Real Proof Research Articles

Herbal Products: Benefits, Limits, and Applications in Chronic Liver Disease

Complementary and alternative medicine soughts and encompasses a wide range of approaches; its use begun in ancient China at the time of Xia dynasty and in India during the Vedic period, but thanks to its long-lasting curative effect, easy availability, natural way of healing, and poor side-effects it is gaining importance throughout the world in clinical practice. We conducted a review describing the effects and the limits of using herbal products in chronic liver disease, focusing our attention on those most known, such as quercetin or curcumin. We tried to describe their pharmacokinetics, biological properties, and their beneficial effects (as antioxidant role) in metabolic, alcoholic, and viral hepatitis (considering that oxidative stress is the common pathway of chronic liver diseases of different etiology). The main limit of applicability of CAM comes from the lacking of randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials giving a real proof of efficacy of those products, so that anecdotal success and personal experience are frequently the driving force for acceptance of CAM in the population.

The Néel IRAM KID Arrays (NIKA)

We are developing an instrument based on Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KID) known as the Neel IRAM KID Array (NIKA). Leveraging the experience gained from the first generation NIKA in 2009, an improved, dual-band (150 GHz and 240 GHz) instrument has been designed and tested at the Institut of RadioAstronomie Millimetrique (IRAM) 30-meter telescope in October 2010. The performances, in terms of sensitivity on-the-sky at 150 GHz, are already comparable to existing state-of-the-art bolometer-based instruments. NIKA represents thus the first real proof that KID are a viable technology for ground-based Astronomy. We will describe the instrument, the most recent results and the future plans for building a large resident mm-wave camera.

Testing Citizenship, Regulating History: The Fatal Impact

Testing Citizenship, Regulating History: The Fatal Impact

A Secure Lightweight RFID Binding Proof Protocol for Medication Errors and Patient Safety

Quite recently, Yu et al. presented a real lightweight binding proof protocol to guard patient safety and prevent medication errors. In this paper, we first show their protocol is still vulnerable to impersonation attacks. Thereafter we propose a new lightweight binding proof protocol to overcome these weaknesses and securely achieve the goal of proving that two tags exist in the field simultaneously.

Black Cohosh Hepatic Safety: Follow-Up of 107 Patients Consuming a SpecialCimicifuga racemosa rhizomeHerbal Extract and Review of Literature

European Medicines Agency (EMEA) and the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC) on July 2006 have released an alert to get European sanitary authorities aware of 42 cases of suspected hepatotoxic reactions in patients consuming Cimicifuga racemosa rhizome. In the public statement EMEA itself considered reliable as hepatotoxic reactions only four cases, on the base of RUCAM score: two were considered possible and two probable. Lacking in almost all of them a precise description of cases, especially a botanical-chemical analysis of the suspected substance, we think there is no real proof of supposed C. racemosa rhizome hepatotoxicity. In our department we administer from about 10 years C. racemosa as special herbal dry extract as single substance or mixed with other medicinal plants at the dose of 500–1000 mg daily, for treatment of menopause related disorders without any reported adverse effect. After EMEA's official signal we have contacted all our patients using a C. racemosa rhizome herbal extract continuously from more than 12 months to verify possible hepatotoxic effects. We followed-up 107 women, and asked them by telephone (33/107) and/or after anamnesis and clinical examination (74/107) to undergo a blood sample examination. In all the patients there was no sign of hepatic disease, or worsening of already altered but stable parameters. We think on the base of these data and current literature C. racemosa rhizome extract should not be considered a potential hepatotoxic substance.

Black Cohosh Hepatic Safety: Follow‐up of 107 Patients Consuming a Special Cimicifuga racemosa rhizome Herbal Extract and Review of Literature

