Nusantara Capital City (IKN): Threats and Defense Strategies for Indonesia’s New Capital

Jakarta, as the current state capital of Indonesia, plays an important role as the center of government and economy. However, due to several problems in Jakarta, the government has considered relocating the capital city to other regions. The President of Indonesia, Jokowi, has expressed his intention to move the capital city to Kalimantan Island. This relocation has raised concerns about defense policy. This research aims to identify the threats that may arise in the proposed new capital city, Nusantara Capital City (IKN), and to propose strategies to overcome them. The methods used in this research include a qualitative approach based on documented perceptions, assumptions, and judgments among Indonesia’s leaders and a quantitative approach to mapping the comparative postures of relevant defense figures. The results indicate that the highest threat in IKN comes from the air (combat, UAV, ICBM’s), while the low-level threat is the location of IKN, which is near the borders, and FIR coincides with the IASL. The critical aspect of defending IKN would be to strengthen national defense diplomacy in the region. In conclusion, this research provides insight into the potential threats to the proposed new capital city and suggests strategies to mitigate them

Building Disaster Resilient Tourism through Strengthening Disaster Management Strategies in Batu City

Indonesia has a high intensity of disaster events. The high incidence of disasters in Indonesia has had a detrimental impact on several sectors, one of which is the tourism sector.  This study was conducted to find out actors who play a role in disaster management strategy and their relation to national defense. This study used QGIS software, MICMAC, and MACTOR for analysis. MICMAC analysis emphasizes factors or variables, and then MACTOR emphasizes actors. This research found that the institutional capacity between institutions in Batu City was good, but still needed to be improved. The role of actors in improving disaster management in tourism areas in Batu City is very crucial, especially BPBD and DLH as actors who influence other actors on strategy and disaster management in Batu City. The role of actors in disaster management through risk mapping, preparing emergency response plans, and involving the community in prevention efforts are important actions in disaster management. The success of these efforts will contribute to overall national security and stability. This condition led to the involvement of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) in emergency disaster response operations

Dynamic transition in driven vortices across the peak effect in superconductors

We study the zero-temperature dynamic transition from the disordered flow to an ordered flow state in driven vortices in type-II superconductors. The transition current $I_{p}$ is marked by a sharp kink in the $V(I)$ characteristic with a concomitant large increase in the defect concentration. On increasing magnetic field $B$, the $I_{p}(B)$ follows the behaviour of the critical current $I_{c}(B)$. Specifically, in the peak effect regime $I_{p}(B)$ increases rapidly along with $I_{c}$. We also discuss the effect of varying disorder strength on $I_{p}$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Ginger Essential Oil Ameliorates Cisplatin-Induced Nephrotoxicity in Mice

Purpose: To investigate the effect of ginger essential oil (GEO) in an experimental model of cisplatininduced nephrotoxicity.Methods: Male mice were divided into treatment six groups (n = 7), namely: Groups I (saline), II and III (cisplatin, 10 mg/kg, i.p.) euthanized in 3th and 6th days, respectively, and IV, V and IV (GEO, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg/day, respectively, by gavage 3, 4, 5 and 6 days after cisplatin injection). Creatinine levels and protein/creatinine ratio were determined in plasma and urine, respectively. Bone morphogenic protein (BMP-7) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) levels of kidney tissues were determined while mRNA expression levels were obtained using real-time polymerase chain reaction.Results: GEO treatment reduced significantly creatinine levels to 0.53 ± 0.02; 0.48 ± 0.008 and 0.46 ± 0.02 at 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively, compared with control (0.70 ± 0.01) [p<0.05] but increased protein : creatinine ratio to 0.21 ± 0.01, 0.22 ± 0.01, 0.24 ± 0.02 compared with control (0.06 ± 0.008) [p<0.05]. Pro-inflammatory TNF-α mRNA expression was decreased to 1.46 ± 0.21, 1.39 ± 0.19 and 1.36 ± 0.09, at GEO doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively, while anti-fibrotic BMP-7 mRNA expression increased to 2.05 ± 0.26 and 2.44 ± 0.42 at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively, compared with control (0.59 ± 0.39, p < 0.05).Conclusion: GEO treatment attenuates cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity, in part, by modulating some inflammatory cytokines.Keywords: Zingiber officinale, Ginger, Roscoe, Essential oil, Nephrotoxicity, Cisplati

Unilateral Epileptic Negative Myoclonus Following Focal Lesion of the Postcentral Cerebral Cortex Due to Acute Middle Cerebral Infarction

Here we report a patient who suffered an acute infarction of the contralateral postcentral cerebral cortex and subsequently developed unilateral partial epilepsy with negative myoclonus. The findings of brain magnetic resonance imaging, polygraphic recordings of the postcentral somatosensory area, and response to anticonvulsant treatment support the presence of a cause-and-effect relationship, thereby providing evidence for a pathophysiological substrate for epileptic negative myoclonus

Genetic diversity of Brazilian isolates of feline immunodeficiency virus

We isolated Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) from three adult domestic cats, originating from two open shelters in Brazil. Viruses were isolated from PBMC following co-cultivation with the feline T-lymphoblastoid cell line MYA-1. All amplified env gene products were cloned directly into pGL8MYA. The nucleic acid sequences of seven clones were determined and then compared with those of previously described isolates. The sequences of all of the Brazilian virus clones were distinct and phylogenetic analysis revealed that all belong to subtype B. Three variants isolated from one cat and two variants were isolated from each of the two other cats, indicating that intrahost diversity has the potential to pose problems for the treatment and diagnosis of FIV infection

Regional mitochondrial DNA and cell-type changes in post-mortem brains of non-diabetic Alzheimer’s disease are not present in diabetic Alzheimer’s disease

Background: Mitochondrial dysfunction is implicated in both diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and diabetes also increases the risk of AD, however the combined impact of AD and diabetes on brain mitochondria is unknown. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the combination of both diabetes and AD exacerbates mitochondrial dysfunction. Methods: Post-mortem human brains (n=74), were used to determine mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content of cerebellum, frontal cortex and parietal cortex by quantifying absolute mtDNA copy number/cell using real time qPCR. mtDNA content was compared between diabetic and non-diabetic cases representing non-cognitively impaired controls (NCI), mildly cognitively impaired (MCI) and AD. A subset of parietal cortex samples was used to quantify mRNAs corresponding to cell types and mitochondrial function. Immune-staining of parietal cortex sections followed by semi-automated stereological assessment was performed to assess cell types. Results. Using mtDNA as an indicator of mitochondrial content, we observed significant regional variation, being highest in the parietal cortex, and lowest in the cerebellum. In the absence of diabetes, AD cases had decreased parietal cortex mtDNA, reduced MAP2 (neuronal) mRNA and increased GFAP (astrocyte) mRNA, relative to NCI. However, in the presence of both diabetes and AD, we did not observe these changes in the parietal cortex. Irrespective of cognitive status, all 3 brain regions in diabetic cases had significantly higher mtDNA than the non-diabetic cases. Conclusion. Our data show that the parietal cortex has the highest mitochondrial content but is also the most vulnerable to changes in AD, as shown by reduced mtDNA and neurones in this region. In contrast, when patients have both diabetes and AD, the AD associated parietal cortex changes are no longer seen, suggesting that the pathology observed in diabetic AD may be different to that seen in non-diabetic AD. The lack of clear functional changes in mitochondrial parameters in diabetic AD suggest that there may be different mechanisms contributing to cognitive impairment in diabetes and their impact on the respective disease neuro-pathologies remain to be fully understood

Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis