Place Conditions Research Articles

Novel peptide ligand with high binding capacity for antibody purification

Small synthetic ligands for protein purification have become increasingly interesting with the growing need for cheap chromatographic materials for protein purification and especially for the purification of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Today, Protein A-based chromatographic resins are the most commonly used capture step in mAb down stream processing; however, the use of Protein A chromatography is less attractive due to toxic ligand leakage as well as high cost. Whether used as an alternative to the Protein A chromatographic media or as a subsequent polishing step, small synthetic peptide ligands have an advantage over biological ligands; they are cheaper to produce, ligand leakage by enzymatic degradation is either eliminated or significantly reduced, and they can in general better withstand cleaning in place (CIP) conditions such as 0.1M NaOH. Here, we present a novel synthetic peptide ligand for purification of human IgG. Immobilized on WorkBeads, an agarose-based base matrix from Bio-Works, the ligand has a dynamic binding capacity of up to 48mg/mL and purifies IgG from harvest cell culture fluid with purities and recovery of >93%. The binding affinity is ∼105M−1 and the interaction is favorable and entropy-driven with an enthalpy penalty. Our results show that the binding of the Fc fragment of IgG is mediated by hydrophobic interactions and that elution at low pH is most likely due to electrostatic repulsion. Furthermore, we have separated aggregated IgG from non-aggregated IgG, indicating that the ligand could be used both as a primary purification step of IgG as well as a subsequent polishing step.

Clear Notice for Conditions on Spending, Unclear Implications for States in Federal Healthcare Programs

This article explores an important case from the 2005-06 Supreme Court term, Arlington Central School District Board of Education v. Murphy. Murphy is a benchmark for Spending Clause jurisprudence, as the new Roberts Court adopted what was the dissenting view for years, but its significance has gone largely unnoticed. Additionally, Murphy may have critical implications for the federalism revolution and for the country's largest healthcare programs. These broad observations are focused in this article by the example of the Clawback Provision, a new Medicaid requirement that has been challenged by New Jersey, Texas, Maine, Missouri, and Kentucky. The Supreme Court denied original jurisdiction, but the states are likely to proceed in district court (they stand to lose millions of dollars under the Clawback Provision). This article finds that the Murphy analysis alters long-standing Spending Clause doctrine in a way that is likely to narrow Congress' ability to place conditions on federal funds. Also, if the Court was seeking to strengthen the states' position regarding conditions on federal spending, it missed the mark because it ignores the reality of long-standing spending programs and states' inability to reject federal conditions in such programs (as with the Clawback Provision). This piece also observes that Congress could not have anticipated the clarity required by Murphy when drafting the Medicare and Medicaid statutes and that this new standard could have far-reaching effects on these forty-year-old healthcare programs. Ultimately, the article calls for a fresh look at spending power jurisprudence in light of both Murphy and long-entrenched spending programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

The Study of Social, Political, Ethical, and Athletic Aspects of Qolam Reza Takhti’s Life

Takhti’s Life process is a turning point in Iran wrestling history, specially his life created an explicit relation between sport and politic and athletic sociology. Takhti is different from others and athletic generation because he had philanthropic and patriotic moral. Today it seems that we are looking for a special hero who is a leader for having meaningful and philanthropic life, not mundane winning. He lived like others. He was partner of happiness and sadness of people. The athlete is known by picture and commercial names. The hero is know by him/her self but famous by athletes are know by public advertisement. Takhti was famous by public advertisement and commercial propaganda? See that person can go form heroic field to fame field. Indeed, Takhti foster hero characteristics in him. He did not submit to others for special anxiety about lawful country was studied. His life is a multidimensional and complicated phenomenon which is resulted of time and place conditions. We result that the truthfully supporting of society is result of his tendency to support of poor people and unanimity to people whom know him like themselves. Qolam Reza Takhti is an exceptional athlete. He was humble and honor.

Properties of the Bennett Mechanism Derived From the RRRS Closure Ellipse

For many single-loop closed-chain mechanisms, mobility may be characterized by the closure of sets in the theory of Lie groups. The four-revolute (4R) Bennett mechanism remains a persistent exception, requiring the formulation and expression of solutions to the loop closure relations, either directly or indirectly through spatial geometric figures. The simpler loop closure relations of the revolute-revolute-revolute-spherical (RRRS) loop, however, place conditions on the mobility of the 4R mechanism. That loop closure in turn may be interpreted as the congruence of a pair of ellipses. This new result is applied to proving the uniqueness of the Bennett mechanism along with deriving conditions where it is free from singularities. Design parameters are also identified for overconstrained RRRS mechanisms with 1DOF that are neither plane nor line symmetric. Such mechanisms, however, place the S-joint along the revolute axis of an underlying Bennett mechanism.

