Unintended consequences of anti-money laundering policies for poor countries

Money laundering, terrorism financing and sanctions violations by individuals, banks and other financial entities are serious offenses with significant negative consequences for rich and poor countries alike. Governments have taken important steps to address these offenses. Efforts by international organizations, the US, UK and others to combat money laundering and curb illicit financial flows are a necessary step to increase the safety of the financial system and improve security, both domestically and around the world. But the policies that have been put in place to counter financial crimes may also have unintentional and costly consequences, in particular for people in poor countries. [1] Those most affected are likely to include the families of migrant workers, small businesses that need to access working capital or trade finance, and recipients of life-saving aid in active-conflict, post-conflict or post-disaster situations. And sometimes, current policies may be self-defeating to the extent that they reduce the transparency of financial flows

The Earls of Derby and the Opposition to their Estate Bills in Parliament, 1660–92: Some New Manuscript Sources

The bills introduced in 1660–2 by Charles Stanley, 8th earl of Derby, to reclaim property legally conveyed during the interregnum are well known to students of the Restoration, as their ultimate defeat is seen as evidence of the government's wish to enforce ‘indemnity and oblivion’ after the civil war. The leading members of the house of lords opposed to the bill of 1661–2 can be gauged by the protest against its passage on 6 February 1662, which has been readily available to students to consult since the 18th-century publication of the Lords journals. A number of manuscript lists of the protesters against the bill's passage reveal that the opposition to the bill was even more extensive and politically varied than the protest in the journal suggests, which raises questions of why the printed protest is so incomplete. A voting forecast drawn up by William Stanley, 9th earl of Derby, in 1691, further reminds us of the often-neglected point that the Stanleys continued to submit bills for the resumption of their hereditary lands well after the disappointment of 1662. Derby's manuscript calculations, though ultimately highly inaccurate, reveal much about how this particular peer envisaged the forces ranged for and against the claims of an old civil war royalist family, a good 40 years after the loss of their land

Effects of impact noise on the hearing of military personnel

Shooting is an activity that exposes military personnel to noise impact, which may cause irreversible effects on hearing. Objective: To evaluate impact noise on the hearing of military personnel that practice shooting. Study design: A case-control retrospective study. Methods: 115 military personnel were enrolled; 65 had been exposed to impact noise and 50 were non-exposed. Firearm noise levels were evaluated, subjects answered a questionnaire and underwent threshold tonal audiometry and otoacoustic emissions testing. Results: The average noise level was 125dB(C). Most subjects (78%) believe that noise may cause hearing loss; nearly all (92.3%) used ear noise protectors while shooting, but most (32.3%) had never received guidance for using this equipment. There were significant differences between the two groups in relation to changes suggesting impact noise-induced hearing loss. Conclusion: The differences between groups show that noise-exposed military personnel are more likely to develop hearing loss. The goal of a hearing conservation program for this population should be to preserve hearing and educate these individuals about the importance of using hearing protection correctly.77674775

Unintended consequences of anti-money laundering policies for poor countries

Money laundering, terrorism financing and sanctions violations by individuals, banks and other financial entities are serious offenses with significant negative consequences for rich and poor countries alike. Governments have taken important steps to address these offenses. Efforts by international organizations, the US, UK and others to combat money laundering and curb illicit financial flows are a necessary step to increase the safety of the financial system and improve security, both domestically and around the world. But the policies that have been put in place to counter financial crimes may also have unintentional and costly consequences, in particular for people in poor countries. [1] Those most affected are likely to include the families of migrant workers, small businesses that need to access working capital or trade finance, and recipients of life-saving aid in active-conflict, post-conflict or post-disaster situations. And sometimes, current policies may be self-defeating to the extent that they reduce the transparency of financial flows

JAK2 V617F Mutation Prevalence in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms in Pernambuco, Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Background: The JAK2 V617F mutation is associated with three myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs): polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET), and primary myelofibrosis (PMF). It generates an unregulated clonal hematopoietic progenitor and leads to abnormal increased proliferation of one or more myeloid lineages. Subjects bearing this mutation may present more frequently with complications such as thrombosis and bleeding, and no specific treatment has yet been developed for BCR-ABL-negative JAK2 V617F-negative MPNs. Aims: To determine the prevalence of JAK2 V617F in MPNs in Pernambuco, Brazil, and to compare it with previous studies. Material and Methods: 144 blood samples were collected at the Hospital of Hematology of the HEMOPE Foundation and were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism with BsaXI enzymatic digestion. Results and Discussion: 88% (46/52) of the patients with PV, 47% (39/81) with ET, and 77% (8/11) with PMF were positive for JAK2 V617F, while more than 35% of the individuals were JAK2 V617F-negative, confirming a high prevalence of this abnormality in MPNs, more frequently with a low mutated allele burden, similar to what has been reported in other Western countries, despite differences among methods used to detect this mutation. Screening for JAK2 V617F may allow specific management of these diseases with JAK2 inhibitors in the future and highlights the need for further studies on the pathogenesis of BCR-ABL-negative JAK2 V617F-negative MPNs.167802805Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundacao de Amparo a Ciencia e Tecnologia do Estado de Pernambuco (FACEPE)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Zea mays iRS1563: A Comprehensive Genome-Scale Metabolic Reconstruction of Maize Metabolism

The scope and breadth of genome-scale metabolic reconstructions have continued to expand over the last decade. Herein, we introduce a genome-scale model for a plant with direct applications to food and bioenergy production (i.e., maize). Maize annotation is still underway, which introduces significant challenges in the association of metabolic functions to genes. The developed model is designed to meet rigorous standards on gene-protein-reaction (GPR) associations, elementally and charged balanced reactions and a biomass reaction abstracting the relative contribution of all biomass constituents. The metabolic network contains 1,563 genes and 1,825 metabolites involved in 1,985 reactions from primary and secondary maize metabolism. For approximately 42% of the reactions direct literature evidence for the participation of the reaction in maize was found. As many as 445 reactions and 369 metabolites are unique to the maize model compared to the AraGEM model for A. thaliana. 674 metabolites and 893 reactions are present in Zea mays iRS1563 that are not accounted for in maize C4GEM. All reactions are elementally and charged balanced and localized into six different compartments (i.e., cytoplasm, mitochondrion, plastid, peroxisome, vacuole and extracellular). GPR associations are also established based on the functional annotation information and homology prediction accounting for monofunctional, multifunctional and multimeric proteins, isozymes and protein complexes. We describe results from performing flux balance analysis under different physiological conditions, (i.e., photosynthesis, photorespiration and respiration) of a C4 plant and also explore model predictions against experimental observations for two naturally occurring mutants (i.e., bm1 and bm3). The developed model corresponds to the largest and more complete to-date effort at cataloguing metabolism for a plant species