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Is the use of psychological and neuroscientific methods for neuromarketing research always aligned with the principles of ethical research practice? Some neuromarketing endeavours have passed from informing consumers about available options, to helping to market as many products to consumers as possible. Needs are being engineered, using knowledge about the human brain to increase consumption further, regardless of individual, societal and environmental needs and capacities. In principle, the ground ethical principle of any scientist is to further individual, societal and environmental health and well-being with their work. If their findings can be used for the opposite, this must be part of the scientist’s considerations before engaging in such research and to make sure that the risks for misuse are minimised. Against this backdrop, we provide a series of real-life examples and a non-exhaustive literature review, to discuss in what way some practices in the neuromarketing domain may violate the Helsinki Declaration of Experimentation with Human Subjects. This declaration was set out to regulate biomedical research, but has since its inception been applied internationally also to behavioural and social research. We illustrate, point by point, how these ground ethical principles should be applied also to the neuromarketing domain. Indisputably, the growth in consumption is required due to current prevalent economical models. Thus, in the final part of the paper, we discuss how alternative models may be promotable to a larger public, aided by more ethical marketing endeavours, based on neuroscientific discoveries about the human brain. We propose this as a philosophical question, a point of discussion for the future, to make neuromarketing as a discipline, fit for the future, respecting the ethical implications of this research.

Quality inspection costs may vary depending on criticality and complexity of the components being manufactured. As a crude estimate, asset owners, operators, or EPC contractors may spend up to 5% of the cost of their components on inspection oversight. Manufacturing data are usually captured in a document referred to as Manufacturing Record Book (MRB) which is at best an enormous collection of scanned records. A digital framework was developed for Appomattox mooring components in form of a database with logical links among relevant records. This database is fully searchable to the finest level and guarantees traceability from the final product to its sub-components and all the way back to raw material manufacturing. This database is custom-made and is comprised of several bases which follow through natural manufacturing process for the specific product. Logical links are made for each accessory at different stages using its unique designated identification (ID). As such database is generated on the go as the component is processed, it gives manufacturer and end customer a strong Quality Control tool as well as an integrity management platform. Appomattox mooring inspection records were used as a case study to showcase robustness and flexibility of the developed database. Reference is made to [1] for general lessons learned from Appomattox mooring delivery.

This paper presents a multitude of lessons learned during the 5 years spent on the design, manufacturing and delivery of the on- and off-vessel mooring components for the Appomattox semi-submersible. Appomattox is Shell's newest and largest deepwater oil & gas production asset in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). It was successfully moored about 260 kilometers Southeast of New Orleans, in June 2018 using a 16-point chain-polyester-chain mooring system. It was the culmination of the work done by a dedicated team of Shell civil-marine engineers, mooring equipment suppliers and an offshore installation contractor. Shortly after completion of mooring lines hook-up operations, the polyester ropes were pre-stretched, and the FPS was moved into position for the start of the Steel Catenary Riser (SCR) system installation. Appomattox started production in May 2019. The mooring equipment has so far been performing as expected. The delivery of Appomattox mooring components was particularly challenging due to an unusually large number of stringent constraints including: 40-year design life, first application of fairleads with underwater chain stoppers in the GoM to mitigate out-of-plane chain link bending fatigue, polyester rope properties fine-tuned to ensure that installation and in-service requirements are met, stringent inspection oversight to enforce project-specific requirements, Thermal Spray Aluminum (TSA) on portions of the platform chains and novel chain handling equipment and method for mooring lines hook-up operations, just to mention a few. The design of the overall system and management of the mooring equipment vendors was performed using mostly in-house resources. The paper starts with some general information about the Appomattox development. The three subsequent sections present the mooring system, the delivery team and the overall timeline. The lessons are then organized in sections by mooring component types (on-vessel, polyester ropes, chains, and various connectors). Some reflections on how stakeholders influenced certain characteristics of the mooring components are disseminated throughout the paper. The paper also includes some observations about how the equipment performed in the field even though the lessons learned about the commissioning and offshore installation are left for a separate future paper.