The Case for Gold as a Reserve Asset in the GCC

This paper focuses on some key aspects of the Gulf Monetary Union and specifically on the new central bank policy in the area of reserve management policy. It will address whether holding a substantial part of reserves in gold would enhance the stability of the new currency and in general how a reserve management policy which includes gold fares against the alternative strategy relying exclusively on holding assets denominated in fiat currencies.The original deadline of January 2010 for the Gulf Monetary Union (GMU) has been missed and a new deadline has not been set. Despite this setback the process has not halted and actually, away from the limelight, technical committees are working, with the plans for the inception of the GCC Monetary Council expected to be finalized by Fall 2010. Once the forerunner of the Gulf Central Bank is in place with the appointment of the Governor, one can envisage steady progress both in the institutional framework and in the technical aspects.Credibility will be the key issue for the new currency and therefore an important task for the Gulf Central Bank would be to set in place conditions that brace the trust of international markets. It is likely that the Gulf currency will initially be pegged to the US dollar, but once the initial phase in which the technical aspects of monetary policy conduct will be tested it is logical to expect that the exchange rate rule will be more flexible with a peg to a currency basket, either similar in composition to the SDR, or reflecting trade shares.A linked issue is whether the composition of reserves could help in conferring the new currency credibility and whether it is possible to demonstrate quantitatively that including gold would help to achieve better macroeconomic stability. We conduct a series of simulations based on past data to calculate the return on a portfolio of reserves assets with and without gold.Our results indicate that if a relatively conservative central bank should hold gold as an asset class, its potential returns for any given level of risk (i.e. at any threshold of standard deviation) increase by several points more per year than when excluding gold from its optimal portfolio. Similarly, a dollar invested (in January 1987) by a fictional conservative central bank in an international reserves portfolio with gold would have grown to $6.6 by May 2010 – which is about 1.5 times more than an international reserves portfolio without gold.

Simultaneous isolation of pure and intact chloroplasts and mitochondria from moss as the basis for sub-cellular proteomics

The moss Physcomitrella patens is increasingly being used as a model for plant systems biology studies. While genomic and transcriptomic resources are in place, tools and experimental conditions for proteomic studies need to be developed. In the present study we describe a rapid and efficient protocol for the simultaneous isolation of chloroplasts and mitochondria from moss protonema. Routinely, 60–100 μg mitochondrial and 3–5 mg chloroplast proteins, respectively, were obtained from 20 g fresh weight of green moss tissue. Using 14 plant compartment marker antibodies derived from seed plant and algal protein sequences, respectively, the evolutionary conservation of the compartment marker proteins in the moss was demonstrated and purity and intactness of the extracted organelles confirmed. This isolation protocol and these validated compartment markers may serve as basis for sub-cellular proteomics in P. patens and other mosses.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00299-010-0935-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Broadening Financial Indicators in the Special Data Dissemination Standard

In December 2008, the IMF Executive Board discussed the Seventh Review of Data Standards Initiatives, and Directors requested staff to return to the Board within about a year with a proposal for the inclusion of selected financial indicators in the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS). This paper responds to the 2008 request taking into account recent developments. The recent financial crisis has heightened the need for policymakers, financial regulators and capital market participants to put in place conditions that would help prevent the occurrence of similar crises in the future. One of the areas identified by the international community as key in crises prevention is the availability of timely and more detailed financial data that could provide early warning signals of impending risks and vulnerabilities

Biodiversity offsetting: implications for the oil and gas industry in Australia

Energy and infrastructure developments often involve or traverse extensive tracts of land that are frequently covered with stands of native vegetation, providing habitat to a range of different plant and animal species. The biodiversity (biological diversity) contained in these stands is the subject of several pieces of legislation in Australia that place restrictions and conditions on those whose activities interfere with this biodiversity. Social licence to operate is another motivation for development organisations to tread softly when it comes to preparing for activities within these zones. With sound and early planning, much interference can be prevented, but sometimes it is unavoidable and measures will need to be developed to address the resulting impacts. Offsetting is one form of measure available to conserve biodiversity when all other options fail, although it can also be used in addition to other measures. Offsetting allows for actions to be taken by developers to compensate for adverse impacts of their developments. Several policies have been released outlining State and Commonwealth positions on biodiversity offsetting in the last few years. When seeking approvals, energy and infrastructure development organisations need to plan ahead according to these policies. To this purpose, this paper outlines the various policy frameworks that exist for biodiversity offsetting across Australia. Implications for the oil and gas industry are provided. The industry has several characteristics that allow it to take advantage of the new policies, which are discussed. Among these are the ready access to land for offsets and, in the case of the coal seam gas industry, the availability of water to kick-start the creation or restoration of biodiversity on land that was previously cleared.

