Exercise of Women’s Global Citizenship before International Courts: Impact of Citizen Activism on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

El documento asume que el ejercicio de la ciudadanía plena, enun contexto globalizado, debe partir de consideraciones políticas,culturales y económicas antes que de un reconocimiento legal. Seentiende que la ciudadanía global, como un vehículo planetario,puede ser ostentada por personas individuales y por gruposidentitarios, como las mujeres, de manera que se llega a concebirel movimiento social de mujeres como el Estado en Red de Castells.Sin embargo, se aprecia que este ejercicio ciudadano no puedeser pleno, sin la existencia de unos tribunales internacionales dejusticia que garanticen los derechos implícitos en el concepto deciudadanía, que en el caso concreto de la Corte Interamericana havenido moldeando el ejercicio de la ciudadanía global a partir delestablecimiento de unos estándares jurisprudenciales en materiade derechos humanos de las mujeres, aplicables en cada uno de losEstados que han reconocido la competencia de la Corte Regional.This document assumes that the exercise of full citizenship, within aglobal context, should be based on political, cultural, and economicconsiderations rather than on a legal recognition. It is understoodthat global citizenship, as a world vehicle, can be exercised byindividuals and identity groups such as women, in such a way thatwomen’s social movement can be seen as Castells’ network society.It can be seen, however, that this exercise cannot be exercised infull without the existence of international justice courts that canassure rights implied in the concept of citizenship that, in the caseof the Inter-American Court, has been setting the exercise of globalcitizenship from some jurisprudential standards on women’s humanrights, applicable to each State that has accepted the competenceof the Regional Court

Ejercicio de la ciudadanía global femenina ante los tribunales internacionales: el impacto del activismo ciudadano en la corte interamericana de derechos humanos

This document assumes that the exercise of full citizenship, within aglobal context, should be based on political, cultural, and economicconsiderations rather than on a legal recognition. It is understoodthat global citizenship, as a world vehicle, can be exercised byindividuals and identity groups such as women, in such a way thatwomen’s social movement can be seen as Castells’ network society.It can be seen, however, that this exercise cannot be exercised infull without the existence of international justice courts that canassure rights implied in the concept of citizenship that, in the caseof the Inter-American Court, has been setting the exercise of globalcitizenship from some jurisprudential standards on women’s humanrights, applicable to each State that has accepted the competenceof the Regional Court.El documento asume que el ejercicio de la ciudadanía plena, enun contexto globalizado, debe partir de consideraciones políticas,culturales y económicas antes que de un reconocimiento legal. Seentiende que la ciudadanía global, como un vehículo planetario,puede ser ostentada por personas individuales y por gruposidentitarios, como las mujeres, de manera que se llega a concebirel movimiento social de mujeres como el Estado en Red de Castells.Sin embargo, se aprecia que este ejercicio ciudadano no puedeser pleno, sin la existencia de unos tribunales internacionales dejusticia que garanticen los derechos implícitos en el concepto deciudadanía, que en el caso concreto de la Corte Interamericana havenido moldeando el ejercicio de la ciudadanía global a partir delestablecimiento de unos estándares jurisprudenciales en materiade derechos humanos de las mujeres, aplicables en cada uno de losEstados que han reconocido la competencia de la Corte Regional

El acceso a la justicia como elemento indispensable del ejercicio de la ciudadanía femenina

El presente texto es un producto parcial de la primera fase, “Recolección de información”, del proyecto de investigación “Diagnóstico sobre género y justicia en la ciudad de Cartagena, condiciones del acceso al sistema jurisdiccional. Análisis del periodo 2007-2009”, adelantado en virtud de un convenio interinstitucional celebrado entre La Liga Internacional de Mujeres por la Paz y la Libertad, LIMPAL, COLOMBIA, y el Programa de Derecho de la Fundación Universitaria Tecnológico de Comfenalco en Convenio con la Universidad de Medellín. Este artículo define inicialmente y de manera general algunas de las categorías conceptuales del mencionado proyecto y es producto de una investigación documental de carácter exploratorio, complementado con el análisis de sentencias a través de fichas jurisprudenciales, y el estudio de otras investigaciones realizadas en América Latina en esta misma línea. Abordará genéricamente el tema del acceso a la justicia como elemento esencial de la ciudadanía y expondrá la manera como los obstáculos a su acceso por parte de las mujeres se convierten en los límites de su ciudadanía. De la misma manera, realizará un breve recorrido por las consideraciones de la Corte Constitucional colombiana en torno a las ciudadanías civil, social, política y colectiva de la mujer

Limites al derecho a la intimidad en la jurisprudencia constitucional colombiana.

