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- A majority of urban Filipinos support President Rodrigo Duterte’s plans to overhaul the constitution and install a federal government, an FTCR survey shows.
- President Duterte has a greater chance to succeed in this than his predecessors.
- Poorer regions will continue to rely on revenue from Manila under a federal system.
President Rodrigo Duterte wants to change the Philippines’ 31-year-old constitution and establish a federal government to spread wealth beyond Metro Manila. Although Mr Duterte has a greater chance of success than his predecessors, we think a federal system is unlikely to significantly reduce inequality between regions.
Mr Duterte, who hails from Mindanao, made federalism a big campaign pledge, believing that local governments are better placed to respond to the needs of their constituents than what he calls ‘Imperial Manila’. Despite average gross domestic product growth of 6.2 per cent in the past seven years, more than a fifth of Filipinos remain poor, and in the southern regions of Visayas and Mindanao there is a disproportionately high level of poverty.
Two presidents before Mr Duterte, Fidel Ramos and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, unsuccessfully tried to change the constitution. Their failure was partly caused by popular suspicion that constitutional change would be used to extend their terms of office.
Our survey of 1,000 urban Filipinos also shows a wariness of Mr Duterte’s motives, with 45 per cent of respondents saying that constitutional change is a ploy by the government to prolong its term. Nevertheless, our survey also found a majority in favour of a federal government. Filipinos on the island of Luzon, where Manila is located, are generally against federalism but there is clear support among residents of southern territories such as Cebu and Mindanao.
Mr Duterte remains very popular, bolstering the prospect that he will get his way on constitutional change. He has also tried to allay suspicions by repeatedly saying that he will step down from office once a federal government is established in 2020, following a referendum that the government aims to hold in May 2019. Although this timeline may slip, a referendum is likely to take place during Mr Duterte’s term, which ends in 2022. He has majority support in the House of Representatives, while the Senate president has pledged to prioritise legislative discussions on federalism this year.
Eight roughly equal regions
The process of changing the constitution has started, with the creation of a 22-member consultative committee in December by Mr Duterte. The committee, led by the former chief justice, Reynato Puno, has been told to draft a new charter within six months. It is considering the establishment of eight federal regions out of the current 17 provincial regions, plus the federal capital, currently called the National Capital Region.
In broad terms, the federal government would have authority over defence, foreign policy and monetary policy, while regional governments would have oversight over the social services provided to their constituents. The federal regions would also have greater fiscal autonomy as well as independence in the management of natural resources.
The proposed regions are intended to be relatively equal in terms of population size, land area, tax collection and social development. The commission has formulated an index that shows that the eight proposed regions, with the exception of the restive Bangsamoro region in Mindanao, have similar economic capacity.
However, official data show that regional administrations are heavily reliant on central government transfers for their revenue. We calculate that among the proposed federal regions where data are available, only two raised 15 per cent or more of their revenues locally in 2016.
Given that the National Capital Region and other parts of Luzon island contributed 72 per cent of the Philippines’ GDP in 2016, it is unlikely that federalism would significantly reduce inequality, even if regions in Visayas and Mindanao could retain a greater share of their income.
Nevertheless, autonomy in resource management would lead to regional regulatory variations for sectors such as mining. Currently, national and local governments both have oversight over mining firms, resulting in conflicting decisions. Under the proposed federal constitution, mining would be regulated at the regional level, as would ownership issues arising over the ancestral lands of indigenous populations, where some miners do business. This would likely speed up settlements between the tribes and miners.
Federalism would also allow the regions to make it easier for companies to operate, encouraging competition to attract investment. At present, businesses must get licences to operate from the central and local governments. Under the proposed system, they would only have to secure permits from regional governments.
In addition to federalism, the constitutional change seeks to lift the 40 per cent cap on foreign ownership in sectors such as power, and lift the ban on foreign land ownership. Mr Duterte sees the removal of such restrictions as a way to shake up the dominance of oligarchs, but such proposals are likely to be resisted by nationalists in the legislature, and inclusion in the final draft of the proposals remains unclear.
—Prinz Magtulis, Philippines Researcher, FT Confidential Research
|FT Confidential Research is an independent research service from the Financial Times, providing in-depth analysis of and statistical insight into China and south-east Asia. Our team of researchers in these key markets combine findings from our proprietary surveys with on-the-ground research to provide predictive analysis for investors.|


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A Squash In The Garden
Summertime brings us a bounty of vegetable, fruits and so much more. We make discoveries about the world around us every day. This summer we planted tomatoes and much to our surprise, we had also planted squash plant. Or maybe it planted it itself? In these photos, we chronicle how our squash has grown from when the day we first noticed it to where it is today. Stay tuned!

domain: agronomy


Abraham’s veterans compensation bill becomes law
Disabled veterans are eligible to receive an increase in their benefits next year after a bill by Congressman Ralph Abraham, M.D., R-Alto, became law over the weekend.
President Obama signed Abraham’s HR 5588, the Veterans’ Compensation COLA Act of 2016, on Friday, July 22. The new law directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to increase, as of Dec. 1, the rates of veterans’ disability compensation, additional compensation for dependents, the clothing allowance for certain disabled veterans, and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses.
The amount of the increase will be equivalent to the increase provided under Title II of the Social Security Act. The precise amount of the adjustment will not be known until the end of the calendar year.
“I’m proud to have led the bipartisan effort in Congress to provide for our American heroes. This COLA adjustment will help bring increased financial security to our veterans and their families. Our veterans served our country, and now we have to make sure they receive the benefits they deserve for their sacrifice,” Abraham said.
Abraham has also passed legislation in the House – HR 677, the American Heroes COLA Act – that will make veterans’ COLA adjustments automatic each year. The Senate has yet to act on the legislation.


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Analysis for September 24th, 2014
EUR USD, “Euro vs US Dollar”
Euro formed an ascending impulse and corrected it. We think, today the price may form the second ascending impulse to break level of 1.2910. Later, in our opinion, the market may form a consolidation channel and an ascending continuation pattern towards level of 1.2980. After that, the pair may fall to return to level of level of 1.2940.
GBP USD, “Great Britain Pound vs US Dollar”
Pound finished the first wave inside the fifth one and corrected it. We think, today the price may grow to break level of 1.6400 and then form a consolidation channel as a continuation pattern. Later, in our opinion, the market may grow towards level of 1.6550 and then return to level of 1.6300 (as a correction).
USD CHF, “US Dollar vs Swiss Franc”
Franc is still forming a consolidation structure without any particular tendency near the top of its ascending wave. We think, today the price may fall towards level of 0.9340 and then complete this ascending wave by forming another ascending structure and reaching level of 0.9450. Later, in our opinion, the market may form a reversal structure to continue forming a descending wave.
USD JPY, “US Dollar vs Japanese Yen”
Yen formed the first descending wave and corrected it. We think, today the price may form another descending structure, the second one, to break the minimum of the first wave. The pair is expected to form a continuation pattern and reach level of 107.60. Later, in our opinion, the market may return to level of 108.40 to test it from below and then fall inside the fifth wave with the target is at level of 107.30.
AUD USD, “Australian Dollar vs US Dollar”
Australian Dollar is still moving downwards. We think, today the price may test level of 0.8930 and then continue falling towards level of 0.8800 to complete this descending structure. Later, in our opinion, the market may start a higher correction towards level of 0.9100.
USD RUB, “US Dollar vs Russian Ruble”
Ruble attempted to form another ascending continuation pattern. However, after breaking it downwards, the price may fall to reach level of 38.08 and then return to level of 38.50. Later, in our opinion, the market may start another descending wave to reach level of 37.00.
XAU USD, “Gold vs US Dollar”
Gold formed an ascending impulse and right now is correcting it and forming a consolidation channel. We think, today the price may continue forming another ascending wave to break the top of the first impulse. The target is at level of 1257. However, we don’t rule out the possibility that the market may try to leave this consolidation downwards to reach level of 1216 and only after that form another ascending structure.
RoboForex Analytical Department

domain: finance


text: Vanarasi, also known as Banaras, is located on the banks of River Ganga, our HOLY RIVER !!! Varanasi lies in Uttar Pardesh, India, known for sacred place for Hindu as well as the Jains. Also called as Spiritual Capital Of India. But the reality of this spiritual capital says a different story. The river Ganga is one the most sacred river for the Hindus. Also it is a lifeline to millions of Indians rely on this river for daily needs. Moreover, It is worshiped as a Goddess Ganga or Ganga Maiya. However, the real face of our Ganga Maiya is completely different than we can imagine. The Ganga Action Plan seems to be far far away due to corruption, poor environmental planning, lack of technical expertise etc. Ganga Polluted !!!

