Among the Hidden Book Report

Among the Hidden In the book Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix is about the Governments rules and restrictions about having more then two children and in this essay I'm going to describe the three characters and how they resisted the Government. The book Among the Hidden is about Government controlling the population by limited the number of children people can have and how one boy Luke survives bing hidden in his house his whole life. I'm going to write about three main characters and how they resisted the population police. They can change the future by opposing the government and population police by helping the shadow children. I'm going to write about Luke, Jen and Mr. Talbot and how they defied the Government and population police. Luke resisted by getting a fake I. D, Jen resisted by creating the shadow children chat room and Mr. Talbot resisted by sabotaging the population police work. Each characters had there own way to combat the suppressive Government. Luke is a naive 12 year old boy that can never leave his house because he is a third child which is illegal and all that changes when he discovers Jen. After he found Jen he did a lot to resist the population police. One of the things he resisted was that he sneaked out to Jen as much as he could. They usually talked about how Government and population police were wrong. Also, he left his home to help the shadow children, so he got a fake I. D as Lee Grant. Luke proved that he was brave by leaving the safety of his home and the only four people he loved and know to help other shadow children. Jen is brave and street smart 12 year old 3rd child and unlike most shadow children she happened on purpose. Jen also did many things to resist the population police, but she been doing it for most of the 12 years of her life. One thing she did was create the shadow children chat room. Another thing she did was that she blogged about the stuff she thought were wrong and thought was right. Also, she thought of the rally at the presidents house. Even though it ended terribly, she still hoped and tried. Jen was very courageous and persistent, she died trying to help all the shadow children and she encouraged Luke to go out and help the Shadow children on his own. Mr. Talbot also known as Jen's dad works for the population police but he does not agree with them and tries to sabotage them as much as he can, I'd describe as a secret agent working inside enemy lines. He resisted the population police by agreeing with Mrs. Talbot about taking care and keeping a secret about Jen. Another thing he does is bribing the citizens, workers and the policeman about shadow children. Also, he helped Luke by getting him a fake I. D so Luke can go out and help shadow children. Mr. Talbot is braver then Luke or Jen because he works for the population police and if he gets caught he can lose his job and get killed so he is very cunning and valiant. They can alter the future by withstanding the Government and population police by helping the third children. Luke, Jen, and Mr. Talbot are very brave and heroic. They help shadow children in different, but equally important ways. Jen with her outward protesting, Mr Talbot and his inside secret ways and Luke with his courageous decision to go out to the world only to help third children. This book Among the Hidden is captivating and intelligent novel and the characters are interesting and different that makes me want to read this book over and over again.

Field research is Primary research Essay

I will write short, concise notes. A mix of both types of recording is needed, given the type of primary data wanted at the end of the questioning.  On our fieldtrip we will go to a small area called Ballyhackamore as it is very close to our school and has a very wide range of shops. There are also a lot of people that shop here every week. These people are of a very varied age range and also an even proportion of males and females. We have decided to use field and desk research.  Field research is Primary research.  This means that we go out and collect the information ourselves, so we do not have to sift through many pages of useless information, trying to find out one small piece of information that we could use.  However we will also use desk research. This is where we look at information other people have gathered and use it to our advantage. This includes looking through newspapers, surfing the Internet or going to a library and examining records or books and the Companies Office if they are a limited company. This is going to be used to find out what businesses are in the area and what sort of profit they are making per annum. Market Research – Market research is the process of gaining information about customers, competitors and market trends through collecting primary and secondary data. I will use market research to find the answer to my questionnaire i.e. what sort of business the local people in the Ballyhackamore area thought was missing and what they would like to see in the area. This is Primary research. It is also called Field Research. This will be our Questionnaire. There is also Secondary Research. This involves looking at status from different years about topics and drawing conclusions from it. I could look at maps of Ballyhackamore to make sure I don’t create a business where it is not needed, or indeed duplicate a similar business, unless I feel the demand is there for a second one.  Bank – I am using the bank for the purpose of collecting information about anything financial, from loans to pay for property, mortgage on property and starting the best bank account to suit my circumstances. They will act like a Financial Advisor. I will check Interest Rates and get the best deal. Estate Agents – The estate agents job will be to show me the best available premises to start my business. I will look around many different estate agents until I can find the property and price that suits my business. I will also keep checking in the local press.  Internet – the Internet will be used to show me available properties in the area but also to find out about the competition from rival companies in the area. It will also be used as advertising once the business has been set up. I could use E-Mail to send people information on the business. This may be unsuccessful because people will probably think it is Junk Mail and delete it. Therefore I will not depend on this as my only source of advertising. Newspaper – this will be used while searching for the property but also as advertising after the business has been opened. It will also be used to advertise jobs in the business.  Invest NI -I will talk to Invest NI (the new name for LEDU) about the possibility of both capital and revenue to help until the initial set up phase of my business. Also in the medium to long term I will hope to keep my relationship with Invest NI and be eligible for future grants. Shell Livewire – Shell Livewire is another company, the same as Invest NI that helps businesses to begin and grow. They give grants to entrepreneurs to help them in their quest for a successful business.  After completing all my questionnaires I will now put all my information into a database. I am using a database because I can perform searches on the information I have gathered to try and find exactly what I need to know. I can find different age groups, different sexes and even if the people are married or not. I will be using the database a lot until I discover which business I am going to open. I will then analyse my database and from that, hopefully find out what the public want in the area.    On a search of properties in East Belfast I found there were no available properties in Ballyhackamore that would suit setting up a business. However I did find a lot of buildings in East Belfast that could be possible sites for setting up a business.  I found a sound property on Castlereagh Street.  I also found a property on the Cregagh Road. It is in a good location because this is near Ballyhackamore, however it is an upstairs premises so this could limit the type of people who could visit my business e.g. people in wheelchairs. New legislation coming in the next few years regarding access for the disabled means that an upstairs coffee shop without a lift to the first floor would not be viable.  I have also found a suitable building in Kings Square. This is very close to Ballyhackamore and has a small shopping community itself. This would be a brilliant place for a coffee shop or trendy coffee bar. However on further examination of the area I discovered a coffee shop above a light shop in the Square, but again, access to the first floor could be a problem in the future.

