Energy service companies in European countries: Current status and a strategy to foster their development

Although the European Commission and the Member States of the European Union (EU)¹ have promoted a number of policy initiatives to foster the Energy Services Company (ESCO) industry, a recent survey of ESCO businesses in Europe has indicated that major differences exist in the development of the ESCO business among the various countries. In some countries a large number of ESCOs have been successfully operating for a number of years, while in other countries only a few ESCOs have recently started to operate. This difference could be explained by several factors, such as different levels of support offered to ESCOs by national and regional energy authorities, local market structures and rules, and variation in the definitions, roles and activities of ESCOs. This paper reviews and analyses the development and the current status of ESCO industries in the EU and the New Accession Countries. Based on the review and the analysis, a long-term strategy to foster the development of ESCOs in Europe is formulated. The strategic actions recommended build on successful experience in Europe and are proposed with an eye to existing and planned legislative measures, such as the proposed Energy Service Directive and the deployment of the Kyoto flexible mechanisms.     

Lactation duration: influences of human milk replacements and formula samples on women planning postpartum employment

The authors evaluated the adsorption loss of tricyclic antidepressants in analytical procedures with solvent extraction and evaporation. In standard procedures with the use of triple solvent extraction between alkalinized and acidified samples before chromatographic analysis, the adsorption loss was more significant with the demethylated metabolites. As much as 50% adsorption loss can occur; this irreversible loss can be accounted for entirely during the solvent evaporation step. Because of differential adsorption loss among parent drugs, metabolites, and internal standards, the analytical methods usually had wide within-day and day-to-day variations. The authors found that the addition of as little as 0.05% diethylamine to the extract before evaporation completely eliminated the adsorption loss of amitriptyline-nortriptyline, imipramine-desipramine, and doxepin-desmethyldoxepin. with subsequent improvement in procedure performance. This simple modification can be adopted readily by all laboratories that use solvent extraction and subsequent chromatographic analysis of tricyclic antidepressants.     

Accreditation of psychology's graduate professional education and training programs: An historical perspective.

For over 46 years, the American Psychological Association (APA) has sponsored an accreditation system for professional doctoral and internship programs. Throughout its history, national conferences in psychology have consistently supported this accreditation system, at times with reservations. Recently, both academic and professional groups of psychologists have sought a stronger role in this process. The factors leading to APA's accreditation system, its evolution, and the recent major changes enacted in response to the discipline's interests are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preventing diabetes complications: living up to the promise

This study was designed to determine whether dextran, gelatin or hydroxyethyl starch-based colloidal resuscitation fluids (CRF) are inhibitory to T lymphocyte activation and mitogenesis in vitro. Isolated peripheral blood lymphocytes from normal donors were activated with mitogen (PHA) and cultured in up to 50% v:v CRF. Dual-label flow cytometry for CD69 and CD25 were used to assess early and full T cell activation responses, respectively, and thymidine incorporation was used to assess mitogenesis. T cell activation and mitogenic responses were not inhibited in the presence of CRF, implying that any systemic immunodepression associated with CRF infusion is not directly related to CRF-mediated impairment of T cell activation.     

Design of a log periodic strip grating microstrip antenna

The design of a log periodic strip grating antenna is described. The 12-element antenna is compact and has a measured power bandwidth of 22%. The antenna elements are mounted on the top of the top layer of a two-layer structure with its feed line located between the two dielectric layers providing electromagnetic coupling. The structure was analyzed using PMESHD, a moment method code for two-layer passive structures. The analysis and measurements are in good agreement. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons. Inc.     

Prevalence of fibromyalgia in children: a clinical study of Mexican children

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of fibromyalgia (FM) in schoolchildren according to the 2 stage classification process proposed by the 1990 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Multicenter Criteria Committee on Fibromyalgia. METHODS: Stage 1: we administered a pain questionnaire to a sample of 548 schoolchildren (264 boys, 284 girls; mean age 11.9 yrs, range 9-15). Stage 2: two rheumatologists examined all children with diffuse pain. Using thumb palpation, they examined 18 fibromyalgia tender points and 3 pairs of controls points followed by dolorimetry. Additionally, a random sample of 79 children with no pain were selected as controls, following the same procedures (thumb palpation and dolorimetry). The Wilcoxon test was used to compare the distribution of tenderness thresholds between FM and non-FM groups. Kappa statistics for multiple raters was used to assess interobserver agreement. RESULTS: Seven children, all girls, fulfilled the ACR diagnostic criteria for FM. Thus, the prevalence of FM in this group of schoolchildren reached only 1.2%. The girls with FM had a mean of 14 tender points, whereas controls (n = 79) had 2.4. Pain thresholds were 3.4 kg in children with FM and 5.1 kg in controls (p = 0.004). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of FM in our study was 5-fold lower than a previous report. This variance may be due to (1) racial and sociocultural differences between populations; and (2) differences in methodological approach. The difficulties of making accurate estimates of FM across different studies are highlighted.     

Inducible nitric oxide synthase expression in cerebrovascular smooth muscle and neutrophils after traumatic brain injury in immature rats

The inflammatory response after traumatic brain injury (TBI) includes cytokine production, leukocyte infiltration, and microglial activation. Production of nitric oxide by inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) occurs during acute inflammation outside of the CNS and in models of cerebral ischemia, and therefore may contribute to the inflammatory response after TBI. The purpose of this study was to localize and define the time course of iNOS expression after TBI in the immature rat. Immature Wistar rats (age 3.5-4.5 wk) were anesthetized and subjected to percussive trauma to the right parietal cortex. Nontraumatized rats were used as controls (n = 7). At 2, 24, 48, or 168 h (n = 3/group) posttrauma rats were killed by perfusion fixation. Brains were removed, frozen, sectioned, immunostained with antibodies against iNOS and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP, a marker specific for astrocytes), and imaged using fluorescent detection systems. There was no detectable expression of iNOS in control brains. At 2h, minimal cerebrovascular iNOS expression was seen in the peritrauma area. At 24 and 48 h, there was marked peritrauma cerebrovascular iNOS expression that appeared to be restricted to vascular smooth muscle cells and infiltrated leukocytes. Further dual-immunolabeling showed that the leukocytes expressing iNOS were predominantly neutrophils. At 168 h, iNOS expression was no longer detectable. iNOS was not detectable in GFAP-positive cells. The prominent expression of iNOS protein after TBI in cerebrovascular smooth muscle cells and infiltrated neutrophils suggests that iNOS may play a role in cerebrovascular disturbances and secondary brain injury after trauma.