Governance of biotechnology in Africa: the challenge of reconciling interdependencies and differences

The article argues that an informed understanding of the differences and interdependencies among different stakeholders within the biotechnology and biosafety arena is a key issue in the unpacking of challenges facing development and implementation of biosafety systems in Africa. Advocating for a move beyond rhetoric, the article calls for a more nuanced and context-driven approach to biosafety as an avenue for raising chances of success for policy processes and making best use of available resources. Failure to adequately define and delimit the interests and concerns of various stakeholders, and embedding them within a science-based assessment of biosafety brings more harm than good to efforts by countries to develop and implement biosafety systems

The Underrepresentation of Women in Prestigious Ethics Journals

It has been widely reported that women are underrepresented in academic philosophy as faculty and students. This article investigates whether this representation may also occur in the domain of journal article publishing. Our study looked at whether women authors were underrepresented as authors in elite ethics journals — Ethics, Philosophy & Public Affairs, the Journal of Political Philosophy, and the Journal of Moral Philosophy — between 2004-2014, relative to the proportion of women employed in academic ethics (broadly construed). We found that women are indeed underrepresented overall in prestigious ethics journal publishing. Though this is not our focus, we discuss possible causes for this finding, such as top ethics journals’ tendency not to publish much feminist philosophy; the impact of women’s lesser professional status or rank within philosophy on their prospects for, and success in, journal publishing; and the review process itself, which may disadvantage or discourage women authors — perhaps especially when their gender, rank, and affiliation are known to the editor or reviewer, or if their work is explicitly feminist. We discuss possible avenues for future research on the "woman problem" in philosophy, noting how our study relates to existing research on this issue

Angiotensin II blockade and aortic-root dilation in Marfan's syndrome

Background: Progressive enlargement of the aortic root, leading to dissection, is the main cause of premature death in patients with Marfan's syndrome. Recent data from mouse models of Marfan's syndrome suggest that aortic-root enlargement is caused by excessive signaling by transforming growth factor (beta) (TGF-(beta)) that can be mitigated by treatment with TGF-(beta) antagonists, including angiotensin II-receptor blockers (ARBs). We evaluated the clinical response to ARBs in pediatric patients with Marfan's syndrome who had severe aortic-root enlargement. Methods: We identified 18 pediatric patients with Marfan's syndrome who had been followed during 12 to 47 months of therapy with ARBs after other medical therapy had failed to prevent progressive aortic-root enlargement. The ARB was losartan in 17 patients and irbesartan in 1 patient. We evaluated the efficacy of ARB therapy by comparing the rates of change in aortic-root diameter before and after the initiation of treatment with ARBs. Results: The mean (+/-SD) rate of change in aortic-root diameter decreased significantly from 3.54+/-2.87 mm per year during previous medical therapy to 0.46+/-0.62 mm per year during ARB therapy (P<0.001). The deviation of aortic-root enlargement from normal, as expressed by the rate of change in z scores, was reduced by a mean difference of 1.47 z scores per year (95% confidence interval, 0.70 to 2.24; P<0.001) after the initiation of ARB therapy. The sinotubular junction, which is prone to dilation in Marfan's syndrome as well, also showed a reduced rate of change in diameter during ARB therapy (P<0.05), whereas the distal ascending aorta, which does not normally become dilated in Marfan's syndrome, was not affected by ARB therapy. Conclusions: In a small cohort study, the use of ARB therapy in patients with Marfan's syndrome significantly slowed the rate of progressive aortic-root dilation. These findings require confirmation in a randomized trial

Teen Dating Violence in New Hampshire: Who Is Most at Risk?

In this brief, authors Katie Edwards and Angela Neal discuss the results of a study examining how demographic characteristics such as sexual orientation, school characteristics such as the school poverty rate, and community characteristics such as the population density of the county relate to the possibility that a New Hampshire teen will be the victim of dating violence. The study included 24,976 high school students at least 13 years old who participated in the 2013 New Hampshire Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The authors report that nearly one in ten New Hampshire teens reported being the victim of physical dating violence during the past year, and more than one in ten New Hampshire teens reported being the victim of sexual dating violence during the past year. Being female, a racial/ethnic minority, or a sexual minority significantly increased the risk of sexual and physical dating violence victimization. They conclude that more research and community conversations are needed about how to ensure that all teens in New Hampshire have access to comprehensive violence prevention initiatives in all grade levels that include a focus on diversity and inclusivity, positive youth development (for example, the sense of mattering and purpose), and structural inequities (such as poverty)

