Immunocytochemical study on the ultrastructural localization of human-type ABO (H)-blood group activities in a macaque (Macaca irus)

The immunocytochemical study on the ultrastructural localization of human-type ABO(H)-activities in a crab-eating macaque (Macaca irus) was carried out by using postembedding and immuno-gold staining method. The tissue specimens examined were the esophagus, stomach (St), small intestine (Si), large intestine, liver, kidney, and pancreas. The specimens from these organs and submandibular gland (Sg) of a human (O-group) were used as staining reaction controls. Primary and secondary antibodies were commercially obtained mouse monoclonal anti-A, -B, -H (IgM), and goat anti-mouse IgM labeled with colloidal gold particles (luminal diameter 20 nm), respectively. The results were as follows: (1) In macaque specimens, only A-activity could be observed as the location of gold particles on the peripheral rim of serous secretory granules (Sg) and of epithelial cells (esophagus), the mucous droplets in epithelial cells and brush border (St, Si), the intracellular secretory canaliculi [ISC (St)] and the zymogen granules and secretory ducts (pancreas). Gold particles could be also noted at the Golgi apparatus and nascent secretory granules. (2) By periodic acid-thiocarbohydrazide-osmium tetroxide (PA-TCH-OS) reaction, hexose-rich neutral mucopolysaccharides were noted on the peripheral rim of serous secretory granules (Sg), the mucous droplets (St, Si), the ISC (St), and the brush border (Si). Such a distributional pattern corresponded well with that of gold particles, indicating that the substances were responsible for ABO(H)-activities.     

Redistribution tax under non-benevolent governments

I analyze redistribution policies of majority governments in one kind of representative voting system. I employ these assumptions: members gain special benefits in the majority; parties act strategically by using redistribution transfers; the member's utility function is given in a quasi-linear function; the government's objective functions are the weighted summation of utilities and I classify governments according to the weight. The four main results are: a stable majority dose not support myopic government; the stable redistribution policy of benevolent government is expressed by a scope of transfers; the stable transfer of non-benevolent governments depends on private utilities of the majority and opportunity costs of the minority; and the altruistic government is not displayed by any other majority, because it offers the total welfare of the majority to the minority as a subsidy.     

Acephate in biological fluids of two autopsy cases after ingestion of the chemical

Two autopsy cases, where the individuals were suspected of having ingested acephate, an organophosphorous insecticide, are reported. Acephate and its active metabolite, methamidophos (MP), were analyzed in the biological fluids by GC/MS, using the salting out method with liquid-liquid extraction columns. The first case was that of a 70-year-old man whose blood acephate was 149 microg/mL, and MP was 3.0 microg/mL. Serum pseudocholinesterase (ChE) activity was inhibited. No remarkable finding of injury or disease was determined as the cause of his death, but acute poisoning by acephate was mostly suspected. The second case was that of a 60-year-old man. A deep gash in the left neck injured the left common carotid artery in addition to the severely ischemic state of the primary organs. His blood acephate was 46 microg/mL, and MP was not detected. ChE activity was in the normal range. Hemorrhage was mainly suspected as the cause of his death. The concentrations of acephate and MP in human blood after oral ingestion are first reported here, and the acute toxic level of acephate is discussed.     

Graves and families in Japan: Continuity and change

The population aging in Japan has been accelerated not only by the nation's longest life expectancy at birth but also by its falling fertility rate. As the existence of a Japanese family's grave presupposes the continuity of the family line, Japan's current low fertility rate has increased families without progeny who now face problems of their family graves becoming “disconnected.” In this study, historical trends of graves in Japan were analyzed — how the idea of traditional family grave was socially constructed and how it has transformed society, culture, and families. In addition, analyzing the Japanese General Social Survey (JGSS) 2001, it addresses the importance of gender on people's expectations about burial partners in current Japanese society. The analysis of JGSS-2001 data revealed that although the majority of people chose graves with succession across generations, younger generations were more likely to support diversified graves than were older generations, and this difference was greater for women than for men. Finally, understanding problems and limitations of current Japanese graves, future issues of Japanese graves will be addressed.     