Aztecs And Incas Essay Research Paper The

Aztecs And Incas Essay, Research Paper The Inca and the Aztec were likewise in some ways but besides had really big differences. The Inca lived on the northeasterly seashore of South America from 1450 AD to 1535 AD. The Aztecs lived in cardinal Mexico from 1325 AD to 1523 AD. Let # 8217 ; s expression at the agribusiness. The Inca had an advanced agribusiness system, which allowed them to turn more nutrient and specialize. They would carve stairss out of a hill and so would works veggies such as maize, beans, and squash. These were called patios. They besides had an advanced irrigation system that consisted of canals and watercourses to assist H2O the patios. The Aztecs besides had an advanced agricultural system. They used drifting gardens called chinampas which were tonss made of reeds which dirt was put onto and so seeds were planted in it. This manner they could hold more land for farming. Let # 8217 ; s expression at warfare. The Inca were non really aggressive people and seldom fought wars. Normally they fought merely to suppress more lands or if they were threatened. You will read subsequently how a civil war brought the Inca empire down. The Aztecs were a really militant civilisation and were really aggressive. They fought frequently so they could take prisoners for forfeit. All Aztec work forces were required to contend at the male monarch # 8217 ; s order. When they could non happen a alibi for war they played a ball game called tlatchli in which the also-rans of the game would be sacrificed. Now let # 8217 ; s expression at faith. The Incas faith was complex and focused around the Sun. The Inca believed in blood forfeit and graven images. Besides they sacrificed black llamas as offe rings to the Sun. Like the Inca, the Aztec faith focused around the Sun. They believed in human forfeit and that the Sun would decease if they did non do a forfeit. Aztec priests made the forfeits and were ranked high in the Aztec civilisation. Now let # 8217 ; s talk about authorities. The Inca authorities was a rigorous monarchy. The chief swayers were the male monarch and his Lords. The people # 8217 ; s lives were wholly controlled by the male monarch and his Lords. Without the male monarch and his Lords, the imperium would fall. The Aztec authorities consisted of an emperor who ruled the people. The following most of import individual to the emperor was the snake adult female ( who was a adult male ) , who advised the emperor in of import determinations. The last of import group in the authorities were the Lords, knights, and the priests. Let # 8217 ; s talk about the ruin of the civilisations. The terminal of the Incas imperium was in 1531 at the custodies of the Spanish. They were conquered by a Spanish soldier named Francisco Pizzaro. The Incas imperium fell when the male monarch and all the Lords were murdered by Pizzaro when they came out to recognize him. With no swayers to steer the people, the Incas imperium was subdued easy. The Aztec were conquered in 1521 by the Spanish. They were conquered by Hernando Cortes. He had taken over them with a little ground forces in 1519, but was driven out of Mexico. Cortes came back with a larger ground forces in 1521 and eventually conquered the Aztecs. These are some of the large differences between the Inca and Aztec civilisations. But they besides had some similarities like in agriculture and faith. Its interesting how some different civilizations can be likewise.

