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The article analyzes the prediction of migratory movements and their practical utility. It mentions that the Frontex and AAUE agencies are developing machine learning models to predict the arrivals of refugees and asylum applications in Europe. Predictive tools are also being developed in the humanitarian and development fields, such as the Jetson project by UNHCR and the Foresight model by the Danish Refugee Council. However, there are persistent challenges in predicting migratory flows due to the complexity of factors that influence migratory decisions and the inherent uncertainty in migratory processes. The lack of coordination and cooperation among the different actors involved in migration and forced displacement is highlighted, and warnings are given about possible risks to human rights and the possibility of using predictions to generate threat scenarios and fuel fears. [Extracted from the article]

Predictive analytics to forecast future migration and displacement are receiving increasing attention, despite their limited practical utility to date. This is because they serve a number of political functions, including strengthening policy coherence and creating an impression of control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surgical site infections (SSI) are amongst the most common health care-associated infections and have adverse effects for patient health and for hospital resources. Although surgery guidelines recognize poor nutritional status to be a risk factor for SSI, they do not tell how to identify this condition. The screening tool Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 is commonly used at hospitals to identify patients at nutritional risk. We investigated the association between nutritional risk and the incidence of SSI among 1194 surgical patients at Haukeland University Hospital (Bergen, Norway). This current study combines data from two mandatory hospital-based registers: a) the incidence of SSI within 30 days after surgery, and b) the point-prevalence of patients at nutritional risk. Patients with more than 30 days between surgery and nutritional risk screening were excluded. Associations were assessed using logistic regression, and the adjusted odds ratio included age (continuous), gender (male/female), type of surgery (acute/elective) and score from The American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status Classification System. There was a significant higher incidence of SSI among patients at nutritional risk (11.8%), as compared to those who were not (7.0%) (p = 0.047). Moreover, the incidence of SSI was positively associated with the prevalence of nutritional risk in both simple (OR 1.76 (95% CI: 1.04, 2.98)) and adjusted (OR 1.81 (95% CI: 1.04, 3.16)) models. Answering “yes” to the screening questions regarding reduced dietary intake and weight loss was significantly associated with the incidence of SSI (respectively OR 2.66 (95% CI: 1.59, 4.45) and OR 2.15 (95% CI: 1.23, 3.76)). In conclusion, we demonstrate SSI to occur more often among patients at nutritional risk as compared to those who are not at nutritional risk. Future studies should investigate interventions to prevent both SSI and nutritional risk among surgical patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women with managerial careers are significantly less satisfied with their life than their male counterparts. Why? In a representative German panel dataset (GSOEP) we find biological constraints and substitutive mechanisms determining the subjective well-being of female managers. Women’s terminated fertility has a negative impact on women’s life satisfaction between the ages of 35 and 45, when managerial careers usually take off. Money and spare time can compensate for this biological difference. But to maintain an equivalent level of happiness, women need to be compensated by much more income for each hour of spare time given up than men do. So, in order to reach better gender equality in leadership positions, women must be either paid higher incomes (on average around 10%) or must be incentivized with more spare time than men. In the conclusion, we speculate on a new mix of carrots and sticks for advanced careers in order to boost female representation in leadership positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the development of mirror writing in typically developing children using a longitudinal design involving 166 children initially aged 4–5 years. The children were tested three times, with approximately one year between tests. The main predictions were that: (i) mirror copying of characters at T1 (4- to 5-years old) will be less frequent than mirror writing from memory at T2 (5- to 6-years old), (ii) an implicit right-writing rule—which holds that children orient single characters toward the right and hence most frequently reverse the left-oriented characters (e.g., 3, J)—explains well both character reversal at T2 and T3 and changes between T2 and T3 (6- to 7-years old), and (iii) name-mirror writing is possible as soon as children start learning to write. