Medication Abortion: A Sample Protocol for Increasing Access During a Pandemic and Beyond

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North Korean Decisionmaking

Discerning the decisionmaking of Kim Jong-Un and the North Korean regime on issues of peaceful engagement and warlike actions endures as a mighty challenge for U.S. intelligence analysts and policymakers. In this report, we seek to inform analysis of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) leadership decisionmaking. To do so, we use three discussion papers that were written to facilitate discussion of an interagency working group. The three papers are assembled here in a single report. The first discussion paper describes decisionmaking among different authoritarian regimes, including North Korea, and the opening up of those economies to outside engagement. The second paper outlines two different scenarios that might occur when conventional deterrence on the Korean Peninsula breaks down and the resulting decisions that North Korea’s leadership could face. The third paper assesses DPRK decisionmaking about nuclear weapon use. The report concludes with some observations, drawn from the issues covered in these three discussion papers, about DPRK decisionmaking and stability on the Korean Peninsula

Antibodies to C1q in systemic lupus erythematosus: Characteristics and relation to FcγRIIA alleles

Antibodies to C1q in systemic lupus erythematosus: Characteristics and relation to FcγRIIA alleles. Autoantibodies to the collagen-like region of the first complement component (C1qAB) are found in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), particularly those with renal disease. In a cohort of 46 SLE patients with diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis, we found declining C1qAB titers in 77% of treatment responders and in only 38% of treatment non-responders (P < 0.03). To further characterize this autoantibody, we tested 240 SLE patients for the presence of C1qAB. Positive titers were found in 44% of patients with renal disease and 18% of patients without renal disease (χ2 P < 0.0003). Analysis of IgG subclass revealed IgG2 C1qAB alone in 34%, IgG1 C1qAB alone in 20%, and both IgG1 and IgG2 in 46% of patients. Fewer than 10% of patients had measurable titers of IgG3 or IgG4 C1qAB. The pathogenic role of these IgG2-skewed C1qAB may relate to impaired immune complex clearance by the mononuclear phagocyte system: IgG2 antibodies are efficiently recognized by only one IgG receptor, the H131 allele of FcγRIIa (FcγRIIa-H131). In contrast, FcγRIIa-R131, which is characterized by minimal IgG2 binding, has recently been associated with lupus nephritis. In our C1qAB positive patients, the presence of FcγRIIA-R131 was associated with an increased risk for renal disease. Autoantibodies to C1q may have pathogenic significance in SLE patients with genetic defects in the ability to clear IgG2 containing immune complexes

Replication Data for: Opportunistic Accountability: State-Society Bargaining Over Shared Interests

Conflicting preferences between the state and society underpin most accountability mechanisms by providing a credible way for society to impose costs on the state. Adapting a classic bargaining framework, we argue that broader conditions can support state-society bargaining. Policies that both the state and society value can also enhance society’s negotiating power provided society has a lower valuation and is more patient than the state. By threatening to sabotage their own interests but hurt the impatient state even more, citizens can compel the state to deliver broader policy benefits. We illustrate this logic with the case of polio vaccination in northern Nigeria, where entire communities have resisted the vaccine as a strategy to bargain for more desired services. To resolve and preempt non-compliance, the Nigerian government has enhanced service delivery in other areas, demonstrating the opportunity for improved accountability in the presence of shared-interest policies