domain: geography


The history of modern law enforcement began 179 years ago with the formation of the London Metropolitan Police District in 1829. This police force was headed by Sir Robert Peel whom many consider to be the ÃÂfatherÃÂ of modern policing. The principles espoused by Peel included the use of crime rates to determine the effectiveness of the police; the importance of a centrally located, publicly accessible police headquarters; the value of proper recruitment, selection, and training of police officers; the establishment of regular patrol areas, known as ÃÂbeatsÃÂ and a paramilitary command structure.
British citizens quickly embraced the ÃÂbobbies,ÃÂ however the feelings of United States citizens towards their police forces, developed along lines roughly similar to those of the London police were quite different. Most major U.S. cities had police forces that were under the command of politically appointed local precinct captains. The propensity of these captains to be lax in their discipline led to abundant instances of graft.
Americans generally held their police in very low esteem. ÃÂOf all the institutions of city government in late-nineteenth-century America, none was as unanimously denounced as the urban police,ÃÂ wrote sociologist Egon Bittner. ÃÂAccording to every available account, they were, in every aspect of their existence, an unmixed, unmitigated, and unpardonable scandalÃÂ (Bittner, 1979). As one might imagine, this fact led to many instances of conflict between the police and citizens.
While many things have changed as policing and society itself has become more modernized over the years, one thing that has not changed is instances of conflict and violence between the police and citizens. Most major cities in the United States have, at one time or another, experienced this conflict and violence in the form of rioting (National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, 1968). While riots have never reached the level...


Editor's Note: This piece was written by Rob Thornton, president and CEO of the International District Energy Association. The opinions represented in this piece are independent of Smart Cities Dive's views.
Two visions for U.S. infrastructure investment have emerged, one proposed by President Donald Trump and one by Senate Democrats. They attempt to capitalize on bipartisan support and excitement generated during the presidential election. Both call for up to $1 trillion to modernize and build new infrastructure, adding millions of jobs in the process. They differ in amounts of direct federal spending, preferred investment mechanisms, and ownership of assets.
A discussion over methods is healthy; one can expect resolution as the administration and Congress work toward legislation. But before methods are agreed to and legislation introduced, parties must agree on a vision. A "smart" vision for the 21st century that features critical energy infrastructure. Such infrastructure is vital to an energy-enabled future with self-driving cars, automated manufacturing, the Internet of Things, more resilient cities and communities and much more.
Enter district energy, combined heat and power (CHP) and microgrids. District energy plants supply thermal energy to many nearby customer buildings, utilizing economies of scale that allow connected customers to avoid capital costs and optimize their heating and cooling systems. CHP is an efficient, integrated approach to locally generate both electric power and useful thermal energy from a single fuel source. Microgrids go one step further by integrating these technologies into a local grid, allowing parallel operation and voluntary isolation from the larger power grid, especially during outages caused by severe weather. Furthermore, many mayors are now seeking opportunities to partner with private developers to create microgrids in order to strengthen resiliency and business continuity and attract economic development.
Importantly, these technologies align with three current truths. First, energy efficiency measures are widely acknowledged as a sure way to reduce expenses and environmental footprint. Second, the need for resiliency is underscored by the increasing occurrence of severe weather events and growing electricity dependence of sectors like health care, finance and emergency response. Third, fuel flexibility and the ability to integrate local resources is increasing energy security and bolstering economies. District energy, CHP and microgrids epitomize these truths.
The University of Texas at Austin utilizes a district energy system anchored by a 134 MW CHP plant. It delivers electricity, space heating and cooling, and domestic hot water for a campus community of 70,000 people daily. Over the past 15 years, the UT Austin campus has literally doubled in size from 9 million to 19 million square feet of building space, yet today uses the same amount of fuel as 1977 while serving twice the energy demands, achieving 88% operating efficiency. This level of efficiency delivers fuel savings that translate into reduced expenses and lower emissions. The savings do not stop there. Innovative water recovery measures recovered 66 million gallons of water in 2016, improving returns and suppressing use during periods of extreme drought.
Businesses and consumers understand the value of resiliency as well as reduced liability. And these technologies have proven that they can deliver. During Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana State University Medical Center relied on its 20 MW CHP system to continue to operate and actually host other organizations. Its ability to stay online undoubtedly saved lives and provided a calm within the storm. During Hurricane Sandy, the Princeton University district energy, CHP and microgrid maintained energy supply, protecting invaluable research, residents and supporting local first responders. Recently, Thermal Energy Corporation (TECO) with a 48 MW CHP district energy system, maintained continuous energy services to the multiple hospitals and research centers in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, the largest healthcare campus in the world, throughout the onslaught of Hurricane Harvey.
District Energy St. Paul in Minnesota switched primary fuel from coal and oil to biomass and natural gas in the early 2000s. It relies largely on locally-sourced municipal wood waste today, keeping energy dollars recirculating in the local economy. Following the switch, St. Paul avoids over 275,000 tons of coal and has reduced sulfur oxide and particulate emissions by 60% each year. The system also delivers economic benefits. Customers' energy prices are lower today, when adjusted for inflation, than 20 years ago.
Across all sectors, budget constraints mean innovation, efficiency and resiliency measures are often postponed. “Do more with less” is the theme of the day in increasingly complex environments. District energy and CHP provide unparalleled efficiency, scalability, and optimized operations while maintaining reliable, affordable services.
Above all, district energy and CHP systems make sense and have a proven record. When an infrastructure plan comes before Congress, lawmakers can demonstrate foresight by investing in critical energy infrastructure that delivers on the promise of a “smart” vision for the 21st century. Not by looking for the next new thing or bright shiny object, but rather, by choosing proven approaches that hit on all the cylinders for our future economy — efficiency, resiliency, environmentally beneficial and economically competitive — district energy, CHP and microgrids.


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BAHRAICH: A group of people allegedly attacked a police team on lockdown duty after it did not allow them to offer namaz at a mosque here on Friday, leaving two policemen injured.
Nine men and four women have been detained in connection with the incident that took place at Katka Marautha village in Huzurpur area of the district, Superintendent of Police Vipin Mishra said.
"Nearly 20 people attacked the police team on duty after they were not allowed to offer 'alvida namaz' in the mosque due to the lockdown," Superindent of Police Vipin Mishra said.
The injured policemen are Pravesh Kumar and Vinay Kumar, the officer said.
An FIR has been lodged against 10-12 unidentified persons for violating prohibitory orders under IPC sections and also under the Epidemic Diseases Act.

