Labour Standards and Mega-Regionals: Innovative Rule-Making or Sticking to the Boilerplate?

The requirement to adopt minimum labour standards is now standard practice in free trade agreements negotiated by major trading powers such as the EU and US. However, such practice has historically been contested by developing countries, who contend that the requirement to increase labour and social protection standards is designed to remove one of the few competitive advantages that developing countries have over developed countries in attracting foreign investment. More recently, the EU and the US have also sought to use so-called ‘mega-regionals’ to promote labour standards. This was a significant development in that their proponents were keen to stress that these agreements would set the benchmark for labour protection provisions in FTAs, readily admitting that one of the central aims pursued by such agreements was to redefine the rules of the global trading system. The paper aims to assess the labour standards provisions included in EU and US FTAs, determine the rationale behind the inclusion of such provisions, and examine the extent to which mega-regionals such as the TTIP and the TPP marked a significant departure from past practice

Comparison of RNA extraction methods from biofilm samples of Staphylococcus epidermidis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Microbial biofilms are communities of bacteria adhered to a surface and surrounded by an extracellular polymeric matrix. Biofilms have been associated with increased antibiotic resistance and tolerance to the immune system. <it>Staphylococcus epidermidis </it>is the major bacterial species found in biofilm-related infections on indwelling medical devices. Obtaining high quality mRNA from biofilms is crucial to validate the transcriptional measurements associated with the switching to the biofilm mode of growth. Therefore, we selected three commercially available RNA extraction kits with distinct characteristics, including those using silica membrane or organic extraction methods, and enzymatic or mechanical cell lysis, and evaluated the RNA quality obtained from two distinct <it>S. epidermidis </it>bacterial biofilms.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>RNA extracted using the different kits was evaluated for quantity, purity, integrity, and functionally. All kits were able to extract intact and functional total RNA from the biofilms generated from each <it>S. epidermidis </it>strain. The results demonstrated that the kit based on mechanical lysis and organic extraction (FastRNA^®Pro Blue) was the only one that was able to isolate pure and large quantities of RNA. Normalized expression of the <it>icaA </it>virulence gene showed that RNA extracted with PureLink™ had a significant lower concentration of <it>icaA </it>mRNA transcripts than the other kits tested.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>When working with complex samples, such as biofilms, that contain a high content extracellular polysaccharide and proteins, special care should be taken when selecting the appropriate RNA extraction system, in order to obtain accurate, reproducible, and biologically significant results. Among the RNA extraction kits tested, FastRNA^®Pro Blue was the best option for both <it>S. epidermidis </it>biofilms used.</p

PRODUÇÃO CIENTÍFICA SOBRE GOVERNANÇA CORPORATIVA: ANíLISE DOS ARTIGOS PUBLICADOS EM REVISTAS DE CONTABILIDADE NO BRASIL NO PERÍODO DE 2010 A 2015

This study aims at the investigation of scientific production on the topic "˜Corporate Governance"™ based on articles published in the main brazilian journals of Accounting, from 2010 to 2015. In this context, this is a bibliographical and descriptive study, with predominantly quantitative approach. The sample is composed of 50 articles, wich were collected from journals classified A2 and B1 by the Qualis / Capes. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, supplemented by analysis of keywords of articles based on the cloud of words. The main results show that the year 2014 presented 14 published articles (28,00% of the sample); the most prolific authors are Amaral, Correia, De Luca and Ponte; the leading institution in scientific literature on the topic CorporateGovernance in the Accounting area is the University of São Paulo (20,00% of the sample); the brazilian region that produced more articles is the Southeast (50,00% of the sample). After refined the keywords of each article that makes up the sample, it wasfound thatthosewho exceed more in terms of occurrence in thearticles were "˜disclosure"™ and "˜earnings management"™. This study is a current topic and can contribute to researchers, higher education institutions, professionals and other interested parties to better understand the evolution of corporate governance theme in academic journals of Accounting in Brazil.O objetivo deste artigo é investigar a produção cientí­fica sobre o tema "˜governança corporativa"™, com base em artigos publicados em revistas nacionais de contabilidade no perí­odo de 2010 a 2015. Trata-se de pesquisa bibliográfica, de natureza descritiva e com abordagem predominantemente quantitativa. A amostra é composta por 50 artigos coletados nas referidas revistas, selecionadas por serem classificadas de A2 a B1 no Qualis/Capes. A análise dos dados empregou a estatí­stica descritiva, complementada pela análise das palavras-chave dos artigos baseada na elaboração de nuvem de palavras. Os principais resultados da estatí­stica descritiva indicam que o ano de 2014apresentou 14 artigos publicados (28,00% da amostra); os autores mais prolí­ficos são Amaral, Correia, De Luca e Ponte; a instituição com destaque na produção cientí­fica sobre o tema é a Universidade de São Paulo (20,00% da amostra) e a região do Paí­s com produção relevante sobre o tema é a Sudeste (50,00% da amostra). A análise das palavras-chave indicou, entre as mais recorrentes, "˜Gerenciamento de Resultados"™ e "˜Evidenciação"™. Este estudo aborda um tema atual, podendo contribuir para que pesquisadores, instituições de ensino superior, profissionais e demais partes interessadas&nbsp;possam melhor entender a evolução do tema governança corporativa em periódicos acadêmicos de contabilidade no Brasil

