When Experts and Diplomats Agree: Negotiating Peer Review of the UN Convention Against Corruption

The UN Convention Against Corruption is the only truly global convention in corruption control. Separate and rather difficult negotiations were conducted on a mechanism for the implementation of the treaty. These negotiations broke ground by providing, for the first time, peer review of a United Nations treaty. This article, which is based on the authors' close observations and interviews with key participants, seeks to show how the dynamics between technical experts and diplomats led to a resolution that would not have occurred if either the technical experts or the diplomats had acted alone

When Experts and Diplomats Agree: Negotiating Peer Review of the UN Convention Against Corruption

Global Governance, vol. 18, no. 4. Copyright © 2012 by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. Used with permission of the publisher.The UN Convention Against Corruption is the only truly global convention in corruption control. Separate and rather difficult negotiations were con­ducted on a mechanism for the implementation of the treaty. These ne­gotiations broke ground by providing, for the first time, peer review of a United Nations treaty. This article, which is based on the authors' close ob­servations and interviews with key participants, seeks to show how the dy­namics between technical experts and diplomats led to a resolution that would not have occurred if either the technical experts or the diplomats had acted alone. KEYWORDS: corruption, peer review, United Nations, ne­gotiation impasse, experts, diplomats

Diabetic Cardiovascular Disease Induced by Oxidative Stress.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). DM can lead to multiple cardiovascular complications, including coronary artery disease (CAD), cardiac hypertrophy, and heart failure (HF). HF represents one of the most common causes of death in patients with DM and results from DM-induced CAD and diabetic cardiomyopathy. Oxidative stress is closely associated with the pathogenesis of DM and results from overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS overproduction is associated with hyperglycemia and metabolic disorders, such as impaired antioxidant function in conjunction with impaired antioxidant activity. Long-term exposure to oxidative stress in DM induces chronic inflammation and fibrosis in a range of tissues, leading to formation and progression of disease states in these tissues. Indeed, markers for oxidative stress are overexpressed in patients with DM, suggesting that increased ROS may be primarily responsible for the development of diabetic complications. Therefore, an understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms mediated by oxidative stress is crucial to the prevention and treatment of diabetes-induced CVD. The current review focuses on the relationship between diabetes-induced CVD and oxidative stress, while highlighting the latest insights into this relationship from findings on diabetic heart and vascular disease

Porcine Circovirus type 2 (PCV2) causes apoptosis in experimentally inoculated BALB/c mice

BACKGROUND: We have previously described microscopic and electron microscopic alterations in lymphoid organs of PCV2 inoculated mice as apoptosis. In this study we wanted to investigate the molecular pathogenetic mechanism of PCV2-induced apoptosis. Eight-week old BALB/c mice were either sham inoculated (control mice) or inoculated intraperitoneally (ip) and intranasally (in) with a single (sPCV mice) or multiple (mPCV mice) doses of PCV2. Four control mice and 4 sPCV mice were sacrificed 7, 14, 28 and 42 days post inoculation (PI). All 4 mPCV mice were sacrificed 42 days PI. Following necropsy, immunohistochemistry for caspase 3 and in-situ TUNEL assay were performed on sections of spleen, lymph nodes, thymus and ileum from control, sPCV and mPCV mice. In addition, total RNA was extracted from spleens of control, sPCV and mPCV mice for simultaneous detection and semiquantitation of bcl-2 homologues and various caspase mRNAs using a multiprobe RNase protection assay system. RESULTS: PCV2 replicated and was associated with apoptosis in spleens, lymph nodes and Peyer's patches of infected BALB/c mice. Upregulation of caspase 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 11 and 12 and upregulation for the transcripts of apoptosis inhibitors bcl-2, bcl-w and bcl-X and apoptosis promoters' bax, bak and bad was detected in spleens of sPCV and mPCV mice, but not control mice. Apoptosis was further confirmed by light and electron microscopic morphology as well as by positive TUNEL assay and detection of activated caspase 3. PCV2 nucleic acid was detected by in-situ hybridization in the nuclei and cytoplasm of such apoptotic cells. CONCLUSION: The data presented here support the hypothesis that PCV2 induces apoptosis mediated through the activation of caspases 8 and 3 in the spleens of infected mice

Long-term clinical outcome of elderly patients with acute coronary syndrome treated with early percutaneous coronary intervention : Insights from the BASE ACS randomized controlled trial Bioactive versus everolimus-eluting stents in elderly patients

