Conditional cash transfer programs and the representations of poverty in Bolivia and Peru

Bolivia and Peru adopted the same instruments of social policy —conditional cash transfer programs— to solve the same public problems under different political regimes. By means of the qualitative methodology of discourse analysis, this paper studies the representations of poverty and State made by key actors of those social programs. Underlying more differences than similarities, one demonstrates that the same social policy is linked to opposite social representations of poverty and the State role in every country. The main explanation for this is, far from being imposed by international organizations, those programs are adopted and adapted by each political regime.

High harmonic generation in the relativistic limit

The generation of extremely bright coherent X-ray pulses in the femtosecond and attosecond regime is currently one of the most exciting frontiers of physics - allowing, for the first time, measurements with unprecedented temporal resolution(1-6). Harmonics from laser - solid target interactions have been identified as a means of achieving fields as high as the Schwinger limit(2,7) (E = 1.3 x 10(16) V m(-1)) and as a highly promising route to high-efficiency attosecond (10(-18) s) pulses(8) owing to their intrinsically phase-locked nature. The key steps to attain these goals are achieving high conversion efficiencies and a slow decay of harmonic efficiency to high orders by driving harmonic production to the relativistic limit(1). Here we present the first experimental demonstration of high harmonic generation in the relativistic limit, obtained on the Vulcan Petawatt laser(9). High conversion efficiencies (eta> 10(-6) per harmonic) and bright emission (> 10(22) photons s(-1) mm(-2) mrad(-2) (0.1% bandwidth)) are observed at wavelengths <4 nm ( the 'water-window' region of particular interest for bio-microscopy).

Intensity-modulated radiotherapy reduces lung irradiation in patients with carcinoma of the oesophagus.

The 2-year survival rate after conventional radiotherapy for carcinoma of the oesophagus is around 10–20% [8]. Concomitant chemoradiation schedules have produced survival figures of 25–30% at 5 years, and this is now considered standard treatment [1]. Conformal radiotherapy techniques offer the potential to deliver higher doses of radiation to oesophageal tumours [5], and this may improve local tumour control. However, concerns regarding late normal tissue damage to the lung parenchyma and spinal cord remain a concern. Intensitymodulated radiotherapy (IMRT) allows complex dose distributions to be produced, and can reduce the dose to radiosensitive organs close to the tumour [2]. The present study was designed to investigate the impact of beam intensity modulation on treatment planning for carcinoma of the oesophagus, by comparing a standard three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) technique to an IMRT technique using the same number and orientation of treatment fields.

Continuous assessment activities - correlation with final exam grades and effect on final grades. A business studies experience

In this paper we analyze the partial grades – of continuous assessment activities including the final exam – and the final grades – computed as a weighted average of partial grades – for nine subjects taught in the third year of Business Administration Degree. On one hand, results show that there is a significant positive correlation between the grades of continuous assessment activities (excluded the final exam) and final exam in seven subjects. On the other hand, overall we find that students’ grades in continuous assessment activities (excluded the final exam) help in the improvement of their final grades (i.e., students’ final grades exceed the grades that they would obtain by only taking into account their final exam grades). The results are consistent when the analysis is carried out over each subject area as well as over the grades of the students who registered for the nine subjects.

Proteasome inhibitors: a therapeutic strategy for haematological malignancy

The proteasome is a multicatalytic enzyme complex responsible for the regulated degradation of intracellular proteins. In recent years, inhibition of proteasome function has emerged as a novel anti-cancer therapy. Proteasome inhibition is now established as an effective treatment for relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma and offers great promise for the treatment of other haematological malignancies, when used in combination with conventional therapeutic agents. Bortezomib is the first proteasome inhibitor to be used clinically and a second generation of proteasome inhibitors with differential pharmacological properties are currently in early clinical trials. This review summarises the development of proteasome inhibitors as therapeutic agents and describes how novel assays for measuring proteasome activity and inhibition may help to further delineate the mechanisms of action of different proteasome inhibitors. This will allow for the optimized use of proteasome inhibitors in combination therapies and provide the opportunity to design more potent and therapeutically efficacious proteasome inhibitors.

Resistance mechanisms to cancer chemotherapy

Resistance to chemotherapy ('drug resistance') is a fundamental problem that limits the effectiveness of many chemotherapies currently used to treat cancer. Drug resistance can occur due to a variety of mechanisms, such as increased drug inactivation, drug efflux from cancer cells, enhanced repair of chemotherapy-induced damage, activation of pro-survival pathways and inactivation of cell death pathways. In this article, we review some of the major mechanisms of drug resistance and discuss how new molecularly-targeted therapies are being increasingly used to overcome these resistance mechanisms.