Countering Home-Grown Terrorists in Australia: An Overview of Legislation, Policy and Actors Since 2001

This article explores the impact of counter-terrorism legislation and policy in Australia. In particular it explores how legislation facilitated prosecution and conviction of persons involved in home-grown terrorism, including analysis of investigation and prosecution policy surrounding the ul-Haque and Haneef cases. Particular attention is given to the terrorism trials involving Benbrika & Ors and Elomar & Ors. What makes these trials intriguing is the fact that most of those convicted could be more easily described as more vulnerable than menacing. Sentencing of those convicted was cognate with no policies for rehabilitation. The small number of convictions under the legislation when considered against the increased funding of counter-terrorism, loss of traditional rights and privileges and Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq raises issues about adequate policy setting in this area

Experiencias en el tratamiento para la enfermedad de Chagas en niños en edad escolar de Paraguay

Las referencias de trabajos sobre tratamiento en pacientes con la enfermedad de Chagas en nuestro país son escasas, y en especial en el grupo etario de niños de 6 a 12 años infectados con T. cruzi. El Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Salud (IICS) llevó a cabo dos estudios de evaluación del tratamiento en niños en edad escolar tanto de zonas marginales de Asunción, como de zonas rurales. En ambos, se incluyó la evaluación basal, el tratamiento y la evaluación post-tratamiento en los niños que resultaron con serología positiva para anticuerpos anti-T. cruzi por IFI y ELISA a fin de cumplir con el criterio de infección. El tratamiento fue con benznidazol bajo estricta supervisión médica. Aunque no se presentó la negativización serológica en el 100% de las muestras, el panorama post-tratamiento que se obtuvo en estos niños en etapa crónica reciente de la enfermedad de Chagas fue la disminución significativa en la concentración de anticuerpos anti-T. cruzi y en otros, seroconversiones negativas. En el examen parasitológico se obtuvo negativización en ambos grupos y tolerancia a la medicación. Es importante destacar que con este tratamiento, se brinda la oportunidad de disminuir la aparición de lesiones cardíacas y digestivas en la edad adulta. A su vez se deben llevar a cabo acciones sostenidas de salud pública desde el nacimiento hasta la adolescencia, ya que en estas edades, se observa la mejor respuesta a los parasiticidas

Incentive learning underlying cocaine relapse requires mGluR5 receptors located on dopamine D1 receptor-expressing neurons

Understanding the psychobiological basis of relapse remains a challenge in developing therapies for drug addiction. Relapse in cocaine addiction often occurs following exposure to environmental stimuli previously associated with drug taking. The metabotropic glutamate receptor, mGluR5, is potentially important in this respect; it plays a central role in several forms of striatal synaptic plasticity proposed to underpin associative learning and memory processes that enable drug-paired stimuli to acquire incentive motivational properties and trigger relapse. Using cell type-specific RNA interference, we have generated a novel mouse line with a selective knock-down of mGluR5 in dopamine D1 receptor-expressing neurons. Although mutant mice self-administer cocaine, we show that reinstatement of cocaine-seeking induced by a cocaine-paired stimulus is impaired. By examining different aspects of associative learning in the mutant mice, we identify deficits in specific incentive learning processes that enable a reward-paired stimulus to directly reinforce behavior and to become attractive, thus eliciting approach toward it. Our findings show that glutamate signaling through mGluR5 located on dopamine D1 receptor-expressing neurons is necessary for incentive learning processes that contribute to cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine-seeking and which may underpin relapse in drug addiction

Multinet : enabler for next generation enterprise wireless services

Wireless communications are currently experiencing a fast migration toward the beyond third-generation (B3G)/fourth generation (4G) era. This represents a generational change in wireless systems: new capabilities related to mobility and new services support is required and new concepts as individual-centric, user-centric or ambient-aware communications are included. One of the main restrictions associated to wireless technology is mobility management, this feature was not considered in the design phase; for this reason, a complete solution is not already found, although different solutions are proposed and are being proposed. In MULTINET project, features as mobility and multihoming are applied to wireless network to provide the necessary network and application functionality enhancements for seamless data communication mobility considering end-user scenario and preferences. The aim of this paper is to show the benefits of these functionalities from the Service Providers and final User point of view

An electrospun Polymer Composite with Fullerene-Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Exohedral Complexes can act as Memory Device

In this work, a novel electrospun conductive polymer nanocomposite made of polycaprolactone with an exohedral complex made of multiwalled carbon nanotubes and fullerene C60 was prepared and characterized. The preparation was straightforward and the complexes self-assembled within the nanocomposite fibers. The nanocomposite showed electrical switching behavior due to charge accumulation of fullerene C60 upon electrical stimulation. Write-once read-many memory devices were fabricated by electrospinning a nanocomposite with 0.8%wt. fullerene C60 onto interdigitated coplanar electrodes. The device retained the ON state for more than 60 days and could be thermally reset, reprogrammed and erased with subsequent electrical and thermal cycling. Moreover, the electrical resistance of the device could be modulated by applying different programming voltage amplitudes and programming times, which revealed its adaptive behavior and potential application to neuromorphic systems.Comment: 41 pages, 16 figures, 4 table

Acute toxicity, bioaccumulation and effects of dietary 1 transfer of silver from brine 2 shrimps exposed to PVP/PEI-coated silver nanoparticles to zebrafish

