Metagovernance and the Role of Cultural Norms in the Regulation of Foreign Direct Investment: Trans-Tasman FDI Regimes

Australia and New Zealand provide a unique set of comparators with which to examine similarities and differences in approaches to the regulation of foreign direct investment (FDI). By examining experience with regulation of FDI in these two states we show how they act in the governance space to enable state directed regulation and how these states differ in their approach to regulation. In particular we focus on the influence of cultural norms in shaping metagovernance responses from each of the states. Textual analysis of the treatment of investment in bi-lateral discussions associated with Closer Economic Relations (CER) demonstrates that political social cultural and institutional factors are integral to modelling the challenges faced by national governments in regulating FDI

Protocol for the analysis of hematopoietic lineages in the whole kidney marrow of adult zebrafish

The whole kidney marrow (WKM) is the site for hematopoiesis in the adult zebrafish. Here, we present a protocol for analyzing hematopoietic lineages in the WKM of adult zebrafish. We describe steps for the isolation of hematopoietic cells from the WKM, the downstream analysis of total marrow cellularity, and analysis of cell populations by flow cytometry. We then detail procedures for May-Grünwald-Giemsa staining for analysis of cellular morphology and phenotyping.For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Mahony et al

Metagovernance and the Role of Cultural Norms in the Regulation of Foreign Direct Investment: Trans-Tasman FDI Regimes

Australia and New Zealand provide a unique set of comparators with which to examine similarities and differences in approaches to the regulation of foreign direct investment (FDI). By examining experience with regulation of FDI in these two states we show how they act in the governance space to enable state directed regulation and how these states differ in their approach to regulation. In particular we focus on the influence of cultural norms in shaping metagovernance responses from each of the states. Textual analysis of the treatment of investment in bi-lateral discussions associated with Closer Economic Relations (CER) demonstrates that political social cultural and institutional factors are integral to modelling the challenges faced by national governments in regulating FDI

Oncostatin M and Kit-Ligand control hematopoietic stem cell fate during zebrafish embryogenesis

Understanding the molecular pathways controlling hematopoietic stem cell specification and expansion is a necessary milestone to perform regenerative medicine. Here, we used the zebrafish model to study the role of the ckit signaling pathway in this process. We show the importance of kitb/kitlgb signaling in the specification and expansion of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), in the hemogenic endothelium and caudal hematopoietic tissue (CHT), respectively. Moreover, we identified the zebrafish ortholog of Oncostatin M (osm) in the zebrafish genome. We show that the osm/osmr pathway acts upstream of kitb during specification of the hemogenic endothelium, while both pathways act synergistically to expand HSCs in the CHT. Moreover, we found that osm, in addition to its role in promoting HSC proliferation, inhibits HSC commitment to the lymphoid fate. Altogether, our data identified two cytokines, kitlgb and osm, secreted by the vascular niche, that control HSCs during early embryonic development

Shared mechanism of teratogenicity of anti-angiogenic drugs identified in the chicken embryo model

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Maria Kisakyamaria and Scott McMenemy for preliminary experimental data. This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust-NIH PhD Studentship awarded to SB, WDF and NV (Grant number 098252/Z/12/Z). This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organization imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Ten years on: transitional justice in post conflict Sierra Leone: report and analysis of a conference held at Goodenough College, London

Sierra Leone’s civil conflict caused 70,000 casualties and left 2.6 million people displaced. The war was known for widespread atrocities, including forced recruitment of child soldiers, rape and sexual slavery, and amputations of limbs. Ten years since the end of its eleven-year civil war, Sierra Leone is again in the international news. The recent sentencing of Charles Taylor in The Hague marks the first international trial of an African Head of State. Meanwhile, within Sierra Leone, democratic elections on November 17, 2012 mark a critical evaluation point for the country’s transition to peace. This symposium takes stock of Sierra Leone’s post-conflict transition. Termed by William Schabas as a successful example of the “two-track” approach to transitional justice, Sierra Leone has been a site of multiple international and domestic mechanisms of transitional justice. The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and ongoing community reconciliation processes have all sought to address the legacies of violence and put the country on a more secure footing. The symposium invites scholars, in the context of recent elections, to examine the impact of transitional justice in Sierra Leone. Do transitional justice approaches present short-term solutions or do they work towards long-term peace, stability, and development? Do transitional justice mechanisms address the visible legacies of conflict (victims, justice for atrocities, and in this case, child soldiers), or conflict’s long-term drivers (economic, social and political)? To what extent have transitional justice approaches complemented each other, as some have claimed, or are they in tension? Ten years on, to what extent has transitional justice been transformative within Sierra Leone

Chlamydia Pneumoniae CdsL Regulates CdsN ATPase Activity, and Disruption with a Peptide Mimetic Prevents Bacterial Invasion

Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular pathogens that likely require type III secretion (T3S) to invade cells and replicate intracellularly within a cytoplasmic vacuole called an inclusion body. Chlamydia pneumoniae possess a YscL ortholog, CdsL, that has been shown to interact with the T3S ATPase (CdsN). In this report we demonstrate that CdsL down-regulates CdsN enzymatic activity in a dose-dependent manner. Using Pepscan epitope mapping we identified two separate binding domains to which CdsL binds viz. CdsN221–229 and CdsN265–270. We confirmed the binding domains using a pull-down assay and showed that GST–CdsN221–270, which encompasses these peptides, co-purified with His–CdsL. Next, we used orthology modeling based on the crystal structure of a T3S ATPase ortholog from Escherichia coli, EscN, to map the binding domains on the predicted 3D structure of CdsN. The CdsL binding domains mapped to the catalytic domain of the ATPase, one in the central channel of the ATPase hexamer and one on the outer face. Since peptide mimetics have been used to disrupt essential protein interactions of the chlamydial T3S system and inhibit T3S-mediated invasion of HeLa cells, we hypothesized that if CdsL–CdsN binding is essential for regulating T3S then a CdsN peptide mimetic could be used to potentially block T3S and chlamydial invasion. Treatment of elementary body with a CdsN peptide mimetic inhibited C. pneumoniae invasion into HeLa cells in a dose-dependent fashion. This report represents the first use of Pepscan technology to identify binding domains for specific T3S proteins viz. CdsL on the ATPase, CdsN, and demonstrates that peptide mimetics can be used as anti-virulence factors to block bacterial invasion

Anticancer Properties of a Novel Class of Tetrafluorinated Thalidomide Analogues

The authors thank Scott McMenemy for carrying out preliminary, early studies looking at effects of Gu compounds upon chicken embryology, as well as Charles D. Crowe, Jeffrey E. Roth, and Adam C. Rolt for critical comments on the article. fli1:EGFP zebrafish were obtained from the Zebrafish International Research Center (27). mpo:GFP zebrafish [also termed Tg(MPO:GFP)114] zebrafish were obtained from Dr. Stephen Renshaw, University of Sheffield (Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK; ref. 29).Peer reviewedPostprin