Other Types of Attacks
This chapter describes the conditions under which LeT carries out terrorist attacks on holidays as well as attempted (but unsuccessful) attacks. The chapter discusses several TP-rules about these types of terror attacks that were derived automatically from the LeT data set used in this book.
Storming the World Stage: The Story of Lashkar-E-Taiba
On November 21, 2008, ten men boarded a boat in Karachi and hijacked an Indian fishing trawler, killing four of the vessel's crewmen and forcing its captain to sail toward India. Four miles off the coast of Mumbai, these men abandoned the trawler for inflatable speedboats, and within hours they began hitting multiple targets in Mumbai in a series of simultaneous and well-coordinated attacks. Over the course of three days, more than 170 people were killed and more than 300 injured. The victims included members of the Indian elite as well as Jews and Westerners. The Mumbai attacks placed Lashkar-e-Taiba high on the list of the world's most fearsome terrorist groups. A complex and powerful organization that rose to prominence with Pakistani state support, Lashkar has sent scores of fighters to Iraq and Afghanistan and provides them with essential strategic and tactical help. Lashkar was formed by men with years of training in the trenches of Kashmir, and its skill in executing efficient and effective insurgencies has made the organization extremely attractive to dissidents. Nevertheless, Lashkar is afraid to associate too closely with al-Qaeda, which is closely tied to Pakistan's government, and al-Qaeda is afraid to ally itself too intimately with Lashkar, which would jeopardize its partnership with the Pakistani state. Were the Mumbai attacks evidence of Lashkar's increasing infiltration of al-Qaeda's domain, or were they simply the latest in a series of attacks on Pakistan's historic rival? Stephen Tankel traces the development of Lashkar from a small resistance group to the largest, most feared organization operating in Kashmir, India, and Pakistan today. He considers the threat Lashkar now poses to Pakistan, India, and the West, and how this danger may evolve in coming decades.
Cross talk between redox signalling and metabolic activity of osteoblasts and fibroblasts in the presence of hydroxyapatite-based biomaterials influences bone regeneration
Regeneration of bone tissue defects that result from metabolic disorders, including periodontal diseases, can be supported by biomaterials based on hydroxyapatite. Despite of good biocompatibility of biomaterials they can cause oxidative stress and inflammatory processes as a result of mechanical interaction with surrounding tissues. Because osteoblasts are responsible for bone regeneration process in which gingival fibroblasts may also participate, the aim of the work was to investigate the influence of hydroxyapatite-based biomaterials (allogeneic and xenogeneic) and biomaterials combined with enamel matrix derivative (Emdogain) on osteoblast and fibroblast redox balance in the context of osteoblast proliferation and differentiation.
The results showed that examined substitutes were not cytotoxic in vitro, but affected redox balance of osteoblasts and fibroblasts (ROS level increase and GSH level decrease) which led to oxidative stress (MDA and protein carbonyl groups level increase) resulting in an increase of the Nrf2 and NFκB expression. The consequence of these changes was partial inhibition of proliferation and osteoblast differentiation. Emdogain alone and combined with biomaterials decreased ROS generation and increased GSH level in both osteoblasts and fibroblasts leading to reduction of transcription factors expression especially proinflammatory NFκB, which promoted osteoblast differentiation and mineralization process.