The extensive use and release to the aquatic environment of silver nanoparticles (NPs) could lead to their incorporation into the food web. Brine shrimp larvae of 24 h showed low sensitivity to the exposure to PVP/PEI-coated Ag NPs (5 nm), with EC50 values at 24 h of 19.63 mg Ag L-1, but they significantly accumulated silver after 24 h of exposure to 100 μg L-1 of Ag NPs. Thus, to assess bioaccumulation and effects of silver transferred by the diet in zebrafish, brine shrimp larvae were exposed to 100 ng L-1 of Ag NPs as an environmentally relevant concentration or to 100 μg L-1 as a potentially effective concentration and used to feed zebrafish for 21 days. Autometallography revealed a dose- and time-dependent metal accumulation in the intestine and in the liver of zebrafish. Three-day feeding with brine shrimps exposed to 100 ng L-1 of Ag NPs was enough to impair fish health as reflected by the significant reduction of lysosomal membrane stability and the presence of vacuolization and necrosis in the liver. However, dietary exposure to 100 μg L-1 of Ag NPs for 3 days did not significantly alter gene transcription levels, neither in the liver nor in the intestine. After 21 days, biological processes such as lipid transport and localization, cellular response to chemical stimulus and response to xenobiotic stimulus were significantly altered in the liver. Overall, these results indicate an effective dietary transfer of silver and point out to liver as the main target organ for Ag NP toxicity in zebrafish after dietary exposure.MINECO (NanoSilverOmicsproject- MAT2012-39372) Basque Government (consolidated research groups IT810-13 and IT620-13; Saiotek S-PE13UN142) University of the Basque Country (UFIs 11/37 and 11/52)

Draft genome sequence of multidrug-resistant vibrio parahaemolyticus strain PH698, infecting penaeid shrimp in the Philippines

The emergence of multidrug-resistant bacterial strains in diverse settings has been reported globally. In the Philippine shrimp aquaculture industry, antibiotics are used for the treatment of bacterial diseases during the production cycle. We report the draft genome of Vibrio parahaemolyticus PH698, a multidrug-resistant strain isolated from a Philippine shrimp farm

Five-year follow-up mortality prognostic index for colorectal patients

Purpose: To identify 5-year survival prognostic variables in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and to propose a survival prognostic score that also takes into account changes over time in the patient's health-related quality of life (HRQoL) status. Methods: Prospective observational cohort study of CRC patients. We collected data from their diagnosis, intervention, and at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years following the index intervention, also collecting HRQoL data using the EuroQol-5D-5L (EQ-5D-5L), European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer's Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (EORTC-QLQ-C30), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaires. Multivariate Cox proportional models were used. Results: We found predictors of mortality over the 5-year follow-up to be being older; being male; having a higher TNM stage; having a higher lymph node ratio; having a result of CRC surgery classified as R1 or R2; invasion of neighboring organs; having a higher score on the Charlson comorbidity index; having an ASA IV; and having worse scores, worse quality of life, on the EORTC and EQ-5D questionnaires, as compared to those with higher scores in each of those questionnaires respectively. Conclusions: These results allow preventive and controlling measures to be established on long-term follow-up of these patients, based on a few easily measurable variables. Implications for cancer survivors: Patients with colorectal cancer should be monitored more closely depending on the severity of their disease and comorbidities as well as the perceived health-related quality of life, and preventive measures should be established to prevent adverse outcomes and therefore to ensure that better treatment is received. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02488161Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work was supported in part by grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and the European Regional Development Fund (PS09/00314, PS09/00910, PS09/00746, PS09/00805, PI09/90460, PI09/90490, PI09/90453, PI09/90441, PI09/90397); the Spanish Ministry of the Economy (PID2020-115738 GB-I00); the Departments of Health (2010111098) and Education, Language Policy and Culture (IT1456-22; IT1598-22; IT-1187–19) of the Basque Government; the Research Committee of Galdakao Hospital; the REDISSEC (Red de Investigación en Servicios de Salud en Enfermedades Crónicas) thematic network of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III; and the Department of Education of the Basque Government through the Consolidated Research Group MATHMODE (IT1456-22) and the Basque Government through BMTF “Mathematical Modeling Applied to Health” Project

Whole transcriptome approach to evaluate the effect of aluminium hydroxide in ovine encephalon

Aluminium hydroxide adjuvants are crucial for livestock and human vaccines. Few studies have analysed their effect on the central nervous system in vivo. In this work, lambs received three different treatments of parallel subcutaneous inoculations during 16 months with aluminium-containing commercial vaccines, an equivalent dose of aluminium hydroxide or mock injections. Brain samples were sequenced by RNA-seq and miRNA-seq for the expression analysis of mRNAs, long non-coding RNAs and microRNAs and three expression comparisons were made. Although few differentially expressed genes were identified, some dysregulated genes by aluminium hydroxide alone were linked to neurological functions, the lncRNA TUNA among them, or were enriched in mitochondrial energy metabolism related functions. In the same way, the miRNA expression was mainly disrupted by the adjuvant alone treatment. Some differentially expressed miRNAs had been previously linked to neurological diseases, oxidative stress and apoptosis. In brief, in this study aluminium hydroxide alone altered the transcriptome of the encephalon to a higher degree than commercial vaccines that present a milder effect. The expression changes in the animals inoculated with aluminium hydroxide suggest mitochondrial disfunction. Further research is needed to elucidate to which extent these changes could have pathological consequences