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-pathological, spontaneous mirror writing, whether complete or partial, has long been associated with writing with the left hand and attributed to the fact that abductive writing, which most people find easier, is from right to left when people write with their left hand. However, recent research suggests another explanation: children who do not know the orientation of the letters and digits may apply an implicit right-writing rule which causes them to invert mainly left-oriented characters (e.g., J, 3). But would left-hand writers apply such a rule? The present study examines the relationship between these two explanations of mirror writing and asks whether they coexist in children who write with their left hand. Is the abductive writing explanation specific to mirror writing by left-hand writers and the implicit right-writing rule specific to right-hand writers? A comparison of 59 children who wrote with their left hand and 59 children who wrote with their right hand (matched for age and school experience) provided clear evidence against the abductive-writing explanation and in favour of the right-writing rule for both groups. Therefore, spontaneous mirror writing in typical 5- to 6-year-olds does not seem to be a function of preferred writing hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hospital-associated infections (HAIs) are reported to increase patient mortality and incur longer hospital stays. Most studies to date have focused on specific groups of hospitalised patients with a rather short follow-up period. In this repeated cross-sectional study, with prospective follow-up of 19,468 hospitalized patients, we aimed to analyze the impact of HAIs on mortality 30 days and 1 year after the prevalence survey date. Methods: The study was conducted at Haukeland University Hospital, Norway, a large combined emergency and referral teaching hospital, from 2004 to 2011 with follow-up until November 2012. Prevalence of all types of HAIs including urinary tract infections (UTI), lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI), surgical site infections (SSI) and blood stream infections (BSI) were recorded four times every year. Information on the date of birth, admission and discharge from the hospital, number of diagnoses (ICD-10 codes) and patient's mortality was retrieved from the patient administrative data system. The data were analysed by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and by multiple Cox regression analysis, adjusted for year of registration, time period, sex, type of admission, Charlson comorbidity index, surgical operation, use of urinary tract catheter and time from admission to the prevalence survey date. Results: The overall prevalence of HAIs was 8.5% (95% CI: 8.1, 8.9). Patients with HAIs had an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 1.5 (95% CI: 1.3, 1.8,) and 1.4 (95% CI: 1.2, 1.5) for death within 30-days and 1 year, relative to those without HAIs. Subgroup analyses revealed that patients with BSI, LRTI or more than one simultaneous infection had an increased risk of death. Conclusions: In this long time follow-up study, we found that HAIs have severe consequences for the patients. BSI, LRTI and more than one simultaneous infection were independently and strongly associated with increased mortality 30 days and 1 year after inclusion in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Emotional problems often co-occur in overweight or obese children. However, questions of whether emotion recognition deficits are present and how they are reflected have only been sparsely investigated to date.Methods: Therefore, the present study included 33 overweight and obese as well as 33 normal weight elementary school children between six and ten years that were matched for sex, age and socioeconomic status. Participants were shown different emotional faces of a well-validated set of stimuli on a computer screen, which they categorized and then rated on an emotional intensity level. Key measures were categorization performance along with reaction times and emotional intelligence as well as emotional eating questionnaire ratings.Results: Overweight children exhibited lower categorization accuracy as well as longer reaction times as compared to normal weight children, while no differences in intensity ratings occurred. Reaction time to neutral facial expressions was negatively related to intrapersonal and interpersonal emotional intelligence and emotional eating correlated negatively with accuracy for recognizing sad expressions.Conclusion: Facial emotion decoding difficulties seem to be of importance in overweight and obese children and deserve further consideration in terms of their exact impact on social functioning as well as on the maintenance of elevated body weight during child development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternative healing, including spiritual healing, unconventional, traditional/folk, and complementary medical treatments, is an increasingly relevant health-care resource in contemporary health-care systems, and a broad, constantly changing, and heterogeneous field of medical pluralism. Some suggestions for classifying spiritual healing as presented in the academic and gray literature are summarized and discussed. The findings are interpreted in terms of the paradigm of alternative modernities. In the direction of, but also in addition to, this paradigm, magic is introduced as a concept to denote certain highly ambiguous occurrences in the alternative modern. Magic is still very much alive and not easy to identify merely as a counterpart of rational, knowledgegenerating, disembodying modernity. In this setting, spiritual healing might be seen as a form of magical self-care. Magic is neither modern nor traditional nor irrational per se, but has to be contextualized and described in terms of characteristics like holistic diagnosis, interpersonal congruence, the imaginations of agency, and efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. There is mounting evidence that more elaborate treatment rituals