The rise of Al Qaeda, religious militancy and terrorism Essay

The rise of Al Qaeda, religious militancy and terrorism - Essay Example According to Marshall McLuhan, one of the pillars of mass media theory, â€Å"without communication, terrorism would not exist.† Certainly, terrorism existed well before mass media; but the latter definitely gave the former a great advantage. Before, terrorism is limited to the area that goons, thugs or soldiers can reach. Today, one can just create a newsworthy event and the scope of exposure is limitless. This was what bin Laden and al-Qaeda exploited. He saw that mass media can be used â€Å"to get attention, to gain recognition, and even to obtain a certain degree of respect and legitimacy†. It can be said that al-Qaeda’s rise to power were determined by how bin Laden used the media to get his message across to the world. He knew that his organization needed an international audience to gain legitimacy; because without it, he would not be able to get funding and recruitment would be more difficult to accomplish. With malicious precision in manipulating the me dia, bin Laden was able to propel al-Qaeda as an organization that the world needs to take seriously. Hoffman states that terrorists, as exemplified by bin Laden, aims to dominate and control by sending a message of fear—and there is no better way to instill fear to the masses than through the media. Bin Laden recognized that when the masses are afraid for their lives, it propagates uncertainty and chaos, not only to a large population, but more importantly, to the nations’ democratic leaders.... 5). Hoffman (as cited in Fiore, 2011, p. 27) states that terrorists, as exemplified by bin Laden, aims to dominate and control by sending a message of fear—and there is no better way to instill fear to the masses than through the media. But why instill fear? Bin Laden recognized that when the masses are afraid for their lives, it propagates uncertainty and chaos, not only to a large population, but more importantly, to the nations’ democratic leaders (p. 27; Soriano, 2008, p. 2). â€Å"This instability can prompt people, and even governments, to think and react differently than they would have otherwise,† making them lean towards making decisions that would favor al-Qaeda (p. 27). Aside from exploiting this strategy, al-Qaeda also became infamous for making good on their threats and doing it in a visual manner that would gain the most attention and implant the most fear and hatred. The organization’s attacks were powerful in that it was grand yet personal, vast yet meaningful. This can perfectly be seen in the 9/11 attacks, in which the entire world was treated to a visual overload of exploding buildings—the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, no less—planes crashing, and hundreds of people dying or jumping to their deaths. Every channel for the next few days—and even years—broadcasted the attacks. The attacks were large-scale, in a country considered to be a world power, against a building that is a symbol of international collaboration, and they came at a time the world least expected them. The attention al-Qaeda got was monumental. If people were not aware of the existence of al-Qaeda, they sure were made aware on the morning of September 11, 2001. And the message was clear and powerful.

Louise Bourgeois Suspension art show and write an essay about Louise

Louise Bourgeois Suspension art show and write an about Louise Bourgeois current exhibition - Essay Example ’s marble sculptures, of the 1990s large installations, the Cells, the house –women theme is omnipresent in all the works by Louise Bourgeois (Armstrong, 2006). In her works, which derive their meeting taste of incongruent elements coming from the surrealists, the bodies of women terminated in different houses types. In this work, the rigorously vertical canvas, the female figure that is without arms, carrying a grey building that has columns on its shoulders. The house grey rigidity contrasts with the bright pink color of the female body whose genitals that have been outlined resemble a flower. Louise Bourgeois also has a wood painted in white with black and blue 69.10 by 68.60 by 206.40 cm in size. In her early career, Louise Bourgeois did a lot of painting until 1947 when she began doing sculpture work, producing totemic figures from wood. These figures, which she referred to them as â€Å"personages†, are entities which enabled Louise Bourgeois to get rid of the homesickness which she experienced after living France and the members of her family. Louise Bourgeois considered sculpture as an interrelationship with what is around her and the pieces of works between themselves. Lacking bases, she designed her personages in such away that they were pushed into the ground just like totems. Her gallery constraints obliged her to include bases on them. Quarantania sculpture is made up of five figures, including all the totems that Louise Bourgeois displayed separately in the exhibition in 1949 at the Peridot Gallery. At the centre of the sculpture is the woman with packages with several shuttle-women surrounding it. The shuttle, which is one of the tools that were used by her parents as they worked in their workshop restoring Aubusson tapestries, is an emotional and formal element associated with the childhood of the artists. Insecurely balanced at that point which fixes it to its base, each of the female figure look like are supporting the other figures and

