Permitted Unless Prohibited: The Changed Soviet Mentality

Even more basic than the presence of an abundance of experts and specialists, however, is the need for an amorphous intangible, the will to achieve and succeed. The will of a nation, an admittedly nebulous and vague idea, ideally is discerned, expressed, and exercised by its leaders in the government and in the legislature. It is up to these leaders to want and then to initiate, adopt, and implement the rule of law, a term which itself embodies many concepts but contains no therapeutic formulas. In this regard, the darling of the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”), the small nation of Estonia, with a population comparable to that of the island of Manhattan, had the political and intellectual leadership with the will and the drive to create a market economy embedded in the rule of law. How such a will arises or is created is the subject for a separate sociological study and not a topic for this Essay. But the positive consequences of the leadership of Estonia in exercising and implementing this national will stands not so much as a challenge to other nations still struggling with the transformation process, such as many of the member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (“CIS”), but as an example and a confirmation that a successful transition from a centrally planned economy to a free market economy can be achieved quickly. To simply attribute and dismiss Estonia\u27s emergence as an anomaly due to the difference of its culture from that of the other peoples in the former Soviet Union, however, as is commonly done by many academicians, legislators, and other leaders in the nations of the CIS, is simply a self-fulfilling excuse for inaction, inevitable failure, and cultural arrogance, even if masked as a compliment. In fact, the prospective, still unheralded, success of the Republic of Georgia in its law reform efforts belies any such assertions. It is of note that the remarkable emergence of Estonia, and the expected achievements of Georgia, did not develop in a vacuum, but utilized the support of the international community to buttress national will

Lung function decline in 4-monthly repeated spirometric measurements: Due to silt aerosol exposure or decreasing effort?

Background: Workers on dredgers and lighters on rivers are exposed to the inhalation of aerosols and dusts. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate effects of river silt aerosol and dust exposure on the respiratory health of dredging employees. Methods: Six era mi nations were performed over a period of 2 years at 4-monthly intervals in 54 seamen with higher silt aerosol exposure and 36 controls of the same employer. Results: No significant differences could be observed between the groups at any time of the study but there was an unexpected significant decrease in the age-corrected expiratory vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and midexpiratory flow rate (MMEF25/75) over the six series in both groups. This may indicate a loss of effort of the participants in re-examinations since biological and technical influences were highly unlikely to be the cause of these findings. Conclusions: Ignoring this possible decline of effort in frequently repeated measurements may result in overestimating potential effects of occupational exposure. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel

Tribal Jurisdiction and Domestic Violence: The Need for Non-Indian Accountability on the Reservation

Domestic violence is a severe problem for tribes across the nation, as their female members are victimized at highly disproportionate rates compared to members of dominant society. Many tribes have sophisticated domestic violence codes to combat the problem, but they are powerless to prosecute the majority of those who will abuse Indian women: non-Indian men. In 1978 the Supreme Court stripped tribes of their power to prosecute non-Indians in criminal matters, which not only damaged tribal sovereignty but also meant the difference between a life free from abuse and one with constant fear, intimidation, and pain for Indian women. The federal government has, since that time, had almost exclusive jurisdiction\u27 over non-Indians who commit crimes on the reservation. Federal prosecutors with heavy workloads and limited resources often plead out cases of domestic violence to far lesser crimes or decline to prosecute these offenses at all. Tribes that have the resources and commitment to stop violence against Indian women are forbidden to take action against non-Indian offenders. This lack of accountability on the part of dominant society must stop immediately, and tribes must have the power to prosecute these non-Indian offenders to provide the protection these women deserve. This Note argues that Congress should restore tribal jurisdiction over non-Indian criminal offenders. The primary purpose of restoring tribal jurisdiction is to protect Indian women from abuse by repeat offenders, and ensure these women receive the justice they deserve. Allowing tribes to assert jurisdiction over nonIndian offenders will also show that the federal government has not forgotten the sovereign status of Indian nations, established almost 200 years ago. As sovereign nations, tribes should be permitted to enforce laws covering their territory and ensure justice for their members by responding to the unique problems facing American Indians. Tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians is essential to accomplishing these goals and must be restored by Congress at once

Kinetic of vitamin A resorption in blood plasma and vitamin A excretion in urine of dogs