domain: sociology


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PET imaging of chemokine receptor CXCR4 in patients with primary and recurrent breast carcinoma
EJNMMI Research volume 8, Article number: 90 (2018)
CXCR4 is a chemokine receptor frequently overexpressed in invasive breast cancer that has been shown to play a major role in signaling pathways involved in metastasis. The aim of this retrospective analysis was to assess the diagnostic performance of CXCR4-directed PET imaging in patients with breast cancer using the recently introduced CXCR4-targeted PET probe 68Ga-Pentixafor.
Thirteen patients with first diagnosis of breast cancer, four patients with recurrent disease after primary breast cancer, and one patient with axillary lymph node metastasis of unknown primary underwent CXCR4-targeted PET imaging using 68Ga-Pentixafor. Maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) and tumor-to-background (T/B) ratios of tumor lesions were measured and compared with pathological prognostic factors and molecular subtypes. 18F-FDG PET/CT images were available in 8/18 cases and were compared semi-quantitatively. Comparison with CXCR4 expression determined by immunohistochemistry was performed in 7/18 patients.
Nine of 13 primary breast cancers were visually detectable on 68Ga-Pentixafor PET images (mean SUVmax of 3.0). The visually undetectable lesions included both cases of invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) and two cases of invasive carcinoma of no special type (NST) without any hormone receptor and HER2 expression (triple negative). Metastases of recurrent breast cancer and unknown primary cancer were visually detectable in all five cases, exhibiting a mean SUVmax of 3.5. 18F-FDG PET demonstrated higher SUVmax in all patients compared to 68Ga-Pentixafor PET. A correlation between SUVmax obtained from 68Ga-Pentixafor PET and prognostic factors including estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status, proliferation index, tumor grade, or molecular subtypes was not observed.
CXCR4-directed PET imaging in patients with primary and recurrent breast cancer is feasible; however, tumor detectability is significantly lower compared to 18F-FDG PET. Moreover, we did not find any correlation between aforementioned prognostic factors of breast cancer and CXCR4-targeted tracer accumulation. Based on these results in a small patient cohort, CXCR4-targeted PET imaging does not seem to be suitable as a general diagnostic tool for imaging of breast cancer. Future CXCR4 imaging studies should investigate whether this modality might be useful in more specific applications, e.g., in therapeutic approaches especially under the view of current developments in targeted immune cell and immune checkpoint inhibitory therapy.
Invasive breast cancer is the most frequent malignancy in women  and includes tumors with a wide range of histologic types, therapeutic response and overall prognosis. State-of-the-art imaging for early cancer detection and appropriate therapeutic strategies play a key role for the improvement of survival rates.
At present, dedicated breast MRI and 18F-FDG PET/CT offer highest diagnostic accuracy in the detection of breast cancer [2, 3] and metastases  respectively. With the increasing role of personalized medicine, however, the desire for molecular targeted approaches emerged, enabling high-specificity diagnostics and molecular targeted therapies with the appropriate molecular key target.
CXCR4 is a 7-transmembrane G-coupled receptor belonging to the chemokine receptor family and is expressed by a variety of cells during development and thereafter . With its cognate ligand stromal cell-derived factor 1α (SDF-1α, named CXCL12) [6, 7], its main role in the hematopoietic system is to control stem cell retention and the homing of hematopoietic cells to the bone marrow and lymphoid organs . In addition to these physiological roles, CXCR4 has been found to be overexpressed by various human cancers including breast cancer [5, 9,10,11]. In cancer, CXCR4 expression and its activation by its endogeneous ligand CXCL12 are key triggers for tumor growth and progression, invasiveness, and metastasis [7, 12]. High levels of CXCL12 in organs and tissues, such as lymph nodes, lung, liver, and bone/bone marrow (BM), are thought to direct the metastasis of CXCR4-expressing tumor cells . Accordingly, the level of CXCR4 expression was shown to be higher in metastatic sites as compared to the primary tumors , and changes in CXCR4 signaling have been shown to significantly alter metastatic burden in animal models . CXCR4 is not only expressed by cancer cells themselves, but also by tumor-infiltrating immune cells. Within the tumor microenvironment, the major CXCR4-expressing cells are B-lymphocytes and plasmacytoid dendritic cells, both potentially contributing to an immunosuppressive site permissive for tumor progression .
Recently, a radiolabeled CXCR4-ligand for PET (68Ga-Pentixafor) imaging has been developed by Wester et al. [16,17,18]. First in vivo studies in patients with hematological malignancies, glioblastoma and small cell lung cancer confirmed high tracer accumulation in these tumors with low background uptake and concomitant fast tracer clearance from non-target tissues [12, 19,20,21]. A recent publication of our group evaluated the feasibility of CXCR4-targeted PET in three patients with breast cancer amongst other solid cancers . Although tracer uptake was low to moderate in all in these patients, we were curious to know if a wider spectrum of breast cancers (including different histological types) might show a more favorable tracer affinity.
The current study presents the first results on CXCR4-targeted PET imaging in a larger cohort of patients with primary and recurrent breast cancer.
This retrospective analysis included 13 patients (mean age 59, range 38–77) with histologically proven primary breast cancer (without previous therapy), four patients with recurrent breast cancer after treatment, and one patient with axillary lymph node metastasis but unknown primary examined between January 2014 and September 2016. Three patients from a previous published study were included in this cohort . Patients underwent either 68Ga-Pentixafor PET/CT or 68Ga-Pentixafor PET/MR. Eight patients additionally received a diagnostic 18F-FDG PET/CT for staging purposes within 2 weeks after 68Ga-Pentixafor imaging. No therapy was performed between the two imaging modalities.
Synthesis of 68Ga-Pentixafor
Synthesis of 68Ga-Pentixafor was performed on a fully automated, GMP-compliant procedure using GRP module (Scintomics GmbH, Germany) equipped with disposable single-use cassette kits following the previously described method [19, 21]. Prior to injection, tracer quality was assessed according to the standards of the European Pharmacopoeia available at www.edqm.eu.
PET imaging protocol
Nine of 18 68Ga-Pentixafor PET and all 18F-FDG PET scans were performed on a Sensation 64 Biograph PET/CT scanner (Siemens, Erlangen, Germany), whereas 9 of 18 68Ga-Pentixafor scans were performed on a PET/MRI device (Siemens Biograph mMR, Siemens Medical Solutions, Germany). The CT-scan protocol included a low-dose CT (26 mAS, 120 kV, 5 mm slice thickness) from the base of the skull to the mid-thigh for attenuation correction followed by the PET scan and a diagnostic CT (240 mAS, 120 kV, 5 mm slice thickness) in the portal venous phase in case of 18F-FDG PET/CT scans. Injected activities for 68Ga-Pentixafor ranged from 177 to 223 MBq and for 18F-FDG from 201 to 349 MBq. PET acquisition was performed after a mean of 51 min post injection for 68Ga-Pentixafor and 75 min post injection for 18F-FDG PET/CT respectively. All PET/CT scans were acquired in 3D mode with an acquisition time of 3 min per bed position. Images were reconstructed by an attenuation-weighted ordered-subset expectation maximization algorithm (four iterations, eight subsets) followed by a post-reconstruction smoothing Gaussian filter (5 mm full-width at half-maximum). In PET/MR, a coronal 2-point Dixon 3D volumetric interpolated examination (VIBE) T1w sequence was performed for generation of attenuation maps as recently published . In addition, diagnostic dedicated sequences dependent on the examined malignancy were performed. PET data was acquired simultaneously in three-dimensional mode with 3-min emission time per bed position.
All 68Ga-Pentixafor PET/CT or PET/MR images were reviewed and interpreted by board-certified Nuclear Medicine physicians and by radiologists in consensus. Lesions were defined as visually detectable, if both reviewers were able to visually identify the lesions on the PET images. Semiquantitative SUV analysis with determination of SUVmax involved drawing region of interests (ROI) around the primary tumor in case of preoperative imaging and around the metastases, when detectable. Lesions below 10 mm in diameter were omitted in order to reduce partial volume effects. Analysis of 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients, who underwent both imaging modalities, was performed analogous to 68Ga-Pentixafor PET/CT. Maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) of 18F-FDG and to 68Ga-Pentixafor PET images were compared and correlated with each other. Referring to Drzezga et al., we assumed a relative difference of < 10% between SUV values of lesions obtained from PET/CT and PET/MR respectively and therefore did not differ between the SUV of the two modalities .
Histology of primary breast lesions was obtained by image-guided biopsy in five cases and by open surgery in eight cases. The tissues were routinely fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin, dehydrated, and cut into 2-μm-thick sections. Tumor classification according to the WHO 2012 criteria and assessment of the tumor biology (estrogen receptor; ER, progesterone receptor; PR, human epidermal growth factors receptor 2; HER2) was performed in routine pathological diagnostics. To further categorize all breast cancer samples according to the molecular subtypes, the proliferation index was assessed by immunohistochemistry using Ki67 (MIB1). In accordance to the St. Gallen guidelines , we used a local Ki67 cut off value of 25% to differentiate between luminal A and luminal B tumors. Tumors were categorized as follows: luminal A (ER+ and/or PR+, HER2/neu− and Ki67%<25%), luminal B HER2− (ER+ and/or PR+, HER2/neu− and Ki67%≥25%), luminal B HER2+ (ER+ and/or PR+, HER2/neu+), HER2/neu non-luminal (ER/PR−, HER2/neu+), and TNBC (ER/PR−, HER2/neu).
Immunohistochemistry of biopsy and open surgery specimens was performed according to standard routine methods for Ki67 (Dako, M7240), ER status (DCS, EI 629C01), and PR status (DCS, PI 633C01) using the ultraVIEW DAB Detection Kit (all reagents from Ventana, Tucson, AZ). Briefly, the tissue sections were deparaffinized with EZ Prep at 75 °C and 76 °C, heat pretreated in Cell Conditioning 1 (CC1) for antigen retrieval at 76–100 °C, and then incubated with the primary antibody diluted in antibody diluent (ER 1:20, Ki67 and PR 1:50) for 20 min at 37 °C after inactivation of the endogenous peroxidase using a UV inhibitor for 4 min at 37 °C. The slides were incubated with a HRP Universal Multimer for 8 min. Antibody binding was detected using DAB as chromogen and counterstained with hematoxylin with subsequent bluing in bluing reagent.
CXCR4 immunohistochemistry was performed on a Dako Autostainer. After heat-induced antigen retrieval (target retrieval solution, pH 6, Dako, Glostrup, Denmark) for 20 min, unspecific protein and peroxidase binding was blocked with 3% hydrogen peroxide and 3% normal goat serum. A primary antibody against CXCR4 (clone UMB-2, Abcam, Cambridge, UK) was used and diluted 1:30 in antibody diluent (Dako, Glostrup, Denmark). For antibody detection, the Dako Envision-HRP rabbit labeled polymer (Dako, Glostrup, Denmark) was used. Antibody binding was visualized by diaminobenzidine (DAB) giving a brown precipitate (Medac Diagnostica, Wedel, Germany, BS04-500). Counterstaining was performed using hematoxylin.
Subsequent to immunohistochemical procedure, all slides were then dehydrated manually by alcohol washes of increasing concentration (70%, 96%, 100%) and xylene and coverslipped using Pertex® mounting medium (Histolab, Goeteborg, Sweden, 00801). CXCR4 expression was evaluated with respect to cell type (infiltrating immune cells vs. tumor cells), expression intensity, and percentage. Overall staining intensity for CXCR4 was scored into categories reaching from (-) (no staining) to (+++) (high staining intensity and frequency).
Ki67 staining was evaluated according to the recommendations of the International Ki67 in Breast Cancer Working group .
Statistical analysis was performed using MedCalc Version 10.2 (Mariakerke, Belgium). Correlation studies between SUVmax and PR status, ER status, and Ki67 proliferation index were performed with Spearman rank test. To test for significance between molecular subtypes and SUVmax, we used Kruskal-Wallis test.
Thirteen of 18 patients were diagnosed with primary breast carcinoma without history of previous malignant breast lesions or therapy (Table 1). Lymph node (LN) metastases were present in 5 of 13 patients and distant metastases in 2 patients (one patient with liver metastases, one patient with bone metastases).
Four of 18 patients demonstrated recurrent metastatic disease with three cases of isolated lymph node recurrence following primary breast cancer after an average of 36 months and one case of newly diagnosed liver metastases after 6 years following breast cancer (Table 2).