Cultural concerns in healthcare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cultural concerns in healthcare - Essay Example Cultural competence in nursing can be defined as the ability of a nurse to meet the requirements and wishes of all kinds of patients regardless of the color of their skin, religious conviction, or even language. In this presentation, we will focus on Asian Americans and Islam in relation to cultural concerns to healthcare. Culture plays a significant role in healthcare today. Different cultures have diverse viewpoints or ideas on the reasons behind each and every disease or medical condition. In addition, different cultures have their own ideas in regard to management and curing of particular diseases, and have their own healers or traditional doctors. Therefore, all strategies aimed at eradication and treatment of diseases within the society ought to countenance with cultural beliefs. To understand cultural concerns in healthcare, let us focus our attention on a specific cultural practice and belief relating to the Asian Americans. An assertion by Yoo, Le and Oda (2012) elucidate Asian Americans cultural beliefs on the origins of illnesses. They posit that "An individual illness may have a spiritual explanation whereby an individual was being punished for his sins or possessed by an evil spirit, an imbalance of hot and cold caused by not enough off one kind of food or the other, a weakness of the will, an imbalance of the vital energy, or a magical explanation, such as an evil eye" (p. 271). According to Dayer-Berenson (2011), Muslims require their women to cover their bodies completely except the face and hands. In healthcare therefore, this practice ought to be respected. Since some forms of medical examinations have to be done in hospital attire, the hospital staff should avail hospital attires that covers their bodies completely in accordance with their religion. However, some hospitals allow Muslim women to retain their own attires in cases where the hospital is unable to avail an

Small Business Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Small Business Management - Essay Example Virtual Transport is a small business which offers transporting and haulage services and functions with a staff of eight employees and the entrepreneur. Having undergone a financial crisis during its first year of inception, the company has just managed to turn around the company. However the business had to seek additional funding support from its bankers and have given them an undertaking to provide financial information to keep them informed of the progress the business is making. The following proposal of management and monitoring strategy for Virtual Transport which takes in to account the information requirements of various business stakeholders such as the government authorities to meet the statutory requirements; the bankers; business accountants as well as the internal staff and the entrepreneur himself. The strategy takes in to account the need for regular monitoring of business performance in order to assess the actual performance against the initial business plan, through calculation of performance ratios, variance analysis etc. The information required in filing the quarterly tax returns, and annual profitability statements to meet the legal requirements are born in mind. Capturing of all income and expense data on a daily basis to facilitate the business accountant in drawing up the monthly accounts has been a key consideration is developing the information strategy and the proposed information systems. In addition the role which information sharin g plays in building and maintaining employee moral and commitment has also been considered. The information requirements have been identified under main categories of Legal & Taxation Requirements; Internal Business Management; Financial Administration and Financial Monitoring. The information will be in the form of quarterly and annual profit and loss statements; Business Activity

Negotiation, Listening and Responding Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Negotiation, Listening and Responding - Essay Example First, I would like to take this credit of bringing up a valid point. Although the service director did not really grant my wish, yet I feel relieved to have said what I wanted to say. Had I not said it all, it would have pinched me from inside and my productivity would have been affected for the worse. By principle, I should not have been scheduled to cover a route on Thursday since it was not in my district. In response to this, the service director also brought up a very valid and reasonable point that routes in my district were being covered by the skippers which was something that did not happen in other districts. Parts of the negotiation that employed ineffective listening and speaking included the occasional noise of the passing trolleys outside the service director’s office which disrupted the conversation. â€Å"The goal of communication between a sender and a receiver is understanding of the message being sent. Anything that interferes with this can be referred to as ‘noise’† (intstudentsup.org, 2013). Our conversation was frequently disturbed by a call from the GM and from the service managers to the service director. The service director also seemed to be in a hurry probably because the GM had assigned him some urgent task. After the obtainment of message through the visual and auditory channels, it is important to attend to it inside the working memory which can be achieved by focusing on the visual and auditory stimuli (Wolvin, 2012, p. 2).... 2). I believe that his understanding was being impaired by the phone calls. However, I was a bit nervous because the service director was much senior to me not only in rank but also in age. I was the age of his child. My immaturity of age compared to his might have made him feel as if I was having that problem because of lack of my understanding of the gravity of matters. I did not do right by only thinking in my mind that things would be the same as they were before. I had presumed that the service director had decided already and would not reconsider my request; that was wrong. I should have believed as a successful negotiator that both of us were trying to reach an agreement (Guasco and Robinson, 2007, p. 4). One alternative way to conduct this conversation in a manner that would enhance the understanding of the matter for both of us and facilitate effective listening and speaking would be sending an email to the service director discussing the whole problem, and getting a reply f rom him via an email. The advantage of this alternative would be that he would consider my problem thoroughly in free time and think over it deeply before making me a reply. Another advantage would be that I would say everything I wanted to in the email without keeping any thoughts to myself. Another alternative way would be first discussing the issue with the service manager and ask him to convey it to the service director. The advantage of this would be that I would be conveying my message through a proper channel i.e. via service manager. Secondly, since the service manager and the service director are age-fellows, their conversation would not be impaired by