Deckblatt-Impressum Inhaltsverzeichnis Abkürzungsverzeichnis Einleitung und Problemstellung Literaturübersicht Material und Methoden Ergebnisse Diskussion Zusammenfassung Summary Literaturverzeichnis Anhang Danksagung SelbständigkeitserklärungHunde und andere Carnivoren transportieren im Gegensatz zum Menschen und den meisten anderen Tierarten Vitamin A im Blut nicht nur in Form von Retinol, sondern vorwiegend als an lipoproteingebundene Retinylester. Diese unspezifisch gebundenen Vitamin-A-Ester treten bei Mensch und Ratte nur bei einer Vitamin-A-Überversorgung auf und werden für die Symptome einer Vitamin-A-Intoxikation verantwortlich gemacht, da die regulierende Wirkung und homöostatische Kontrolle von RBP entfällt. Carnivoren, besonders Caniden und Musteliden, besitzen, bedingt durch den hohen Anteil an Vitamin-A-Estern, um ein Vielfaches höhere Vitamin-A-Konzentrationen im Blut als zum Beispiel Menschen, Nager und Herbivoren. Anzeichen einer Vitamin-A-Intoxikation werden dabei nicht gesehen. Möglicherweise deshalb nicht, weil Caniden in der Lage sind, Vitamin A in Form von Retinol und Retinylestern mit dem Harn auszuscheiden. Als Vitamin-A-Trägerprotein konnte das Tamm-Horsfall-Protein identifiziert werden. Da aber auch andere Carnivoren, wie Feliden und Musteliden, die Vitamin A nicht bzw. individuell verschieden geringer über den Harn eleminieren, hohe Retinylester-Konzentrationen im Blut haben, müssen noch andere Regulationsmechanismen existieren. Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war es zu klären, ob eine einmalige orale Gabe von Vitamin A einen Einfluß auf die Vitamin-A-Konzentration im Blut und im Harn besitzt. Dabei sollte der Zusammenhang zwischen der Vitamin-A-Resorption im Darm, der Anflutung von Vitamin A im Blutplasma und die Ausscheidung von Vitamin A mit dem Harn erforscht werden. Dazu wurde von acht Hunden der Rasse Beagle 48 Stunden vor und ab eine Stunde bis 96 Stunden nach einer einmaligen Vitamin-A-Gabe Blut abgenommen sowie Harn gesammelt. Die Vitamin-A-Gabe erfolgte nach 16-stündigem Fasten als Bolus von 10.000 IE Vitamin A/kg Körpergewicht (3000 RE/ kg Körpergewicht) in Form von Retinylpalmitat (URSOVIT® A, wässrig, Serumwerk Bernburg AG, Deutschland) zusammen mit fünf ml Sahne (30% Fettanteil) mittels Spritze direkt in den hinteren Maulbereich. Die Chylomikronen-Separierung und die Isolierung der Lipoproteine erfolgte durch Ultrazentrifugation. Die qualitative und quantitative Bestimmung von Vitamin A im Blutplasma und im Harn erfolgt nach organischer Extraktion durch Hochdruck-Flüssigkeits- Chromatographie (HPLC). Der RBP-Nachweis (Blutplasma und Harn) wurde nach elektrophoretischer Trennung im Western Blot durchgeführt. Außerdem fand für die quantitative Bestimmung von RBP und THP im Blutplasma und Harn die ELISA- Methode Anwendung. Die Bestimmung von Triglyceriden und Cholesterol im Blutplasma und in den Lipoproteinfraktionen erfolgte mit Hilfe enzymatischer Testverfahren. Im Blut und Harn aller Hunde konnte in Übereinstimmung mit vorherigen Untersuchungen Vitamin A sowohl als Retinol, als auch als Retinylester nachgewiesen werden. Nach Vitamin-A-Gabe steigen die Werte für die Retinylester bis acht Stunden nach Vitamin-A-Gabe an, die Werte für Retinol bis sechs Stunden nach Vitamin-A-Gabe. Danach fallen sowohl die Retinolwerte, als auch die Gesamtretinylesterwerte wieder bis auf Höhe der Ausgangswerte. Dieser Anstieg des Vitamin A ist besonders durch den Anstieg von Retinylpalmitat bedingt. Neuabsorbiertes oral aufgenommenes Vitamin A im Blutplasma scheint besonders als Retinylpalmitat transportiert zu werden. Das Maximum der Retinylesterkonzentration in den Chylomikronen liegt innerhalb der ersten Stunde nach Vitamin-A-Aufnahme. Dabei ist der prozentuale Anteil von Retinylpalmitat und Retinylstearat in den Chylomikronen ähnlich hoch und unterliegt im Untersuchungszeitraum keiner signifikanten Veränderung. Alle drei Retinylester nehmen im Serum und Chylomikronenunterstand bis acht Stunden nach Vitamin-A-Gabe zu, während der Gehalt in den Chylomikronen abfallend ist. Da die Retinylesterwerte im Chylomikronenunterstand sich, im Gegensatz zu den Chylomikronen, ähnlich wie die Retinylesterwerte und Triglyceridwerte im Blut verhalten, muss zukünftig geklärt werden, ob sich im Chylomikronenunterstand Hinweise auf einen anderen Transportmechanismus für Retinylester als den lipoproteingebundenen finden lassen. Es konnte bestätigt werden, dass RBP nur im Blutplasma, jedoch nicht im Harn auftritt. Die Werte für RBP sanken nach Vitamin-A-Gabe und verliefen somit nicht parallel zu den Retinol- Konzentrationen im Serum. Die Retinylester wurden im Blutplasma in allen drei Lipoproteinfraktionen nachgewiesen. Damit konnten vorherige Untersuchungen bestätigt werden. Retinylstearat bildet ca. 55 bis 65%, Retinylpalmitat ca. 25 bis 30% und Retinyloleat ca. 10%. Die Retinylester wurden besonders in der LDL-Fraktion, gefolgt von der VLDL-Fraktion, nachgewiesen. In der LDL-Fraktion trat das Maximum nach acht Stunden, in der VLDL-Fraktion nach 24 Stunden auf. Nach Vitamin-A-Gabe konnte konnte nur bei fünf von acht Hunden eine vermehrte Vitamin-A-Ausscheidung über den Harn festgestellt werden. Allerdings unterscheiden sich diese Tiere der response -Gruppe erheblich in der Art und Weise der Vitamin-A-Auscheidung. Das Trägerprotein von Vitamin A im Harn ist das THP. Die THP-Konzentration steigt bis acht Stunden nach Vitamin-A-Gabe stark an und fällt dann bis zum Ende der Messungen nach 96 Stunden bis unter die Hälfte des Ausgangswertes ab. Ein signifikanter Zusammenhang zwischen der Vitamin-A- und THP-Auscheidung im Harn konnte nicht festgestellt werden. Abschließend kann festgestellt werden, dass eine einmalige hohe Gabe an Vitamin A an gesunde Hunde sich auf die Retinol- und Retinylester- Konzentration im Blut auswirkt. Obwohl die Hälfte der untersuchten