European Medicines Agency (EMEA) and the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC) on July 2006 have released an alert to get European sanitary authorities aware of 42 cases of suspected hepatotoxic reactions in patients consuming Cimicifuga racemosa rhizome. In the public statement EMEA itself considered reliable as hepatotoxic reactions only four cases, on the base of RUCAM score: two were considered possible and two probable. Lacking in almost all of them a precise description of cases, especially a botanical‐chemical analysis of the suspected substance, we think there is no real proof of supposed C. racemosa rhizome hepatotoxicity. In our department we administer from about 10 years C. racemosa as special herbal dry extract as single substance or mixed with other medicinal plants at the dose of 500–1000 mg daily, for treatment of menopause related disorders without any reported adverse effect. After EMEA′s official signal we have contacted all our patients using a C. racemosa rhizome herbal extract continuously from more than 12 months to verify possible hepatotoxic effects. We followed‐up 107 women, and asked them by telephone (33/107) and/or after anamnesis and clinical examination (74/107) to undergo a blood sample examination. In all the patients there was no sign of hepatic disease, or worsening of already altered but stable parameters. We think on the base of these data and current literature C. racemosa rhizome extract should not be considered a potential hepatotoxic substance.

Low Cost RFID Real Lightweight Binding Proof Protocol for Medication Errors and Patient Safety

An Institute of Medicine Report stated there are 98,000 people annually who die due to medication related errors in the United States, and hospitals and other medical institutions are thus being pressed to use technologies to reduce such errors. One approach is to provide a suitable protocol that can cooperate with low cost RFID tags in order to identify patients. However, existing low cost RFID tags lack computational power and it is almost impossible to equip them with security functions, such as keyed hash function. To address this issue, a so a real lightweight binding proof protocol is proposed in this paper. The proposed protocol uses only logic gates (e.g. AND, XOR, ADD) to achieve the goal of proving that two tags exist in the field simultaneously, without the need for any complicated security algorithms. In addition, various scenarios are provider to explain the process of adopting this binding proof protocol with regard to guarding patient safety and preventing medication errors.

Hormonal Therapy in the Elderly Prostate Cancer Patient: Proof Not Given

Pfitzenmaier and Altwein in their very readable article explain the advantage of hormone therapy in locally advanced prostate cancer with an unfavourable Gleason score. Further, they show in a table the extent to which a PSA increase may give an indication of a poorer prognosis. For the question that is crucial when recommending routine PSA measurements be used in tumor aftercare-namely, which treatment option should be chosen when PSA rises-the authors take recourse to the worst possible evidence-expert opinion (EAU guideline 2008). They do not provide a real proof for why after primary treatment for prostate cancer PSA should be measured and which order of benefit therapy would yield that is administered after a rise in PSA.

“Induced” Eyes Suggest a Path to Retinal Repair

“Induced” Eyes Suggest a Path to Retinal Repair

Proficiency testing as the key element in implementing EN13275 olfactometry

The technical standard for dynamic olfactometry EN13725:2003 is now widely applied in testing of odours for environmental management purposes. Many laboratories working in this field apply QA/QC systems according to ISO17025 and are accredited under international accreditation, e.g. European Accreditation and NATA (Australia). One of the key elements of the EN13725 standard is the requirement to attain defined levels of statistical performance parameters, in particular Precision under repeatability conditions r and Accuracy A. For the reference odour n-butanol laboratories can establish these performance characteristics in-house, through internal QA/QC measurements. However, the real proof of the pudding is to demonstrate compliance with the requirements in externally organised blind proficiency testing. Proficiency testing for olfactometry has been used since the mid 1980s in the Netherlands and Germany. Currently international proficiency tests are organised by private firm Olfatec, under EN ISO/IEC 17020:2004 accreditation. In 2007 the most recent test was held, with 29 laboratories participating in the extended proficiency test using n-butanol. Of the participating laboratories 12 fully complied with the statistical performance criteria of EN13725. This result confirms that the EN13725 performance criteria are attainable in practice. It also shows that the majority of laboratories claiming to work according to EN13725 actually fail to do so on the key issue of the performance characteristics, a key element of the EN13725 standard. Even more worrying is that among the laboratories that fail to attain the required performance, many are accredited under ISO17025. Of 36 accredited laboratories for olfactometry in Europe only 12 have demonstrated compliance in 2007. This situation may create a false sense of security among users of the data produced, trusting that they can apply uncertainties according to EN13725 while in fact the uncertainty can be larger. It is therefore very important that corrective actions are implemented, and that the accreditation organisations monitor the implementation and also ensure that all laboratories claiming to work according to EN13725 under ISO17025 accreditation actually are able to attain the minimum criteria for precision and accuracy in successive proficiency tests. For users of olfactometry results it must be absolutely clear that a laboratory working according to EN13725 under ISO17025 accreditation will deliver results with a defined and satisfactory uncertainty. Such laboratories must be able to consistently pass proficiency tests for olfactometry. Accreditation bodies are the key guardians of this reasonable expectation..