The Influence of Military Strategies on Business Planning

The parallels between war and business planning are numerous. The important distinctions between war and business planning involve the ultimate ends of a given conflict. War involves physical destruction and death. When a business conducts operations, economic utility is generated and employees, stakeholders and society on the whole derive some benefit. The nature of competition is generally regulated by law and if disputes arise among rivals, either market place conditions or legal systems will make a binding decision over corporate life and death, victory or defeat. Introducing the analogies of either war or sports into the business environment is complex and may arouse emotions and an ethos that is contrary to the culture of commerce. As multinational businesses expand their reach they can be engines of wealth generation and peace. However, if global corporations adopt a martial ideology, then the hopes for human progress and cultural evolution will be dashed.

A Field Study to Determine the Effectiveness of Several Respiratory Protection Masks on the Styrene Exposure during Lamination Activities

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of several types of personal respiratory protection equipment at styrene exposed laminators under real work place conditions. 99 male styrene exposed workers were examined. During their lamination activities the average styrene concentrations in air ranged between 30 to 60 ppm (maximum: 205 ppm). The laminators were followed during an usual workweek from Monday to Thursday. The external styrene exposure was measured by means of passive active carbon badges. The excretion of mandelic acid (MA) and phenyl glyoxylic acid (PGA) in end-of-shift urine samples was used to quantify the internal styrene load. During the work shift some laminators did not use respiratory protection masks. The majority used either a half face mask with active carbon filter or an air purifying respirator. The respiratory masks were worn during an average between 31% and 72% of the work time. The styrene concentrations of the ambient air were -depending on the activity- in the range of 30 to 60 ppm. The end-of-shift concentrations of MA and PGA in urine samples varied considerably, their means range from 153 to 606 mg/g creatinine. The comparison shows that workers with air purifying respirators experience the lowest internal styrene body burden in spite of high external exposures. Their effectiveness during usual working condition was around 83% whereas the use of half face masks with active carbon filters reduce styrene exposure only of 26% as an average. The use of styrene-containing resins in boatbuilding can be associated with increased external styrene exposure of the laminators. During the use of different types of respiratory protection masks it is shown that only the application of air purifying respirators leads to a significant reduction of the internal styrene body burden of 83% when worn during 72% of the total work time. In this way it is possible to comply with or to stay clearly below the biological limit value of 600 mg MA + PGA/g creatinine (BAT-value).

The Relevance of Kohn's Dichotomy to the Russian Nineteenth‐Century Concept of Nationalism

AbstractThis article challenges the common distinction between a Western and an Eastern type of nationalism with regard to Russian nationalism. Analysing the civic nationalism of the Decembrists and the cultural nationalism of the Slavophiles, it argues that the type of nationalism that appears in a specific country has more to do with timing than with place or social conditions. The article also suggests that intellectual thought should be studied in an international rather than a national context and that the world of ideas has to be granted a considerable degree of autonomy from socioeconomic conditions.

Troubles ressentis au bloc opératoire central d’un hôpital de Marseille : quel facteur déclenchant ?

In August 2005, a series of complaints, with a strong media coverage, occurred among the staff of the surgery suite of an hospital in Marseilles during a maintenance work period. A study realized during this period of time concluded that the complaints were due to a collective phenomenon provoked by a << self-amplified >> acute discomfort among the staff. No triggering mechanism was identified till then. In order to found a relevant factor that could explain the complaints, we performed a retrospective investigation some time after the events with the aim of reducing the auto-suggestive phenomenon. Six months after the events, a questionnaire was submitted to each person of the 109 medical and paramedic staff working at central surgery suite during the maintenance work period. Subjects were asked about age, gender, disorder description, medical history, work place and work conditions during the event period. The study counted 98 persons with 31 physicians and 67 paramedic staff having replied to the questionnaire. Sixty-nine persons (70,4%) plead showing up symptoms. Multifactorial analysis found that female gender (OR=4,21; IC=1,23-14,38) and perception of particular odours (OR=8,81: IC=2,52-30,78) increased the probability of the occurrence of symptoms. A significant increase (p=0,03) of felt disorders was evidenced among the staff working in the sanitizing room. Disorders were less frequent for persons working in the operating room (p=0,04) and were strongly decreased for smokers (OR=0,25; IC=0,07-0,89). No complaint was recorded six months after the events. Considering the work places and conditions, peracetic acid appears as the most plausible etiologic agent of the reported disorders. As a consequence, hospitals, especially during maintenance work periods, must be sensitized to the involvement of the occupational physician in order to avoid the social and financial cost of such crisis.

