SEA procedures and methods : the importance of baseline, political and pragmatic contexts

This Chapter critically examines procedures and methods that are applied in SEA, identifying strengths and weaknesses of analytical tools, what is missing and what we need to do better or differently. SEA has been increasingly understood by SEA academics and practitioners as a process rather than solely a technique (Bina, 2007). As such, it involves stakeholders with interests and power. Therefore, after an initial section on the background and state of the art of methods and procedures in SEA, the Chapter focuses on three main themes: baseline, political and pragmatic contexts. Through these themes the Chapter discusses how adaptive and robust SEA is in analyzing the impacts and issues that matter

Potential link of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to virulence of vaccine‐associated field strains of lumpy skin disease virus in South Africa

South Africa is endemic for lumpy skin disease and is therefore reliant on various live attenuated vaccines for the control and prevention of the disease. In recent years, wide‐spread outbreaks of vaccine‐like strains of lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) were reported internationally, leading to an increase in the generation of full genome sequences from field isolates. In this study, the complete genomes of six LSDVs submitted during active outbreaks in the 1990’s in South Africa were generated. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the six viruses clustered with vaccine strains in LSDV Subgroup 1.1 and are subsequently referred to as vaccine‐associated. The genetic differences between the phenotypically distinct vaccine and vaccine‐associated strains were 67 single nucleotides polymorphisms (SNPs). This study characterised the location and possible importance of each of these SNPs in their role during virulence and host specificity

“Being Guided”: What Oncofertility Patients’ Decisions Can Teach Us About the Efficacy of Autonomy, Agency, and Decision-Making Theory in the Contemporary Critical Encounter

Recent research on patient decision-making reveals a disconnect between theories of autonomy, agency, and decision-making and their practice in contemporary clinical encounters. This study examines these concepts in the context of female patients making oncofertility decisions in the United Kingdom in light of the phenomenon of “being guided.” Patients experience being guided as a way to cope with, understand, and defer difficult treatment decisions. Previous discussions condemn guided decision-making, but this research suggests that patients make an informed, autonomous decision to be guided by doctors. Thus, bioethicists must consider the multifaceted ways that patients enact their autonomy in medical encounters

Cat People: A Screening with Commentary

Kim Newman _Cat People_ London: British Film Institute, 1999 ISBN: 0-85170-741-6 79 pp

The avian neural crest : behaviour and long-term survival in culture

Avian mesencephalic neural crest cells (MNCCs) undergo an extensive migration within the developing head, following defined pathways to particular sites where they proliferate and subsequently differentiate. As tissue opacity prevents direct observation of these events, the behaviour of quail MNCCs has been studied in vitro. Time lapse video, phase contrast and anti-tubulin immunofluorescence photomicroscopy were used in quantitative analyses of the morphological, motile and structural polarity of cultured MNCCs, and, for comparison, cardiac fibroblasts (CFBs), a known, polarised cell population. At 48 hours in vitro; (1) isolated MNCCs and CFBs possessed similar, multipolar morphologies and showed random movement, (2) CFB explants comprised confluent, parallel arrays of elongated cells, possessing radially-polarised microtubule systems and showing directionally-persistent, radial movement, (3) mesencephalic neural crest (MNC) explants comprised a sub-confluent network of stellate cells, neither possessing radially-polarised microtubule systems, nor showing direct, radial movement. Thus, neither innate behaviour nor social interactions conferred directional persistence on MNCCs in these cultures. The radial polarisation of monolayered MNCCs, assessed by the orientation of their nucleus - microtubule-organising centre axes, did, however, increase with time in culture (24 - 72 hours). This correlated with progressive cell spreading and decreased cell-free space within the monolayer. The radial polarisation of monolayered CFBs remained marked throughout. The significance of these results for the control of MNC migration in vivo is discussed. To assess the role of cell cohesion in defining MNC migration pathways, the ability of MNC primary explants to spread over heterospecific (chick / quail) fragments of other mesencephalic tissues was examined. Histological examination of tissue fragments from reciprocal co-cultures, however, revealed inconsistent sorting behaviour and so this analysis proved inconclusive. Previously, analysis of MNC development in vitro has been limited by the rapid senescence of cultured MNCCs. During this study, crude bovine testicular hyaluronidase (CBTH) was found to maintain the proliferation of quail MNCCs, allowing repeated sub-culture over a period of several months. Purified hyaluronidase preparations, containing demonstrable hyaluronidase activity under tissue culture conditions, failed to reproduce this effect, suggesting that an impurity in the CBTH was responsible. Sub-cultured cells were both morphologically and antigenically similar to cells in MNC primary explants, sub-populations expressing E/C8, anti-glial fibrillary acidic protein, anti-vimentin and anti-fibronectin reactivities, NC-1 reactivity was, however, lost. Some sub-cultured cells retained a capacity for melanogenic or neuronal differentiation. The phenotypic similarities between sub-cultured, MNC-derived cells, in vitro, and MNC derivatives, in vivo are discussed. (D74720/87)</p