Stability of total and free prostate specific antigen in serum submitted to intermittent cold storage conditions

The goal of this study was to determine the stability of Total Prostrate Specific antigen (PSA-T) and Free Prostrate Specific Antigen (PSA-F) in archival serum stored at 4°C and −20°C and subjected to temperature shift due to interruption in power supply. Our study showed that PSA-T was stable up to 285 days and PSA-F was stable for 158 days under these conditions. Since power supply interruption is an unavoidable problem in developing nations, our study has implication on the validity of measurement of PSA-T and PSA-F in serum that was not properly stored due to emergency situations and for certain types of retrospective studies.     

"Most people are simply not designed to eat pasta": evolutionary explanations for obesity in the low-carbohydrate diet movement

Low-carbohydrate diets, notably the Atkins Diet, were particularly popular in Britain and North America in the late 1990s and early 2000s. On the basis of a discourse analysis of bestselling low-carbohydrate diet books, I examine and critique genetic and evolutionary explanations for obesity and diabetes as they feature in the low-carbohydrate literature. Low-carbohydrate diet books present two distinct neo-Darwinian explanations of health and body-weight. First, evolutionary nutrition is based on the premise that the human body has adapted to function best on the diet eaten in the Paleolithic era. Second, the thrifty gene theory suggests that feast-or-famine conditions during human evolutionary development naturally selected for people who could store excess energy as body fat for later use. However, the historical narratives and scientific arguments presented in the low-carbohydrate literature are beset with generalisations, inconsistencies and errors. These result, I argue, from the use of the primitive as a discursive "blank slate" onto which to project ideals perceived to be lacking in contemporary industrialised life.     

Avoidance to wipe alcohol before venipuncture is not a source of spurious hemolysis

Background

It is still uncertain whether or not avoidance to let disinfectant alcohol dry at the site of venipuncture is a source of spurious hemolysis when drawing venous blood.

Methods:

In a consecutive series of 52 outpatients referred for routine laboratory testing, venous blood was drawn by direct venipuncture with (odd group) or without (pair group) wiping 70% isopropyl alcohol at the site of venipuncture. A 3.5 mL evacuated tube with clot activator and gel separator was drawn from a vein of the upper limb, serum was immediately separated with standard centrifugation and tested for potassium, lactate dehydrogenase (LD), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and hemolysis index (HI) on Roche Cobas.

Results:

No specimen was discarded for unsatisfactory venipuncture. No differences for age and gender were observed between groups. As regards the four parameters investigated, no significant differences could be observed between patients in whom blood was drawn with or without letting the alcohol dry. It is also noteworthy that no sample in both groups exceeded the conventional sample rejection threshold of cell-free hemoglobin.

Conclusions:

The results of our prospective, randomized study attest that failure to wipe alcohol at the site of venipuncture should not be considered as a potential source of spurious hemolysis when drawing blood.     

社会科学“软”成果转化应用工作被忽视的原因与对策

本文针对科技成果转化工作中 ,社会科学“软”成果转化应用被忽视的问题 ,分析了重视的必要性 ,剖析了产生问题的原因 ,给出了加强社科成果转化与应用工作的有关对策与措施。     

For what they are,not for what they bring: The signaling value of gender for financial resource acquisition in academic spin-offs

Due to the novelty of their technology base and the multiple goals pursued by their entrepreneurial teams, academic spin-offs (ASOs) suffer information asymmetries with investors that impair their ability to raise finance. In line with the signaling theory, we expect that observable features of an ASO can mitigate such information asymmetries, especially in conditions of higher uncertainty about the venture. We put forward that a larger share of capital owned by female shareholders adds to such uncertainty due to their outsider condition in academic entrepreneurship and the negative bias of investors against female entrepreneurs.Through a multi-level Tobit regression on a sample of Italian ASOs, we find that the amount of private investment is negatively associated with the degree of female ownership and positively associated with the investment of the parent university and full professors. The latter two factors moderate the relationship between degree of female ownership and private investment so that it becomes less negative.The results provide evidence of the persisting gender gap in entrepreneurial finance and highlight the role of parent universities in closing such a gap.     

不再让学生当观众——共建“以生为本”的课堂

新课标所倡导的＂以生为本＂的理念是否在教学中真正得到贯彻和落实,需要师生共同努力。笔者根据自己的教学实践,认为要实现以生为本,除了老师的意识之外,还要让学生克服诸如＂发言恐惧症＂、＂事不关己症＂、＂审美疲劳症＂、＂蛮横无理症＂等等问题。另外,目前的教学中也普遍存在一些误区,需要引起重视。     

某大型火电站解决汽轮机喷油试验不成功问题的实践

文章根据人机材料方法环境,分析在中国北方的大型火力发电站失败的几个蒸汽涡轮机燃油喷射试验,同时阐述如何解决。     

船、绳模型中典型错误分析

本文通过分析船,绳模型中出现的典型错误,提出了正确的解法.     

光有智谋还不够——从庞统的坎坷秘书路谈起

《三国演义》中与诸葛亮齐名的庞统,却远没有诸葛亮的风光。虽然他也一度出任刘备集团的副军师,但由于某些原因,出仕之路太过坎坷。具体而言,个中缘由主要有三:1)出山时机不对;2)面试表现不佳;3)猜忌的性格。今天的秘书,当引以为戒。     

A meta-ethical approach to single-player gamespace: introducing constructive ecumenical expressivism as a means of explaining why moral consensus is not forthcoming

The morality of virtual representations and the enactment of prohibited activities within single-player gamespace (e.g., murder, rape, paedophilia) continues to be debated and, to date, a consensus is not forthcoming. Various moral arguments have been presented (e.g., virtue theory and utilitarianism) to support the moral prohibition of virtual enactments, but their applicability to gamespace is questioned. In this paper, I adopt a meta-ethical approach to moral utterances about virtual representations, and ask what it means when one declares that a virtual interaction ‘is morally wrong’. In response, I present constructive ecumenical expressivism to (i) explain what moral utterances should be taken to mean, (ii) argue that they mean the same when referring to virtual and non-virtual interactions and (iii), given (ii), explain why consensus with regard to virtual murder, rape and paedophilia is not forthcoming even though such consensus is readily found with regard to their non-virtual equivalents.     

Science policy in changing times: are governments poised to take full advantage of an institution in transition?

While it is widely acknowledged that the institution of science is currently undergoing a major transformation, there remains reluctance in many sectors to embrace the changes and maximize the utility of science and its role in economic growth. The transformation of science is driven by economic factors rather than those value-based. Accordingly, confusion and contradiction in science policy statements become apparent when the structure of science policy and the mechanisms that aim to support collaborative arrangements of science are examined. Historical and cognitive evidence shows the distinctions of “applied” and “basic” research are human constructions and, as such, have become a handicap to the emerging knowledge-based economy. It is concluded that, if the economic and social benefits of integrated arrangements in knowledge production are to be realized, there is a pressing need to modify the current institution of science and the policies that would underlie it.