L’émergence de la résistance aux antipaludiques était associée á l’accroissement dramatique de la mortalité due au paludisme dans certaines régions endémiques. Au Bénin, le paludisme est primairement causé par Plasmodium falciparum, l’une des espèces qui infectent l’homme. Le changement dans la politique de contrôle et de traitement du paludisme survenu courant 2005 - 2008, doit affecter aussi la recrudescence de la résistance aux antipaludiques retirés á l’utilisation dans le groupe cible. Dans la présente étude, les mutations conférant la résistance á certains antipaludiques ont été détectées et leur prévalence déterminée au sein d’une cohorte de 80 enfants vivant au Bénin, et souffrant du paludisme. Grâce á la PCR et au RFLP, nous avons déterminé les codons polymorphiques des gènes de la Dihydrofolate réductase (pfdhfr), codons 51, 59, et 108, de l’hydroptérase (pfdhps), codons 437, 540 associés á la résistance aux sulfadoxine et pyriméthamine, puis les gènes transporteur de résistance á la chloroquine (pfcrt), et de résistance multiple aux médicaments (pfmdr1), codons 76 et 86 de la résistance á la chloroquine. Pris individuellement, les taux de mutations étaient élevés, par exemple, codons pfcrt 76 ou pfdhfr 108, mais les combinaisons de mutations représentatives des résistances aux antipaludiques sont plutôt faibles, 33.75% pour la chloroquine, 9.25% pour la pyriméthamine et 6,5% pour la sulfadoxine. Nous concluons que les résistances aux antipaludiques étaient plus faibles et pouvaient décroitre davantage avec le maintien des mesures.Mots clés: Paludisme, mutations de résistance, PCR, RFLPEnglish AbstractThe emergence and spread of drug resistance in malaria has been associated with a dramatic increase in malaria mortality in some endemic regions. In Benin, malaria is primarily caused by Plasmodium falciparum, one of the species that infect humans. The change in malaria control strategies, although with remarkable results, has not stop resistance to some drugs that were used before the change in drug policy happened 2005 - 2008 in Benin. The present study was conducted to assess the prevalence of mutations involved in resistance to some anti-malaria drugs among 80 symptomatic children undergoing malaria episodes in Benin. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assays, we assessed polymorphic codons on the plasmodium falciparum dihydrofolate reductase (pfdhfr) gene (51, 59, 108) and dihydropterase (pfdhps) gene (437, 540) associated with resistance to sulfadoxinepyrimethamine, and the chloroquine resistance transporter (pfcrt) gene (76), and multidrug resistance (pfmdr1) gene (86), mutations conferring chloroquine resistance. Although mutations were high at single gene codon levels, e.g. Pfcrt 76 or pfdhfr 108, combined resistance mutations were low, 33.75% for chloroquine, 9.25% for pyriméthamine and 6,5% for sulfadoxine résisitance. We conclude that drug resistance genes were lower that before and speculate that it will continue decreasing at least in this population to zero as control measures will be maintained.Keywords: malaria, drug resistance, PCR, RFLP

© 2015 Vodounon CA, et al.Background: We know, through recent studies, the existence of some morpho-biochemical peculiarities in the process of type 1 programmed death of patients' lymphocytes suffering from bronchial asthma, but little convincing data exist on the activity of enzymes involved in this physiological process. Therefore, the aim of our research was to study the enzymatic activity of secreting granules of patients' lymphocytes with bronchial asthma, according to the degree of severity. Method: The study was based on the role of granular extracts in the process of programmed death isolated lymphocytes from peripheral blood of relatively healthy individuals and asthmatic patients with different severity. The immunological characteristics of lymphocytes was done with the radial immune-diffusion method and ELISA test but the method of agarose gel electrophoresis help us to detect the catalytic activity of protein extracts of secreting granules of lymphocytes. Results: The results obtained showed that lymphocytes from asthmatic patients with severe severity are characterized by a decrease in cytotoxic T lymphocytes content balanced by an increase in T-Helper lymphocytes. We also noticed the enzymatic activity at all the groups studied but this activity was relatively high in asthmatics with severe severity. Furthermore, the study of the cationic dependence has allowed to establish an increase in enzymatic activity in all the groups studied after incubation of DNA in a medium containing Ca2+ with a pH of 7.5 unlike ions Mn2+ which seem to reduce the enzymatic activity. The expression of enzymatic activity in the presence of zinc allows us to suggest the presence of DNase acid in granules, which activity is not necessarily associated with divalent metal ions. Conclusion: Based on the above results, one might conclude that the secreting granules have a high enzymatic activity but with a strong cationic dependence. This not only allows a better understanding of the morphological changes observed during the course of apoptosis in lymphocytes of patients but also brings more to the knowledge of the enzymatic influence in the process of type 1 programmed death.