Antimicrobial Peptides and Skin: A Paradigm of Translational Medicine

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small, cationic, amphiphilic peptides with broad-spectrum microbicidal activity against both bacteria and fungi. In mammals, AMPs form the first line of host defense against infections and generally play an important role as effector agents of the innate immune system. The AMP era was born more than 6 decades ago when the first cationic cyclic peptide antibiotics, namely polymyxins and tyrothricin, found their way into clinical use. Due to the good clinical experience in the treatment of, for example, infections of mucus membranes as well as the subsequent understanding of mode of action, AMPs are now considered for treatment of inflammatory skin diseases and for improving healing of infected wounds. Based on the preclinical findings, including pathobiochemistry and molecular medicine, targeted therapy strategies are developed and first results indicate that AMPs influence processes of diseased skin. Importantly, in contrast to other antibiotics, AMPs do not seem to propagate the development of antibiotic-resistant micro-organisms. Therefore, AMPs should be tested in clinical trials for their efficacy and tolerability in inflammatory skin diseases and chronic wounds. Apart from possible fields of application, these peptides appear suited as an example of the paradigm of translational medicine for skin diseases which is today seen as a `two-way road' - from bench to bedside and backwards from bedside to bench. Copyright (c) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base

The role of gut-liver axis in the restriction of intrauterine growth in a model of experimental gastroschisis

PURPOSE: To evaluate the intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) by the expression of IR-&#946;, IRS-1, IRS-2, IGF-IR&#946; and Ikappa&#946; in experimental model of gastroschisis. METHODS: Pregnant rats at 18.5 days of gestation were submitted to surgery to create experimental fetal gastroschisis (term = 22 days) were divided in three groups: gastroschisis (G), control (C) and sham (S). Fetuses were evaluated for body weight (BW), intestinal (IW), liver (LW) and their relations IW/BW and LW/BW. IR-&#946; and IGF-IR&#946; receptors, IRS-1 and IRS-2 substrates and Ikappa&#946; protein were analyzed by western blotting. RESULTS: BW was lower in G, the IW and IW / BW were greater than C and S (p<0.05) groups. The liver showed no differences between groups. In fetuses with gastroschisis, compared with control fetuses, the expression of IGF-IR&#946; (p<0.001) and Ikappa&#946; (p<0.001) increased in the liver and intestine, as well as IR-&#946; (p<0.001) which decreased in both. In contrast to the intestine, IRS-1 (p<0.001) increased in the liver and IRS-2 decreased (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: The axis of the intestine liver has an important role in inflammation, with consequent changes in the metabolic pathway of glucose can contribute to the IUGR in fetuses with gastroschisis

Eco-friendly one-pot synthesis of Prussian blue-embedded magnetic hydrogel beads for the removal of cesium from water

A simple one-step approach to fabricating Prussian blue-embedded magnetic hydrogel beads (PBMHBs) was fabricated for the effective magnetic removal of radioactive cesium (Cs-137) from water. Through the simple dropwise addition of a mixed aqueous solution of iron salts, commercial PB and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to an ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) solution, the formation of hydrogel beads and the encapsulation of PB in beads were achieved in one pot through the gelation of PVA with in situ-formed iron oxide nanoparticles as the cross-linker. The obtained PB-MHBs, with 43.77 weight %of PB, were stable without releasing PB for up to 2 weeks and could be effectively separated from aqueous solutions by an external magnetic field, which is convenient for the large-scale treatment of Cs-contaminated water. Detailed Cs adsorption studies revealed that the adsorption isotherms and kinetics could be effectively described by the Langmuir isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order model, respectively. Most importantly, the PB-MHBs exhibited excellent selectivity for Cs-137 in (137)Cscontaminated simulated groundwater (55 Bq/g) with a high removal efficiency (&gt;99.5%), and the effective removal of Cs-137 from real seawater by these PB-MHBs demonstrated the excellent potential of this material for practical application in the decontamination of Cs-137-contaminated seawate