Nutritional support for head-injured patients

Copyright John Wiley &amp; Sons. This review is published as a Cochrane Review in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2004, Issue 3. Cochrane Reviews are regularly updated as new evidence emerges and in response to comments and criticisms, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews should be consulted for the most recent version of the Review.’ Perel, P. , Yanagawa, T. , Bunn, F. , Roberts, I. , Wentz, R. and Pierro, A. Nutritional support for head-injured patients. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2004, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD001530. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001530.pub2Background: Head injury increases the body's metabolic responses, and therefore nutritional demands. Provision of an adequate supply of nutrients is associated with improved outcome. The best route for administering nutrition (parenterally (TPN) or enterally (EN)), and the best timing of administration (for example, early versus late) of nutrients needs to be established. Objectives: To quantify the effect on mortality and morbidity of alternative strategies of providing nutritional support following head injury. Search strategy: Trials were identified by computerised searches of the Cochrane Injuries Group specialised register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, National Research Register, Web of Science and other electronic trials registers. Reference lists of trials and review articles were checked. The searches were last updated in July 2006. Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials of timing or route of nutritional support following acute traumatic brain injury. Data collection and analysis: Two authors independently abstracted data and assessed trial quality. Information was collected on death, disability, and incidence of infection. If trial quality was unclear, or if there were missing outcome data, trialists were contacted in an attempt to get further information. Main results: A total of 11 trials were included. Seven trials addressed the timing of support (early versus delayed), data on mortality were obtained for all seven trials (284 participants). The relative risk (RR) for death with early nutritional support was 0.67 (95% CI 0.41 to 1.07). Data on disability were available for three trials. The RR for death or disability at the end of follow-up was 0.75 (95% CI 0.50 to 1.11). Seven trials compared parenteral versus enteral nutrition. Because early support often involves parenteral nutrition, three of the trials are also included in the previous analyses. Five trials (207 participants) reported mortality. The RR for mortality at the end of follow-up period was 0.66 (0.41 to 1.07). Two trials provided data on death and disability. The RR was 0.69 (95% Cl 0.40 to 1.19). One trial compared gastric versus jejunal enteral nutrition, there were no deaths and the RR was not estimable. Authors' conclusions: This review suggests that early feeding may be associated with a trend towards better outcomes in terms of survival and disability. Further trials are required. These trials should report not only nutritional outcomes but also the effect on death and disability.Peer reviewe

The Sacred Engagement: Outline of a hypothesis about the origin of human ‘religious intelligence’.

The question that motivates the central hypothesis advanced in this paper regarding the emergence of early religious thinking is the following: ‘why does religion need material\ud culture?’ What basic functional or symbolic need renders material culture an indispensable and universal component of religion and ritual activity? A common temptation, obvious in a number of recent archaeological and anthropological studies, is to seek an answer in the field of memory (Boyer 1993; 1996; 1998; 2001; McCauley and\ud Lawson 2002; Whitehouse 2000; 2004; Mithen 1998a). This paper argues that material culture does much more than simply offer a symbolic channel for the externalization,\ud communication, and thus successful cultural transmission, of religious ideas. Although the mnemonic significance of the ritual object is not denied, it is proposed that the\ud argument from memory, as traditionally premised, fails to provide a cognitively adequate account of the complex affective ties and multimodal interactions that characterise the distinctive phenomenology of religious experience. Moreover, and from a long-term\ud evolutionary perspective, it is argued that the commonly implied ontological priority of the religious idea, over its material expression, leaves us with no explanation about why,and how, religious concepts emerge in the context of human cognitive evolution. Drawing on the theoretical lines of the Material Engagement approach (Malafouris 2004;\ud Renfrew 2004) I want to advance a different hypothesis that places material culture at the heart of the human capacity for religious thinking (cf. Day 2004)

The Sacred Engagement: Outline of a hypothesis about the origin of human ‘religious intelligence’.