La présente étude ethnobotanique réalisée sur les plantes hépatotropes et particulièrement sur les propriétés thérapeutiques de Gomphrena celosioides a eu pour objectif de répertorier les plantes hépatotropesutilisées par les tradithérapeutes au Bénin et d’apporter davantage d’informations sur l’usage de Gomphrena celosioides. Pour cela, des enquêtes ont été menées dans 13 localités du Bénin. Une synthèse des résultats en comparaison avec les données bibliographiques concernant l’utilisation des plantes dans le traitement des affections hépatiques est réalisée. Au total, 214 plantes ont été recensées avec des indications sur leur utilisation. Les feuilles, la décoction et la boisson sont les plus sollicitées parmi les parties utilisées dans la préparation des drogues, les modes de préparation et d’administration. Gomphrena celosioides est largement utilisé par les tradithérapeutes du Bénin avec 43 recettes dont 10 pour les affections hépatiques. Les effets thérapeutiques de cette plante sont certainement induits par des composés chimiques qui devront être identifiés pour confirmer les propriétés thérapeutiques de celle-ci.Mots clés : Gomphrena celosioides, ethnobotanique, hépatotrope, affections hépatiques, tradithérapeute, Bénin.

Fragestellung: Das Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) nach Verbrennungstrauma (post-burn ARDS; pbARDS) ist eine schwerwiegende Komplikation, die mit einer rund 50%igen Mortalität einhergeht [ref:1], [ref:2]. Der klinische Verlauf und prädiktive Risikofaktoren[for full text, please go to the a.m. URL], 31. Jahrestagung der Deutschsprachigen Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Verbrennungsbehandlung (DAV 2013)

OBJECTIVE--To evaluate an implantable tiered therapy defibrillator system that delivered antitachycardia pacing treatment for slower well tolerated ventricular tachycardias and cardioversion or defibrillation for fast tachycardias or ventricular fibrillation. METHODS--A tiered treatment device (Ventritex Cadence V-100) was implanted in 30 patients with ventricular tachycardia that was refractory to drugs. Efficacy was evaluated by the responses of induced or spontaneous arrhythmias to the treatments delivered. RESULTS--Antitachycardia pacing successfully terminated 80% of episodes of ventricular tachycardia induced by non-invasive programmed stimulation, but acceleration was brought about by pacing in six patients in 10% of episodes. During a follow up of two to 17 (mean seven) months, 18 patients (60%) had recurrence of ventricular arrhythmias. Antitachycardia pacing terminated ventricular tachycardia in 17 of 18 patients in 87% of episodes. Twelve patients received shocks for ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation. Failure of pacing, with subsequent cardioversion, occurred in nine patients (50%) in one or more episodes. Acceleration of tachycardia by pacing occurred in 10 patients in 5% of episodes. Only two of these patients had experienced acceleration of previously induced arrhythmia. Five patients had spontaneous fast ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation treated by cardioversion or defibrillation. Spurious treatment was delivered in nine patients (30%), during atrial fibrillation in five, sinus tachycardia in two, and because of fracture of the sensing lead system in two patients. The retrieval of stored intracardiac electrograms was of clinical value in assessing spurious treatment. CONCLUSIONS--Tiered treatment was effective in terminating recurrent ventricular arrhythmias in these selected patients. Most episodes were treated successfully by pacing, and resistant tachycardias, pacing induced acceleration, or haemodynamically compromising arrhythmias were treated by shocks.

We propose that in clinical practice, whenever possible, the VT detection interval should be selected by adding ≥60 ms to the induced maximal VT cycle length in order to ensure a high sensitivity for the detection of future spontaneous VT episodes.

Presently under construction in Lund, Sweden, the European Spallation Source (ESS) will be the world's brightest neutron source. As such, it has the potential for a particle physics program with a unique reach and which is complementary to that available at other facilities. This paper describes proposed particle physics activities for the ESS. These encompass the exploitation of both the neutrons and neutrinos produced at the ESS for high precision (sensitivity) measurements (searches)., Comment: 121 pages