One patient exhibited lymph node metastases in the left axillary region, histologically verified as metastases from breast cancer, however, without evidence of the primary tumor in imaging studies.
Results of 68Ga-Pentixafor PET imaging in primary breast cancer lesions
Primary breast cancers exhibited a mean SUVmax of 3.0 ranging between 1.7 and 4.5 and a mean T/B ratio of 2.4 (range 1 to 3.6). Nine of 13 tumors could be visually identified on 68Ga-Pentixafor PET images (Table 1; Fig. 1).
Highest SUVmax of 4.3 and 4.5 respectively were measured in two patients with invasive carcinoma of no special type (NST, G2 and G3 respectively). Lowest SUVmax between 1.7 and 1.9 were measured in two patients with invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) and two patients with NST but without any hormone receptor and HER2 expression (triple negative breast cancer, TNBC) (Table 1). No significant difference was observed between SUVmax of metastasized and SUVmax of non-metastasized primary breast cancers (p = 0.37).
Results of 68Ga-Pentixafor imaging in recurrent breast cancer lesions
Metastases of recurrent breast cancer were visually detectable in all five cases, exhibiting a mean SUVmax of 3.7 (range 2 to 4.5) and a mean T/B ratio of 3.2 (1.5 to 4.7) (Fig. 2). Highest SUVmax of 4.5 was observed in the patient with unknown primary cancer (Table 2).
Immunohistochemical staining for CXCR4 of open surgery specimens was available in seven primary breast cancers (Table 3; Fig. 3). The two cases of invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) were not or slightly infiltrated by immune cells. The inflammatory cells in the ILC cases did not express CXCR4. The invasive carcinomas of no special type (NST) displayed inter- and intratumoral heterogeneity of CXCR4 expression in the tumor cell-infiltrating immune cells and within the tumor cells (Table 3). To sum up the different expression frequency and intensity, an overall signal intensity of CXCR4 expression on the immunohistochemical level was applied. Five of seven samples demonstrated weak to moderate overall CXCR4 expression (+, ++), whereas two of seven samples did not demonstrate any CXCR4 expression at all (-). In five of seven samples, immunohistological overall staining intensity corresponded with tracer uptake during 68Ga-Pentixafor PET imaging. In the remaining two cases, immunohistochemistry did either not demonstrate any CXCR4 expression, although PET imaging revealed an SUVmax of 3.2 (patient #8, Table 1) or CXCR4 expression was rated as moderate despite a low SUVmax of 1.8 (patient #11, Table 1).
Immunohistochemical analysis of ER status, PR status, HER2/neu status, Ki67 status, and tumor grade was performed routinely in all patients (Table 4). Statistical analysis did not reveal any significant correlation between SUVmax and ER status, PR status, or Ki67% (rho = 0.32, p = 0.26; rho = − 0.03, p = 0.9; rho = 0.31; p = 0.28). However, there was a weak association between SUVmax and molecular cancer subtypes (p = 0.08).
Comparison with 18F-FDG PET/CT
Clinical 18F-FDG PET/CT for clinical staging or re-staging was performed in 8 of 18 patients (4 patients with recurrent breast cancer, 4 patients with primary breast cancer). SUVmax obtained during 18F-FDG PET was higher in all cases compared to CXCR4-targeted PET (mean SUVmax of 16.2 vs. mean SUVmax of 3.6; p < 0.05) (Figs. 1 and 2) (Table 5).
CXCR4 plays a key role in cancer pathogenesis, progression, and metastasis. Several in vitro studies have previously demonstrated that CXCR4 is overexpressed in breast cancer and might be therefore an interesting target for diagnostic and therapeutic approaches [10, 14, 25].
In this study, we have demonstrated that in vivo imaging of CXCR4 using the PET probe 68Ga-Pentixafor is feasible in patients with primary and recurrent breast cancer. Intensity of tracer accumulation however was significantly lower in all examined patients when compared to 18F-FDG PET, confirming our initial observations in a previous publication that solid tumors in general tend to show lower 68Ga-Pentixafor accumulation in comparison to 18F-FDG PET .
Moreover, CXCR4-targeted tracer accumulation in the breast tumors varied significantly between patients. Histological tumor type seems to be one of the factors accounting for this heterogeneity. While most NST were visually detectable on 68Ga-Pentixafor PET, both cases of ILC in our study cohort were visually negative and showed low staining intensity in immunohistochemistry. These results go in line with previous reports that demonstrated a significantly lower staining intensity for ILC compared to NST .
The remaining two visually undetectable cancers were comprised of TNBC with low and moderate CXCR4 staining intensity respectively in immunohistochemistry. This is in particular interesting, since previous in vitro studies have reported high CXCR4 expression in this aggressive cancer subtype.
One of the factors accounting for this inconsistency might be predominantly cytoplasmatic CXCR4 expression in TNBC that has been reported in previous literature . Chemokine receptors are, together with their ligands, internalized after binding as an important feature of the chemokine functions . Previous studies reported that breast cancer cells exhibit different ratios of membrane localized versus cytoplasmatic CXCR4. A study by Blot et al. for example demonstrated membrane localized CXCR4 in only 25% of breast tumors compared to 81% with diffuse cytoplasmatic CXCR4 using immunostaining .
The amount of cytoplasmatic CXCR4 seems to be dependent on simultaneous overexpression of CXCL12 leading to enhanced CXCR4/CXCL12 internalization.
68Ga-Pentixafor, however, like most peptide-tracers are dependent on membrane-localized receptor expression and are thus unable to pass the membrane. As a consequence, cytoplasmatic CXCR4 does not contribute to signal intensity in PET imaging, resulting in lower overall signal intensity of breast cancer cells than possibly assumed by in vitro examinations.
In particular, several conflicting results between in vivo and in vitro imaging might be accounted to the observation that the aforementioned dynamic equilibrium between CXCR4 in the cytoplasm and on the plasma membrane modulates the target density at the cell membrane [25, 27, 30]. As a consequence, assessment of CXCR4 expression by immunohistochemistry that may include cytoplasmatic CXCR4 not necessarily correlates with PET imaging signal strength.
Our immunohistochemical findings support this hypothesis: while immunohistochemical CXCR4 expression corresponded with PET tracer accumulation in five of seven primary breast tumors, one of the aforementioned TNBC was not visible in PET imaging despite moderate CXCR4 staining intensity.
Of note, one patient with an NST exhibiting an SUVmax of 3.2 on CXCR4 PET imaging did not exhibit any immunohistochemical CXCR4 expression. We assume that tumor heterogeneity might be the cause for this discrepancy. Referring to this last case, it should be emphasized that cross-validation of receptor expression by means of immunohistochemistry and PET imaging is often difficult and hampered by tumor heterogeneity and less-representative sample collection for IHC. Results should be therefore interpreted with care. In particular, for CXCR4 imaging, intratumoral hypoxia might have a great influence, as it is known that CXCR4 is strongly upregulated in hypoxic tumor regions . Additionally, the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis is a volatile system, part of a large network of the extracellular matrix/tumor cell microenvironment  with high spatiotemporal differences. Thus, in vivo imaging and immunohistochemistry from resection specimen might also differ due to a timely delay between imaging and resection.
A correlation between tracer accumulation and single prognostic factors including molecular subtype, PR status, ER status, tumor grade, or Ki67% was not observed in this study. Most previous in vitro studies were in concordance with our results. Kishima et al. examined the expression of CXCR4 mRNA using qPCR in breast cancer patients but failed to find any correlation to aforementioned prognostic factors . Similar results were observed in a meta-analysis by Zhang et al. . It is noteworthy that although different studies failed to find a correlation between ER status and CXCR4 expression, CXCR4 signaling is supposed to promote ER-positive breast cancer to a therapy-resistant, estrogen-independent phenotype . CXCR4 in vivo imaging in these cases might have a benefit to provide longitudinal spatiotemporal information on tumor progression/metastasis during targeted estrogen deprivation therapy.
Further areas of interest for CXCR4-directed imaging might include HER2-positive breast cancers. Li et al. demonstrated a significant correlation between CXCR4 and HER2 expression using immunohistochemistry, supporting the idea that HER2 overexpression enhances CXCR4 expression and that both markers serve as a predictor for poor overall patient survival . Our cohort included only one patient with HER2-positive breast cancer; therefore, we could not perform any correlation studies on this level; interestingly, however, this tumor showed high tracer accumulation and thus supporting the aforementioned hypothesis.
In case of recurrent breast cancer, metastases were visually detectable in all cases and tended to exhibit higher tracer positivity compared to primary breast cancer, however, not reaching statistical significance (p = 0.18). These results might reflect higher CXCR4 expression in recurrent, i.e., highly aggressive tumors [11, 14, 33], as described in previous literature.
We are aware that major limitations of the current study include a small patient cohort and the use of two imaging modalities (PET/CT and PET/MRI respectively), resulting in a limited interpretation of the statistical analysis. However, in this preliminary study, we rather intended to provide a first glimpse of imaging characteristics of 68Ga-Pentixafor in different breast cancer types including histological types, molecular subtypes, and primary/recurrent cancers. The heterogeneity of the current imaging results seems to reflect the highly complex biological interactions of CXCR4 that are only partially understood. Besides the aforementioned factors including dynamic equilibrium between CXCR4 in the cytoplasm and on the plasma membrane, various other interactions probably play an important role in CXCR4 imaging, aggravating interpretation of imaging results. Such interactions might include upregulation of CXCR4 by different factors (e.g., estradiol), tumor cell-stromal cell interactions, recruitment of CXCR4-positive immune cells to tumor sites inducing local inflammatory response .
Future CXCR4 imaging studies should investigate whether this modality might be useful in more specific applications. For example, CXCL12/CXCR4 axis is also of high interest for immunotherapeutical approaches due to its crucial role in tumor initiation and progression; therefore, possible future applications might include patient selection and therapy monitoring for targeted therapies. CXCR4-targeting PET tracers with higher affinity are currently under development (personal communication Prof. H.J. Wester) and may enhance image quality in the future.
In conclusion, CXCR4-targeted PET imaging of primary and recurrent breast cancer is feasible. CXCR4-targeted tracer accumulation in tumor tissue is heterogeneous and seems to be, inter alia, dependent on histological subtype.
A correlation between intensity of tracer uptake in CXCR4-directed PET imaging and prognostic factors ER, PR, proliferation index, tumor grade, and tumor biology was not observed. Moreover, tracer accumulation in tumor tissue was significantly lower compared to 18F-FDG PET imaging. Consequently, based on this pilot study with a small patient cohort, CXCR4-targeted PET failed to clearly demonstrate its usefulness for imaging of breast cancer.
Further studies are necessary to understand the complex biology of CXCR4 and to accordingly interpret imaging results.
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We thank Sylvia Schachoff and Claudia Meisinger in the technical assistance.
This work received support from the ERC Grant MUMI and from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under grant agreement no. SFB 824 (Z2-KS, Z1-HJW, Z3 MS, B5-K, HJW).
Availability of data and materials
The datasets generated during the current study are included in this published article.
Ethics approval and consent to participate
The administration of 68Ga-Pentixafor was administered in compliance with §37 of the Declaration of Helsinki and the German Medicinal Products Act (AMG §13, 2b) according to the German law and was notified to the local responsible regulatory authority (Regierung von Oberbayern). Prior to the investigation, written informed consent was obtained from all patients. Retrospective data analysis was approved by the local responsible ethics committee of the Technical University Munich.
Consent for publication
HJ Wester is CEO of Scintomics, Distributor of Pentixafor. The other authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Parts of these results were presented at the EANM congress 2017 and consequently presented as an abstract.
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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Cite this article
Vag, T., Steiger, K., Rossmann, A. et al. PET imaging of chemokine receptor CXCR4 in patients with primary and recurrent breast carcinoma. EJNMMI Res 8, 90 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13550-018-0442-0
- Chemokine receptor
- Positron emission tomography
- Breast cancer