trigger larger nonspecific effects. The reasons for this remain unclear. In a pilot field study, we investigated the role of psychophysiological changes during a touch-based healing ritual for improvements in subjective well-being. Methods. Heart rate, respiratory rate, and skin conductance levels (SCL) were continuously assessed in 22 subjects before, during, and after a touch-based healing ritual. Participants rated their expectations and subjective well-being was assessed before and after the ritual by the “Short Questionnaire on Current Disposition”. Results. Subjective well-being increased significantly from before to after the ritual. The analysis of psychophysiological changes revealed a significant increase in respiratory rate from baseline to ritual, while skin conductance, heart rate, and heart rate variability did not change. Increases in SCL as well as decreases in respiratory rate from baseline to ritual were significantly associated with improvements in subjective well-being. Regression analyses showed increases in SCL to be the only significant predictor of improvements in well-being. Conclusion. Higher sympathetic arousal during a touch-based healing ritual predicted improvements in subjective well-being. Results suggest the occurrence of an anticipatory stress response, that is, a state of enhanced sympathetic activity that is known to precede relaxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a strong association between alexithymia and somatization has been postulated in numerous studies, no systematic study has investigated the psychometric properties of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) in a sample of patients with somatoform disorder yet. The purpose of this study was to ensure a valid assessment by the German version of the TAS-20 in somatoform samples. We investigated whether the original three-factor model proposed by Bagby et al. (1994a) , which is widely used in clinical research and practice, is replicable in a large sample of somatoform patients ( n =806). Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) the goodness-of-fit of the originally proposed factor structure was compared to three factor models generated with exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and other factorial solutions derived from the literature. Our results demonstrate that the original three-factor model is not replicable in somatoform patients. Instead, the four-factor model by Franz et al. (2001b) described the data best. However, none of the models met all criteria of confirmatory factor analysis. Our results indicate that the three-factor model is not robust in the German version of the TAS-20. At this state of research we recommend to use the TAS-20 sum-score as a measure of alexithymia in somatoform patients in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in global yoga show a tendency towards social activism in the charity market. As part of this, Yoga Aid World Challenge 2012 (founded in 2007) is a good example of how neoliberal organisational culture and generosity may become entangled. Competition stands out as an unusual strategy in the predominantly gentle type of modern postural yoga. During this 24-hour event, yoga is practised across 25 countries worldwide, following the course of the sun. Corresponding social networks and digital media strongly promote, months before the event, the joy of practising yoga and equate the meaning of life with giving. This is interpreted with findings from behavioural economics on altruism and from new institutional economics on the organisers’ communication and event marketing. This article paints a picture of hybrid social network formation and a cluster of affects, including competition, gratitude, and a sense of obligation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In adults, the level of ability to perceive one's own body signals plays an important role for many concepts of emotional experience as demonstrated for emotion processing or emotion regulation. Representative data on perception of body signals and its emotional correlates in children is lacking. Therefore, the present study investigated the cardiac sensitivity of 1,350 children between 6 and 11 years of age in a heartbeat perception task. Our main findings demonstrated the distribution of cardiac sensitivity in children as well as associations with interpersonal emotional intelligence and adaptability. Furthermore, independent of body mass index, boys showed a significantly higher cardiac sensitivity than girls. We conclude that cardiac sensitivity in children appears to show weaker but similar characteristics and relations to emotional parameters as found in adults, so that a dynamic developmental process can be assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes that there is added value in moving beyond isolated studies of return-related migration policies in order to consider both deportations and so-called assisted voluntary returns under the common heading of ‘state-induced returns’. Based on official documents and interviews with staff members of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation for Migration, it argues that international actors working in the field of migrant return engage in a type of task-sharing that goes beyond functional complementariness. With regard to the return of rejected asylum seekers, for instance, they legitimise each other's engagement as well as the overarching return objectives of governments, and are, therefore, involved in norm-building regarding the acceptability of state-induced returns. In addition to setting certain