Comeback Trail Research Articles

Future-oriented spending begins a tepid recovery

After declining in 2016, future-oriented spending by the chemical industry went on the comeback trail in 2017. R&D spending increased last year, and while companies pulled back the reigns on capital spending, it was not as hard as they did in 2016. Spending levels reflected a year during which the global economy gained momentum. Although few managers were willing to bet assertively that the trend would continue, some forward-looking firms took a greater interest in technology start-ups and began committing a sliver of their research budgets to business incubators. According to C&EN’s annual R&D spending survey, 18 large U.S. and European chemical firms collectively ratcheted up research outlays by 0.6% in 2017 to $9.9 billion. The tepid increase follows a 5.3% drop in 2016, when the group spent $9.8 billion on R&D. Over the past decade, R&D spending has waxed and waned. A group of 17 companies (excluding Evonik Industries

Surgery in pleuro-pulmonary tuberculosis: On the comeback trail

The birth of modern antitubercular chemotherapy in mid-1950s relegated the status of pleuro-pulmonary surgery to being on the backburner. However, since the time MDR-TB and XDR-TB strains have emerged, considerable interest stands rekindled in the realm of the scalpel. Pleuro-pulmonary surgeries have become an indisputable ally of the current molecular drug therapies in a bid to scale back the morbidity and mortality of the disease. While such complications as bronchiectasis – with its attendant risks of suppuration, superinfection, and hemoptysis, together with known destructive pulmonary sequelae such as destroyed lung, massive hemoptysis, bronchopleural fistula and empyema have become distinct grounds for surgical intervention, the presence of a pulmonary aspergilloma or a resectable neoplasm in a destroyed lung, makes the patient a fit case for corrective surgery. Mediastinal tuberculous lymphadenitis, associated with compressive symptoms and pulmonary complications, particularly in children, is another classic ground for surgical decompression of the bronchial tree. Making a compelling preference in such clinical landscapes which do not respond to medical treatment, are serious, and potentially fatal, pleuro-pulmonary surgery is currently well and truly on the comeback trail in the management of thoracopulmonary tuberculosis.

R&D productivity rides again?

A recent analysis of R&D productivity suggests that there are grounds for 'cautious optimism' that the industry 'turned the corner' in 2008 and is 'on the comeback trail'. We believe that this analysis is flawed and most probably wrong. We present an alternative analysis of these same data to suggest that the industry is not yet 'out of the woods' and suggest that many of the systemic issues affecting pharmaceutical R&D productivity are still being resolved.

Yellow versus Orange—Never a Fair Fight: An Assessment of Two Contributions to Liberal Politics Separated by Three‐quarters of a Century

British Liberals have a thing about colours, especially yellow and orange. Two publications, separated by over seventy years and known by the colour of their respective covers, mark special periods in the history of British liberalism, times when liberals have appeared to be on the comeback trail. The article sets out to make the case that the authors of The Orange Book (published in 2004) have a great deal to learn from their liberal predecessors. Yellow Book liberalism was more radical, better informed and better matched to the most pressing political concerns of its day. It was also more open to arguments and ideas from those who had no particular allegiance to either the Liberal Party or to its political philosophy. Liberals, it is argued, need to be far more concerned about refashioning and revitalising liberalism than about reclaiming or reasserting their exclusive ownership of the fundament of liberal thought.

Physical sunscreens: On the comeback trail

Awareness of ultraviolet radiation-induced skin damage creates the need for the development of broad-spectrum, safe and cosmetically acceptable sunscreens. Being relatively inert, safe, stable and non-irritating, physical sunscreens are particularly useful for patients with sensitive skin who cannot tolerate chemical sunscreens. However, they form a thick visible pigment layer on the skin. To overcome this drawback, microfine oxides have been developed which made the sunscreens virtually transparent when applied on the skin. This article reviews the rationale for the comeback of physical sunscreens by analyzing data from various sources.

Thalidomide on the comeback trail

Will new insights into Thalidomide's teratogenic mechanism help make its return a safe one ( pages 582–585 )?

The comeback trail: Africa's bid to save its endangered animals.

The comeback trail: Africa's bid to save its endangered animals.

Titanium Dioxide Makes Fast Turnaround, Heads For Supply Crunch

After several years of overcapacity and near-record low selling prices, titanium dioxide is on the comeback trail. Plant utilization is moving up into the 90% range, with supply of some high-perfor...

The Comeback Trail for Process Analysis

The Comeback Trail for Process Analysis

The Return of the Outlaw Couple

The outlaw couple is on the comeback trail. Reaching the screen almost simultaneously, Badlands, Thieves Like Us, and The Sugarland Express have striking similarities. What kind of trend do they represent and why has it arisen at this particular time? Strongly influenced by Bonnie and Clyde, all three films focus on a pair of appealing young lovers who boldly break the law. Ultimately the young man is executed by lawmen, while the woman survives to take care of baby or record their adventures. All three films are set in rural America sometime in the past: Sugarland takes place in Texas in 1969 and is based on actual events; loosely adapting well known news stories, Badlands follows a westward journey from North Dakota to Montana in 1959; the plot of Thieves (a remake of They Live by Night) is set in Mississippi in the thirties. Outbursts of violence are juxtaposed with humor or nostalgia, creating a very distinctive tone. Despite all the vigorous action (robberies, prison breaks, killings, and chases), the special quality of each film is determined primarily by the rich visual surface. The world in which these characters move is defined by strange white houses and stylized furnishings, car lots and motor courts, desolate roads and idyllic landscapes. These films seem to be reacting against trends that currently dominate Hollywood. As if to counter the forces of Gay Lib and the Women's Movement, commercial American films have recently been focusing on love stories between a couple of male friends (Papillon, Bang the Drum Slowly, Scarecrow, Mean Streets, The Sting, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and most blatantly Thunderbolt and Lightfoot). Of course, the heroes aren't really fags, and to prove this the film will usually include a scene ridiculing homosexuals, yet at the same time indirectly suggesting the latent sexual dimension of the friendship. Women may be included, but they are always restricted to minor roles. In the fifties the male couple was mythologized in the highway romance of Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady, a prime source for sixties road movies like Easy Rider and TwoLane Blacktop. Although they are straight, most of these male heroes are lawbreakers or