Fundamental of Marketing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Fundamental of Marketing - Case Study Example It expanded into the European market by acquiring Elkjop, a leading Nordic retailer, and this led to further growth of the business. Further acquisitions include UniEuro in Italy, and other acquisitions in Ukraine and Russia. In Russia, Dixons explored a joint venture with an existing ElDorado, but decided not to pursue the joint venture (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012, p, 66). Dixons Retail Plc expanded into Ireland, Greece and the Czech Republic to become Europe’s largest specialist electrical retailer and services company (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012, p, 66). All along, Dixons Retail Plc has developed a robust business model, in which the customer has not always been in the heart of the company’s business planning. Initially, the group’s competitive position was focused on the product-focused approach. The company used the ‘stack-em high—sell-em cheap’ positioning statement (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012, p, 66). The company’s produ cts were sold in brightly coloured stores that attracted customers by being packed with new and exciting electrical goods. Customer satisfaction was not a central focus to this strategic approach; hence it was overlooked (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012, p, 66). However competitors had not missed out in this aspect. Given the marketing environment, Dixons Retail Plc had to devise a marketing strategy to maintain its market share, and even perform better in the market. A formal marketing planning process outlines how the elements of a marketing mix will work together to ensure maximum effectiveness (Grensing, 2013, p 21). The marketing planning process defines marketing goals. It also outlines the strategies that will be used to meet the marketing goals and the tactics, which will be implemented to achieve the marketing strategies (Grensing, 2013, p, 21). Dixons Retail Plc, when devising its marketing strategy, applied a formal marketing planning process, as described next. First, Dixo ns Retail Plc formulated a mission statement by devising a meaningful statement of the purpose and direction of business. The company devised a transformation strategy which would include the customer at the heart f the business. This approach was to be guided by a new positioning statement ‘bringing life to technology’ (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012, p, 67). According to McDonald and Mouncey (2011, p, 27), a strategic marketing plan should begin with a mission or a purpose statement. Therefore, Dixons had formulated a new mission or purpose statement to set objectives that its new marketing planning process had to achieve, in the form of a transformation strategy. Second, there were overall objectives that were meant to shape Dixons Retail Plc’s marketing plan or transformation strategy. In this case, Dixons Retail Plc had five, clear objectives for its strategic plan. The objectives include that of laying focus on the customer (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012, p, 67). Therefore, Dixons retail Plc was to put the customer at the heart of the business, in devising its strategic marketing plan. Another objective that Dixons Retail Plc set to achieve was that of focusing the portfolio on winning positions (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012, p, 67). Thus, the company’s strategic marketing plan would involve investing in areas or markets where it would be assured of obtaining and retaining many

