Constitutional public management reforms in modern Brazil 1930-1998.

The Brazilian state apparatus consists of a patchwork built upon a cascade of reform attempts over a span of sixty years. Multiple layers of legislation have produced a complex and inconsistent institutional landscape that has made policy change a difficult task. Four major public management policy reforms resulted in significant constitutional changes in the form of constitutional provisions, and they reshaped the modus operandi of the federal administration. The approach adopted here is comparative because it is oriented towards identifying similarities and differences among four different cases that occurred in Brazil during the 20th century. The pattern of these cases is intriguing because the frequency, variety, and speed of the reforms followed a zigzag course, and thus do not correspond to the gradual long-term and cumulative transformations that took place in many developed countries. Each case study corresponds to a specific historical episode. The material is organised and analytically narrated around interconnected events that took place within the episode. The events were significant in themselves and they clearly highlighted aspects of the means-ends chains. The framework adopted for the analysis was developed by Kingdon to explain pre-decisional and decisional stages of the policy-making process. The reason for this is the Brazilian context, characterised by fluidity, unclear technologies, chance, temporal sorting, and attention allocation. Policy change effectively took place when events in the political, problematic and policy streams converged to generate windows of opportunity, during which times public entrepreneurs pushed their policy solutions through the upper echelons of decision-making arenas. The investigation is centred on the dynamics of policy processes. The main conclusion of the thesis refers to the essential role played by entrepreneurs in getting the reforms approved. The reformers' influence in establishing the default implementation model varied in the four cases because of problems of political feasibility, rotation of reformers, policy discontinuities, inconsistencies in transitory legislation, and lack of top-down political support

Research on Public Management Policy Change in the Latin America Region: A Conceptual Framework and Methodological Guide

This article presents a conceptual framework and methodological guide for researching the process of public management policy change in the Latin America region. It provides an explicit the methodological approach for case study research on this topic. The focus on the Latin America region is due to the sponsorship of the Inter-American Development Bank, which desired an explicit methodological guide for conducting research on public sector management reform. While the article is specifically geared to this purpose, it also exhibits a distinctive general approach to a large class of case study research designs. This class includes instrumental case study research about processes, incorporating variants that are rich in narrative, explicit in their explanatory framework, and comparative. Publishing the article in IMPR is appropriate since a) this class of case study research has not benefited from specialized methodological exposition and b) much public management research fits within this class. Accordingly, the article is addressed to both public management researchers interested in the specific research topic and those engaged in instrumental case-oriented research on processes, more generally

Methods to discover and validate biofluid-based biomarkers in neurodegenerative dementias

Neurodegenerative dementias are progressive diseases that cause neuronal network breakdown in different brain regions often because of accumulation of misfolded proteins in the brain extracellular matrix, such as amyloids, or inside neurons or other cell types of the brain. Several diagnostic protein biomarkers in body fluids are being used and implemented, such as for Alzheimer's disease. However, there is still a lack of biomarkers for co-pathologies and other causes of dementia. Such biofluid-based biomarkers enable precision medicine approaches for diagnosis and treatment, allow to learn more about underlying disease processes, and facilitate the development of patient inclusion and evaluation tools in clinical trials. When designing studies to discover novel biofluid-based biomarkers, choice of technology is an important starting point. But there are so many technologies to choose among. To address this, we here review the technologies that are currently available in research settings and, in some cases, in clinical laboratory practice. This presents a form of lexicon on each technology addressing its use in research and clinics, its strengths and limitations, and a future perspective

Early Jurassic (latest Toarcian) brachiopods from the northeastern margin of the Western Tethys (Central Iran) and their paleobiogeographical significance