minimum standards regarding states' treatment of their immigrant population, international actors assist states in upholding control over them. Rather than merely replacing state-led regulation, international actors thus support domestic governments in reaching their migration control objectives, and thereby contribute to a stabilisation of state sovereignty in the governance of migration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article offers an empirically grounded interpretivist analysis of the social legitimacy of the European Court of Human Rights based on domestic judicial and political elite accounts of the legitimacy of the Court in Turkey, Bulgaria, United Kingdom, Ireland, and Germany. The central argument of the article is that the social legitimacy of the European Court of Human Rights is based on a constant comparison between the values and goals of domestic institutions and the values and goals of the European Court of Human Rights. More specifically, the social legitimacy of the European Court of Human Rights is grounded in the logic of a fair compromise: What actors think they lose by according legitimacy to the European Court of Human Rights must be balanced by what they perceive to gain in return. Three factors organize how actors in different domestic settings strike a fair compromise in their domestic contexts: a) perception of domestic human rights conditions, b) commitment to cosmopolitan ideals of human rights and international law, and c) commitment to domestic institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite several modifications and the wide use of the monetary incentive delay paradigm (MID; Knutson et al. in J Neurosci 21(16):RC159, ) for assessing reward processing, evidence concerning its application in children is scarce. A first child-friendly MID modification has been introduced by Gotlib et al. (Arch Gen Psychiatry 67(4): 380-387, ); however, comparability in the results of different tasks and validity across different age groups remains unclear. We investigated the validity of a newly modified MID task for children (CID) using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The CID comprises the integration of a more age appropriate feedback phase. We focused on reward anticipation and their neural correlates. Twenty healthy young adults completed the MID and the CID. Additionally, 10 healthy children completed the CID. As expected, both paradigms elicited significant ventral and dorsal striatal activity in young adults during reward anticipation. No differential effects of the tasks on reaction times, accuracy rates or on the total amount of gain were observed. Furthermore, the CID elicited significant ventral striatal activity in healthy children. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate evidence for the validity of the CID paradigm. The CID can be recommended for the application in future studies on reward processing in children, adolescents, and in adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their relevance in systems analysis and (robust) controller design, we consider the problem of determining control-theoretic system properties of an a priori unknown system from data only. More specifically, we introduce a necessary and sufficient condition for a discrete-time linear time-invariant system to satisfy a given integral quadratic constraint (IQC) over a finite time horizon using only one input–output trajectory of finite length. Furthermore, for certain classes of IQCs, we provide convex optimization problems in form of semidefinite programs (SDPs) to retrieve the optimal, i.e. the tightest, system property description that is satisfied by the unknown system. Finally, we provide bounds on the difference between finite and infinite horizon IQCs and illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in a variety of simulation studies including noisy measurements and a high dimensional system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes understanding an important task of the Study of Religion as a monitoring system in the neuroscience sense, i.e. a higher-order-level of evaluation and reflexivity. The Study of Religion in the context of several specialized cultural studies approaches reflects on these approaches and on how they frame a discourse. These scientific and popular discourses as well form our contemporary world view. By its self-critical dissolution from theology and its intercultural focus the Study of Religion is specialized in differentiality in cultural systems as holistic entities and on how they generate normative attitudes. The fruits of this suggested self-understanding as monitoring are demonstrated in discussing three perspectives from the anthropology of religion, cognitive or aesthetic ritual theory (McCauley & Lawson), and the economics of religion (Alles)—all dealing with the same piece of fieldwork from Harvey Whitehouse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) patients are susceptible to recurrent opportunistic infections and to recurrent or chronic inflammations of presumably non-infectious origin. Both types of manifestations are often accompanied by granuloma formation. Both can remain unnoticed until they deteriorate considerably and can become life-threatening if not treated in time. Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of regular follow-up visits in CGD patients. Methods Findings of imaging (ultrasound, radiographs, computer-tomography, magnetic resonance imaging), lung function tests, histopathological and microbiological assessments of biopsies have been reviewed. Results A total of 32 CGD patients have been evaluated within 15 years. Of these eight patients have been checked regularly for more than 5 years. Early detection prior to specific clinical signs and consecutive treatment of six lung manifestations and one liver manifestation such as interstitial pneumonia with formation of small granulomas, formation of large granulomas, fibrosis, Aspergillus infections, and abscesses could presumably prevent considerable aggravation in seemingly healthy or mildly symptomatic patients. In contrast, patients without surveillance who presented with severe symptoms (seven manifestations) often had irreversible organ damage or even died. Conclusions Regular follow-up visits can help prevent or mitigate clinical manifestations, improve life quality and expectancy and weigh indication for bone marrow transplantation in CGD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 15–16 June 2023, healthcare professionals and breast cancer patients and advocates from across Canada met in Toronto, Ontario, for the 2023 Canadian Breast Cancer Symposium (CBSC.). The CBSC. is a national, multidisciplinary event that occurs every 2 years with the goal of developing a personalized approach to the management of breast cancer in Canada. Experts provided state-of-the-art information to help optimally manage breast cancer patients, including etiology, prevention, diagnosis, experimental biology, and therapy of breast cancer and premalignant breast disease. The symposium also had the objectives of increasing communication and collaboration among breast cancer healthcare providers nationwide and providing a comprehensive and real-life review of the many facets of breast cancer. The sessions covered the patient voice, the top breast cancer papers from different disciplines in 2022, artificial intelligence in breast cancer, systemic therapy updates, the management of central nervous system metastases, multidisciplinary management of ductal carcinoma in situ, special populations, optimization-based individual prognostic factors, toxicity management of novel therapeutics, survivorship, and updates in surgical oncology. The key takeaways of these sessions have been summarized in this conference report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El desarrollo tiene su papel a la hora de lidiar con los orígenes del desplazamiento pero no quita otras medidas importantes en el ámbito de la política exterior, de la comercial y de la asistencia humanitaria, ni que haya que asumir la responsabilidad de los refugiados que están viniendo a Europa en la actualidad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the need to address the root causes of displacement through development cooperation across the European Union (EU) following the significant increase in the number of refugees entering Europe. The influence of the acute causes of displacement such as violent conflict or political persecution by development policy is tackled. The risks carried by the focus on tackling the root causes of displacement are also explored.

We investigate adaptive strategies to robustly and optimally control the COVID-19 pandemic via social distancing measures based on the example of Germany. Our goal is to minimize the number of fatalities over the course of two years without inducing excessive social costs. We consider a tailored model of the German COVID-19 outbreak with different parameter sets to design and validate our approach. Our analysis reveals that an open-loop optimal control policy can significantly decrease the number of fatalities when compared to simpler policies under the assumption of exact model knowledge. In a more realistic scenario with uncertain data and model mismatch, a feedback strategy that updates the policy weekly using model predictive control (MPC) leads to a reliable performance, even when applied to a validation model with deviant parameters. On top of that, we propose a robust MPC-based feedback policy using interval arithmetic that adapts the social distancing measures cautiously and safely, thus leading to a minimum number of fatalities even if measurements are inaccurate and the infection rates cannot be precisely specified by social distancing. Our theoretical findings support various recent studies by showing that (1) adaptive feedback strategies are required to reliably contain the COVID-19 outbreak, (2) well-designed policies can significantly reduce the number of fatalities compared to simpler ones while keeping the amount of social distancing measures on the same level, and (3) imposing stronger social distancing measures early on is more effective and cheaper in the long run than opening up too soon and restoring stricter measures at a later time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo discurre sobre el establecimiento y el desarrollo de programas de repatriación voluntaria asistida (RVA) para inmigrantes en Europa que regresan a sus países natales. La autora comenta sobre la prevalencia de expulsiones forzadas y deportación involuntaria en Europa y describe la importancia de los gobiernos europeos para promover estos programas de RVA como una alternativa.

The article focuses on the assisted voluntary return (AVR) or assisted voluntary return and reintegration (AVRR) schemes that have spread across Europe and the Western industrialized world in 1995 and in 2011. Various assistance and services are provided to asylum seekers and migrants under such schemes. It offers an overview of the AVR scheme established in Great Brtain in 1999 and compares the program with other return schemes in different European countries and across the world.