Benefits Of Family-Friendly Policies Essay Example for Free

Benefits Of Family-Friendly Policies Essay The past few decades, families in Hong Kong faced in undergone major changes, intense pace of life and hard work always affected families’ features. How to balance family life and work have become a social policy, in order to establish a family-friendly community, have implemented various measures to help employees balance their work and family lives, promote family relationship. In this essay, first I will explain these policies how to help with all aspects of employee, and then analysis of these measures on the employment benefit. Finally, pointed out that Hong Kong Government and the enterprises on how to implement these policies. Family-friendly employment may implement different policies to meet the needs of employees. Including the introduction of given family leave benefits, such as marriage leave, paternity leave, parental leave, compassionate leave, special casual leave and special long leave, etc (GovHK, n.d.). This measure will be through the height of the working environment and working arrangements to facilitate employees in taking care of family needs, such as the five-day working week, flexible work time and family-based work, and so on. The other hand will provide support to families, including child care services, counselling services, child custody etc. A Research Report prepared by the Department of Applied Social Sciences of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University is named â€Å"Family-Friendly Workplace† noted that Most respondents agreed or strongly agreed with implementing â€Å"family-friendly† policies. (Poly U, 2002) Family-friendly policies can also bring much benefits to company. In a supportive working environment, staffs will feel they are valued and employer will gain the benefit. Firstly, employer can reduce staff turnover and retain potential employee. On the other hand, many people were convinced that employees working flexible hours were more productive than those working traditional hours. This measure in addition to motivate employees, increase productivity, but also improved reputation and corporate image, therefore there are many large enterprises are involved in the implementation of these measures. In view of this, government and enterprises were organized a variety of measures and activities promoting family-friendly policies. The booklet prepared by the Labour Departments album â€Å"Good people management Family-Friendly Employment Practices† (labour.gov.hk, n.d.). Through a variety of good measures taken by the employer, may learn to provide for all instances. Research on Family-friendly Employment Policies and Practices in Hong Kong from The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) and the Womens Commission (WoC) (EOC 2006). They hope that through this survey, a better understanding in Hong Kong, companies or institutions can help employees balance their work and family roles provides programme needs. A Family-Friendly Employers Award Scheme 2011 was organised by the Family Council. The award scheme aims to give recognition to employers who attach importance to the spirit of family-friendliness (gov.hk, 2011). Through these activities, to undertake a study, to understand the profile of Hong Kong families, and building partnerships with Government, business and professional sectors, actively promote the industry cares family In this essay, I Have attempted to present suggest to implementation of family-friendly policies on families, or employers both have many favorable factors, together with the Hong Kong Government and the enterprises efforts, this measure would allow employers and employees there will be a win-win situation.

