Coal has been the lifeblood of the city for 150 years and the backbone of its steel industry.
The Catholic wing, which has for years been the backbone of the conservative bloc, was disappointed over how Mrs. Merkel, a Protestant who was raised in communist East Germany, criticized German-born Pope Benedict XVI for not speaking out immediately against a renegade bishop who had questioned the Holocaust.
Tocolytics, used in Europe for the last 30 years, are the backbone of treatment for the prevention of preterm labour.
Cold chain and logistics systems, which have been established, strengthened, and maintained over the past 30 years as the backbone of immunization programs, must be revitalized to face new challenges (such as new, more costly, more bulky vaccines) and to take advantage of technological advances.
For many years blacks were the backbone of the business, supplying much of the cheap labor that made South Africa a mining powerhouse, but they were barred from ownership or management roles.
Nothing seems to happen as soon as it's "invented," so we had to wait until Jeff Bezos "Amazoned" the retail industry before the Internet (invented 20 years earlier) became the backbone of eCommerce.
The didgeridoo dates back 40,000 to 100,000 years; it's the backbone of Australian Aboriginal music.
Must one point out that this is the same army, commanded by the same generals, which, for the past 58 years, has been the backbone of the contemptible regime?
Statins, first available in the United States 25 years ago, remain the backbone of lipid-lowering therapy due to their potency as well as proven efficacy in decreasing morbid cardiovascular disease events.
Thiopurines have been in clinical use for 50 years and remain the backbone of maintenance strategies for IBD, either as monotherapy or in combination with an anti-tumour necrosis factor agent. 1 Azathioprine (AZA) and its metabolite mercaptopurine (MP) are effective in maintaining clinical remission in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC).