domain: biology


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domain: entertainment


text:
This weekend was the most beautiful weekend in the history of Februaries.
And while I’m completely jealous of all the snow my old Kentucky home is getting this week, I’m trying to accept 60-something degree temperatures and abundant sunshine in this winter-that-wasn’t here in Portland.
We started this weekend’s adventure as we start many Ringer adventures: with a plan that quickly fell apart. Originally, we hoped to hike the Eagle Creek Trail on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge. I’d heard about it while volunteering last week, and after reading about it, it sounded pretty cool (waterfalls, trails along the edge of a cliff, etc.). I read that it was a pretty popular hike, but “pretty popular” might be the biggest understatement you could make on a 60-degree Valentine’s Day Saturday afternoon. We drove all the way there, couldn’t find a parking spot in any of the 3 parking areas, and could barely drive down the road because of all the hikers parking far away and walking to the trailhead.
And since Eric and I are the world’s biggest crowd haters, we knew we didn’t want to do this particular hike on this particular day. So we turned to the Google and searched for less popular hikes in the area. And then we got the brilliant idea that we could hike on the Washington side of the river! I often forget that we live approximately 10 minutes from Washington, having only ventured to that state twice since moving to Portland last fall. And that’s how we stumbled upon The Coyote Wall trail, just a bit further east in the Gorge, and across the river in Washington. And that’s also how I made the classic Ringer mistake of not thoroughly reading the trail description and just assuming we could figure it out when we got there. Classic Ringer.
Finding the trailhead was really easy, particularly because the parking area was pretty packed with cars, which made me a little nervous about how crowded it would be. Luckily, the trail was confusing enough that we didn’t encounter many people on our hike.
So, I mentioned that this hike was confusing. That’s because there are a ton of trail splits. From what we could tell, most of the splits eventually meet up again, but we weren’t really sure which path would take us where we were supposed to go. And since I didn’t thoroughly read the trail description, we didn’t know what we were looking for, other than nice views of the Gorge. So we just took whichever path seemed to lead up the hill and to the edge of the cliff, which mostly meant taking lefts at every trail split and trying to stick with the biggest trail.
The views on this hike were spectacular. And we couldn’t have picked a better day. The weather was just warm enough for short sleeves, and there was enough of a breeze to keep us cool in the sun on the completely exposed trail. And guys, there were wildflowers in bloom. In February. Like, we live in some sort of tropical paradise. That’s what this winter has been.
When we started at the bottom of the trail, we had great views of the Columbia River, but as we hiked a little higher, Mount Hood started to peek over the other mountains.
I loved this hike because it reminded me so much of Bend, which is one of my favorite places in Oregon. It had that high desert feel, with sunny skies, dirt trails, and open spaces. And I suppose it makes sense because we had crossed to the east side of the mountains, which completely changes the landscape from the fertile Willamette Valley to the dry, arid desert.
It turns out that the trails at Coyote Wall are pretty popular with mountain bikers, and we actually encountered more bikers than hikers on our trip. But even with a packed parking lot and lots of folks on bikes, we still didn’t encounter very many people because there are so many trail options.
Supposedly, the whole trail makes a loop somewhere between 7 and 8 miles long, but we didn’t complete the whole loop since we somehow lost the trail (I blame the views) and just walked in the direction of the river for a while.
We did, eventually, find our way back to the trail (it would be hard to get truly lost since you know you need to go back downhill toward the river). We ended up hiking for around 3 hours, so I think we must have knocked out most of the trail system.
After the hike, we took a big Valentine’s Day risk and headed to a restaurant (this may be the first time we’ve eaten out on Valentine’s Day in our 8 1/2 years together) in White Salmon, Washington. And guys, it was warm enough to eat outside on February 14 at Everybody’s Brewing. I had the chicken burrito, and Eric had the steak sandwich. Both were delish. It’s definitely worth a trip (it’s only about 8 minutes away from the Coyote Wall trailhead) after a long hike. Plus, you can see Mount Hood from the patio, and if that doesn’t feed your soul, I don’t know what will.
And if a great hike and delicious food aren’t enough for you, we also got to see a spectacular sunset on our drive back to the city. It made me want to get a boat and float down the Columbia River for some incredible sunset views.
To get to the Coyote Wall Trailhead, take I-84 east of Portland to Exit 64: Hood River. Turn left to cross the Columbia River on the Hood River Bridge (you’ll have to pay a $1 toll to cross each time). After crossing the bridge, turn right on WA-14 (Lewis and Clark Hwy), and follow it 4.5 miles. Turn left onto Courtney Road. The trailhead has a a few parking lots, along with parking along the road. No Forest Pass required. Bathroom at the trailhead. For some pretty confusing, but possibly helpful trail directions, check here. From what I’ve read, ticks and rattlesnakes are common on this trail in the summer.

