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Considerable Insight (considerable + insight)
Selected AbstractsThe evolutionary ecology of PlasmodiumECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 9 2003R. E. L. Paul Abstract Plasmodium, the aetiological agent of malaria, imposes a substantial public health burden on human society and one that is likely to deteriorate. Hitherto, the recent Darwinian medicine movement has promoted the important role evolutionary biology can play in issues of public health. Recasting the malaria parasite two-host life cycle within an evolutionary framework has generated considerable insight into how the parasite has adapted to life within both vertebrate and insect hosts. Coupled with the rapid advances in the molecular basis to host,parasite interactions, exploration of the evolutionary ecology of Plasmodium will enable identification of key steps in the life cycle and highlight fruitful avenues of research for developing malaria control strategies. In addition, elucidating the extent to which Plasmodium can respond to short- and long-term changes in selection pressures, i.e. its adaptive capacity, is even more crucial in predicting how the burden of malaria will alter with our rapidly evolving ecology. [source] Analysis of multivariable controllers using degree of freedom dataINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADAPTIVE CONTROL AND SIGNAL PROCESSING, Issue 7-9 2003T. J. Harris Abstract Most approaches for monitoring, diagnosis and performance analysis of multivariable control loops employ time series methods and use non-parametric statistics to analyse the process inputs and outputs. In this paper, we explore the use of a discrete variable that summarizes the status of the constraint set of the controller to analyse the long run behaviour of control systems. We introduce a number of waiting and holding time statistics that describe the status of this data, which we call the degree of freedom data. We demonstrate how Markov Chains might be used to model the status of the degree of freedom data. This model-based approach has the potential to provide considerable insight into the behaviour of a model based control scheme with relative ease. We demonstrate the methodologies on simulated and industrial data. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Disorders of the synthesis of human fetal hemoglobinIUBMB LIFE, Issue 2 2008Laura Manca Abstract Fetal hemoglobin (HbF), the predominant hemoglobin in the fetus, is a mixture of two molecular species (,2G,2 and ,2A,2) that differ only at position 136 reflecting the products of two nonallelic ,-globin genes. At the time of birth, HbF accounts for ,70% of the total Hb. The G,:A, globin ratio in the HbF of normal newborn is 70:30 whereas in the trace amounts of HbF that is found in the adult it reverses to 40:60 because of a ,- to ,-globin gene switch. Alterations of these ratios are indicative of a molecular defect at the level of the HbF synthesis. Qualitative hemoglobinopathies due to G, and A, chain structural variants, and quantitative hemoglobinopathies affecting the synthesis of HbF such as ,-thalassemias, duplications, triplications, and even sextuplications of the ,-globin genes, which may be detected in newborn blood lysates, have been described. Moreover, several pathological and nonpathological conditions affecting the ,-globin gene cluster, such as ,-thalassemia, sickle cell disease, ,,-thalassemia, and hereditary persistence of HbF syndromes, are characterized by the continued synthesis of ,-globin chains in the adult life. Studies of these natural mutants associated with increased synthesis of HbF in adult life have provided considerable insight into the understanding of the control of globin gene expression and Hb switching. © 2008 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 60(2): 94,111, 2008 [source] New insight into the molecular pathways of metallothionein-mediated neuroprotection and regenerationJOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY, Issue 1 2008R. S. Chung Abstract There is a large body of evidence demonstrating that metallothioneins (MTs) expressed in astrocytes following CNS injury, exhibit both neuroprotective and neuroregenerative properties and are critical for recovery outcomes. As these proteins lack signal peptides, and have well characterized free radical scavenging and heavy metal binding properties, the neuroprotective functions of MTs have been attributed to these intracellular roles. However, there is an increasing realization that the neuroprotective functions of MTs may also involve an extracellular component. In this issue of Journal of Neurochemistry, Ambjørn et al. reveal considerable insight into this novel function of MTs. In this review, we examine the seminal work of Ambjørn et al. in the context of our current understanding of the role of MT in astrocyte-neuron interactions in the injured brain, and also discuss the significant therapeutic potential of their work. [source] Training the ideal hospital doctor: the specialist registrars' perspectiveMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 10 2001N Khera Background When training for junior doctors is being planned, little discussion is focused on what outcomes hospitals are trying to achieve with regard to education/training, i.e. on what makes the ideal hospital doctor. Instead, the primary focus is on the requirements of the syllabi of the Royal Colleges (credentialing) and the requirements of service delivery (job description). Current literature has no qualitative