 El proyecto Limitaciones  del derecho a la intimidad de los particulares y de las persona públicas por el ejercicio del derecho a la información de la ciudadanía, adelantado por el Semillero de Investigaciones Humana Iuris del Programa de Derecho de la Fundación Universitaria Tecnológico Comfenalco,  durante el primer periodo de 2013, tiene como producto parcial el presente artículo, Este proyecto tiene como objetivo general, determinar cuáles son las limitaciones que el ejercicio descontrolado de la libertad de información le impone al Derecho a la Intimidad en el contexto socio-Político Colombiano, de tal manera que se busca determinar en el marco de la jurisprudencia constitucional colombiana la prevalencia de un Derecho sobre el otro.

Alcance de la acción de tutela como mecanismo de protección del derecho a la vivienda digna

The right to decent housing can be likened to a vessel, which has gradually been filled with the advancement of Human Rights Theory. The Colombian Constitutional Court, recognized for its jurisprudential innovations, has protected this right in a meaningful number of scenarios and modifying its theoretical foundation until it is identified as a fundamental right in an autonomous way due to its relation to human dignity.El derecho a la vivienda digna puede ser asemejado a una vasija, que se ha ido llenando a partir del avance de la Teoría de los Derechos Humanos. La Corte Constitucional colombiana, reconocida por sus innovaciones jurisprudenciales, ha protegido este derecho con carácter prestacional en un número significativo de escenarios y modificando su fundamentación teórica hasta identificarlo como derecho fundamental de manera autónoma por su relación con la dignidad human

Scope of the judicial protection action as a mechanism to safeguard the right to decent housing.Colombian Constitutional Court

El derecho a la vivienda digna puede ser asemejado a una vasija, que se ha ido llenando a partir del avance de la Teoría de los Derechos Humanos. La Corte Constitucional colombiana, reconocida por sus innovaciones jurisprudenciales, ha protegido este derecho con carácter prestacional en un número significativo de escenarios y modificando su fundamentación teórica haThe right to decent housing can be likened to a vessel, which has gradually been filled with the advancement of Human Rights Theory. The Colombian Constitutional Court, recognized for its jurisprudential innovations, has protected this right in a meaningful number of scenarios and modifying its theoretical foundation until it is identified as a fundamental right in an autonomous way due to its relation to human dignity

Evaluation of immune responses in HIV infected patients with pleural tuberculosis by the QuantiFERON® TB-Gold interferon-gamma assay

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Diagnosis of tuberculous (TB) pleuritis is difficult and better diagnostic tools are needed. New blood based interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) tests are promising, but sensitivity could be low in HIV positive patients. The IFN-γ tests have not yet been validated for use in pleural fluid, a compartment with higher level of immune activation than in blood.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The QuantiFERON TB^®-Gold (QFT-TB) test was analysed in blood and pleural fluid from 34 patients presenting with clinically suspected pleural TB. Clinical data, HIV status and CD4 cell counts were recorded. Adenosine deaminase activity (ADA) analysis and TB culture were performed on pleural fluid.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The patients were categorised as 'confirmed TB' (n = 12), 'probable TB' (n = 16) and 'non-TB' pleuritis (n = 6) based on TB culture results and clinical and biochemical criteria. The majority of the TB patients were HIV infected (82%). The QFT-TB in pleural fluid was positive in 27% and 56% of the 'confirmed TB' and 'probable TB' cases, respectively, whereas the corresponding sensitivities in blood were 58% and 83%. Indeterminate results in blood (25%) were caused by low phytohemagglutinin (PHA = positive control) IFN-γ responses, significantly lower in the TB patients as compared to the 'non-TB' cases (p = 0.02). Blood PHA responses correlated with CD4 cell count (r = 0.600, p = 0.028). In contrast, in pleural fluid indeterminate results (52%) were caused by high Nil (negative control) IFN-γ responses in both TB groups. Still, the Nil IFN-γ responses were lower than the TB antigen responses (p < 0.01), offering a conclusive test for half of the patients. We did not find any correlation between blood CD4 cell count and IFN-γ responses in pleural fluid.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The QFT-TB test in blood could contribute to the diagnosis of TB pleuritis in the HIV positive population. Still, the number of inconclusive results is too high to recommend the commercial QFT-TB test for routine use in pleural fluid in a TB/HIV endemic resource-limited setting.</p

Characterization of Novel Antimalarial Compound ACT-451840: Preclinical Assessment of Activity and Dose-Efficacy Modeling.

