Erythrocyte complement receptor 1 (CR1) expression level is not associated with polymorphisms in the promoter or 3' untranslated regions of the CR1 gene

Complement receptor 1 (CR1) expression level on erythrocytes is genetically determined and is associated with high (H) and low (L) expression alleles identified by a HindIII restriction fragment-length polymorphism (RFLP) in intron 27 of the CR1 gene. The L allele confers protection against severe malaria in Papua New Guinea, probably because erythrocytes with low CR1 expression, are less able to form pathogenic rosettes with Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes. Despite the biological importance of erythrocyte CR1, the genetic mutation controlling CR1 expression level remains unknown. We investigated the possibility that mutations in the upstream or 3′ untranslated regions of the CR1 gene could control erythrocyte CR1 level. We identified several novel polymorphisms; however, the mutations did not segregate with erythrocyte CR1 expression level or the H and L alleles. Therefore, high and low erythrocyte CR1 levels cannot be explained by polymorphisms in transcriptional control elements in the upstream or 3′ untranslated regions of the CR1 gene

Agricultural Price Distortions, Poverty and Inequality in the Philippines

This paper analyzes the poverty and inequality implications of removing agricultural and non-agricultural price distortions in the domestic market of the Philippines and abroad. Liberalization in the rest of the world is poverty and inequality reducing, whereas full domestic liberalization increases national poverty and inequality. Poverty declines while inequality increases marginally in the combined scenario of both global and domestic agriculture reform. Although the reduction in the national poverty headcount is small in the latter scenario, the poorest of the poor – particularly those living in the rural areas – emerge as “winners”, given their strong reliance on agricultural production and unskilled labor wages.Distorted incentives, agricultural and trade policy reforms, national agricultural development, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, F13, F14, Q17, Q18,

Ab initio methods for finite temperature two-dimensional Bose gases

The stochastic Gross-Pitaevskii equation and modified Popov theory are shown to provide an ab initio description of finite temperature, weakly-interacting two-dimensional Bose gas experiments. Using modified Popov theory, a systematic approach is developed in which the momentum cut-off inherent to classical field methods is removed as a free parameter. This is shown to yield excellent agreement with the recent experiment of Hung et al. [Nature, 470, 236 (2011)], verifying that the stochastic Gross-Pitaevskii equation captures the observed universality and scale-invariance.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Public & Private Spillovers, Location and the Productivity of Pharmaceutical Research

While there is widespread agreement among economists and management scholars that knowledge spillovers exist and have important economic consequences, researchers know substantially less about the "micro mechanisms" of spillovers -- about the degree to which they are geographically localized, for example, or about the degree to which spillovers from public institutions are qualitatively different from those from privately owned firms (Jaffe, 1986; Krugman, 1991; Jaffe et al., 1993; Porter, 1990). In this paper we make use of the geographic distribution of the research activities of major global pharmaceutical firms to explore the extent to which knowledge spills over from proximate private and public institutions. Our data and empirical approach allow us to make advances on two dimensions. First, by focusing on spillovers in research productivity (as opposed to manufacturing productivity), we build closely on the theoretical literature on spillovers that suggests that knowledge externalities are likely to have the most immediate impact on the production of ideas (Romer, 1986; Aghion & Howitt, 1997). Second, our data allow us to distinguish spillovers from public research from spillovers from private, or competitively funded research, and to more deeply explore the role that institutions and geographic proximity play in driving knowledge spillovers.

Whole body cryotherapy, cold water immersion, or a placebo following resistance exercise: a case of mind over matter?

PURPOSE: The use of cryotherapy as a recovery intervention is prevalent amongst athletes. Performance of high volume, heavy load resistance exercise is known to result in disturbances of muscle function, perceptual responses and blood borne parameters. Therefore, this study investigated the influence of cold water immersion (CWI), whole body cryotherapy (WBC) or a placebo (PL) intervention on markers of recovery following an acute resistance training session. METHODS: 24 resistance trained males were matched into a CWI (10 min at 10 °C), WBC (3- and 4 min at - 85 °C) or PL group before completing a lower body resistance training session. Perceptions of soreness and training stress, markers of muscle function, inflammation and efflux of intracellular proteins were assessed before, and up to 72 h post exercise. RESULTS: The training session resulted in increased soreness, disturbances of muscle function, and increased inflammation and efflux of intracellular proteins. Although WBC attenuated soreness at 24 h, and positively influenced peak force at 48 h compared to CWI and PL, many of the remaining outcomes were trivial, unclear or favoured the PL condition. With the exception of CRP at 24 h, neither cryotherapy intervention attenuated the inflammatory response compared to PL. CONCLUSION: There was some evidence to suggest that WBC is more effective than CWI at attenuating select perceptual and functional responses following resistance training. However, neither cryotherapy intervention was more effective than the placebo treatment at accelerating recovery. The implications of these findings should be carefully considered by individuals employing cryotherapy as a recovery strategy following heavy load resistance training

The influence of repeated cold water immersion on adaptations to strength and power training

Introduction Cold Water Immersion (CWI) is a popular recovery strategy utilised by athletes in order to attenuate the negative influence of strenuous exercise on subsequent performance. One of the proposed physiological mechanisms underpinning the use of CWI is the potential to limit the inflammatory response after acute exercise. Given that the inflammatory cascade ultimately leads to muscle regeneration and repair, it is pertinent to investigate the longer term impact of regular cryotherapy exposure on adaptations to strength and power training. Methods Thirteen resistance trained males (mean age 25.8 ± 5.5 years; height 1.8 ± 0.1 m; mass 83.6 ± 15.7 kg; 4RM back squat 146.2 ± 38.5 kg) completed an 8 week (1 x 4 week strength and 1 x 4 week power block) lower body resistance training program. Participants were match-paired into either the CWI (10 min at 10° ± 0.5°) or placebo group based on a ratio of lean mass to 4RM back squat. Participants completed 2 training sessions per week and completed their allocated recovery intervention after each training session. Measures of muscle fibre pennation angle, maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) at 90°, peak torque of the knee extensors (60deg∙s), and isometric squat parameters (peak force and rate of force development (RFD))were measured at baseline, midpoint and post training intervention. Results were analysed using magnitude based inferences. Results At the post testing session, CWI demonstrated a likely moderate harmful effect on muscle fibre pennation angle compared to the placebo group (CWI: 11.4; ±4.8%; placebo: 21.5; ±8.4%). However, CWI demonstrated a likely large beneficial effect on peak torque (60deg∙s) compared to the placebo group (CWI: 7.5; ±6.5%; placebo: -2.4; ±4.0%) at midpoint. There were trivial differences between groups for isometric peak force and peak torque (60deg∙s) from baseline to post. All other effects were unclear. Discussion The greater increase in muscle fibre pennation angle in the placebo group compared to the CWI group would indicate a greater increase lean muscle mass. However, CWI still demonstrated a positive impact on peak torque at 60 deg∙s compared to the placebo group. Blood sample analyses are ongoing and may offer further insight into the underpinning mechanisms. Further investigation is warranted to better understand the potential negative impact of repeated cryotherapy exposure on functional adaptations to strength and power training stimuli

Agile methods for agile universities

We explore a term, Agile, that is being used in various workplace settings, including the management of universities. The term may have several related but slightly different meanings. Agile is often used in the context of facilitating more creative problem-solving and advocating for the adoption, design, tailoring and continual updating of more innovative organizational processes. We consider a particular set of meanings of the term from the world of software development. Agile methods were created to address certain problems with the software development process. Many of those problems have interesting analogues in the context of universities, so a reflection on agile methods may be a useful heuristic for generating ideas for enabling universities to be more creative