What's ‘left’ for a ‘geopolitical Europe’?

How can political geographers bring their critical tools to questioning the EU's ‘geopolitical turn’? This commentary challenges the narrative of an EU-wide ‘Zeitenwende’, pointing out some of the limitations of a ‘geopolitical Europe’ as it is being envisioned currently, while also noting the divided geographies of Europeans’ support for continued military assistance to Ukraine. In closing, the piece points to some of the perils of the rhetoric of ‘no alternative’ in EU geopolitics, noting how it risks leaving the discursive space open to illiberal political forces.</p

The entangled geographies of responsibility: Contested policy narratives of migration governance along the Balkan Route

This article examines some of the contested geographical imaginaries of the so-called “Balkan Route” which, although traversing land, is an integral part of the wider Mediterranean migration complex. More specifically, we interrogate how such varied imaginaries of the Route contribute to shaping conflicting geographies of responsibility for migration in the region among a shifting set of international and state actors. We highlight how the attribution of responsibility for the governance of migration is shaped by a variety of geographical and historical entanglements, including on-going processes of post-conflict state-making and the geopolitics of European Union accession, with migrants becoming pawns in the negotiation of preferential relations between the countries of the region and the European Union. Focusing in particular on the framing of migration policy responses along the Croatia Bosnia and Italy–Slovenia sections of the Route, we examine the perspectives of both policy-makers and solidarity networks active in the area, noting how their divergent narratives contribute to the proliferation of conflicting formal and informal practices of border control

Infrequent Detection of KI, WU and MC Polyomaviruses in Immunosuppressed Individuals with or without Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy

Conflicting prevalence of newly identified KI(KIPyV), WU(WUPyV) and Merkel Cell Carcinoma(MCPyV) polyomaviruses have been reported in progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy(PML) patient samples, ranging from 0 to 14.3%. We analyzed the prevalence of these polyomaviruses in cerebrospinal fluid(CSF), peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMC), and bone marrow samples from PML patients, immunosuppressed individuals with or without HIV, and multiple sclerosis(MS) patients. Distinct PCR tests for KIPyV, WUPyV and MCPyV DNA performed in two independent laboratories detected low levels of MCPyV DNA only in 1/269 samples. The infrequent detections of these viruses in multiple samples from immunosuppressed individuals including those with PML suggest that their reactivation mechanisms may be different from that of JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) and that they do not play a role in the pathogenesis of PML

A real-time, quantitative PCR method using hydrolysis probes for the monitoring of Plasmodium falciparum load in experimentally infected human volunteers

Background: The accurate quantification of Plasmodium falciparum parasite numbers by PCR is an important tool for monitoring growth kinetics in subjects infected and subsequently treated with anti-malarial agents

Seroepidemiology of Human Polyomaviruses

In addition to the previously characterized viruses BK and JC, three new human polyomaviruses (Pys) have been recently identified: KIV, WUV, and Merkel Cell Py (MCV). Using an ELISA employing recombinant VP1 capsid proteins, we have determined the seroprevalence of KIV, WUV, and MCV, along with BKV and JCV, and the monkey viruses SV40 and LPV. Soluble VP1 proteins were used to assess crossreactivity between viruses. We found the seroprevalence (+/− 1%) in healthy adult blood donors (1501) was SV40 (9%), BKV (82%), JCV (39%), LPV (15%), KIV (55%), WUV (69%), MCV strain 350 (25%), and MCV strain 339 (42%). Competition assays detected no sero-crossreactivity between the VP1 proteins of LPV or MCV or between WUV and KIV. There was considerable sero-crossreactivity between SV40 and BKV, and to a lesser extent, between SV40 and JCV VP1 proteins. After correcting for crossreactivity, the SV40 seroprevalence was ∼2%. The seroprevalence in children under 21 years of age (n = 721) for all Pys was similar to that of the adult population, suggesting that primary exposure to these viruses likely occurs in childhood