The German reaction to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict- shock and disbelief. OSW Commentary No. 132, 03.04.2014

The crisis in Ukraine and the Russian intervention have brought about a situation in which it is necessary for Germany to make decisions and take action. No one in Berlin was prepared for this nor did anyone want this to occur. The effect of this is that the government has adopted a clearly critical stance on Russia, albeit in tandem with cautious diplomatic moves; it has given its consent to limited sanctions on representatives of the Russian elite, and has disapproved of economic sanctions. On the other hand, voices have been heard in the political debate in Germany not only warning of the catastrophic consequences of a deterioration in German-Russian relations but also those in fact expressing understanding for the Russian reaction. Although it is typical above all of the business circles engaged in Russia and the authors of Germany’s Ostpolitik to downplay the Kremlin’s moves, political parties and the German public are divided over how Germany should respond to Moscow’s policy, and this dispute will worsen. Berlin will take a whole array of actions to de-escalate the conflict, since the imposition of radical political and economic sanctions on Russia would also have a strong adverse effect on Germany. As regards sanctions, Germany would not only sustain economic losses, but they would also undermine the ideological foundations for the still popular vision for Germany’s strategy towards Russia in which great emphasis is laid on a strong “respect for the EU’s most important neighbour and its interests”.

Banking Union as a Shock Absorber: Lessons for the eurozone from the US. CEPS Paperback, December 2015

This book illustrates how the structure of the US banking market and the existence of federal institutions allowed regional financial shocks to be absorbed at the federal level in the US, thus avoiding local financial crisis. The authors argue that the experience of the US shows the importance of a ‘banking union’ to avoid severe regional (national) financial dislocation in the wake of regional boom and bust cycles. They also discuss the extent to which the institutions of the partial banking union, now in the process of being created for the euro area, should be able to increase its capacity to deal with future regional boom and bust cycles, thereby stabilising the single currency.

Urinary Biomarkers Indicative of Apoptosis and Acute Kidney Injury in the Critically Ill.

BACKGROUND Apoptosis is a key mechanism involved in ischemic acute kidney injury (AKI), but its role in septic AKI is controversial. Biomarkers indicative of apoptosis could potentially detect developing AKI prior to its clinical diagnosis. METHODS As a part of the multicenter, observational FINNAKI study, we performed a pilot study among critically ill patients who developed AKI (n = 30) matched to critically ill patients without AKI (n = 30). We explored the urine and plasma levels of cytokeratin-18 neoepitope M30 (CK-18 M30), cell-free DNA, and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) at intensive care unit (ICU) admission and 24h thereafter, before the clinical diagnosis of AKI defined by the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes -creatinine and urine output criteria. Furthermore, we performed a validation study in 197 consecutive patients in the FINNAKI cohort and analyzed the urine sample at ICU admission for CK-18 M30 levels. RESULTS In the pilot study, the urine or plasma levels of measured biomarkers at ICU admission, at 24h, or their maximum value did not differ significantly between AKI and non-AKI patients. Among 20 AKI patients without severe sepsis, the urine CK-18 M30 levels were significantly higher at 24h (median 116.0, IQR [32.3-233.0] U/L) than among those 20 patients who did not develop AKI (46.0 [0.0-54.0] U/L), P = 0.020. Neither urine cell-free DNA nor HSP70 levels significantly differed between AKI and non-AKI patients regardless of the presence of severe sepsis. In the validation study, urine CK-18 M30 level at ICU admission was not significantly higher among patients developing AKI compared to non-AKI patients regardless of the presence of severe sepsis or CKD. CONCLUSIONS Our findings do not support that apoptosis detected with CK-18 M30 level would be useful in assessing the development of AKI in the critically ill. Urine HSP or cell-free DNA levels did not differ between AKI and non-AKI patients.

A finite element scheme for shock capturing /

At head of title: "In-house Laboratory Independent Research Program."

Shock tube studies of the effects of sharp-rising, long-duration overpressures on biological systems /

Shock tubes have been used successfully by a number of investigators to study the biological effects of variations in environmental pressures (1,2,3). Recently an unusually versatile laboratory pressurization source became available with the capability of consistently reproducing a wide variety of pressure-time phenomena of durations equal to and well beyond those associated with the detonation of nuclear devices (4). Thus it became possible to supplement costly full-scale field research in blast biology carried out at the Nevada Test Site (5,6) by using an economical yet realistic laboratory tool. In one exploratory study employing pressure pulses of 5 to 10 sec duration wherein the times to max overpressure and the magnitudes of the overpressures were varied, a relatively high tolerance of biological media to pressures well over 150 psi was demonstrated (7). In contrast, the present paper will describe the relatively high biological susceptibility to long duration overpressures in which the pressure rises occurred in single and double fast-rising steps.

Analysis of decelerator, accelerator and shock cord propelled rebound sleds for evaluating air bag restraints. Final report.

Mode of access: Internet.

National training course, emergency medical technician - paramedic. Instructor's lesson plans. Module III: shock and fluid therapy.

Mode of access: Internet.

Views of prominent places in Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A., illustrating the effects of the earthquake shock, August 31st, 1886, and a sketch of the occurrence ...

Disbound Original Held in Oak Street Library Facility.

Numerical solution of plane viscous shock reflections /

Vita.

Stability of a system of equations describing the flow behind a shock /

"This work has been supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant G-1221"

Deep underground shock measurements /

"Issuance Date: May 24, 1965"--cover ; "December 1964"--title page

Clinical shock; a study of the biochemical response to injury in man.

"DA-49-193-MD-2229."

Shock induced transitions. final report /

"PNE-112F(Pt. II); Nuclear Explosions and peaceful applications."

Close-in shock studies : final report /

"PNE-104F Nuclear Explosions-Peaceful Applications."