European guidelines on management of restless legs syndrome: report of a joint task force by the European Federation of Neurological Societies, the European Neurological Society and the European Sleep Research Society

Since the publication of the first European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS) guidelines in 2005 on the management of restless legs syndrome (RLS; also known as Willis-Ekbom disease), there have been major therapeutic advances in the field. Furthermore, the management of RLS is now a part of routine neurological practice in Europe. New drugs have also become available, and further randomized controlled trials have been undertaken. These guidelines were undertaken by the EFNS in collaboration with the European Neurological Society and the European Sleep Research Society.

Civil Society and Political Parties in the Period of Transition

The major aim of Mr. Marada's project was to investigate the role of political parties on the one hand, and various institutional forms of civil society on the other, in the process of establishing mechanisms of political decision-making and policy-formation in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, after November 1989. Mr. Marada wanted to examine what consequences the interplay and tensions between political parties and institutions of civil society had on the status and practical understanding of citizenship and civil society. At the beginning of his research Mr. Marada found that, while the sphere of the political was relatively clearly defined, the phenomenon of civil society required a conceptual clarification. He devoted a great deal of time to analysing the emergence, development, and disintegration of Civic Forum as the major agent of the regime change and subsequent political reforms. Alongside this analysis is a commentary on Czech society in general, drawing on established research to show how, as yet, a kind of civic incompetence reigns within the country, and how this situation has its roots in the belief, promoted by politicians themselves, that politics is an activity for experts only. The final outcome of his research took the form of a series of articles, in English, totalling 40 pages.

Assessment of soil erosion vulnerability in rural communities in the vicinity of Motozintla de Mendoza, Chiapas, Mexico : a physical and sociological approach

Soil erosion is a natural geological phenomenon resulting from removal and transportation of soil particles by water, wind, ice and gravity. As soil erosion may be affected from cultural factors as well. The physical and social phenomena of soil erosion are researched in six communities in the upper part of Rio Grijalva Basin in the vicinity of Motozintla de Mendoza, Chiapas, Mexico. For this study, the USDA RUSLE model was applied to estimate soil erosion rates in the six communities based on the available data. The RUSLE model is based on soil properties, topography, and land cover and management factors. These results showed that estimated soil erosion rates ranged from a high of 2,050 metric ton ha-1 yr-1 to a low of 100 metric ton ha-1 yr-1. A survey concerning knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) related to soil erosion was also conducted in all 236 households in the six communities. The main findings of the KAP survey were: 69% of respondents did not know what soil erosion was, while over 40% of the population perceived that hurricanes are the biggest factors that cause soil erosion, and about 20 % of the interviewees said that the landslides are the consequences of the soil erosion. People in communities did not perceive cultural factors as important in conservation efforts for reduce vulnerability to erosion; therefore, the results obtained are suggested to be useful for informing efforts to educate stakeholders.

An elegant and unprecedented approach to 2-methylbenzofurans

An effective route for the synthesis of a variety of 2-methylbenzofurans is reported via DBU catalyzed dehydroiodination of easily accessible 2-iodomethyl-2,3-dihydrobenzofurans. The latter could be easily obtained by water mediated iodocyclization of allyl phenols.

Copyright Exhaustion Rationales and Used Software: A Law and Economics Approach to Oracle v. UsedSoft

This article aims to provide courts and policymakers with an analytical framework that, building upon the traditional rationales of IP exhaustion doctrine, identifies factors which advocate for a modulation or flexibilization of the role of exhaustion in copyright law. Factors include (i) the personal features of acquirers of copies of copyrighted works, distinguishing between consumers and commercial users; (ii) whether post-sale restrictions have been adequately communicated to acquirers and have been agreed in the contract or license; (iii) the degree of complexity of the acquired goods and their prospects of productive uses and interoperability; (iv) the role of other exclusive rights in providing rightholders with indirect control over uses of the copies in the aftermarket; (v) the impact of post-sale restraints in preventing opportunism in long-term contracts and in reducing deadweight losses created by IP pricing; and (vi) the temporal scope of post-sale restraints. After setting out this analytical framework, the ECJ Judgement in Oracle v. UsedSoft is discussed.

Clinical and radiographic outcomes of a combined resective and regenerative approach in the treatment of peri-implantitis: a prospective case series

AIM To assess the clinical and radiographic outcomes applying a combined resective and regenerative approach in the treatment of peri-implantitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Subjects with implants diagnosed with peri-implantitis (i.e., pocket probing depth (PPD) ≥5 mm with concomitant bleeding on probing (BoP) and ≥2 mm of marginal bone loss or exposure of ≥1 implant thread) were treated by means of a combined approach including the application of a deproteinized bovine bone mineral and a collagen membrane in the intrabony and implantoplasty in the suprabony component of the peri-implant lesion, respectively. The soft tissues were apically repositioned allowing for a non-submerged healing. Clinical and radiographic parameters were evaluated at baseline and 12 months after treatment. RESULTS Eleven subjects with 11 implants were treated and completed the 12-month follow-up. No implant was lost yielding a 100% survival rate. At baseline, the mean PPD and mean clinical attachment level (CAL) were 8.1 ± 1.8 mm and 9.7 ± 2.5 mm, respectively. After 1 year, a mean PPD of 4.0 ± 1.3 mm and a mean CAL of 6.7 ± 2.5 mm were assessed. The differences between the baseline and the follow-up examinations were statistically significant (P = 0.001). The mucosal recession increased from 1.7 ± 1.5 at baseline to 3.0 ± 1.8 mm at the 12-month follow-up (P = 0.003). The mean% of sites with BoP+ around the selected implants decreased from 19.7 ± 40.1 at baseline to 6.1 ± 24.0 after 12 months (P = 0.032). The radiographic marginal bone level decreased from 8.0 ± 3.7 mm at baseline to 5.2 ± 2.2 mm at the 12-month follow-up (P = 0.000001). The radiographic fill of the intrabony component of the defect amounted to 93.3 ± 13.0%. CONCLUSION Within the limits of this study, a combined regenerative and resective approach for the treatment of peri-implant defects yielded positive outcomes in terms of PPD reduction and radiographic defect fill after 12 months.

