This paper examines the role of popular participation, in particular through NGOs, in both promoting democracy (seen as essential for better governance) and the maintenance of a market economy. Making a crucial distinction between the forms and characteristics of good government, it finds no empirical relationship between the form of government and successful development. It argues that while d...

On June 22, 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) withdrew the “Guideline on Validation of the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate Test as an End-product Test for Human and Animal Parenteral Drugs, Biological Products, and Medical Devices,” which was issued in 1987. Elements of the Guideline continue to impact current methods because they can be found in other references relied on by the indus...

Animals must negotiate obstacles in their path in order to successfully function within natural environments. These actions require transitions from walking to other behaviors, many of which are more involved than simple reflexes. For these behaviors to be successful, insects must evaluate objects in their path and then use that information to change posture or re-direct leg movements. Some of ...

A collaborative study has been carried out to establish the precision and accuracy of five test systems for the assessment of the toxicity of whole cell pertussis vaccine. To this end, six vaccines, including both "normal" and "abnormal" products with respect to arbitrary levels of Pertussis toxin and/or potency were tested. The study included in vivo test systems as the Mouse Weight Gain (MWG)...

The Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) assay is a sensitive method for detecting endotoxin. Using gram-negative (GN) bacteremia as the basis for comparison, concordance with endotoxemia in 45 studies could be expressed as an odds ratio. Calculation of summary odds ratios by the Mantel-Haenszel-Peto method indicated that the concordance of the results was no higher by the chromogenic LAL assay than ...