The division of labour in the practice of scientific advice to policy in the European Union

Scientific advice to policymaking plays a central role in modern techno-scientific societies, informing and legitimizing policymaking. Yet its appropriate role and how to institutionalize it remains problematic, with a fundamental tension existing between its appeal to scientific authority and the neutrality of science, and the need for policy relevance and democratic accountability. Studies of scientific advice have demonstrated that it is both an epistemic and a political activity, and its effectiveness rests on carefully constructing and managing the boundary between science and policymaking. However, scholarly attention has mostly focused on institutional structures. Based on personal experience of working in scientific advice in the European Union and following the "practice turn" in policy studies, this thesis proposes to go beyond organisational features of advisory mechanisms to explores the practices used in the construction of scientific advice. The thesis combines document analysis, interviews, and autoethnographic observation to explore the micro-dynamics and practices of expert advice in two detailed case studies of scientific advice in the context of European Union (EU) policymaking, namely the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM). This analysis shows how, despite their near-invisibility in the frontstage of the scientific advisory process and in its outputs, secretariats have substantial influence in its construction. In particular, it argues that in the context of EU scientific advisory committees, whose members are mostly drawn from laboratory science and lend scientific credibility and political legitimacy to the advisory process through their independence from policy, secretariats play a key and necessary role in ensuring policy relevance. The division of labour between advisors and secretariat is therefore interpreted as an important boundary management strategy to ensure the effectiveness of advisory mechanisms

Governing the bairro clandestino of Cova da Moura (1974–2015): Decentred and collaborative governance in an informal neighbourhood in Lisbon’s metropolitan area

Cova da Moura was established in the municipality of Amadora in the mid-1970s as a bairro clandestino (‘informal’ or ‘illegal neighbourhood’). Since then, it has grown into a community of thousands of residents; having escaped the large rehousing operations of the 1990s, Cova da Moura is today one of the few surviving bairros clandestinos in the metropolitan area of Lisbon, as well as a ‘distressed urban area’. In the four decades of its life, Cova da Moura has passed through different eras of policymaking, and has been the object of a variety of public interventions. The article provides a critical assessment of the Iniciativa Bairros Críticos (Critical Neighbourhoods Initiative, 2005–2013), as an example of a policy initiative embodying a normative vision of collaborative governance. The case of the Iniciativa Bairros Críticos in Cova da Moura provides some lessons on how collaborative governance design can address key challenges that ‘distressed urban areas’ pose to public intervention – but at the same time shows us the unavoidable pitfalls of the process, as well as the limits of their reach vis-à-vis broad, structural issues.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Single prazosin infusion in prelimbic cortex Fosters extinction of amphetamine-induced conditioned place preference

Exposure to drug-associated cues to induce extinction is a useful strategy to contrast cue-induced drug seeking. Norepinephrine (NE) transmission in medial prefrontal cortex has a role in the acquisition and extinction of conditioned place preference induced by amphetamine. We have reported recently that NE in prelimbic cortex delays extinction of amphetamine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP). A potential involvement of α1-adrenergic receptors in the extinction of appetitive conditioned response has been also suggested, although their role in prelimbic cortex has not been yet fully investigated. Here, we investigated the effects of the α1-adrenergic receptor antagonist prazosin infusion in the prelimbic cortex of C57BL/6J mice on expression and extinction of amphetamine-induced CPP. Acute prelimbic prazosin did not affect expression of amphetamine-induced CPP on the day of infusion, while in subsequent days it produced a clear-cut advance of extinction of preference for the compartment previously paired with amphetamine (Conditioned stimulus, CS). Moreover, prazosin-treated mice that had extinguished CS preference showed increased mRNA expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and post-synaptic density 95 (PSD-95) in the nucleus accumbens shell or core, respectively, thus suggesting that prelimbic α1-adrenergic receptor blockade triggers neural adaptations in subcortical areas that could contribute to the extinction of cue-induced drug-seeking behavior. These results show that the pharmacological blockade of α1-adrenergic receptors in prelimbic cortex by a single infusion is able to induce extinction of amphetamine-induced CPP long before control (vehicle) animals, an effect depending on contingent exposure to retrieval, since if infused far from or after reactivation it did not affect preference. Moreover, they suggest strongly that the behavioral effects depend on post-treatment neuroplasticity changes in corticolimbic network, triggered by a possible “priming” effect of prazosin, and point to a potential therapeutic power of the antagonist for maladaptive memories

Dietary indicaxanthin from cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica L. Mill) fruit prevents eryptosis induced by oxysterols in a hypercholesterolaemia relevant proportion and adhesion of human erythrocytes to endothelial cell layers