studies of any longitude in which middle-grade doctors are asked about their vision of the ideal hospital doctor, what they feel can be done to help realize this vision, and how they feel about their own training. Methods This study examined data principally collected through a series of semistructured interviews conducted with eight specialist registrars (SpRs), four each from the North Trent and South Thames rotations over a period of 18 months. Additional information was taken from focus groups, interviews with programme directors, and questionnaires. Findings A model was created of the SpRs' perceptions of the key attributes of an ideal hospital doctor and of how these may be achieved in training. Eight broad areas were identified: clinical knowledge and skills; key clinically related generic/non-clinical skills; self-directed learning and medical education; implementing change management; applying strategic and organizational skills in career planning; consultation skills; research; and key personal attributes. Conclusions SpRs are articulate in expressing their own expectations of their training and have considerable insight into the components of good training. Further improvement could be made and will require significant commitment from both trainees and trainers. [source] Development of the vertebrate central nervous system: formation of the neural tubePRENATAL DIAGNOSIS, Issue 4 2009Nicholas D. E. Greene Abstract The developmental process of neurulation involves a series of coordinated morphological events, which result in conversion of the flat neural plate into the neural tube, the primordium of the entire central nervous system (CNS). Failure of neurulation results in neural tube defects (NTDs), severe abnormalities of the CNS, which are among the commonest of congenital malformations in humans. In order to gain insight into the embryological basis of NTDs, such as spina bifida and anencephaly, it is necessary to understand the morphogenetic processes and molecular mechanisms underlying neural tube closure. The mouse is the most extensively studied mammalian experimental model for studies of neurulation, while considerable insight into underlying developmental mechanisms has also arisen from studies in other model systems, particularly birds and amphibians. We describe the process of neural tube formation, discuss the cellular mechanisms involved and highlight recent findings that provide links between molecular signaling pathways and morphogenetic tissue movements. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Information, Agreement Design, and the Durability of Civil War SettlementsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2010Michaela Mattes Civil war is usually examined from the perspective of commitment problems. This approach provides considerable insight regarding which civil war agreement provisions reduce the chance of renewed fighting. Yet, additional insight can be gained by examining information asymmetries as a potential cause of civil war recurrence. We argue that significant uncertainty regarding military capabilities may persist after fighting ends and that this uncertainty may lead to the breakdown of peace. However, carefully designed peace agreements can guard against renewed civil war by calling for international monitoring, making the belligerents submit military information to third parties, and providing for verification of this information. Our empirical analysis of 51 civil war settlements between 1945 and 2005 shows that these provisions significantly reduce the risk of new civil war. Encouraging the adoption of these provisions may be a useful policy in the international community's effort to establish peace in civil-war-torn societies. [source] ILLUMINATING THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF CYS-LOOP RECEPTORSCLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PHARMACOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY, Issue 10 2008Stephan A Pless SUMMARY 1Cys-loop receptors are an important class of ligand-gated ion channels. They mediate fast synaptic neurotransmission, are implicated in various ,channelopathies' and are important pharmacological targets. Recent progress in X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy has provided a considerable insight into the structure of Cys-loop receptors. However, data from these experiments only provide ,snapshots' of the proteins under investigation. They cannot provide information about the various conformations the protein adopts during transition from the closed to the open and desensitized states. 2Voltage-clamp fluorometry helps overcome this problem by simultaneously monitoring movements at the channel gate (through changes in current) and conformational rearrangements in a domain of interest (through changes in fluorescence) in real time. Thus, the technique can provide information on both transitional and steady state conformations and serves as a real time correlate of the channel structure and its function. 