Levodopa on Decrease of Plasma Taurine Level in Parkinsons

Levodopa on Decrease of Plasma Taurine Level in Parkinsons Title: Levodopa aggravates the decrease of plasma taurine level in Parkinson Disease Key words: Parkinson’s disease (PD); Oxidative stress; Levodopa; Toxicity; Taurine; Highlights: This is the first study to explore chronic use of levodopa on the change of plasma taurine level. Plasma taurine levels were significantly lower in both treated and untreated PD than in healthy controls. Much lower plasma taurine level was found in treated PD than the untreated. Plasma taurine level was negatively associated with cumulative dosage of levodopa in PD. Abbreviations: PD, Parkinson’s disease; MMSE, mini–mental state examination; DA, dopamine; ROS, reactive oxygen species; MAO, monoamine oxidase; CNS, central nervous system; H2O2, peroxide; SOD, superoxide dismutase; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; Abstract In recent years, it has gained more and more focus that oxidative stress is implicated in the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease(PD) as well as the potential toxicity of levodopa to nigral cells. Also, an increasing body of evidence suggests that taurine plays an important role in anti-oxidant function. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between plasma taurine level and clinical variables and the cumulative dosage of levodopa in PD patients. 44 treated patients with PD (all receive levodopa), 68 untreated patients with PD and 96 age-and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited. Clinical data such as age, gender, duration, Hoehn and Yahr stage and medication history were collected. Approximate cumulative dosage of levodopa was calculated to indicate the toxicity of chronic intake of levodopa. Plasma levels of taurine were measured by HPLC-RF. Plasma taurine levels were significantly lower in both treated and untreated PD than healthy controls. Much lower pl asma taurine level was found in treated PD than the untreated. Furthermore, plasma taurine level was negatively associated with cumulative levodopa dosage in PD. Our preliminary study indicates that taurine may play an important role in pathophysiology of PD and toxicity of chronic levodopa treatment. Introduction PD is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder characterized by selectively loss of dopamine (DA)-containing neurons in the substantia nigra and a concomitant reduction of DA in the striatum. Levodopa, a natural precursor of DA, has been the‘gold standard’ therapy for PD patients for decades [1]. However, the  pathophysiology of PD is up to now still poorly understood. More and more focus comes to that oxidative stress is implicated in the pathophysiology of PD, manifested as protein oxidation, lipid peroxidation, DNA oxidation and so on [2]. Moreover, there has been an increasing concern that levodopa may be toxic to dopaminergic neurons [3-5], mainly because of its potential to autoxidize from a catechol to a quinine and to generate other forms of reactive oxygen species (ROS) [6]. Taurine, an endogenous amino acid (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid), is abundant in excitable tissues such as brain, retina, cardiac muscle and skeletal muscle [7]. Both in vitro and in vivo studies together demonstrate that the anti-oxidative activity of taurine is a vital avenue of cytoprotection [8-12]. Additionally, our previous study has reported that plasma taurine level was decreased in patients with PD [13]. Also, there are lines of evidence that taurine may exhibit cytoprotective effect by acting as a scavenger for harmful free radicals produced by DA or levodopa [14, 15]. However, the precise anti-oxidative mechanism of taurine involved in both PD pathophysiology and putative toxicity of levodopa still remains uncertain. Furthermore, few studies have been done to address the relationship between plasma taurine level and clinical variables as well as the toxic effects of chronic levodopa administration. Hence, in our study, we specifically explored the underlying impact on plasma taurine level because of long-term levodopa intake in PD patients. 2. Patients and methods 2.1 patients Patients with PD, diagnosed based on UK Parkinson’s disease Brain Bank criteria by two movement disorders specialists (Kezhong Zhang and Lian Zhang), were included in this study [16]. Clinical data were collected by the same medical worker and the Hoehn and Yahr stage was used to evaluate the severity of disease [17]. Since the anti-parkinsonian drugs may affect plasma taurine level, thorough medication histories were completely obtained through family and patient recall, personal medical chart, as well as computerized patient information system in our hospital. Exclusion criteria were atypical or secondary Parkinsonism, impaired cognitive status (assessed by the mini–mental state examination (MMSE) [18]), previous neurosurgical treatment for PD, significant laboratory, medical, or psychiatric abnormalities, or any condition that might affect plasma taurine level. Age -and gender-matched controls were also recruited, devoid of neurological disease, poor nutritional stat us, dementia or a family history of PD. The research project was approved by the ethics committee of the first affiliated hospital of Nanjing medical university and all the participants were given a full explanation and consented to the study in writing. 2.2 Calculation of the cumulative levodopa amount In order to assess the underlying toxicity of levodopa , an approximation of the cumulative levodopa amount was calculated based on the following equation (modified according to that ofNagatsuet al. [19]): cumulative levodopa amount [g] =daily amount of levodopa[mg] * duration of levodopa intake [month] *30 [d/month]*0.001[g/mg]. 2.3 Measurement of taurine levels from plasma Plasma taurine levels were measured as previously described [13]. 2.4 Statistical analysis All statistical analyses were performed in SPSSV.20.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). The normality of the distribution of all continuous variables was examined by Shapiro–Wilk statistic. Homogeneity of variance was assessed by Levene’s test. Group comparisons were made using chi-square test for categorical variables, and one-way ANOVA as well as the Kruskal-Wallis test which was followed by the Mann-Whitney U test with Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons (controls vs untreated patients, controls vstreated patients, untreated patients vs treated patients), as appropriate, for continuous variables. The correlation significance was evaluated by Spearman rank correlation coefficient.The statistical significance was set at P 3. Results 3.1. Demographic data, clinical variables and treatment status of PD Patients and Controls The demographic and clinical data of all subjects are summarized in Table 1. Gender and age did not differ among three groups, while the duration was longer (2.90 ±1.50vs. 1.45 ±1.14y, pHoehn and Yahr stage was higher (1.97 ±0.71vs. 1.67 ±0.72, pdetailed information on the treatment status see Table 2). 