domain: hobby


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text:
US 4336146 A
Thickening of heavy brine solutions based on calcium halides by use of water-insoluble hydroxyethyl cellulose is disclosed.
1. A method of thickening heavy calcium halide salt brine solutions having a density between about 11.5 and about 19 pounds per barrel which comprises dissolving therein, per barrel of brine, about 0.5 to 2 lbs. of a cellulose derivative selected from the class consisting of hydroxyethyl cellulose having a hydroxyethyl M.S. of about 0.2 to 1.2 and methyl cellulose having methyl D.S. of about 0.2 to 0.8, said cellulose derivative being soluble in tap or distilled water to the extent of less than 1% by weight.
2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the cellulose derivative is hydroxyethyl cellulose having hydroxyethyl M.S. of about 0.4 to 1.1.
3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the cellulose derivative is methyl cellulose.
4. A thickened solution comprising a calcium halide-salt brine having a density between about 11.5 and about 19 pounds per barrel and having dissolved therein, per barrel of said brine, about 0.5 to 2 pounds of a cellulose derivative selected from the class consisting of hydroxyethyl cellulose having hydroxyethyl M.S. of about 0.2 to 1.2 and methyl cellulose having methyl D.S. of about 0.2 to 0.8, said cellulose derivative being soluble in tap or distilled water to the extent of less than 1% by weight.
This invention relates to the art of thickening solutions. More specifically, it relates to the art of thickening solutions containing relatively high concentration of salt. In its most specific embodiment, it relates to the thickening of solutions of brines containing calcium salts.
There are many occasions when it is desirable and even necessary to thicken aqueous systems containing more or less large quantities of salts dissolved therein. This is particularly the case in the petroleum industry where in many cases thick solutions must be prepared in the field where there is no fresh water available or where the solution desired must have a relatively high density and salts are used to impart this high density to the solution. A good example of this latter requirement is the so-called completion and work-over fluids which are used on many occasions to maintain a fluid head on a relatively deep well to prevent a blowout of pressurized gas or liquid around the bore of the drilling equipment. An aqueous solution of, usually, a calcium brine is employed for this purpose.
When the situation calls for thickening of plain water or of a relatively low density brine, there are a number of materials that can be used. For example, the water-soluble polysaccharides such as xanthan gum and modified cellulose derivatives are widely used in this application as are the water-soluble acrylamide polymers. However, when the situation demands a higher density brine, i.e., about 11 pounds per gallon (1.32 g./cc.) or greater, these polymers have proven to be not fully satisfactory inasmuch as they are relatively insoluble in brine at ambient temperature, and in order to build up any significant viscosity in such systems, they must be dissolved at elevated temperatures.
It is the object of this invention to provide a method of thickening (viscosifying) heavy brine solutions. It is a further objective to provide a series of such thickened brine solutions which are useful in all applications where thickened brines are required.
In accordance with this invention a method of thickening heavy brine solutions has been found which comprises dissolving therein, per barrel of brine, about 0.5 to 2 lbs. (about 225 to 910 g.) of a water-insoluble (i.e., less than about 1% soluble) cellulose derivative selected from the class consisting of hydroxyethyl cellulose having a hydroxyethyl M.S. of about 0.2 to 1.2 and methyl cellulose having a methyl D.S. of about 0.2 to 0.8. A barrel of brine contains 42 gallons or about 159 liters.
The method of the invention is applicable with all heavy brines based on calcium halide salts, i.e., those which have a density between about 11.5 and 19 lbs. per gallon (1.32 to 2.28 g./cc.). Within these limits are included calcium chloride brine, mixtures of calcium chloride with calcium bromide, straight calcium bromide brines and mixtures of calcium chloride, calcium bromide and other heavy salts such as, for example, zinc bromide and zinc chloride. All such brines have been found to be thickened by at least one of the materials meeting the polymer specification according to this invention. Brines of straight zinc bromide are also thickened by the materials of the invention, but such brines are relatively expensive and use thereof in the applications contemplated is not economically attractive in most cases.
The low substituted cellulose derivatives employed in the process of this invention are known materials which to date have found little or no commercial usage. The poor commercial acceptance of these products is based on their water insolubility. Even at relatively low concentrations, these materials in plain water, i.e., either tap water or distilled water, have been found to be almost totally insoluble, although they may absorb water and swell to some degree. Preferred low substituted cellulose derivatives are hydroxyethyl cellulose of 0.4 to 1.1 hydroxyethyl M.S. and methyl cellulose of 0.2 to 0.8 methyl D.S.
It has been most surprising to find that these materials are, in fact, relatively highly soluble in the aqueous brine systems specified in this invention. They are soluble at least to the level of 2 lbs./barrel (0.006 g/cc.) in calcium halide brines at room temperature. This is in marked contrast to the behavior of more traditional commercially available water-soluble cellulose derivatives, i.e., hydroxyethyl M.S. of about 1.5 and higher or methyl D.S. of about 1.6 or higher which, at room temperature, are usually only slightly soluble in these brines.
As has been stated hereinabove, the traditional water-soluble cellulose derivatives can be made to go into solution by raising the brine to an elevated temperature. However, the viscosity generated by the low substituted, water-insoluble cellulose derivatives, when dissolved at room temperature, is in most cases equal to or greater than the viscosity generated by the traditional water-soluble materials when dissolved at elevated temperatures in the same systems. Thus, in most cases it is possible to thicken a brine without heating it. Most of the preferred cellulose derivatives employed in the process of this invention can be dissolved in brine solutions at room temperature. However, it is also possible and sometimes it may be desirable that the cellulose derivative be dissolved at an elevated temperature. When the system containing the brine and the water-insoluble cellulose derivative is heated to an elevated temperature and then cooled back to room temperature, sometimes a higher viscosity results than that experienced when dissolving at room temperature. However, in most cases, heating is not necessary and is not recommended.
The preferred cellulose derivatives employed in this invention not only form high viscosity solutions at low temperature, they do so at a relatively rapid rate. This is another advantage of the invention over thickening procedures heretofore known. In many cases, viscosity buildup reaches substantially a maximum within sixty minutes after addition of the polymer to the brine solution and commencement of agitation. If it is desired to retard the dissolution rate for any reason, this can be done by treating the cellulose ether with borax. About 0.02 to 1% by weight of borax is sufficient to retard the dissolution for about 2 to 60 minutes, depending upon the dissolution temperature.
Another characteristic of the cellulose derivatives employed in the practice of this invention is that they do not exhibit a cloud point at elevated temperatures, at least up to the boil in brine solution. That is to say, they do not exhibit a tendency to come out of solution when they are heated as do some other cellulose derivatives, such as, for example, some of those which are hydroxypropylated. This is a useful characteristic when the thickened solution is employed in an oil well inasmuch as elevated temperatures are frequently encountered in the very deep wells which are being drilled today. The viscosity is, of course, reduced due to the high temperature but a substantial amount of viscosity is retained due to the polymer remaining in solution.
The polymers employed in the practice of this invention are prepared in the manner known to the art for the preparation of cellulose derivatives. Cellulose in raw form, which can be wood pulp, chemical cotton, cotton linters, or the like, is slurried in an aqueous caustic solution and swollen to form alkali cellulose which is then treated either in dry from or in the presence of an organic diluent with the appropriate etherifying agent until the proper substitution level is achieved. This technology is known and forms no part of the present invention.
Specimens of hydroxyethyl cellulose of various substitution levels, including some water-soluble controls, were added slowly with vigorous agitation to brine solutions of various densities until completely dissolved. The HEC concentration in all cases was about 454 grams per barrel of brine.
Details on brine concentration, brine composition, HEC substitution level and viscosity of thickened solution are recorded in Table I.
TABLE I__________________________________________________________________________ ##STR1## CaCl2 CaBr2 CaBr2CaCl 2 *** CaBr2ZnBr a ##STR2## 11 11.6 14.2 15.1 14 15.1 19.1 Ex. No. M.S. ##STR3##__________________________________________________________________________ C1 C2 1 2 3 4 ##STR4## 42 49 48 13 2 1 -- 65 83 66 10 3 65 76 91 85 112 3 -- 6 104 106 42 3 7 24 122 148 125 6 -- -- 107 109 35 4 -- 9 131 137 19 4__________________________________________________________________________ *cps. measured on Fann Viscometer at 300 r.p.m., solvent viscosity subtracted. **Expressed as lbs./gallon (lbs./gallon × .11984 = g/cc) ***14 ppg is 56% solids 33 parts CaBr2 ; 23 parts CaCl2 15.1 ppg is 61% solids 45 parts CaBr2 ; 16 parts CaCl2 19.1 ppg is 76% solids 53 parts ZnBr2 ; 23 parts CaBr2
The procedure as in Examples 1 to 4 was repeated using methyl cellulose at the same concentration as the thickener. Results are recorded in Table II.
TABLE II______________________________________ ##STR5## CaCl2 CaBr2 CaCl2 /CaBr2 CaBr2 ##STR6## 11 14.2 14 15.1 19.1 Ex. No. M.S. ##STR7##______________________________________ C 5 6 7 ##STR8## -- 1 1 1 -- 79 59 61 -- 97 128 110 -- 72 179 152 115 159 167 124______________________________________