Hunde nach Vitamin-A-Gabe vermehrt Vitamin A über den Harn ausschieden, konnte ein direkter Einfluss der Vitamin-A-Gabe auf den Vitamin-A-Gehalt im Urin nicht nachgewiesen werden. Sowohl der genaue Mechanismus der Vitamin A-Ausscheidung als auch die sich daraus ergebenden Konsequenzen für die Vitamin-A-Aufnahme und für den Vitamin-A-Metabolismus bei Carnivoren erfordern weitere Studien und Untersuchungen.Dogs and other species of the order Carnivora transport vitamin A in blood plasma not only as retinol but predominantly as lipoprotein bound retinyl esters. In humans and rats lipoprotein bound retinyl esters are only observed postprandial or as a consequence of an excessive vitamin A intake leading to severe signs of hypervitaminosis A. In contrast, the occurrence of retinyl esters in the blood plasma of canines is not associated with any sign of vitamin A intoxication possibly by the excretion from retinol and retinyl esters, which are bound to Tamm-Horsfall protein (THP) in the urine. But there are possible different mechanisms in the regulation of urinary vitamin A excretion, because other carnivores like felides or mustelides, that also share a high concentration of retinyl ester in the blood plasma, do excrete no or low levels of vitamin A with their urine. Therefore, the present study was performed to investigate the effect of a single oral dose of vitamin A on the vitamin A concentration in blood plasma and their subsequent excretion in urine of dogs. We also examined general aspects of the vitamin A metabolism in order to provide more insight into the peculiarities of vitamin A metabolism in dogs. Eight male beagle dogs were given a single oral dosage of vitamin A of 3000 retinyl equivalents (RE) / kg body weight (BW) after a 16 hours overnight fast. The vitamin A supplement was administered through a syringe directly in the back of the mouth in form of retinyl palmitate (Ursovit® A, Bernburg, Germany) together with 5 ml cream (30% fat). Blood was sampled at 48 hours before and 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours after dosing. Urine samples were collected for 18 hours each day into individual bottles beneath metabolic cages until 96 hours after dosing. Plasma was separated by centrifugation. Chylomicrons and plasma lipoproteins were separated by preparative ultracentrifugation. Retinol and retinyl esters in plasma and urine were qualitatively and quantitatively examined after organic extraction by a gradient-HPLC method. RBP in plasma and urine was detected by Western blotting after protein separation on SDS-PAGE. The quantitative determination of RBP and THP in blood plasma and urine was performed by ELISA systems. Triglyceride and cholesterol concentrations in blood plasma and in lipoprotein fractions were examined using commercial test kits. Consistent with the results of earlier studies, the predominant vitamin A metabolites in the plasma of fasting dogs were retinol and retinyl esters. After administration of 3000 RE/kg BW, plasma levels of retinol and retinyl esters increased and reached their highest values 6 hours and 8 hours after dosing, respectively. The ratio between plasma retinyl stearate and retinyl palmitate declined significantly indicating that newly absorbed dietary vitamin A seems to be transported primarily as retinyl palmitate in the plasma of dogs. The maximum of chylomicron retinyl esters peaked already within 1 hour after vitamin A supplementation. The percentage of retinyl palmitate and retinyl stearate associated with chylomicrons was similarly high and there were no significant effects during the time of investigation. The concentration of all three retinyl esters in blood plasma as well as in chylomicron infranatant increased until 8 hours after vitamin A dosing, whereas their corresponding values in the chylomicron fraction decreased. Because of similar percentages of retinyl esters in plasma and chylomicron infranatant, additional studies are needed to clarify possible different transport mechanisms in the postprandial vitamin A response of dogs. Retinol-binding protein (RBP) was present in plasma, but never in urine. In plasma, the postprandial concentrations of RBP decreased after vitamin A dosing and did not parallel the concentration of retinol. In confirmation to previous investigations, plasma retinyl ester were present in all three lipoprotein fractions. In fasted dogs, retinyl stearate (55-65%) was the predominant ester of vitamin A followed by retinyl palmitate (25-30%) and retinyl oleate (10%). The retinyl esters were predominantly detected in the low density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) fraction. The maximum of retinyl esters appeared in the LDL fraction after 8 hours, in the VLDL fraction after 24 hours. After the oral intake of 3000 RE/kg BW only 4 out of 8 dogs showed an elevation of their vitamin A concentration in urine. But the excretion of vitamin A in the response group was quite variable. The carrier protein for fat soluble vitamin A in urine is THP. Until 8 hours after dosing, the THP concentration significantly increased and declined continuously at 96 hours to concentrations half of baseline values. Moreover, the results indicate that urinary THP excretion has no significant correlation to urinary vitamin A excretion. In conclusion, the study shows that a large single oral administration of 3000 RE/kg BW in healthy dogs increases the retinol and the retinyl ester concentrations in plasma. Although half of the investigated dogs excrete vitamin A in the urine above their baseline levels, a directly affection of dietary vitamin A on the urine vitamin A excretion of dogs is questionable. More knowledge of the THP carrier on the cellular and molecular level would be helpful to elucidate the signals and mechanisms that are responsible for the excretion of VA in the urine of dogs

