The Making of a Legend: Batman's Treaty and the History of Settler Possession

In settler societies colonisers have found it necessary to persuade themselves that the indigenous people’s land they seized is rightfully their possession and hence truly theirs. In the case of the Australian colonies, this task has been especially difficult because the imperial and colonial governments never negotiated any treaties of cession with the Aboriginal people. Yet, there was at least one historical moment when colonisers seemed to have recognised Aboriginal ownership and treated with them for the purchase of their land. In this lecture, I will consider two competing legends, which came to be forged in words and images about the maker of this treaty, in order to chart the roles that historical narratives of this kind have played in trying to resolve the fundamental contradiction that has lain at the heart of the settler society

Bioinformatics: food detective – a practical guide

This Practical Guide in the Bringing Bioinformatics into the Classroom series introduces the idea of computers as tools to help understand aspects of biology. In particular, it looks at how DNA sequences can be used to identify specific organisms, why this is important in the food industry, and how this can be used to help detect food fraud. Analyses are run online using sequence data from the 4273pi project website: 4273pi.org.<br><br>Specifically, this Guide introduces a popular Web-based tool for searching biological sequence databases, and shows how to identify different species based on their specific DNA sequences – their ‘barcodes’. On reading the Guide and completing the exercises, you will be able to: explain what is meant by DNA barcoding; search biological sequence databases using the online program BLAST; judge the reliability of database-search results in terms of their statistical significance; and evaluate the biological implications of search results with reference to food safety

Bioinformatics: the power of computers in biology – a practical guide

This Practical Guide in the Bringing Bioinformatics into the Classroom series introduces simple bioinformatics approaches for database searching and sequence analysis. A ‘mystery’ gene is used as an exemplar: we first characterise the gene, then use it to explore the impact of gene loss in humans. Analyses are run both online and at the command line, the latter using Raspberry Pi computers running the 4273<i>π </i>variant of Linux (4273pi.org).<br><br>Specifically, this Guide introduces a popular Web-based tool for searching biological sequence databases, and shows how similar functionality can be achieved using the Linux command line. On reading the Guide and completing the exercises, users will be able to: search biological sequence databases using the online program BLAST, and navigate GenPept sequence records; execute some basic Linux commands to perform a set of simple file-manipulation tasks; perform BLAST searches via the Linux command line; and evaluate the biological implications of search results, with reference to mutations and function

Governance and Susceptibility in Conflict Resolution: Possibilities Beyond Control

Governmentality analysis offers a nuanced critique of informal Western conflict resolution by arguing that recently emerged alternatives to adversarial court processes both govern subjects and help to constitute rather than challenge formal regulation. However, this analysis neglects possibilities for transforming governance from within conflict resolution that are suggested by Foucault's contention that there are no relations of power without resistances. To explore this lacuna, I theorise and explore the affective and interpersonal nature of governance in mediation through autoethnographic reflection upon mediation practice, and Levina's insights about the relatedness of selves. The paper argues that two qualitatively different mediator capacities - technical ability and susceptibility - operate in concert to effect liberal governance. Occasionally though, difficulties and failures in mediation practice bring these capacities into tension and reveal the limits of governance. By considering these limits in mediation with Aboriginal Australian people, I argue that the susceptibility of mediator selves contains prospects for mitigating and transforming the very operations of power occurring through conflict resolution. This suggests options for expanded critical thinking about power relations operating through informal processes, and for cultivating a susceptible sensibility to mitigate liberal governance and more ethically respond to difference through conflict resolution

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Sovereignty, Property Rights and Treaty Making in the Australian Colonies: The Example of Batman's Treaty

In 1835 a company of Tasmanian adventurers claimed to have made a treaty to purchase 500,000 acres of the Aboriginal people’s land in an area of Port Phillip Bay, which later became the city of Melbourne. It is the only such treaty known to have been struck in the Australian colonies, and it was quickly repudiated by the imperial and colonial governments. Why did those colonial land grabbers try to purchase the Kulin people’s land at Port Phillip when other adventurers and government officials had merely taken possession of the land as though it had no owners? Why did they represent the deed of purchase they drew up as a treaty? How did the Kulin people understand the treaty? Why did the imperial and colonial governments reject their treaty-making? More generally, why did imperial and colonial authorities in the Australian colonies refuse to recognise the Aboriginal people’s sovereignty and rights in land, which contrasted markedly to their approach to these critically important matters in other British settler colonies