Toxicological evaluation of the immune function of pesticide workers, a European wide assessment

In this study, the prolonged low-dose exposure of mixtures of pesticides has been examined on hematological parameters and components of the immune defense in occupationally exposed humans. This investigation was carried out in five field studies in: the Netherlands (flower bulb growers, mainly re-entry workers), Italy (vineyard workers), Finland (potato farmers), and Bulgaria (workers from a zineb factory and greenhouse workers). Immunotoxicity was studied by measuring hematological parameters, complement, immunoglobulins, lymphocyte subpopulations, natural killer cells, autoimmunity, and antibody responses to hepatitis B vaccination. The total study population consisted of 248 pesticide-exposed and 231 non-occupationally exposed workers. As a surrogate measure of pesticide exposure the urinary excretion of ethylenethiourea (ETU), the main metabolite ethylenebisdithiocarbamates was measured. A significantly higher level of ETU in occupationally exposed subjects compared with controls (2.7 +/- 8.1 microg/g vs 0.5 +/- 3.7 microg/g creatinine) was found. Statistically significant differences, albeit very low, were found for complement C3 and C4 and the immunoglobulin classes IgG4 and IgA. For complement and IgG4, the levels were slightly increased and the level of IgA was decreased. In the lymphocyte populations, the CD8 subpopulation was increased. No effects were found on autoimmune antibodies and antibody response to hepatitis vaccination. In conclusion, pesticide exposure under various work place conditions in Europe was associated only with some subtle effects on the immune system, which may suggest that occupational exposure to pesticides does not influence the immunologic system in a clinically significant fashion, and does not pose a significant health risk to the exposed subjects.

Toxicological evaluation of the immune function of pesticide workers, a European wide assessment

In this study, the prolonged low-dose exposure of mixtures of pesticides has been examined on hematological parameters and components of the immune defense in occupationally exposed humans. This investigation was carried out in five field studies in: the Netherlands (flower bulb growers, mainly re-entry workers), Italy (vineyard workers), Finland (potato farmers), and Bulgaria (workers from a zineb factory and greenhouse workers). Immunotoxicity was studied by measuring hematological parameters, complement, immunoglobulins, lymphocyte subpopulations, natural killer cells, autoimmunity, and antibody responses to hepatitis B vaccination. The total study population consisted of 248 pesticide-exposed and 231 non-occupationally exposed workers. As a surrogate measure of pesticide exposure the urinary excretion of ethylenethiourea (ETU), the main metabolite ethylenebisdithiocarbamates was measured. A significantly higher level of ETU in occupationally exposed subjects compared with controls (2.7 +/- 8.1 microg/g vs 0.5 +/- 3.7 microg/g creatinine) was found. Statistically significant differences, albeit very low, were found for complement C3 and C4 and the immunoglobulin classes IgG4 and IgA. For complement and IgG4, the levels were slightly increased and the level of IgA was decreased. In the lymphocyte populations, the CD8 subpopulation was increased. No effects were found on autoimmune antibodies and antibody response to hepatitis vaccination. In conclusion, pesticide exposure under various work place conditions in Europe was associated only with some subtle effects on the immune system, which may suggest that occupational exposure to pesticides does not influence the immunologic system in a clinically significant fashion, and does not pose a significant health risk to the exposed subjects.

Introduction: accessibility of electronic information resources for all

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to introduce the themed section, “Accessibility”, of this special Library Hi Tech issue.Design/methodology/approachThe paper explains the philosophical underpinnings of the concept of disability and provides an overview of the contributed papers.FindingsBy necessity, article collections on online accessibility, such as this special issue, need to be selective.Practical implicationsLibrarians are partially responsible for putting in place conditions that are either enabling or disabling to library users.Originality/valueThis paper introduces the theme of this special Library Hi Tech issue.

Despite shattered expectations a willingness to care for elders remains with education and clinical supervision

The aim was to describe nursing home (NH) caregivers' work experiences while receiving education and clinical supervision for 2 years. Working in elder care seems to be losing its attraction especially with organizational changes, cutbacks and changes in work place conditions. Clinical supervision has been reported to increase job satisfaction and creativity. Semi-structured interviews from caregivers working at an NH in Sweden were conducted, at the start and again at 12 and 24 months. At about 12 months the caregivers were informed of planned cutbacks. Content analysis was the method used to analyse the interviews from seven caregivers who participated throughout the entire period. Findings show that the value of a caring milieu was one category generated by the subcategories: experiences related to work activities and changes, and experiences related to relationships. The value of knowledge was the other category that was influenced by the experiences related to the different backgrounds and the experiences related to increased knowledge gained from the support through education and clinical supervision. The categories contained positive as well as negative influences on care. The initial focus on practical duties associated with the opening of the NH shifted towards caregiver activities with the elders they spoke warmly about. After 2 years the caregivers' willingness to care continued despite their disappointment in the worsened working conditions. The main theme that resulted was: Despite shattered expectations a willingness to care for elders remained. Continued education and clinical supervision seems to be one factor behind the retained willingness. These findings demonstrate that support and caregiver involvement in educational programmes are important during times of change and when disappointments arise in the workplace.