domain: chemistry


text:
China urged the Philippines on Tuesday to stop hyping up Chinese fishing boats sheltering from the wind at Niu'e reef so as to avoid any negative effect on bilateral ties as well as to preserve peace and stability in the South China Sea.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian made the comment after the Foreign Ministry of the Philippines cited the South China Sea Arbitration Award in a statement to reject China's assertion that Niu'e reef and its waters are among its traditional fishing grounds.
Niu'e reef, as part of China's Nansha Islands, as well as the part of the sea at issue, have been an important operation and shelter site for Chinese vessels
The country demands that China withdraw its fishing vessels and maritime assets from the area and the vicinity of the reef.
Niu'e reef, as part of China's Nansha Islands, as well as the part of the sea at issue, have been an important operation and shelter site for Chinese vessels, Zhao said.
"It is legitimate and justifiable for Chinese fishing boats to operate and take shelter there," he said.
The award of the South China Sea arbitration is illegal and invalid, he said, adding that China neither accepts nor recognizes it and opposes any claim or action based on it.
China's rights, interests and sovereignty over the South China Sea were formed over a long historical process and conform to international law, he said.
The Philippines attempted to use this null and void award to deny China's sovereignty and rights in the waters, and it rejects the history and right of Chinese fishermen on traditional fishing grounds, which violates international law and cannot be accepted, Zhao said.
The Philippines should view the issue in an objective and proper manner, he added.
State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with his Philippine counterpart Teodoro Locsin in Fujian province on Friday. At the talks, Wang said he hopes the two countries will avoid showing a hard attitude toward differences regarding the South China Sea issue and will jointly maintain stability in the area and the momentum of bilateral relations.
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HONG KONG NEWS


text:
LORETTO, Pa. (AP) -- Nick Doscher threw three touchdowns to help Wagner beat St. Francis (Pa) 31-24 Saturday.
After John Kelly found A.J. Alexander for a 60-yard strike to help St. Francis (3-5, 2-3 Northeast Conference) tie the game at 7 in the second quarter, Doscher answered, connecting with David Crawford for a 28-yard touchdown and a 14-7 lead. Doscher finished 12-for-17 for 163 yards.
Late in the first half, David Lopez kicked a 34-yard field goal for Wagner (4-3, 4-1) and Josh Thiel answered with a 43-yard field goal making it 17-10 at halftime.
Doscher had a strong second half, throwing two touchdowns in the third quarter. He found Dominique Williams for a 7-yard score and connected with Darnell Sapp with 1:06 left in the third quarter for a 31-17 lead.
The Red Flash scored a late touchdown making it 31-24, but it was not enough as Kelly fumbled on their last possession.

domain: news


text:
Photo: Ed BruskeThe Slow Cook has learned that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will not back away from proposed guidelines for more expensive school food despite demands from Republican lawmakers that the agency eliminate any requirements that would increase the cost of the federally subsidized school meals program.
The GOP-controlled House Appropriations Committee recently attached language to a funding measure for agriculture programs directing the USDA to rewrite the proposed school meal guidelines so that they do not create any additional costs. The USDA has estimated that the proposed guidelines as currently written [PDF], calling for much larger servings of vegetables and whole grains and less salt, would require schools to cook more food from scratch and would raise the cost of a subsidized lunch by 15 cents, breakfast by more than 50 cents. The result would be some $7 billion in additional expenses over five years, to be paid mostly by state and local governments that are still reeling from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
But the USDA believes the appropriations language cannot undo the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act approved by Congress last December, which mandated new meal guidelines. The guidelines were the result of years-long study by the Institute of Medicine. USDA officials consider them to be “science based,” and do not intend to rewrite them in response to what they see as an arbitrary and perhaps politically motivated move by conservative lawmakers.
The proposed guidelines recently underwent a public comment period that generated some 130,000 responses. The USDA in coming months may modify the guidelines. They could be in place as early as fall 2012.
In passing its reauthorization of the school meals program, Congress approved a six-cent hike in the federal reimbursement rate for lunch, but only for schools that comply with the new guidelines. The USDA currently provides schools with $2.72 for every student who qualifies for a free lunch. About 32 million of the nation’s children participate in the subsidized lunch program daily.
In fact, the House directive aimed at meal guidelines was not contained in the appropriations bill, but rather in the committee’s report [PDF] on the bill. The report, which serves as an explanatory text, travels with the bill through the legislative process. In some cases, such committee reports contain language giving specific directions to government agencies. Agencies of the executive branch may follow Congress’ wishes. But such directives do not carry the full force of the law and in this case the USDA would choose to ignore what GOP House members have demanded.
The report states: “The Committee urges restraint and practical timeliness for implementing new national nutrition standards in the school breakfast and lunch programs. As many of the representatives in states and local school districts have cautioned, an overly aggressive implementation schedule and unrealistic demands on changes in nutrient content can lead to burdensome costs, estimated to be about $7 billion over five years. Therefore, the Committee directs [USDA Food and Nutrition Services] to issue a new proposed rule that would not require an increase in the cost of providing school meals.”
The language was expected to be approved by the full House when it takes up the agriculture appropriations measure, but is not likely to survive reconciliation with the Democrat-controlled Senate.
The Institute of Medicine panel that wrote the proposed guidelines cautioned that there was no guarantee children would actually eat the “healthier” foods the USDA is calling for. School food service directors have urged that the new requirements be pilot-tested on a small scale before being mandated nationwide. Some have said they may have to drop their breakfast program because of additional food costs.
The GOP House appropriation for agriculture programs has also drawn fire from the Obama administration and the advocacy community for rolling back spending on food entitlement programs such as WIC (Women, Infants and Children) and others serving seniors. It would also curtail funds for food safety inspections.
The action on school meal guidelines was probably intended more as a political message for consumption by the party’s conservative base. Cost-cutting has become the GOP mantra. It also favors corporate food interests, which would just as soon see meal guidelines unchanged and schools reliant on cheap processed products, rather than the kind of whole foods the new guidelines call for.
Nevertheless, the appropriations committee directive has caused much hand-wringing among advocates of healthier school food. Media accounts thus far have failed to adequately explain the actual impact of the committee action, and the USDA has remained silent.