Abstract Toxic oxysterols in a hypercholesterolaemia-relevant proportion cause suicidal death of human erythrocytes or eryptosis. This process proceeds through early production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), release of prostaglandin (PGE2) and opening of PGE2-dependent Ca channels, membrane phosphatidylserine (PS) externalisation, and cell shrinkage. The present study was the first to reveal that a bioavailable phytochemical, indicaxanthin (Ind) from cactus pear fruit, in a concentration range (1·0–5·0microM) consistent with its plasma level after a fruit meal, prevents PS externalisation and cell shrinkage in a dose-dependent manner when incubated with isolated healthy human erythrocytes exposed to an oxysterol mixture for 48 h. Dietary Ind inhibited ROS production, glutathione (GSH) depletion, PGE2 release and Ca2+ entry. Ind alone did not modify the erythrocyte redox environment or affect other parameters. Ex vivo spiking of normal human blood with the oxysterol mixture for 48 h induced eryptosis, resulting in the production of ROS and decreased levels of GSH, which was prevented by concurrent exposure to 5 microM-Ind. The adherence of eryptotic erythrocytes to the endothelium causes vascular tissue injury. Erythrocytes isolated from blood incubated with the oxysterol mixture plus 5mM-Ind did not adhere to endothelial cell monolayers. Eryptotic erythrocytes may contribute to thrombotic complications in hypercholesterolaemia. Our findings suggest the positive effects of diets containing Ind on erythrocytes in hypercholesterolaemic subjects

A governança das políticas de habitação

Introdução Este ensaio debruça-se sobre a governança das políticas públicas de habitação em Portugal, tendo como objeto de reflexão a chamada Nova Geração de Políticas de Habitação (NGPH) e levando em consideração a trajetória recente das políticas públicas de habitação em Portugal. Tem como objetivo caracterizar os pontos críticos inerentes àquela iniciativa do governo, contribuindo para a reflexão sobre as potencialidades e limitações das ambições da NGPH. Termo polissémico, a palavra “gove..

INGSA workshop report : South East Asia government science advice workshop, Johor Bahru, Malaysia 11 and 12 June, 2017

The report reviews workshop sessions of the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA). In line with INGSA’s goal of strengthening capacity for science advice, particularly in developing countries, this was the first capacity building workshop in the region. It brought together almost 50 scientists and policymakers, representing 13 countries. Discussions included principles and structures of science advice, and moved through an interactive format based on fictional case studies. These were designed to stimulate discussion and reflection among all participants on specific issues concerning science advice.International Council for Science (ICSU)Malaysia Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT

The gene expression profile of cumulus cells reveals altered pathways in patients with endometriosis

PURPOSE: The objective of this experimental study was to compare the global gene expression profile of CC of mature oocytes in 18 patients with severe endometriosis and CC in 18 control patients affected by a severe male factor. METHODS: For each group, the CC were pooled, RNA was extracted and a microarray performed. For validating the microarray, a quantitative real-time PCR was performed in the CC of an independent set of patients with endometriosis (n = 5) and controls (n = 7). RESULTS: 595 differentially expressed genes (320 down-regulated, 275 up-regulated, p < 0.05, fold change ≥1.5) were identified. The most significant changes were observed in genes involved in the chemokine signaling and cell-cell or cell-extracellular matrix adhesion pathways. Several genes of these pathways were down-regulated in endometriosis. Individual RT-PCR assays confirmed the microarray for ten genes. CONCLUSIONS: Several genes involved in the chemokine mediated-signaling pathway and in the functional cross-talk between CC and the oocyte are down-regulated in endometriosis CC. The impairment of these processes could explain the reduction of oocyte competence in endometriosis. This preliminary knowledge could be the starting point for a more detailed elucidation of the relationship between endometriosis and oocyte competence

Corticolimbic catecholamines in stress: A computational model of the appraisal of controllability

Appraisal of a stressful situation and the possibility to control or avoid it is thought to involve frontal-cortical mechanisms. The precise mechanism underlying this appraisal and its translation into effective stress coping (the regulation of physiological and behavioural responses) are poorly understood. Here, we propose a computational model which involves tuning motivational arousal to the appraised stressing condition. The model provides a causal explanation of the shift from active to passive coping strategies, i.e. from a condition characterised by high motivational arousal, required to deal with a situation appraised as stressful, to a condition characterised by emotional and motivational withdrawal, required when the stressful situation is appraised as uncontrollable/unavoidable. The model is motivated by results acquired via microdialysis recordings in rats and highlights the presence of two competing circuits dominated by different areas of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex: these are shown having opposite effects on several subcortical areas, affecting dopamine outflow in the striatum, and therefore controlling motivation. We start by reviewing published data supporting structure and functioning of the neural model and present the computational model itself with its essential neural mechanisms. Finally, we show the results of a new experiment, involving the condition of repeated inescapable stress, which validate most of the model's prediction

Comparative planning and housing studies beyond taxonomy: A genealogy of the Special Programme for Rehousing (Portugal)

Recent European comparative studies in the fields of housing policy and spatial planning have been dominated by taxonomical and linear approaches, and by normative calls for convergence toward systems considered more ‘mature’ or ‘advanced’. In this article, we adopt a genealogical perspective and consider those cultures that are central to the shaping of policy. We set out a long-term exploration of the intersection between spatial planning and housing policy in Portugal and focus on the Special Programme for Rehousing (Programa Especial de Realojamento, PER), a programme that has had changing roles (from a financial instrument to a core component of policies of urban regeneration) in connection with political and planning cultures changing in time and space. In this way, we provide evidence of the limited capacity of taxonomic and linear approaches to describe planning and housing systems undergoing processes of change and, conversely, show the potential of genealogical research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

O papel (oculto) da União Europeia nas políticas de habitação: O caso de Portugal numa perspetiva multi-escalar

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