Teacher Perceptions of a Physical Education Statewide Assessment Program

A statewide program assessment was established to make positive change in physical education school programs in South Carolina. Reform efforts depend both on balancing accountability for change and teacher support for change (Odden &Anderson, 1986). The purpose of the study was to determine teacher perceptions of the South Carolina Physical Education Assessment Program and its effects across six related themes including: changes in teaching and learning, changes in curriculum and instruction, teacher awareness of the assessment program, teacher support for the program, work place conditions, and the advocacy role of the program. It was also the purpose of this study to determine if the survey responses were in any way related to teacher and school variables. The overall results of the study indicated positive change and support for the assessment program, supporting the viability of the standards, assessment, and accountability reform effort to positively impact physical education programs.

Effect of environmental factors on the risk of death for drivers of two-wheeled motorized vehicles involved in road crashes

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of environmental factors on the risk of death for drivers of two-wheeled motorized vehicles (TWMV) after a crash. METHODS: We studied a case series comprising all 309,626 drivers of TWMV involved in road crashes with victims compiled by the Spanish Department of Transportation from 1993 to 2002. The dependent variable was death of the driver. Environmental factors included temporal variables (year, month, day and hour of the crash) and spatial variables (area where the accident took place and light conditions, among others). Confounding variables related to the driver (age, sex, helmet use), the vehicle, and the type of crash were also recorded. Poisson regression models were constructed to obtain crude and adjusted relative risks for each environmental condition. RESULTS: In the adjusted analysis, no association was found between most time-related factors and the risk of death, with the exception of an increased risk in the early hours of the morning. The risk of death was much greater for crashes on open roads (especially highways and motorways) than in urban areas, where the risk of death increased as the size of the town decreased. CONCLUSIONS: After adjustment for several confounders, the only environmental factors related to the risk of death in TWMV drivers after a crash were the area when the crash occurred, and (more weakly) the time of day when it occurred. Language: es

Efecto de las circunstancias ambientales sobre el riesgo de defunción de los conductores de vehículos de dos ruedas de motor implicados en accidentes de tráfico

Objectives To assess the effect of environmental factors on the risk of death for drivers of two-wheeled motorized vehicles (TWMV) after a crash. Methods We studied a case series comprising all 309,626 drivers of TWMV involved in road crashes with victims compiled by the Spanish Department of Transportation from 1993 to 2002. The dependent variable was death of the driver. Environmental factors included temporal variables (year, month, day and hour of the crash) and spatial variables (area where the accident took place and light conditions, among others). Confounding variables related to the driver (age, sex, helmet use), the vehicle, and the type of crash were also recorded. Poisson regression models were constructed to obtain crude and adjusted relative risks for each environmental condition. Results In the adjusted analysis, no association was found between most time-related factors and the risk of death, with the exception of an increased risk in the early hours of the morning. The risk of death was much greater for crashes on open roads (especially highways and motorways) than in urban areas, where the risk of death increased as the size of the town decreased. Conclusions After adjustment for several confounders, the only environmental factors related to the risk of death in TWMV drivers after a crash were the area when the crash occurred, and (more weakly) the time of day when it occurred.

Median-prior tomography reconstruction combined with nonlinear anisotropic diffusion filtering

Positron emission tomography (PET) is becoming increasingly important in the fields of medicine and biology. Penalized iterative algorithms based on maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation for image reconstruction in emission tomography place conditions on which types of images are accepted as solutions. The recently introduced median root prior (MRP) favors locally monotonic images. MRP can preserve sharp edges, but a steplike streaking effect and much noise are still observed in the reconstructed image, both of which are undesirable. An MRP tomography reconstruction combined with nonlinear anisotropic diffusion interfiltering is proposed for removing noise and preserving edges. Analysis shows that the proposed algorithm is capable of producing better reconstructed images compared with those reconstructed by conventional maximum-likelihood expectation maximization (MLEM), MAP, and MRP-based algorithms in PET image reconstruction.