World Trade, Farm Policy, and Agribusiness Accountability: The Role of Reflexive Modernization in Constructing a Democratic Food System

The future of farm policy in the United States will be influenced by trends in economic and political globalization, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), due to the obligation of member nation-states to make domestic policies conform to international trade agreements. Commentators have noted that the WTO has been structured to favor transnational agribusiness at the expense of small farmers, food consumers, and the natural environment. However, the WTO contains contradictions that might be exploited by alternative agriculture advocates to influence Congressional interpretations of the trade agreement. This essay uses reflexive modernization theory to highlight efforts by alternative agriculture groups in the U.S. to lay bare the contradictions and advocate for agribusiness accountability, environmental protection, and food sovereignty. We seek to answer whether WTO negotiations and potential farm subsidy restrictions might provide an opportunity for reforming the U.S. farm bill

SLI-1 Cbl Inhibits the Engulfment of Apoptotic Cells in C. elegans through a Ligase-Independent Function

The engulfment of apoptotic cells is required for normal metazoan development and tissue remodeling. In Caenorhabditis elegans, two parallel and partially redundant conserved pathways act in cell-corpse engulfment. One pathway, which includes the small GTPase CED-10 Rac and the cytoskeletal regulator ABI-1, acts to rearrange the cytoskeleton of the engulfing cell. The CED-10 Rac pathway is also required for proper migration of the distal tip cells (DTCs) during the development of the C. elegans gonad. The second pathway includes the receptor tyrosine kinase CED-1 and might recruit membranes to extend the surface of the engulfing cell. Cbl, the mammalian homolog of the C. elegans E3 ubiquitin ligase and adaptor protein SLI-1, interacts with Rac and Abi2 and modulates the actin cytoskeleton, suggesting it might act in engulfment. Our genetic studies indicate that SLI-1 inhibits apoptotic cell engulfment and DTC migration independently of the CED-10 Rac and CED-1 pathways. We found that the RING finger domain of SLI-1 is not essential to rescue the effects of SLI-1 deletion on cell migration, suggesting that its role in this process is ubiquitin ligase-independent. We propose that SLI-1 opposes the engulfment of apoptotic cells via a previously unidentified pathway.National Cancer Institute (U.S.) (Award K08CA104890

Book Review of \u3ci\u3e Raising Less Corn, More Hell: The Case for the Independent Farm and Against Industrial Food\u3c/i\u3e by George Pyle

Raising Less Corn, More Hell may sound like a rallying cry for the nation\u27s heartland farmers, but this well-written series of essays by George Pyle is meant for those who eat corn. Or rather, for those of us who eat the livestock fed on corn in confined animal feeding operations, then wash down those meals with drinks high in high-fructose corn syrups. Pyle, an editorial writer from Kansas now living in Utah, brings his journalist\u27s skills to bear on what our industrial food system has brought us. It\u27s not appetizing as he makes his case against a corporate-controlled system that doesn\u27t have to be this way

Evaluation by various experimental approaches of the crosslink density of urethane networks based on hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene

10.1002/app.24751Journal of Applied Polymer Science10353129-3133JAPN

Substrate specificity determinants of human macrophage elastase (MMP-12) based on the 1.1 angstrom crystal structure

Lang R, Kocourek A, Braun M, et al. Substrate specificity determinants of human macrophage elastase (MMP-12) based on the 1.1 angstrom crystal structure. JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY. 2001;312(4):731-742.The macrophage elastase enzyme (MMP-12) expressed mainly in alveolar macrophages has been identified in the mouse lung as the main destructive agent associated with cigarette smoking, which gives rise to emphysema, both directly via elastin degradation and indirectly by disturbing the proteinase/antiproteinase balance via inactivation of the alpha1-proteinase inhibitor (alpha1-PI), the antagonist of the leukocyte elastase. The catalytic domain of human recombinant MMP-12 has been crystallized in complex with the broad-specificity inhibitor batimastat (BB-94). The crystal structure analysis of this complex, determined using X-ray data to 1.1 Angstrom and refined to an R-value of 0.165, reveals an overall fold similar to that of other MMPs. However, the S-shaped double loop connecting strands III and IV is fixed closer to the beta -sheet and projects its His172 side-chain further into the rather hydrophobic active-site cleft, defining the S3 and the S1-pockets and separating them from each other to a larger extent than is observed in other MMPs. The S2-site is planar, while the characteristic S1'-subsite is a continuous tube rather than a pocket, in which the MMP-12-specific Thr215 replaces a Val residue otherwise highly conserved in almost all other MMPs. This alteration might allow MMP-12 to accept P1' Arg residues, making it unique among MMPs. The active-site cleft of MMP-12 is well equipped to bind and efficiently cleave the AlaMetPhe-LeuGluAla sequence in the reactive-site loop of al-PI, as occurs experimentally. Similarities in contouring and particularly a common surface hydrophobicity both inside and distant from the active-site cleft explain why MMP-12 shares many substrates with matrilysin (MMP-7). The MMP-12 structure is an excellent template for the structure-based design of specific inhibitors for emphysema therapy and for the construction of mutants to clarify the role of this MMP. (C) 2001 Academic Press