Measurement of Magnetic Properties of an Inertial Sensor with a Torsion Balance

A torsion balance is constructed to accurately measure the magnetic properties of the real proof mass of the inertial sensor. The magnetic susceptibility and remnant moment of a titanium proof mass are measured in the first experiment, and further improvements and the potential sensitivity are also discussed. This is significant for choosing the material of the proof mass and investigating the magnetic disturbances acting on the proof mass.

To What End: Resilience, Tradeoffs, and the Lessons of Katrina

To What End: Resilience, Tradeoffs, and the Lessons of Katrina

First Hard Evidence of Lynx (Lynx Lynx L.) Presence in Bulgaria

ABSTRACTThe last officially registered lynx in Bulgaria was killed in 1941 and is considered extinct from the country. Since then there are only unofficial reports of local people throughout the whole country as none of them was officially confirmed. In the last 15 years more and more reports for seen or illegally killed lynx in Bulgaria are gathered from different sources. In May 2008 we initiated two projects to record animal presence and behaviour by 8 Moultrie camera traps. On 21st of November 2008 in 6:38 and 6:39 am a camera trap placed for observation of a badger set registered two photos of adult male lynx. This evidence is equal to quality one level of data reliability, according to the common standards for the interpretation of the monitoring data on a Pan-Alpine level accepted by the Pan-Alpine Conservation Strategy for the Lynx. This is considered the first real proof of lynx presence in Bulgaria. Development of the lynx population through the last years is discussed below.

Spontaneous tooth eruption after alveolar cleft osteoplasty using tissue-engineered bone: a case report

To bridge the cleft in the alveolar bone and to allow for physiologic eruption of the canine teeth, alveolar bone grafting is often necessary in patients with cleft lips and palates. Instead of autogenous bone, biomaterial seeded with autogenous osteogenic cells has found some clinical application. However, so far no real functional proof has been available to demonstrate that this technique also allows further physiologic features such as tooth eruption to occur. This report describes the results of grafting tissue-engineered bone into the alveolar cleft of a 10-year-old boy. Immediate postoperative healing was uneventful. Eight months after grafting, erupting teeth had moved into the newly formed bone. Eighteen months postoperatively at the site where the tissue-engineered graft had been inserted, the canine had erupted spontaneously in its proper place. The data suggest that tissue-engineered bone can lead to the ossification of the alveolar cleft and allow for physiologic spontaneous tooth eruption.

PERADILAN SADDAM HUSSEIN: HEGEMONI AMERIKA DAN TRAGEDI GOOD WORLD GOVERNANCE

After the destroying of World Trade Center USA on September 11 2001, America is focusing his international political policy on war on terrorism which was further followed by preemptive action and unilateralism toward countries considered a terrorist. One of them is Irak. Certainly the policy will hamper the realization of good world governance under the United Nations Program. Attacking Irak in 2003 is a real proof of the USA hegemony in the world as the Super Power, especially concerning about Saddam Husein’s process of judicature which is hold by Iraqi Special Tribunal and the Iraqi Special Tribunal is under the US intervention. Teoritically the session process of Saddam who was accused executing genocide toward Kurdi tribe should be hold by International Criminal Court (ICC) under the United Nations. It is not the competency of Iraqi Special Tribunal. The session Process of Saddam judicature is considered invalid and breaking out the principals of international law. This case will hamper the maintenance of international law supremacy. The maintenance of international law is one of the requirements of good world governance. However, the reality is showing that international politic under USA hegemony, and this will always hamper the realization of good world governance.