Background: The BASE ACS trial demonstrated an outcome of titanium-nitride-oxide-coated bioactive stents (BAS) that was non-inferior to everolimus-eluting stents (EES) in patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We performed a post hoc analysis of elderly versus non-elderly patients from the BASE ACS trial. Methods: We randomized 827 patients (1:1) presenting with ACS to receive either BAS or EES. The primary end-point was major adverse cardiac events (MACE): a composite of cardiac death, non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI), or ischemia-driven target lesion revascularization (TLR). Follow-up was planned at 12 months and yearly thereafter for up to 7 years. Elderly age was defined as >= 65 years. Results: Of the 827 patients enrolled in the BASE ACS trial, 360 (43.5%) were elderly. Mean follow-up duration was 4.2 +/- 1.9 years. MACE was more frequent in elderly versus younger patients (19.7% versus 12.0%, respectively, p = 0.002), probably driven by more frequent cardiac death and non-fatal MI events (5.3% versus 1.5%, and 9.7% versus 4.5%, p = 0.002 and p = 0.003, respectively). The rates of ischemia-driven TLR were comparable (p > 0.05). In propensity score-matched analysis (215 pairs), only cardiac death was more frequent in elderly patients (6% versus 1.4%, respectively, p = 0.01). Diabetes independently predicted both MACE and cardiac death in elderly patients. Conclusions: Elderly patients treated with stent implantation for ACS had worse long-term clinical outcome, compared with younger ones, mainly due to a higher death rate. (C) 2016 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Der 106. Bibliothekartag 2017 in Frankfurt am Main: Impressionen zu „Medien – Menschen – Märkte“ „DER BIBLIOTHEKARTAG WAR EINE WUNDERBARE ERFAHRUNG!“ „Mein Fokus lag in diesem Jahr auf dem Thema Lernraum und Lernumgebung. Hier gab es eine ganze Reihe hervorragender Gesamtdarstellungen und praktischer Umsetzungen in Bibliotheken. Dankbar war ich Herrn Oestreich (TTH Friedenau) für seinen Vortrag „Geräuschvolle Stille“, denn Akustikprobleme gibt es in vielen Bibliotheken. Als hilfreich und inspirierend empfand ich zudem den Themenkreis zur Positionierung der Hochschulbibliotheken zwischen Anspruch und Wirklichkeit. Hier wurden sehr praktische Seiten vom gemeinsamen E-Book- Erwerb, Qualitäts-

SLUB MAKERSPACE AUSGEZEICHNET \\ „DER BIBLIOTHEKARTAG WAR EINE WUNDERBARE ERFAHRUNG!“ \\ „MIT IDENTIFIERN, INDIKATOREN, NORMDATEN TRANSPARENZ ERHÖHEN – KENNZAHLEN IM BIBTAG-AUFWIND.“ \\ „MEINE VORFREUDE AUF DEN 106. BIBLIOTHEKARTAG BEGANN MIT EINEM BLICK INS PROGRAMM.“ \\ „OPEN ACCESS (OA) GALT DAS HAUPTINTERESSE „MEINES“ BIBLIOTHEKARTAGES 2017.“ \\ SLUB ERHÄLT PREIS FÜR „INFO-COUT“-PROJEKT \\ „VIELE MÖGLICHKEITEN FÜR AUSTAUSCH MIT KOLLEGINNEN UND KOLLEGEN AUS VERSCHIEDENSTEN EINRICHTUNGEN.

Laser angle-resolved photoemission as a probe of initial state k(z) dispersion, final-state band gaps, and spin texture of Dirac states in the Bi2Te3 topological insulator

We have obtained angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) spectra from single crystals of the topological insulator material Bi2Te3 using a tunable laser spectrometer. The spectra were collected for 11 different photon energies ranging from 5.57 to 6.70 eV for incident light polarized linearly along two different in-plane directions. Parallel first-principles, fully relativistic computations of photointensities were carried out using the experimental geometry within the framework of the one-step model of photoemission. A reasonable overall accord between theory and experiment is used to gain insight into how properties of the initial- and final-state band structures as well as those of the topological surface states and their spin textures are reflected in the laser-ARPES spectra. Our analysis reveals that laser-ARPES is sensitive to both the initial-state kz dispersion and the presence of delicate gaps in the final-state electronic spectrum

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