The question that motivates the central hypothesis advanced in this paper regarding the emergence of early religious thinking is the following: ‘why does religion need material\ud culture?’ What basic functional or symbolic need renders material culture an indispensable and universal component of religion and ritual activity? A common temptation, obvious in a number of recent archaeological and anthropological studies, is to seek an answer in the field of memory (Boyer 1993; 1996; 1998; 2001; McCauley and\ud Lawson 2002; Whitehouse 2000; 2004; Mithen 1998a). This paper argues that material culture does much more than simply offer a symbolic channel for the externalization,\ud communication, and thus successful cultural transmission, of religious ideas. Although the mnemonic significance of the ritual object is not denied, it is proposed that the\ud argument from memory, as traditionally premised, fails to provide a cognitively adequate account of the complex affective ties and multimodal interactions that characterise the distinctive phenomenology of religious experience. Moreover, and from a long-term\ud evolutionary perspective, it is argued that the commonly implied ontological priority of the religious idea, over its material expression, leaves us with no explanation about why,and how, religious concepts emerge in the context of human cognitive evolution. Drawing on the theoretical lines of the Material Engagement approach (Malafouris 2004;\ud Renfrew 2004) I want to advance a different hypothesis that places material culture at the heart of the human capacity for religious thinking (cf. Day 2004)

Profiling a decade of information systems frontiers’ research

This article analyses the first ten years of research published in the Information Systems Frontiers (ISF) from 1999 to 2008. The analysis of the published material includes examining variables such as most productive authors, citation analysis, universities associated with the most publications, geographic diversity, authors’ backgrounds and research methods. The keyword analysis suggests that ISF research has evolved from establishing concepts and domain of information systems (IS), technology and management to contemporary issues such as outsourcing, web services and security. The analysis presented in this paper has identified intellectually significant studies that have contributed to the development and accumulation of intellectual wealth of ISF. The analysis has also identified authors published in other journals whose work largely shaped and guided the researchers published in ISF. This research has implications for researchers, journal editors, and research institutions

Different behaviour of BK-virus infection in liver transplant recipients

Polyomavirus BK (BKV) infects up to 90% of the general population. After primary infection, occurring early during childhood, a state of non-replicative infection is established in the reno-urinary tract, without complications for immunocompetent hosts. In immunocompromised individuals, particularly transplanted patients, asymptomatic BKV viremia and/or viruria can be observed. Renal grafts may also be sources of infection as BKV prefers kidneys rather than other solid organs for transplantation such as the liver. The mechanism behind the higher incidence of BKV infection in kidney transplant patients, compared to liver or heart transplantation, is unclear and the prevalence of BKV infection in non-renal solid organ transplants has not been yet thoroughly investigated. We evaluated the prevalence of Polyomavirus BK infection among liver transplant recipients. A PubMed search was conducted using the terms BKV infection AND liver transplant recipients; BKV AND non-renal solid organ transplant*; BKV infection AND immunosuppression; the search was limited to title/abstract and English-language articles published from 2000, to March 2015. Eleven relevant studies suggest that the prevalence of BKV viruria and/or viremia among liver transplant recipients is less than that reported in kidney or heart transplant recipients, except when chronic kidney disease (CKD) is present at the same time. Data also suggest that viruric and viremic patients have higher levels of serum creatinine than BKV negative patients. Moreover, no specific immunosuppressive drugs are associated with the onset of BKV nephropathy. The comorbidity of transplantation and CKD could play a major role in promoting BKV replication

International Law Status of WTO Dispute Settlement Reports: Obligation to Comply or Option to Buy Out ?

In four further parts of this comment, I undertake to fulfill my obligation to present a more thorough analysis. In part II, I briefly introduce some of the different elements that would go into normal treaty interpretation related to the issue in question, such as which text should be part of the analysis and whether preparatory work or intent of the parties, including statements by some nation-state governmental officials made contemporaneously with the drafting of the treaty, should be considered. Likewise, I mention the importance of the forty seven years of GATT practice to the interpretive process, and I note that one way to sharpen the focus of treaty interpretation is to assess the relevance of a prediction of what the WTO Appellate Body would decide if the issue came before it. In part III, I take a detailed look at the various treaty text provisions. The texts themselves are contained in an appendix so that the reader can examine them in context, if he or she wishes. In part IV, I outline several of the important policies that support the view I am taking and that I believe to be enormously significant in suggesting that the Schwartz and Sykes approach is markedly deficient. Finally, in part V, I briefly summarize my conclusions and perceptions