BACKGROUND: Artemisinin resistance observed in Southeast Asia threatens the continued use of artemisinin-based combination therapy in endemic countries. Additionally, the diversity of chemical mode of action in the global portfolio of marketed antimalarials is extremely limited. Addressing the urgent need for the development of new antimalarials, a chemical class of potent antimalarial compounds with a novel mode of action was recently identified. Herein, the preclinical characterization of one of these compounds, ACT-451840, conducted in partnership with academic and industrial groups is presented. METHOD AND FINDINGS: The properties of ACT-451840 are described, including its spectrum of activities against multiple life cycle stages of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum (asexual and sexual) and Plasmodium vivax (asexual) as well as oral in vivo efficacies in two murine malaria models that permit infection with the human and the rodent parasites P. falciparum and Plasmodium berghei, respectively. In vitro, ACT-451840 showed a 50% inhibition concentration of 0.4 nM (standard deviation [SD]: ± 0.0 nM) against the drug-sensitive P. falciparum NF54 strain. The 90% effective doses in the in vivo efficacy models were 3.7 mg/kg against P. falciparum (95% confidence interval: 3.3-4.9 mg/kg) and 13 mg/kg against P. berghei (95% confidence interval: 11-16 mg/kg). ACT-451840 potently prevented male gamete formation from the gametocyte stage with a 50% inhibition concentration of 5.89 nM (SD: ± 1.80 nM) and dose-dependently blocked oocyst development in the mosquito with a 50% inhibitory concentration of 30 nM (range: 23-39). The compound's preclinical safety profile is presented and is in line with the published results of the first-in-man study in healthy male participants, in whom ACT-451840 was well tolerated. Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) modeling was applied using efficacy in the murine models (defined either as antimalarial activity or as survival) in relation to area under the concentration versus time curve (AUC), maximum observed plasma concentration (Cmax), and time above a threshold concentration. The determination of the dose-efficacy relationship of ACT-451840 under curative conditions in rodent malaria models allowed prediction of the human efficacious exposure. CONCLUSION: The dual activity of ACT-451840 against asexual and sexual stages of P. falciparum and the activity on P. vivax have the potential to meet the specific profile of a target compound that could replace the fast-acting artemisinin component and harbor additional gametocytocidal activity and, thereby, transmission-blocking properties. The fast parasite reduction ratio (PRR) and gametocytocidal effect of ACT-451840 were recently also confirmed in a clinical proof-of-concept (POC) study

Meta-analysis of epigenome-wide associations between DNA methylation at birth and childhood cognitive skills

Cognitive skills are a strong predictor of a wide range of later life outcomes. Genetic and epigenetic associations across the genome explain some of the variation in general cognitive abilities in the general population and it is plausible that epigenetic associations might arise from prenatal environmental exposures and/or genetic variation early in life. We investigated the association between cord blood DNA methylation at birth and cognitive skills assessed in children from eight pregnancy cohorts within the Pregnancy And Childhood Epigenetics (PACE) Consortium across overall (total N = 2196), verbal (total N = 2206) and non-verbal cognitive scores (total N = 3300). The associations at single CpG sites were weak for all of the cognitive domains investigated. One region near DUSP22 on chromosome 6 was associated with non-verbal cognition in a model adjusted for maternal IQ. We conclude that there is little evidence to support the idea that variation in cord blood DNA methylation at single CpG sites is associated with cognitive skills and further studies are needed to confirm the association at DUSP22.Peer reviewe

Haematopoietic stem cells in perisinusoidal niches are protected from ageing.

With ageing, intrinsic haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) activity decreases, resulting in impaired tissue homeostasis, reduced engraftment following transplantation and increased susceptibility to diseases. However, whether ageing also affects the HSC niche, and thereby impairs its capacity to support HSC function, is still widely debated. Here, by using in-vivo long-term label-retention assays we demonstrate that aged label-retaining HSCs, which are, in old mice, the most quiescent HSC subpopulation with the highest regenerative capacity and cellular polarity, reside predominantly in perisinusoidal niches. Furthermore, we demonstrate that sinusoidal niches are uniquely preserved in shape, morphology and number on ageing. Finally, we show that myeloablative chemotherapy can selectively disrupt aged sinusoidal niches in the long term, which is linked to the lack of recovery of endothelial Jag2 at sinusoids. Overall, our data characterize the functional alterations of the aged HSC niche and unveil that perisinusoidal niches are uniquely preserved and thereby protect HSCs from ageing