This article applies a global value-chain framework to the tobacco industry in Malawi, showing how cigarette manufacturers govern the chain and control first-tier suppliers, the leaf merchants. Contract farming offers smallholders the ability to meet manufacturers' compliance and traceability requirements and an opportunity for process and product upgrading, but threatens to exclude poorer growers

The main objective of the MCL3 study was to improve outcome for patients not in complete remission (CR) before transplant by adding 90 Y-ibritumomab-tiuxetan (Zevalin) to the high-dose regimen. One hundred sixty untreated, stage II-IV mantle cell lymphoma patients

There is growing interest in how helpers working with severely traumatized individuals are affected by their work. A sample of 69 persons working with war and torture survivors across specialized centers throughout Sweden filled out questionnaires evaluating negative (i.e., compassion fatigue—composed of secondary traumatic stress [STS] and burnout—depersonalization, and impairment of functioning)

Objectives: Our aim was to elicit data representative of normal findings on 3-dimensional (3D) transvaginal gray-scale and power Doppler sonography of ovaries in women of fertile age. Methods: A total of 303 gynecologically asymptomatic white women 20 to 39 years old with spontaneous regular menstrual cycles were examined with transvaginal 3D gray-scale and power Doppler sonography on cycle days

Anastomosis of an acutely obstructed colon is associated with an increased risk of dehiscence. In experimental models, acute obstruction decreases collagen in the colonic wall, but the time course and propagation along the colon of the biochemical changes are unknown. Furthermore, there is a paucity of information on the correlation between these biochemical changes and histological features. Fort

In an interesting and thought-provoking paper recently published by the Economic History of Developing Regions, Johan Fourie and Leigh Gardner ask why relatively few papers from developing countries have been published in top-ranked economic history journals. They provide a number of tentative answers of which differences in academic traditions between regions seem to be an important one. In this

The neuropathological substrate of dementia in patients with Parkinson's disease is still under debate, particularly in patients with insufficient alternate neuropathology for other degenerative dementias. In patients with pure Lewy body Parkinson's disease, previous post-mortem studies have shown that dopaminergic and cholinergic regulatory projection systems degenerate, but the exact pathways th

The field of hypnosis anticipated the current interest in consciousness and has contributed in many ways to its conceptualization and research. This paper is divided into 3 sections. The first describes how hypnosis has enriched the study of alterations of consciousness, considered as dynamic processes subject to important individual differences. This section also considers how hypnosis offers an

The radiotherapy process is reviewed briefly and potential risks or pitfalls are identified. The focus is on modern advanced modalities in radiation therapy such as IMRT, VMAT, gating and tracking and also for the unknown to come. Existing methods, or quality controls (QC), or with better word barriers, are introduced at important steps of process with the purpose of prohibiting errors to continue

Electoral coordination has been a primary concern for scholars of African politics, interested in topics such as ethnic conflict mitigation and democratisation, for decades. However, understanding of micro-level electoral coordination in Sub-Saharan Africa is generally still very limited. This study is the first to investigate voter coordination in Sub-Saharan Africa using constituency-level elect

Over the last two decades, significant strides has been made toward acquiring a better knowledge of both the etiology and pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Experimental models are of paramount importance to obtain greater insights into the pathogenesis of the disease. Thus far, neurotoxin-based animal models have been the most popular tools employed to produce selective neuronal death in b

As high resolution instruments are becoming standard in proteomics laboratories, label-free quantification using precursor measurements is becoming a viable option, and is consequently rapidly gaining popularity. Several software solutions have been presented for label-free analysis, but to our knowledge no conclusive studies regarding the sensitivity and reliability of each step of the analysis p

The difficulties of demonstrating that any specific form of psychotherapy is more effective than any other has led to the formulation of the so-called Dodo Bird Verdict (that all forms of therapy are equally effective) and to the suggestion that what really matters for therapeutic efficiency are factors that are common to different forms of therapy. The term “common factors”, however, is seldom de

The intestinal mucosa is exposed to large amounts of foreign antigen (Ag) derived from commensal bacteria, dietary Ags, and intestinal pathogens. Dendritic cells (DCs) are believed to be involved in the induction of tolerance to harmless Ags and in mounting protective immune responses to pathogens and, as such, to play key roles in regulating intestinal immune homeostasis. The characterization of

We have previously shown that genetic variance in NEDD4L, a regulating protein of a sodium channel in the distal nephron, has been associated with marginally higher blood pressure and enhanced salt sensitivity. Here, we tested if the genetic NEDD4L variation previously associated with salt sensitivity is related to population blood pressure, incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality.

The Neotropical jumping plant-louse Russelliana solanicola Tuthill is a potato pest and a probable vector of plant pathogens. Populations morphologically similar to those found on potatoes have been collected on plants of at least ten different families, four of which have been confirmed as hosts by the presence of immatures. This suggests that R. solanicola is either a single polyphagous species

In order to simultaneously generalize matrix rings and group graded crossed products, we introduce category crossed products. For such algebras we describe the centre and the commutant of the coefficient ring. We also investigate the connection between on the one hand maximal commutativity of the coefficient ring and on the other hand nonemptiness of intersections of the coefficient ring by nonzer