3.2. Plasma taurine level in PD patients and controls Notably, both treated PD (41.16 ±22.72 µmol/L) and untreated PD (57.38 ±31.05 µmol/L) were found to have significantly decreased plasma taurine levels compared to healthy controls (133.83 ±45.91 µmol/L, P for both comparisons for the two PD groups were considered as a whole, the mean taurine level was also significantly lower than that in the control group (P 3.3. Association between plasma taurine level and clinical variables and treatment status. Plasma taurine levels showed, however, no statistically significant association with age, duration, as well as Hoehn and Yahr stage in treated PD, untreated PD or all patients (Data not show). Interestingly, significant correlation was found between taurine level and cumulative levodopa dosage (shown in Fig.2, rs =-0.351, P Discussion According to our knowledge, this is the first study to explore chronic use of levodopa on the change of plasma taurine level. The major results of this study are summarized as follows: 1) Treated and untreated PD were found to have significantly decreased plasma taurine levels compared to healthy controls. 2) Plasma taurine level was lower in treated PD than the untreated, and inversely correlated with cumulative dosage of levodopa. Taurine, the most abundant amino acid in mammals, is widely distributed in central nervous system (CNS) [20] and its biosynthesis mainly takes place in the liver [21]. In the CNS, the concentration of taurine is dependent on food and a complex transport system at the blood brain barrier [20]. Hence, plasma taurine may partially reflect the pathological change in CNS of PD patients. Firstly, decreased plasma taurine level of patients with PD observed in this study is in line with our previous work [13]. Similarly, there have been some studies reporting CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) taurine level was significantly decreased in PD when compared to healthy controls [19, 22]. Previous studies provide evidence that taurine has a remarkable anti-oxidative function. Furthermore, in a study of PC12 cells, taurine exhibited a protective role against oxidative stress induced by peroxide (H2O2) through the alleviation of endoplasmic reticulum stress [12]. Also, Castro-Caldas et al. [10] reported that pretreatment of TUDCA (an analogue of taurine) abrogated the level of ROS in MPTP-mice, thus further highlighting the anti-oxidative role in vivo and suggesting that TUDCA may modulate the intracellular oxidative environment via interfering with the cellular redox threshold. Moreover, it has been observed that significant increases in glutathione content and superoxide dismutase ( SOD) activity were founded in the livers of the taurine-supplemented 6-OHDA–induced PD rats, which indicated that taurine may increase the defenses against oxidative insult [11]. Collectively, we assume that the decrease of plasma taurine level may result from chronic assumption of oxidants. Therefore, taurine may play an important neuroprotective role in the pathophysiology of PD via its potent anti-oxidative activity. By contrast, both normal [23] and increased [24-26] CSF taurine levels were found in several previous studies. Moreover, no significant decreased plasma taurine was observed in Molina et al.s study [22]. However, studies conductedby Lakke et al. [25, 26], Tohgi et al. [23] and Araki et al. [24] all had some limitations. For example, the controls were not well matched regarding gender and age. Additionally, different sample sizes and measurements may also partially explain the discrepancy of the results. Compared with those previous studies, we recruited relatively more patients in this study. Also, statistical analysis was well performed and measurement used in our study is more stable and sensitive. Nevertheless, we fail to observe correlation between plasma taurine level and age, duration and Hoehn and Yahr in treated PD, untreated PD or all PD. This may result from that only patients with relatively short duration (within 5 years) and low Hoehn and Yahr (within stage 3) were enrolled in our study, and the plasma taurine was probably not sensitive enough to examine the underlying correlation in early to medium stage PD patients. Therefore, further research including more stages of patients would bring more invaluable information on this point. Secondly, treated PD patients exhibited lower plasma taurine level than the untreated. Although the duration was longer and the Hoehn and Yahr stage was higher in treated PD than untreated PD, neither of the two clinical variables was correlated with plasma taurine level in each group. More importantly, plasma taurine level significantly negatively correlated with cumulative dosage of levodopa. These data suggest that chronic treatment of levodopa may affect plasma taurine concentration. Previous studies have shown that levodopa has the capacity to form ROS by autoxidation from catechols to quinines [4]. Interestingly, Biasetti et al. [27] found that taurine attenuated iron-catalyzed quinine formation from levodopa. Also, some studies suggest that taurine may bind these toxic quinones [27, 28]. Furthermore, there have been studies [29] showing that chronic systemic administration of levodopa to rodents depleted taurine pools, suggesting that taurine might play an important role in scavenging oxidants derived from levodopa metabolism in vivo. Therefore, we suppose that chronic consumption of taurine due to oxidants induced by levodopa may partially explain lower plasma taurine level in levodopa-treated PD than the untreated. However, there were different results observed in some other studies. Molina et al. [22] reported that no significant difference of CSF taurine level was found between levodopa-treated PD (n=21) and non-levedopa-treated PD (including untreated PD, n=8). The relatively small sample size may limit its interpretation. Moreover, Diederich et al. [30] found no significant decrease of plasma taurine after acute administration of levodopa. However, the acute levodopa administration may not fully refect the toxicity of cumulative levodopa intake. Nevertheless, our study has some limitations. Firstly, the population in this study is relatively small and the results must be interpreted cautiously. Secondly, as this is only a retrospective study, future longitudinal study combining with biomarkers of oxidative stress will provide more important information on the role of levodopa in affecting the plasma taurine level as a neurotixic agent and of taurine as a anti-oxidative agent. In conclusion, our results showed that decreased plasma taurine level was found in patients with PD in comparison to healthy controls. Moreover, plasma taurine level was found lowed in treated PD than the untreated, and inversely correlated with cumulative levodopa dosage. Combining with previous studies, these data suggest taurine may play an important protective role in pathophysiology of PD and chronic administration of levodopa may have potential neurotoxicity by depleting taurine. Also, our pilot study could, at least, provide new insights into therapeutic strategies.