The ‘informal sector’ and the political economy of development

This paper takes an initial step in integrating insights from two sets of literature which have focused on central aspects of development with unfortunate independence. It highlights politically valuable resources, which are identified in the political economy literature, and shows that the informal sector literature provides ample evidence that these resources in general are (i) scarcely available to informal entities, (ii) poorly valued in their possession, and (iii) more often collectively unexploited by them. Overall, there seems to be an important though neglected bias in how the political system in less developed countries formulates, crafts, and implements policy.     

Prompt Release in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: Some Reflections on the Itlos Jurisprudence

Netherlands International Law Review -     

Preliminary evaluation of the childhood experiences of violence questionnaire short form

Despite advances in child maltreatment research, accurate measurement of exposure remains a key issue. In this study, we evaluated a short form (CEVQ-SF) of the Childhood Experiences of Violence Questionnaire (CEVQ) in a sample of adolescents involved with child protection services in an urban city in Ontario, Canada. Focusing on the two most readily defined maltreatment types, physical and sexual abuse, we evaluated the short form's comparability with the full version of the CEVQ. Both versions had good internal consistency and moderate-to-good 2-week test-retest reliability. The criterion validity of the two CEVQ versions in comparison with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was satisfactory. Construct validity for both versions was demonstrated: physically and sexually abused youth had higher odds of reporting clinical traumatic symptoms compared with either type alone. The CEVQ-SF is as reliable and valid as its full version. Implications for its use in large population-based surveys are discussed.     

Immunohistochemical study of blood group activities in severely burned human tissue

The blood, livers and lungs obtained from donors or cadavers of known blood groups were experimentally burned, while the temperatures inside the tissue specimens were automatically measured. All the distinguishable portions with various thermo-changes in each burned tissue specimen were examined for their blood-group activities A, B, Lea, Leb and P1 by means of the immunofluorescence and immunoperoxidase techniques. In the layer immediately before charring of the blood masses (tissue temperature: ca. 200-250 degrees C), the activities A, B, Lea, Leb and P1 could be specifically demonstrated on the erythrocyte membranes. In case of the burned livers and lungs, the A- and B-activities could be detected in the small blood vessels in the layer immediately before charring (ca. 200-250 degrees C), though the layer was so severely thermo-changed, that their original tissue structures could be no more observed. In the severely thermo-coagulated, porous and hardened layer of both organ tissues, the A- and B-activities could be demonstrated on the endothelial cells of the hepatic sinus and small blood vessels (especially in the alveolar walls). The simply thermo-coagulated inner portions well retained their original tissue structures and the A- and B-activities remained on the epithelial cells of the alveoli and bronchioles of the lung as well as the cells described above. The Lewis blood-group activities could be demonstrated on the epithelial cells of the bronchioles in the simply thermo-coagulated inner portion of the lung. The P1-activity could not be demonstrated in the burned tissues of the livers and lungs.     

The Reality of Protecting the Rohingya: An Inherent Limitation of the Responsibility to Protect

ABSTRACT

This article explores the applicability of the notion of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in reference to the crisis faced by the Rohingya in Myanmar, and it discusses why the R2P has limited usefulness in certain cases. Since R2P came to be recognized by ASEAN, ongoing community-building activities within the ASEAN led to optimism that member countries would give increased attention to human rights, despite the organization’s historic practice of non-intervention in individual states’ internal affairs. However, the ASEAN’s stance regarding the Rohingya crisis can be described as all talk and no action. While recognizing the value of the R2P in protecting people from mass atrocities in certain contexts, the article points out the critical flaw that R2P rests on a particular discourse of sovereignty. Thus, it argues that the R2P not only has limited usefulness in the case of the Rohingya (whom Myanmar treats as stateless non-citizens) but could even exacerbate the situation.