Brachiopod fauna from central Iran, recorded in the upper part of the Shemshak Group and attributed to the upper Toarcian (Pseudoradiosa-Aalensis zones), are reported for the first time in Iran. The assemblage recognized includes six different taxa: Homoeorhynchia sepahanensis nov. sp., formally described in this paper, Globirhynchia subobsoleta, Pseudogibbirhynchia sp., Tetrarhynchiidae sp. indet., Monsardithyris? aff. haresfieldensis, and Zeilleria cf. leckenbyi. Analysis of faunal affinities with other paleobiogeographical regions shows a free connection the central Iranian brachiopod fauna with wide areas of the northern shelf margin of the Tethys Ocean. This is due to an apparent disruption of bioprovinciality inferred for the late Toarcian-earliest Aalenian, congruent with a connection through the northern seaway across the peri-Laurasian epicontinental platforms.The present research is partially supported by Research Group VIGROB-167 (University of Alicante)

Inhibition of Gastric Lipase as a Mechanism for Body Weight and Plasma Lipids Reduction in Zucker Rats Fed a Rosemary Extract Rich in Carnosic Acid

BACKGROUND: Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) extracts (REs) exhibit hepatoprotective, anti-obesity and anti-inflammatory properties and are widely used in the food industry. REs are rich in carnosic acid (CA) and carnosol which may be responsible for some of the biological activities of REs. The aim of this study was to investigate whether inhibition of lipase activity in the gut may be a mechanism by which a RE enriched in CA (40%) modulates body weight and lipids levels in a rat model of metabolic disorders and obesity. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: RE was administered for 64 days to lean (fa/+) and obese (fa/fa) female Zucker rats and body weight, food intake, feces weight and blood biochemical parameters were monitored throughout the study. Lipase activity (hydrolysis of p-nitrophenylbutyrate) was measured in the gastrointestinal tract at the end of the study and the contents of CA, carnosol and methyl carnosate were also determined. Sub-chronic administration of RE moderately reduced body weight gain in both lean and obese animals but did not affect food intake. Serum triglycerides, cholesterol and insulin levels were also markedly decreased in the lean animals supplemented with RE. Importantly, lipase activity was significantly inhibited in the stomach of the RE-supplemented animals where the highest content of intact CA and carnosol was detected. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm that long-term administration of RE enriched in CA moderates weight gain and improves the plasma lipids profile, primarily in the lean animals. Our data also suggest that these effects may be caused, at least in part, by a significant inhibition of gastric lipase and subsequent reduction in fat absorption

Modulation of the endocannabinoids N-Arachidonoylethanolamine (AEA) and 2-Arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) on Executive Functions in Humans

Animal studies point to an implication of the endocannabinoid system on executive functions. In humans, several studies have suggested an association between acute or chronic use of exogenous cannabinoids (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol) and executive impairments. However, to date, no published reports establish the relationship between endocannabinoids, as biomarkers of the cannabinoid neurotransmission system, and executive functioning in humans. The aim of the present study was to explore the association between circulating levels of plasma endocannabinoids N-arachidonoylethanolamine (AEA) and 2-Arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) and executive functions (decision making, response inhibition and cognitive flexibility) in healthy subjects. One hundred and fifty seven subjects were included and assessed with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test; Stroop Color and Word Test; and Iowa Gambling Task. All participants were female, aged between 18 and 60 years and spoke Spanish as their first language. Results showed a negative correlation between 2-AG and cognitive flexibility performance (r = −.37; p<.05). A positive correlation was found between AEA concentrations and both cognitive flexibility (r = .59; p<.05) and decision making performance (r = .23; P<.05). There was no significant correlation between either 2-AG (r = −.17) or AEA (r = −.08) concentrations and inhibition response. These results show, in humans, a relevant modulation of the endocannabinoid system on prefrontal-dependent cognitive functioning. The present study might have significant implications for the underlying executive alterations described in some psychiatric disorders currently associated with endocannabinoids deregulation (namely drug abuse/dependence, depression, obesity and eating disorders). Understanding the neurobiology of their dysexecutive profile might certainly contribute to the development of new treatments and pharmacological approaches