3Voltage-clamp fluorometry experiments on Cys-loop receptors have yielded a large body of data concerning the mechanisms by which agonists, antagonists and modulators act on these receptors. They have shed new light on the conformational mobility of both the ligand-binding and the transmembrane domain of Cys-loop receptors. [source] Property as Interorganizational Discourse: Rights in the Politics of Public SpacesCOMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 2 2008Todd Norton In this article, I extend organization and communication theory to conceptualize property as an interorganizational discourse. As an analytic of discourse's capacity to gain and defend stakeholder rights in the public domain, property discourses provide a rigorous, language-centered approach to organizational conflict over environmental spaces by conceptualizing how material,symbolic tensions play out diachronically. I ground this theoretical terrain through a discourse analysis of a decade-long conflict over public lands in the southern part of the U.S. state of Utah. The case,Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument,constitutes a significant clash of politics between environmental preservation and extraction and especially what political regime ought to control roads accessing this 1.9-million-acre national monument. The analysis and interpretation indicate that property politics involve a complex interplay of symbolic and material forces among stakeholders. Conceptualized in this way property discourses provide considerable insight as many nations and societies face escalating struggles over increasingly scarce resources. Résumé La propriété comme discours interorganisationnel : les droits dans la politique des espaces publics Dans cet article, j'élargis les théories de l,organisation et de la communication pour conceptualiser la propriété comme un discours interorganisationnel. Comme élément analytique de la capacité du discours de gagner et de défendre les droits des parties prenantes dans le domaine public, les discours de propriété offrent une approche rigoureuse et centrée sur le langage pour l'analyse des conflits organisationnels à propos d,espaces environnementaux. En effet, ils permettent de conceptualiser la manière dont les tensions matérielles-symboliques ont lieu de façon diachronique. Je fonde ce terrain théorique sur l'analyse discursive d,un conflit s'étirant sur une dizaine d'années autour de terres publiques dans la partie australe de l'État américain de l,Utah. Le cas , Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GS-ENM) , consiste en une dispute politique importante autour de la préservation de l'environnement et de l,extraction et, surtout, autour de la question à savoir quel régime politique devrait pouvoir contrôler des routes donnant accès à ce monument national d'une superficie de 1,9 million d,acres. L'analyse et l,interprétation indiquent que les politiques de propriété impliquent une interaction complexe de forces symboliques et matérielles des parties prenantes. Conceptualisés de cette manière, les discours de propriété offrent un aperçu considérable alors que plusieurs nations et sociétés font face à des luttes qui s'intensifient autour de ressources de plus en plus rares. Abstract Eigentum als Diskurs zwischen Organisationen. Rechte in der Politik des öffentlichen Raums In diesem Artikel erweitere ich Organisations- und Kommunikationstheorie, um Eigentum als Diskurs zwischen Organisationen zu konzeptualisieren. Als eine Analyse der Vermögens eines Diskurses, Akteursrechte in der öffentlichen Domäne zu erlangen und zu verteidigen, bieten Diskurse zum Eigentum einen entscheidenden, sprachzentrierten Ansatz zu Organisationskonflikten bezüglich Umwelträumen, indem nämlich konzeptualisiert wird, wie material-symbolische Spannungen im Zeitverlauf zusammenspielen. Die Theorie basiert auf der Diskursanalyse eines Jahrzehnte dauernden Konflikts um öffentliches Land im Süden des US-Bundesstaates Utah. Der Fall - Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GS-ENM) - bildet einen wichtigen Politikkonflikt zwischen Umweltschutz und Förderung ab , insbesondere bezüglich der Frage, welches politische Regime die Zugangsstraßen zu diesem 190 km2 großen nationalen Monuments kontrollieren soll. Die Analyse und Interpretation zeigt, dass Eigentumspolitik ein komplexes Zusammenspiel von symbolischen und materiellen Kräften von Akteuren ist. Auf diese Weise konzeptualisiert, lassen sich vor dem Hintergrund knapper werdender Ressourcen und daraus entstehenden nationalen und gesellschaftlichen Krisen wichtige Einsichten gewinnen. Resumen La Propiedad como Discurso entre las Organizaciones: Los Derechos en la Política de los Espacios Públicos En este artículo extiendo la teoría de la organización y la comunicación para conceptualizar la propiedad como un discurso entre organizaciones. Como un elemento analítico de la capacidad del discurso para ganar y defender los derechos de los interesados en el dominio público, los discursos de la propiedad proveen una aproximación rigurosa y un lenguaje centrado en el conflicto organizacional de los espacios medioambientales a través de una conceptualización de cómo las tensiones entre lo material y lo simbólico juegan un rol diacrónico. Conecto este terreno teórico a través de un análisis de una década de un discurso de conflicto sobre las tierras públicas en la parte sur del estado de Utah. El caso,Grand Staircase-Escalante Monumento Nacional (GS-ENM),constituye un enfrentamiento significativo de las políticos de preservación del medioambiente y la extracción y especialmente qué régimen político debe controlar los caminos de acceso a este monumento nacional de 1.9 millones de acres. El análisis y la interpretación indican que la política de la propiedad incluye la compleja interacción de fuerzas simbólicas y materiales entre los interesados. Conceptualizada de esta manera los discursos de la propiedad proveen de un entendimiento considerable para las muchas naciones y sociedades que enfrentan considerable disputas sobre los crecientes recursos escasos. ZhaiYao Yo yak [source] | ||||||||||||||||