Background/Aims: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is dominated by chronic inflammation and infection of the lung resulting in lung destruction and early death of patients. The lungs of CF patients are characterized by a massive accumulation of neutrophils. It requires definition why these massive numbers of neutrophils fail to eliminate typical CF pathogens like Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) in CF lungs. Methods: We determined ceramide, sphingosine and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in neutrophils from wildtype and CF mice and determined the effect of sphingosine and ROS alone or in combination on killing of different P. aeruginosa strains. Results: We demonstrate that wildtype neutrophils are able to kill non-mucoid and mucoid clinical P. aeruginosa strains, while neutrophils from CF mice are insufficient to kill these P. aeruginosa strains, although both types of neutrophils infected with P. aeruginosa produce comparable levels of superoxide. All three analyzed P. aeruginosa strains are resistant to reactive oxygen species. The inability of CF neutrophils to kill P. aeruginosa is caused by a marked decrease of surface sphingosine levels in CF neutrophils. Wildtype neutrophils contain much higher concentrations of surface sphingosine than CF neutrophils. Further, wildtype neutrophils, but not CF neutrophils, release sphingosine, most likely as microparticles, upon infection. Sphingosine kills P. aeruginosa in vitro at low micromolar concentrations. Reconstitution of sphingosine in CF neutrophils restores their ability to kill these pathogens, demonstrating the significance of sphingosine for bacterial killing. Conclusion: The data provide evidence for a new paradigm explaining how neutrophils kill ROS-resistant P. aeruginosa, i.e. by sphingosine that kills P. aeruginosa at low concentrations. This mechanism is defective in CF neutrophils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering that impaired coping with stress is closely linked with emergence of stress-sensitive disorders most notably in alexithymic individuals, we conducted the first study examining stress-related autonomic reactivity in alexithymic pain disorder patients. Twenty-one pain disorder patients with high and an equivalent patient group with low alexithymia scores were exposed to three types of affect-inductive stimuli with variable affective involvement: arithmetic task, watching arousing video material and giving an oral presentation. Subjective appraisal of the induced emotional experience and physiological reactivity (heart rate, muscle tension and skin conductance) was documented. During oral presentation high alexithymia patients showed significantly lower skin conductance in combination with increased subjective negative affect compared to low alexithymia patients. Our results thus demonstrate a decoupling between physiological and affect processing in pain disorder patients with high alexithymia during a stressful situation that was subjectively associated with negative affect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose This study describes the process and outcomes of breast radiotherapy (RT) quality assurance (QA) rounds, seeking to identify variables associated with plan modifications. Materials and methods Real-time data were prospectively collected over 2 years. Descriptive statistics determined the proportion of cases requiring no (A), minor (B), or major (C) modifications, which were then subjected to univariate and multivariate analyses. Results A total of 2223 breast cancer QA cases were reviewed; 47 cases (2.1%) underwent a minor, and 52 cases (2.3%) required a major modification. Common changes included boost, volume, seroma, and bolus. On univariate analysis, regional nodal irradiation (RNI), tumour size, and axillary node dissection were significantly associated with major modifications. Upon multivariate analysis, the only independent predictor was RNI (OR 2.12, p = 0.0075). For patients with no RNI, <2 cm tumours, no axillary lymph node dissection, and no boosts ( n = 420); the likelihood of category C was only 1.4%. Conclusions It is feasible to conduct QA review for all breast cancer cases prior to commencing RT. Patients undergoing RNI had a higher likelihood of plan modifications; a group with low risk of modification was identified, which could direct future re-structuring of QA rounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Relying on the high affinities of the benz-indolo-azecine LE 300 (1) and the hydroxylated dibenz-azecine LE 404 (2b) for the D1/D5 receptor subtypes, we synthesized methoxylated, hydroxylated and an indole-N methylated derivatives of 1 (). Hydroxylation of azecine derivatives is beneficial with regard to the affinities and selectivities for all the dopamine receptor subtypes. The ‘serotonin-derived’ 3-oxygenated target compounds but not the 11-oxygenated analogues were superior to the unsubstituted LE 300. 11-Methoxy-7,14-dimethyl-6,7,8,9,14,15-hexahydro-5H-indolo[3,2-f][3]benzazecine (3e) was found to be the most potent antagonist at D2/D3/D4 and D5 receptor subtypes (K i for D5 =0.23nmol) of all known benz-indolo-azecines. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Crude extracts of Actinoplanes missouriensis and related strains catalyze the ATP-dependent phosphorylation of maltose to maltose 1-phosphate. The enzyme of A. missouriensis responsible for this reaction was purified and characterized. This protein has an estimated molecular mass of 57 kDa and it is most likely a monomer. The Km value was 2.6 mM for maltose and 0.54 mM for ATP. Only maltose acted effectively as phosphoryl-group acceptor, and ATP was not replaceable as phosphoryl-group donor. Tryptic peptides of the enzyme were sequenced, and the sequences of these peptides will allow construction of degenerate primers to identify the gene coding for this unique kinase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]