The Jews : a study of race and environment

by Maurice Fishberg

Towards a spatial understanding of trade-offs in sustainable development: A meso-scale analysis of the nexus between land use, poverty, and environment in the Lao PDR

In land systems, equitably managing trade-offs between planetary boundaries and human development needs represents a grand challenge in sustainability oriented initiatives. Informing such initiatives requires knowledge about the nexus between land use, poverty, and environment. This paper presents results from Lao PDR, where we combined nationwide spatial data on land use types and the environmental state of landscapes with village-level poverty indicators. Our analysis reveals two general but contrasting trends. First, landscapes with paddy or permanent agriculture allow a greater number of people to live in less poverty but come at the price of a decrease in natural vegetation cover. Second, people practising extensive swidden agriculture and living in intact environments are often better off than people in degraded paddy or permanent agriculture. As poverty rates within different landscape types vary more than between landscape types, we cannot stipulate a land use–poverty–environment nexus. However, the distinct spatial patterns or configurations of these rates point to other important factors at play. Drawing on ethnicity as a proximate factor for endogenous development potentials and accessibility as a proximate factor for external influences, we further explore these linkages. Ethnicity is strongly related to poverty in all land use types almost independently of accessibility, implying that social distance outweighs geographic or physical distance. In turn, accessibility, almost a precondition for poverty alleviation, is mainly beneficial to ethnic majority groups and people living in paddy or permanent agriculture. These groups are able to translate improved accessibility into poverty alleviation. Our results show that the concurrence of external influences with local—highly contextual—development potentials is key to shaping outcomes of the land use–poverty–environment nexus. By addressing such leverage points, these findings help guide more effective development interventions. At the same time, they point to the need in land change science to better integrate the understanding of place-based land indicators with process-based drivers of land use change.

Heralding a new society, and venerating the English King: Australische, neuseeländische und indische Soldaten in Gallipoli und an der Westfront

Der Erste Weltkrieg war – das hatten deutsche Militärs vor 1914 schon erwartet – von Beginn weg ein globaler Krieg. Grossbritannien und Frankreich setzten nämlich schon ab den ersten Monaten Truppen aus anderen Teilen der Welt auch in Europa ein. Dazu gehörten auch Soldaten aus Australien, Neuseeland und Indien. Teile letzterer kämpften schon im Herbst 1914 in Nordfrankreich und Belgien mit, andere waren ab April 1915 auf der türkischen Halbinsel Gallipoli aktiv. Dort kamen erstmals auch australische und neuseeländische Soldaten und Offiziere zum Einsatz. Ab 1916 wurden diese dann zu grossen Teilen an der Westfront verlegt, während die meisten indischen Verbände ab diesem Zeitpunkt im Nahen Osten zum Einsatz kamen. Der vorliegende Beitrag versucht auf der Grundlage von Selbstzeugnissen und Fremdbeschreibungen an exemplarischen Beispielen aufzuzeigen, wie es dazu kam, dass Soldaten und Offiziere aus Australien, Neuseeland und Indien in Gallipoli und an der Westfront zum Einsatz kamen, welches ihre Motivationen und Ziele waren, inwiefern sie sich dabei als Minderheit verstanden und welche Vorstellungen sie mit Blick auf ihre Rolle bzw. die Rolle ihrer Heimat nach dem Krieg hatten. Zum Schluss soll noch ein kurzer Blick auf die Bedeutsamkeit dieser Soldaten im Rahmen der nationalen und regionalen Erinnerungskultur in den drei Ländern geworfen werden.

A combined biomaterial and cellular approach for annulus fibrosus rupture repair

Recurrent intervertebral disc (IVD) herniation and degenerative disc disease have been identified as the most important factors contributing to persistent pain and disability after surgical discectomy. An annulus fibrosus (AF) closure device that provides immediate closure of the AF rupture, restores disc height, reduces further disc degeneration and enhances self-repair capacities is an unmet clinical need. In this study, a poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) scaffold seeded with human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and covered with a poly(ester-urethane) (PU) membrane was assessed for AF rupture repair in a bovine organ culture annulotomy model under dynamic load for 14 days. PTMC scaffolds combined with the sutured PU membrane restored disc height of annulotomized discs and prevented herniation of nucleus pulposus (NP) tissue. Implanted MSCs showed an up-regulated gene expression of type V collagen, a potential AF marker, indicating in situ differentiation capability. Furthermore, MSCs delivered within PTMC scaffolds induced an up-regulation of anabolic gene expression and down-regulation of catabolic gene expression in adjacent native disc tissue. In conclusion, the combined biomaterial and cellular approach has the potential to hinder herniation of NP tissue, stabilize disc height, and positively modulate cell phenotype of native disc tissue.