Saddam Hussein’s Trial: The American Hegemony and A Good World Governance Tragedy

After the destruction of the U.S. World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, America was focusing its international political policy on war on terrorism which was further followed by preemptive action and unilateralism toward countries considered as terrorists. One of them is Iraq. Certainly the policy will obstruct the realization of good world governance under the United Nations Program. Attacking Iraq in 2003 was a real proof of the U.S. hegemony over the world as the Super Power country, especially concerning Saddam Hussein’s judicial process which was held by the Iraqi Special Tribunal which was under the U.S. intervention. Theoretically, the judicial process of Saddam Hussein’s case who was accused of genocide toward Kurdish should be held by the International Criminal Court (ICC) under the United Nations. It was not the competence of the Iraqi Special Tribunal. Saddam Hussein’s trial was invalid and violated the principals of international law. This case would obstruct the enforcement of international law supremacy which is one of the requirements of good world governance. Since international politics is under the U.S. hegemony, the realization of good world governance is in jeopardy. Keywords: Governance, politics, hegemony, and law supremacy

Béla Bartók et Maurice Ravel: Question d'une influence Bartók a-t-il été inspiré par Daphnis et Chloé de Ravel dans son ballet le Prince de bois?

Abstract Maurice Ravel uses a lot of musical elements in his ballet Daphnis et Chloé that appear in Bartók's Ballet The Wooden Prince. So are the instrumentation and especially the orchestration (particularly at the beginning of these two works: the wake-up of the nature that is almost the same, and the “grotesque” moments). The themes of the different episodes that build the ballet seem to be the same in their conception, and we can add that the main themes (love in Daphnis and the prince in The Wooden Prince) are twin. Their roots are the same, so the idea that Ravel influenced Bartók looks likely. Even if there is no real proof, like e.g. a letter by Bartók about Daphnis et Chloé. A comparison of the two works seems to suggest that Ravel's work really had an influence on Bartók's Wooden Prince.

Which sites are the active sites in TiO 2–SiO 2 mixed oxides?

TiO 2–SiO 2 mixed oxides are very important industrial materials and catalysts. They have found several industrial applications and attracted great interest in academic and industrial research laboratories. While significant progress has been made in the understanding of their properties, the mechanism of their catalytic action is still debated. We summarize the past and recent literature on the subject. Tanabe (1974, 1981) has attributed the catalytic activity to the formation of Brønsted acidity, and his proposal has been supported by a number of reports even recently. On the other hand, our work has provided evidence that high purity TiO 2–SiO 2 mixed oxides DO NOT have Brønsted acidity. When used as catalysts for the isomerization of 1-butene, the reaction products consist of linear butenes only, with no skeletal isomerization nor other products typical of acid catalysis. Pure TiO 2 has high catalytic activity and gives the same reaction products. The discrepancy with previous results is very likely due in some instances to the presence of acid-inducing impurities in materials used in early works and in others to the fact that methods used to detect Brønsted acidity, reliable with certain solids, give erroneous results with others. A reexamination of these methods is strongly recommended. Finally many studies relied on the low temperature catalytic activity in 1-butene isomerization to linear butenes, overlooking the fact that only skeletal isomerization is the real proof of Brønsted acidity.

Molecular Pathomechanisms of Membranous Nephropathy

Membranous nephropathy (MN), the most common cause of idiopathic nephrotic syndrome in white adults, is characterized by an accumulation of immune deposits on the outer aspect of the glomerular basement membrane. In Heymann nephritis, the rat experimental model for MN, megalin--the target antigen of the nephritogenic antibodies--is expressed on the surface of podocytes, where immune complexes are formed, leading to complement activation and nephrotic-range proteinuria. However, megalin cannot be held responsible for human MN because it has not been found in human podocytes or detected in subepithelial immune deposits in patients with MN. Several potential antigens have been identified in so-called secondary forms of MN, but there is no real proof that these antigens are pathogenic. In a subgroup of infants with antenatal MN, neutral endopeptidase (NEP) has been identified as the first protein target on human podocytes of nephritogenic antibodies. The infants' mothers became immunized during pregnancy against NEP expressed on syncytiotrophoblastic cells because they were NEP deficient as a result of truncating mutations in the MME gene. Severity of neonatal renal disease was determined by the mothers' IgG response that led to the formation of the membrane attack complex of complement in the subepithelial deposits. Alloimmunization against NEP is a novel pathomechanism of MN that might also account for some cases of MN after renal or bone marrow transplantation. Other types of alloimmunization should be investigated in MN but also in other renal and nonrenal diseases, particularly those that affect the pediatric age.

Human herpesvirus‐8: what (not) to do?

Human herpesvirus‐8: what (not) to do?