Search results for "Mechanism"

STREAMLINING THE BUDGET PROCESS BY PRIORITIZING PUBLIC INVESTMENT PROJECTS

2014

The substantiation of the state budget for 2014 has also considered some measures to improve budget planning activities by prioritizing public investment projects. The prioritizing approach of public investment projects in the budget process is a particularly important and complex one, involving a set of coherent and responsible evaluation, selection and prioritization activities of such projects based on a well defined prioritizing criteria and mechanism. It was started in 2012, unfortunately not as an undertaking of public decision makers in Romania, but as a requirement of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in order to improve the budget process. The reason is the fact that n…

The image of the smoking and non-smoking young person

1985

MORE than 1,600 Finnish secondary school pupils between the ages of 12 and 16 completed a question naire about their image of the smoking and non- smoking adolescent. A smoker was described as nervous, unfriendly, untidy, stupid and a low achiever in sport and academic work, but despite this, was seen as a leader. Non-smokers were seen as calm, strong, fairly modest, friendly, tidy and smart, but not as leaders. Older pupils saw the smoker in a more positive light. Those who smoked saw the non- smoker image as positive, and rated the smoking image more highly than did non smokers.

�ber den Wirkungsmechanismus von Reserpin

1959

A model study for the progressive disruption of CA1 firing properties during Alzheimer’s disease

2011

Several independent studies show that β-Amyloid (Aβ) peptides accumulation, one of the characteristic hallmark of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), can affect the normal neuronal activity in different ways causing an increase or a decrease in neuronal membrane excitability. For example, experimental evidence for a negative impact on neuronal membrane in animal models of AD has been obtained in dual patch recordings in rat hippocampal tissue slices, in which Aβ blocked K channels in pyramidal cell dendrites, causing an increase in dendritic membrane excitability. The resulting increased Ca2+ influx and excitoxicity may lead to dendritic degeneration. However, further experimental evidence suggests t…

Modeling a Complex Disease

2011

The recent decades have shown that multiple sclerosis (MS) is not a uniform disease entity with common etiology, but rather a disease or syndrome characterized by a heterogeneous pattern of manifestations and pathological principles. Apart from the older distinctions of the Devic's disease from the standard Western form of relapsing remitting MS or the more Asian form of opticospinal MS, specific pathological patterns indicating distinct etiologies have been established by analyses of biopsies and autopsies. Further, the distinct responses of patients to drugs targeting either specific cell types or immunoregulatory mechanisms such as Rituximab or IFNβ clearly demonstrate the heterogeneity …

Mechanisms of neuropathic pain and their importance in Fabry disease

2007

UNLABELLED One of the most prominent features of Fabry disease is neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain occurs after neuronal damage. In contrast to inflammatory or trauma-related pain, which normally helps to maintain or restore body functions, neuropathic pain tends to become chronic, and must therefore be considered a 'pathological' pain. Neuropathic pain has usually been classified according to the aetiology of nerve damage: traumatic, inflammatory, cancer-related or metabolic (e.g. Fabry disease). However, use of this classification often results in inadequate therapy for neuropathic pain. Recent research has revealed distinct mechanisms that are responsible for neuropathic pain. These me…

Immune pathogenesis of hepatitis A

1992

In an effort to elucidate the mechanism of liver damage resulting from Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection, we have studied infected skin fibroblasts and autologous lymphocytes from HAV patients. We report here that HLA-restricted virus-specific T cells play an essential role in HAV-related hepatocellular injury.

An exploration of anger phenomenology in multiple sclerosis

2009

Background and purpose:  Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients are often emotionally disturbed. We investigated anger in these patients in relation to demographic, clinical, and mood characteristics. Patients and methods:  About 195 cognitively unimpaired MS patients (150 relapsing–remitting and 45 progressive) were evaluated with the State Trait Anger Expression Inventory, the Chicago Multiscale Depression Inventory, and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. The patients’ anger score distribution was compared with that of the normal Italian population. Correlation coefficients among scale scores were calculated and mean anger scores were compared across different groups of patients by analysis of …

Towards a Variety of Meanings - Multiple Representations of Reputation in the Small Business Context

2010

This paper examines the discursively constructed meanings for reputation in the small business context – an area of reputation research that has so far attracted little attention. We argue that viewing reputation as a social construction makes it possible to uncover and understand the variety of meanings attached to the concept in small businesses. On the basis of 25 thematic interviews with owner-managers we (re)constructed four meanings for reputation: reputation as an economic resource, as social recognition, as a restrictive control mechanism and as a risk for personal status. We also investigate the variety of discursive events in which these meanings are created. The study further emp…

1 Hop or 2 hops: Topology analysis in Body Area Network

2014

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) have recently received much attention due to the possibility to be used in healthcare applications. For these applications, link reliability and energy efficiency are critical issues, as in many cases, information carried can be vital for the patient and batteries cannot be easily replaced. The wireless on-body channel experiences significant temporal variation due to body movements and the use of relays is sometimes necessary in order to guarantee reliability or improve lifetime. In this paper, an experimental evaluation is used to give a better understanding about reliability, energy consumption and lifetime in a single hop or a two hops communication. …