Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

Ricin is a potent and easy to extract plant toxin. Its characteristics make it a potentially dangerous biological weapon. We understand now, better than ever, the pathogenesis of ricin poisoning. But treatment of ricin poisoning is still mainly supportive. More research is needed to develop specific and effective modalities of treatment.

The threat of bioterrorism is no longer as remote as it was in the past. The medical community should be familiar with the clinical presentation and treatment of ricin poisoning. Knowledge will allow better recognition and response to an attack.

Ricin is a potent and easy to extract plant toxin. Its characteristics make it a potentially dangerous biological weapon. We understand now, better than ever, the pathogenesis of ricin poisoning. But treatment of ricin poisoning is still mainly supportive. More research is needed to develop specific and effective modalities of treatment.

The threat of bioterrorism is no longer as remote as it was in the past. The medical community should be familiar with the clinical presentation and treatment of ricin poisoning. Knowledge will allow better recognition and response to an attack.

Ricin is a potent and easy to extract plant toxin. Its characteristics make it a potentially dangerous biological weapon. We understand now, better than ever, the pathogenesis of ricin poisoning. But treatment of ricin poisoning is still mainly supportive. More research is needed to develop specific and effective modalities of treatment.

The threat of bioterrorism is no longer as remote as it was in the past. The medical community should be familiar with the clinical presentation and treatment of ricin poisoning. Knowledge will allow better recognition and response to an attack.

Ricin is a potent and easy to extract plant toxin. Its characteristics make it a potentially dangerous biological weapon. We understand now, better than ever, the pathogenesis of ricin poisoning. But treatment of ricin poisoning is still mainly supportive. More research is needed to develop specific and effective modalities of treatment.

The threat of bioterrorism is no longer as remote as it was in the past. The medical community should be familiar with the clinical presentation and treatment of ricin poisoning. Knowledge will allow better recognition and response to an attack.

The optical properties and light climate during the ice-free period in the highly stratified Lake Verevi (Estonia) have been studied together with other lakes in same region since 1994. The upper water layer above the thermocline belongs to class “moderate” by optical classification of Estonian lakes but can turn “turbid” (concentration of chlorophyll up to 73 mg m and total suspended matter up to 13.2 g m) during late summer blooms. In the blue part of the spectrum, light is mainly attenuated by dissolved organic matter and in red part notably scattering but also absorption by phytoplanktonic pigments effect the spectral distribution of underwater light. Consequently, the underwater light is of greenish-yellow color (550–650 nm). Rapid change in optical properties occurs with an increase of all optically active substances close to thermocline (2.5–6 m). Optical measurements are often hampered beneath this layer so that modeling of the depth distribution of the diffuse attenuation coefficient is an useful compliment to field measurements. K ranges from 0.8 to 2.9 m in the surface layer, and model results suggest that it may be up to 5.8 m in the optically dense layer. This forms a barrier for light penetration into the hypolimnion.

In addition to causing illness and death, a biological attack would aim to cause fear in the general populace and, thus, result in social and economic disruption. Based on their fearsome reputation and dramatization by the popular media, VHF agents would be excellent candidates to serve this purpose. Given the potential for a biological attack to occur, it is of the utmost importance that resources and knowledge are made available to deal effectively with such a situation in a safe and timely manner.

In addition to causing illness and death, a biological attack would aim to cause fear in the general populace and, thus, result in social and economic disruption. Based on their fearsome reputation and dramatization by the popular media, VHF agents would be excellent candidates to serve this purpose. Given the potential for a biological attack to occur, it is of the utmost importance that resources and knowledge are made available to deal effectively with such a situation in a safe and timely manner.

Ricin is a potent and easy to extract plant toxin. Its characteristics make it a potentially dangerous biological weapon. We understand now, better than ever, the pathogenesis of ricin poisoning. But treatment of ricin poisoning is still mainly supportive. More research is needed to develop specific and effective modalities of treatment.

The threat of bioterrorism is no longer as remote as it was in the past. The medical community should be familiar with the clinical presentation and treatment of ricin poisoning. Knowledge will allow better recognition and response to an attack.

The optical properties and light climate during the ice-free period in the highly stratified Lake Verevi (Estonia) have been studied together with other lakes in same region since 1994. The upper water layer above the thermocline belongs to class “moderate” by optical classification of Estonian lakes but can turn “turbid” (concentration of chlorophyll up to 73 mg m and total suspended matter up to 13.2 g m) during late summer blooms. In the blue part of the spectrum, light is mainly attenuated by dissolved organic matter and in red part notably scattering but also absorption by phytoplanktonic pigments effect the spectral distribution of underwater light. Consequently, the underwater light is of greenish-yellow color (550–650 nm). Rapid change in optical properties occurs with an increase of all optically active substances close to thermocline (2.5–6 m). Optical measurements are often hampered beneath this layer so that modeling of the depth distribution of the diffuse attenuation coefficient is an useful compliment to field measurements. K ranges from 0.8 to 2.9 m in the surface layer, and model results suggest that it may be up to 5.8 m in the optically dense layer. This forms a barrier for light penetration into the hypolimnion.

In this chapter, I have demonstrated that it is possible to calculate the optimal annual amount that should be spent on a defined intervention to prevent or reduce the impact of a bioterrorist attack or other catastrophic infectious disease event. Such calculations, however, are not trivial and require a great deal of information. The information includes the epidemiology of the disease (e.g., who gets ill, what happens to them), the cost of such impacts, the potential effectiveness of proposed interventions, and an understanding of the annual probability of the event actually occurring. There are a great number of uncertainties associated with each of these inputs, and the impact of such uncertainties must be explored through systematic sensitivity analyses. One of the goals of such sensitivity analyses should be to identify the 2–3 most influential inputs. These 2–3 influential inputs then represent potential “policy levers” that policy makers can focus interventions. Finally, it must be appreciated that calculating the optimal annual amount to be spent on an intervention is not the complete set of decision-making points. There are many other factors influencing the choice of intervention. However, because calculating the optimal amount to be spent on a given intervention combines many different variables into a single estimate (the optimal amount), the calculated amount provides valuable information by which to start the decision-making process.