domain: law


Welcome to Weird Science DC Comics, the DC Comics site for the common man and woman. We're not high falutin, just a bunch of dummies who love comics just like you...we just spend an insane amount of time working on this site for no pay. I told you...dummies! So, sit a spell and read our Reviews, News and Articles and if you are really brave, listen to the Weird Science DC Comics Podcast. We triple dog dare you!
Art By: Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, Wil Quintana, Rob Leigh Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: June 1, 2016
*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*
While the Final Days of Superman came off a bit rough because of how it seemed to be just working off a check list instead of telling a really cohesive and insightful story, I think we can all agree that the final pages of that arc were something of a tearjerker. Goddamn if it didn't make me feel like I was ten years old again reading about when Superman died the first time at the hands of Doomsday. Yeah, the arc with the Solar Superman didn't have that "oomf" that the original death of Superman had, but in the end it had all feels that we've been missing from a Superman title and hopefully those kind of feels should remain with Superman continuing over into Rebirth. That's right boys and girls, Superman is dead and now it's up to a Pre-Flashpoint Superman to take his place and inspire hope to the masses as he protects his adoptive world and the rest of us that also happen to call it home. Let's jump into this issue and see what's up with Rebirth and how our Superman title will be affected by it. Let's check it out.
Our Rebirth story begins with Pre-Flashpoint Superman going to the grave of the New 52 Superman and looking on at the monument in the works. Right now it's just a base in the form of Superman's shield, but soon a statue remembering Superman and all he's done will be placed upon it........... and for everything that the New 52 Superman and all of us fans went through during the DCYou faze last year and into this one, it's weird to think that the people of Metropolis would be all about giving the Last Son of Krypton this big ass monument because it wasn't too long ago that they were shouting things like "dirty alien" and a whole lot of other shit that I'm sure was a hundred times worse. Probably though, like all of us, Metropolis is trying to put that time behind them and move on and nothing says I'm sorry like a monument built after someone dies so that they don't actually have to say the words to the person's face. I just realized that I went into this review with a real positive attitude, but goddamn the people of Metropolis are a bunch of dicks. Okay, okay, I'm done talking about that, let's get back to the book........... and for now on since we're in Rebirth territory, I'm going to be referring to Pre-Flashpoint Superman as just Superman......... You know, since he's Superman now. Anyway, Superman is at the monument waiting for the New 52 Superman to return to the land of the living, but after he discovers Lana Lang breaking into the crypt underneath to take Superman's body, we learn that this was Superman's plan too.
While Lana had made a promise to take the New 52 Superman's body and bury it next to his parents in Smallville, Superman intended to take it back to the Fortress and see if he could acquire the Regeneration Matrix that brought him back to life after his fight with Doomsday....... which leads into an awesome recap of those events that gave me the feels the way they did twenty four years ago. I don't know what it is about that story, but whenever it's referenced or shown I can't help but get the chills. It's a bit weird though after story time because we learn that Superman doesn't know where the Fortress of Solitude is and needed to track the New 52 Superman in order to find it, but since he's dead it looks like that will never happen. I just think it would be pretty easy for Superman to fly over the Arctic until he came across a ice fortress type structure, but it doesn't matter anyway because Lana somehow knows where it is......... This plays into the final pages of The Final Days of Superman arc, when the New 52 Superman died we saw energy come off of that Superman and hit not only Lois Lane, but Lana Lang too. So Lana's got something going on with her, but besides for her strange knowledge about where the Fortress is, we don't get into all of that here.
In the end, Superman and Lana travel to the Fortress of Solitude, but sadly this Universe's Superman doesn't have a Regeneration Matrix the way our current Superman did so all seems lost in bringing him back to life. We do see Superman really impressed though that the New 52 Superman built ice statues of not only his parents from Krytpon, but the Kents as well and we get a real nice feeling that for how dark the New 52 was, there were slivers of hope that even surpassed their Pre-Flashpoint counterparts. As our issue closes, with no hope of resurrecting the New 52 Superman, Superman helps Lana fulfill her promise by taking the New 52 Superman's body back to Smallville, where Lana begins to dig and since she wants to do it alone, we see Superman go back to the Fortress and continue to inspire hope when we close this issue out with him building a statue of the New 52 Superman between the statues of the Kents.
That's it for this issue of Superman Rebirth and like Jim and I talked about on the podcast and countless other places, Rebirth seemed to be all about the tone of what we'd be getting in the future over some drastic story change and that becomes really evident in this issue because the tone of this book is everything that you'd want from a Superman title. We've got the heart, the legacy and even the hope of a better tomorrow oozing out of this book and I honestly can't wait to see this title in the upcoming months because it really feels like everything that we've wanted a Superman title to be for a long time now. It's all about moving forward from here on out and putting the darkness and sometimes jerkiness of this title and character behind us and with solid storytelling and art all the way through this is definitely a title you won't want to miss. It's a brand new day and I already have my shoes on. Let's get going.
Bits and Pieces:
Rebirth has finally come out and smacked all of us in the face and now it's up to the individual books to continue what that prologue started and since we here at Weird Science believe everything in that massive book was all about setting a tone..... Well, Superman Rebirth continues that tone tremendously and gets me really excited for how our Man of Steel will continue from here on out. Everything that you've missed about Superman or even felt was wrong about Superman of the New 52 is pushed aside here as we just let hope, legacy and heart back into our lives and the comic works beautifully because of it.


text:
Study: Majority of New Orleanians Say City is Unsafe
NEW ORLEANS – Seventy-four percent of New Orleans residents believe the crime problem in the city has gotten worse over the last year, according to the latest annual survey conducted by the New Orleans Crime Coalition. The June 11-17 survey, conducted by Faucheux Strategies, was designed to measure public perception of the performance of the New Orleans Police Department and resident opinions and concerns regarding crime in the City.
Designed to track trends over time in how New Orleans residents view NOPD, the study is based on a representative sample of 800 adult residents of New Orleans with a margin of error of +/- 3 percent. The survey was conducted by live telephone interviewers via cell and landlines.
Findings from the report include:
- Satisfaction with the NOPD is down five points at 52 percent since 2020; as in past years, black residents (51%) and white residents (52%) expressed similar views.
- 63 percent of residents say they are satisfied with the NOPD’s work in their own neighborhood. Neighborhood satisfaction is highest in the Lakeview/Mid-City area (79%) and lowest in the New Orleans East and Gentilly/Lower 9 areas (55%).
- Only 35% of survey respondents say that, citywide, New Orleans is safe. That percentage represents a steep 22-point drop since the 2020 survey.
- Since the 2020 survey, the perception that “your own neighborhood” is safe also declined 7 points from 81 percent to 74 percent.
- 74 percent of residents believe the crime problem in New Orleans has gotten worse over the past year.
Based on the survey findings, the dip in overall citizen satisfaction with the NOPD since the 2020 survey has been modest, even though public concerns with crime and safety have dramatically increased. The NOPD satisfaction rating has ranged from 51 percent in 2017 to 57 percent in 2020 compared to 52 percent in 2021.
Interestingly, 24 percent of the citizens who say the city is not safe also say they are satisfied with the NOPD. A random sampling of 20 in-depth interviews concluded respondents do not believe the NOPD is solely responsible for making the city safe and do not blame the department for the rise in crime.
“We are at a crossroads and in order to turn the corner, the city must take specific actions such as increasing the NOPD’s budget for officer retention and recruitment and enhancing crime-fighting technologies, to stop violent crimes and protect the public,” said Loyola University’s Dr. Michael Cowan, chairman of the Crime Coalition. The NOPD has not seen a budget increase since 2018.
“While crime is an issue nationally, every locale is different,” said Cowan. “This independent scientific study was designed as a tool for the NOPD, city leadership, and the public to come together to make our city safer. There is no stronger call to action than the genuine sentiments of Orleans Parish residents, as revealed in their opinions in this survey. Violent crime is surging in New Orleans; political, business, civic, and religious leaders must step up together and show our men and women behind the shield that we stand with them.”
Since 2009, NOCC has conducted an independent analysis of citizens’ perceptions of the NOPD with the strong conviction that a regular public spotlight on how citizens perceive the police department will help identify areas of concern and inspire positive changes within NOPD that will build trust between citizens and the police department, and ultimately make New Orleans streets safer.
The Greater New Orleans Foundation and GNO Inc. donated funding for the 2021 NOCC study.
Interviews were conducted by live, professionally trained telephone interviewers. Faucheux Strategies is an independent and nonpartisan survey firm based in New Orleans and headed by Ron Faucheux, who served for 12 years as president of Clarus Research Group, a polling company located in Washington, D.C.. Neither firm works for New Orleans city government or the NOPD.
To download NOCC’s 2021 NOPD Citizen Satisfaction Survey analysis, visit www.neworleanscrimecoalition.org.


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text:
The Pine Mountain Settlement School, a National Historic Landmark in Harlan County, Kentucky, is a treasured steward of local environmental and cultural heritage in a region long impacted by the destabilizing forces of resource extraction and industrialization. Founded in 1913 as a boarding school for children in the Kentucky mountains, it operates today as an educational community center focused on place-based learning and Appalachian tradition.
One of the school’s richest assets is its archive: a collection of photos, maps, letters, interviews, and newspapers, it reveals local histories of food cultivation, homesteading, and environmental change dating back nearly a century. Jason Cohen will use the Fellowship to partner with public high school teachers in Harlan County and the surrounding region to develop curricula that bring students into the Pine Mountain archives, creating opportunities to engage with primary documents and to research how the past directly informs the present. At an end-of-year symposium, students from each school will broaden the impact of their work with the archives by sharing their findings across projects and subject areas with one another and the local community.
For decades, Appalachia’s heritage has been viewed by some as a kind of “overburden,” the mining term for land on top of coal deposits that must be removed before extraction can begin. With this Fellowship, Cohen and his collaborators will renew attention and care for Appalachia’s neglected natural environment and its traditional ways of life while re-energizing teachers’ pedagogical practice and offering rural schools a model for using local archives to develop historical understanding.