Optimisation of a Hybrid Wall for Solar Utilisation in Agriculture

Rosana G. Moreira, Editor-in-Chief; Texas A&M UniversityThis is a Technical article from International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) E-Journal Volume 2 (2000): J. Radon, W. Bieda. Optimisation of a Hybrid Wall for Solar Utilisation in Agriculture

Scale-discretised ridgelet transform on the sphere

We revisit the spherical Radon transform, also called the Funk-Radon transform, viewing it as an axisymmetric convolution on the sphere. Viewing the spherical Radon transform in this manner leads to a straightforward derivation of its spherical harmonic representation, from which we show the spherical Radon transform can be inverted exactly for signals exhibiting antipodal symmetry. We then construct a spherical ridgelet transform by composing the spherical Radon and scale-discretised wavelet transforms on the sphere. The resulting spherical ridgelet transform also admits exact inversion for antipodal signals. The restriction to antipodal signals is expected since the spherical Radon and ridgelet transforms themselves result in signals that exhibit antipodal symmetry. Our ridgelet transform is defined natively on the sphere, probes signal content globally along great circles, does not exhibit blocking artefacts, supports spin signals and exhibits an exact and explicit inverse transform. No alternative ridgelet construction on the sphere satisfies all of these properties. Our implementation of the spherical Radon and ridgelet transforms is made publicly available. Finally, we illustrate the effectiveness of spherical ridgelets for diffusion magnetic resonance imaging of white matter fibers in the brain.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, matches version accepted by EUSIPCO, code available at http://www.s2let.or