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The Nation State and Immigration: The Age of Population Movements is the third of a three-volume set which addresses key challenges facing the contemporary nation state from a global perspective but with special emphasis on the Middle East and Israel. This publication reflects research conducted under the auspices of The Israel Democracy Institute’s “Nation State Project”, which analyzes Israel’s complex reality in which a Jewish majority contends with an Arab minority, ultra-Orthodox religious forces reject the authority of the nation state, and an immigrant society exhibits substantial cultural and ethnic variance. Volume III explores the cultural, social, and political effects of immigration on the contemporary nation state – its character, cohesion, and possible future, as well as on contemporary liberal democracy. Contributions deal with such issues as various liberal approaches to the issue of immigration and immigrant integration, nation-building narratives and their implications for immigrants and minorities, and citizenship tests and integration policy in the United States and in Europe, as well as Israel’s Law of Return and the debate about it and other aspects of the country’s immigration policy.

Myelin basic protein (MBP) and synthetic MBP peptides were screened for their ability to induce experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in Biozzi ABH (H-2Ag7) mice. In contrast to the failure of native MBP to induce experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, the use of overlapping MBP peptides revealed epitopes within MBP 12-26 and MBP 21-35, which induced mild disease. In comparison with disease induced by spinal cord homogenate or peptides of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) or proteolipid protein (PLP), the low incidence indicates that, at least in ABH mice, MBP is a minor encephalitogen. However, the data suggest the presence of a peptide core between MBP 21-26 (HARHGF), which contains similar elements to the previously defined encephalitogenic MOG 1-22 and PLP 56-70 peptides. The fine specificity of these epitopes was further investigated using frame-shifted peptides, which indicated cores between MOG 9-15 (GYPIRAL) and PLP 62-68 (NVIHAFQ). Based on these pathogenic peptides, a putative H-2Ag7 binding motif is suggested that contains a series of hydrophobic, basic, small, and large hydrophobic residues within a 6 to 7 amino acid core. The core and particular importance of these four residues in PLP 56-70 was confirmed in vitro using amino acid substitution studies. These findings support many of the predictions made by computer modeling of peptide:H-2Ag7 interactions. This may have relevance in the design of strategies in the treatment of experimental autoimmune diseases in animals that express this haplotype.

Countercurrent chromatography (CCC) is a generic term covering all forms of liquid-liquid chromatography that use a support-free liquid stationary phase held in place by a simple centrifugal or complex centrifugal force field. Biphasic liquid systems are used with one liquid phase being the stationary phase and the other being the mobile phase. Although initiated almost 30 years ago, CCC lacked reliable columns. This is changing now, and the newly designed centrifuges appearing on the market make excellent CCC columns. This review focuses on the advantages of a liquid stationary phase and addresses the chromatographic theory of CCC. The main difference with classical liquid chromatography (LC) is the variable volume of the stationary phase. There are mainly two different ways to obtain a liquid stationary phase using centrifugal forces, the hydrostatic way and the hydrodynamic way. These two kinds of CCC columns are described and compared. The reported applications of CCC in analytical chemistry and comparison with other separation and enrichment methods show that the technique can be successfully used in the analysis of plants and other natural products, for the separation of biochemicals and pharmaceuticals, for the separation of alkaloids from medical herbs, in food analysis, etc. On the basis of the studies of the last two decades, recommendations are also given for the application of CCC in trace inorganic analysis and in radioanalytical chemistry.

Phenomena related to the solubility of solids, liquids, and gases with one another are of interest to scientists and technologists in an array of disciplines. The diversity of backgrounds of individuals concerned with solubility creates a potential for confusion and miscommunication and heightens the need for an authoritative glossary of terms related to solubility. This glossary defines 166 terms used to describe solubility and related phenomena. The definitions are consistent with one another and with recommendations of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry for terminology and nomenclature.