than could be expected on the basis of age and gender. Other indicators, such as complaints and prevalence of tinnitus, complaints about hyperacusis and prevalence of diplacusis suggest that musicians' ears are at risk. Continuing education about the risks of intensive sound exposure to musicians, with the emphasis on the possible development of tinnitus and hyperacusis and the need for good hearing protection is warrante

Expression Profiling of Ovarian Cancer: markers and targets for therapy

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecological cancer in the Western world. The initial response of the primary tumor to taxane and platinum-based chemotherapy is high, however 20% of patients never achieve a clinical response and the majority of the patients will relapse and eventually die of drug-resistant disease. Chapter 1 includes a general overview of ovarian cancer, its epidemiology, histology, typing and the different therapies. The major drawback in the treatment of ovarian cancer is late detection and therapy failure due to intrinsic and acquired chemotherapy resistance and several mechanisms involved in the platinum-based chemotherapy resistance are described. Furthermore, the importance of expression profiling (mRNA or protein) in the search for tumor markers suitable for early detection of ovarian cancer, response prediction, progression monitoring and identification of targets for therapy is discussed. Chapter 2A The expression profiling of 24 ovarian carcinomas led to the discovery of a discriminating 69-gene signature from which a predictive nine-gene set was extracted. The nine-gene set predicted the resistance in an independent validation set (n=72) with a sensitivity of 89% (95% CI: 0.68-1.09) and a specificity of 59% (95% CI: 0.47-0.71)(OR=0.09, p=0.026). The predictive nine-gene set consists of the following genes, FN1, TOP2A, LBR, ASS, COL3A1, STK6, SGPP1, ITGAE and PCNA. Interestingly, three of these nine genes are already direct or indirect targets for therapy, i.e. topoisomerase 2A (TOP2A), serine/threonine kinase 6 (STK6) and argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS). The predictive power of the nine-gene set needs to be further validated in larger independent multicenter study before this model can be implemented in the clinical practice. Chapter 2B In their â?~letter to the editorâ?T, Gevaert et al. suggest that in clinical practice, a higher specificity would have been more successful assuming that patients predicted not to respond are given a different treatment not containing platinum drugs. We agree that the predictive gene signature needs further validation before implementation in the clinical practice can be advised. However, it is was not our intention to withhold platinum treatment from patients predicted not to respond, but to tailor the treatment based on the expression profile. An overexpression of TOP2A indicates that adding a TOP2A inhibitor, like etoposide, to the conventional platinum treatment, might proof to be beneficial for the patient. Chapter 2C Underexpression of one of the nine genes from the predictive gene set, i.e. Argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS) was associated with platinum-based chemotherapy resistance. To determine if this observed association was functional, ASS was downregulated with siRNA in three ovarian cancer cell lines that were relatively sensitive to cisplatin. For all three cell lines, this did not result in a reduced response to cisplatin measured with an MTT assay. However, due to differences between cell lines and carcinomas, we cannot exclude that ASS might still play a role in platinum-based chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer patients. Chapter 3 One of the nine genes of the predictive gene set i.e. proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), is involved in the DNA mismatch repair (MMR). In vitro, a relationship between MMR deficiency and platinum-drug resistance was suThe full text of this item cannot yet be made available, due to a publisher's embarg