Diverse Elements (diverse + element)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Is Thabo Mbeki Africa's Saviour?

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2003
Gerrit Olivier
Foreign relations are the main preoccupation of South African president, Thabo Mbeki. His role perception is dominated by a mission to improve the plight of Africa, and second to that, to act as the Third World's überdiplomat. Under his administration, South Africa's foreign policy has become almost an adjunct of his more holistic diplomatic pursuits. The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is the magnum opus of Mbeki's foreign policy, and the success or failure of this grand design for an African renaissance will determine his legacy and make or break his leadership in South Africa and in the rest of Africa. The success of his NEPAD diplomacy is a daunting task, requiring the support of his African peers, his South African constituency, and the leadership of the developed nations of the world. Dealing with these diverse elements, Mbeki's policy-making oscillates between realism and idealism, and between ideology and interests, giving the impression of a style of a prudent bureaucrat rather than that of a single-minded reformer. In the end, his diplomacy seems to founder because it fails to satisfy the contradictory demands of any of these three constituencies. However, even if NEPAD should fail as a project, its role could be that of a harbinger of a new political and economic era in Africa and the movement away from post-colonial orthodoxy. [source]


14-3-3 Proteins in Pineal Photoneuroendocrine Transduction: How Many Roles?

JOURNAL OF NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY, Issue 4 2003
D. C. Klein
Abstract Recent studies suggest that a common theme links the diverse elements of pineal photoneuroendocrine transduction ,regulation via binding to 14-3-3 proteins. The elements include photoreception, neurotransmission, signal transduction and the synthesis of melatonin from tryptophan. We review general aspects of 14-3-3 proteins and their biological function as binding partners, and also focus on their roles in pineal photoneuroendocrine transduction. [source]


Mechanisms of virus-induced asthma exacerbations: state-of-the-art.

ALLERGY, Issue 5 2007
A GA2LEN, InterAirways document
Viral infections of the respiratory tract are the most common precipitants of acute asthma exacerbations. Exacerbations are only poorly responsive to current asthma therapies and new approaches to therapy are needed. Viruses, most frequently human rhinoviruses (RV), infect the airway epithelium, generate local and systemic immune responses, as well as neural responses, inducing inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness. Using in vitro and in vivo experimental models the role of various proinflammatory or anti-inflammatory mediators, antiviral responses and molecular pathways that lead from infection to symptoms has been partly unravelled. In particular, mechanisms of susceptibility to viral infection have been identified and the bronchial epithelium appeared to be a key player. Nevertheless, additional understanding of the integration between the diverse elements of the antiviral response, especially in the context of allergic airway inflammation, as well as the interactions between viral infections and other stimuli that affect airway inflammation and responsiveness may lead to novel strategies in treating and/or preventing asthma exacerbations. This review presents the current knowledge and highlights areas in need of further research. [source]


The Dialectics of Redemption.

ORBIS LITERARUM, Issue 6 2004
Autonomous Language, Divine Truth in Francisco de Quevedo's Dream of Hell, Heresy
The present article proposes a reading of ,El sueño del infierno' that may clarify the connection between at least some of the diverse elements of Quevedo's strange world, concentrating on the relation between his ubiquitous awareness of the arbitrarity of human language , separated from divine truth after the Fall, and hence autonomous , and his quest for authoritative metaphysical meaning. Man is the shadow of a dream. (Pindar, Pythian Odes, 8.135) [source]