Mars Comm/Nav MicroSat Network

A recent Mars Exploration Program Architecture Definition Study, conducted by NASA with strong international participation, recommends establishment of a low cost in-situ communications and navigation relay satellite network to provide enabling and enhancing support for the international exploration of Mars. This would be the first step toward establishing a virtual presence throughout the solar system as called for in NASA\u27s Strategic Plan. The Mars satellite network concept, and its evolution from a prototype launched in 2003 to a full constellation, is described. Implementation of the Mars satellite network will utilize the common micromission bus being designed for piggyback launch by Ariane 5 as described in a companion paper, The Mars Micromissions Program. The requirements imposed on the common micromission bus to meet the needs of the Mars MicroSat network are discussed: A functional description is provided for the MicroSat payload, a UHF transceiver system, which supports the in-situ communications and navigation needs of user missions. Key technologies that are expected to play an important role in the implementation of the MicroSat network are also discussed

Communicating climate knowledge proxies, processes, politics

This forum article is the product of interdisciplinary discussion at a conference on climate histories held inCambridge, United Kingdom, in early 2011, with the specific aim of building a network around the issue of communicating cultural knowledge of environmental change. The lead articles, by Kirsten Hastrup as an anthropologist and Simon Schaffer as a historian of science, highlight the role of agents and proxies. These are followed by five interdisciplinary commentaries, which engage with the lead articles through new ethnographic material, and a set of shorter commentaries by leading scholars of different disciplines. Finally, the lead authors respond to the discussion. In this debate, climate change does not emerge as a single preformed "problem." Rather, different climate knowledges appear as products of particular networks and agencies. Just as the identification of proxies creates agents (ice, mountains, informants) by inserting them into new networks, we hope that these cross-disciplinary exchanges will produce further conversations and new approaches to action. © 2012 by The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research

Framing rights and responsibilities: accounts of women with a history of AIDS activism

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In South Africa, policy with respect to HIV/AIDS has had a strong rights-based framing in line with international trends and in keeping with the constitutional overhaul in the post-Apartheid era. There have also been considerable advances since 1994 towards legal enshrinement of sexual and reproductive health rights and in the provision of related services. Since HIV in this setting has heavily affected women of reproductive age, there has been discussion about the particular needs of this subgroup, especially in the context of service integration. This paper is concerned with the way in which HIV positive women conceptualise these rights and whether they wish and are able to actualise them in their daily lives.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In 2003 a group of women involved with the Treatment Action Campaign and Medicines Sans Frontières participated in an initiative to ‘map’ their bodies as affected by the virus. A book containing the maps and narratives was published and used as a political tool to pressure the government of the day to roll out antiretroviral therapy (ART) to the population. In 2008, the authors coordinated an initiative that involved conducting follow-up in-depth interviews in which five of these women reflected on those body maps and on how their lives had changed in the intervening five years since gaining the right to treatment through the public sector.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Drawing upon this qualitative data and published sources, these new accounts are analysed in order to reflect the perspectives of these women living with chronic HIV with respect to their sexual relations and fertility desires. The paper reveals difficulties faced by these women in negotiating sexual relationships and disclosure of their HIV positive status. It focuses on how they perceive relative responsibilities in terms of taking preventative measures in sexual encounters. Women adopt tactics within a context characterised by various inequalities in order to ‘make do’, such as by remaining silent about their status. Concerns about childbearing can be addressed by information and support from a health care worker.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Women’s experience of HIV as a chronic illness and the need to adhere to ART, is linked to the way in which the language of responsibility can come to counter-balance a language of rights in treatment programmes.</p

The EndoC-βH1 cell line is a valid model of human beta cells and applicable for screenings to identify novel drug target candidates

Objective: To characterize the EndoC-βH1 cell line as a model for human beta cells and evaluate its beta cell functionality, focusing on insulin secretion, proliferation, apoptosis and ER stress, with the objective to assess its potential as a screening platform for identification of novel anti-diabetic drug candidates. Methods: EndoC-βH1 was transplanted into mice for validation of in vivo functionality. Insulin secretion was evaluated in cells cultured as monolayer and as pseudoislets, as well as in diabetic mice. Cytokine induced apoptosis, glucolipotoxicity, and ER stress responses were assessed. Beta cell relevant mRNA and protein expression were investigated by qPCR and antibody staining. Hundreds of proteins or peptides were tested for their effect on insulin secretion and proliferation. Results: Transplantation of EndoC-βH1 cells restored normoglycemia in streptozotocin induced diabetic mice. Both in vitro and in vivo, we observed a clear insulin response to glucose, and, in vitro, we found a significant increase in insulin secretion from EndoC-βH1 pseudoislets compared to monolayer cultures for both glucose and incretins.Apoptosis and ER stress were inducible in the cells and caspase 3/7 activity was elevated in response to cytokines, but not affected by the saturated fatty acid palmitate.By screening of various proteins and peptides, we found Bombesin (BB) receptor agonists and Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptides (PACAP) to significantly induce insulin secretion and the proteins SerpinA6, STC1, and APOH to significantly stimulate proliferation.ER stress was readily induced by Tunicamycin and resulted in a reduction of insulin mRNA. Somatostatin (SST) was found to be expressed by 1% of the cells and manipulation of the SST receptors was found to significantly affect insulin secretion. Conclusions: Overall, the EndoC-βH1 cells strongly resemble human islet beta cells in terms of glucose and incretin stimulated insulin secretion capabilities. The cell line has an active cytokine induced caspase 3/7 apoptotic pathway and is responsive to ER stress initiation factors. The cells' ability to proliferate can be further increased by already known compounds as well as by novel peptides and proteins. Based on its robust performance during the functionality assessment assays, the EndoC-βH1 cell line was successfully used as a screening platform for identification of novel anti-diabetic drug candidates. Keywords: EndoC-βH1, Pseudoislets, Glucose stimulated insulin secretion, Somatostatin signaling, Proliferatio

A stable aberrant immunophenotype characterizes nearly all cases of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma in blood and can be used to monitor response to therapy

BACKGROUND: Abnormal variations in the expression level of some commonly expressed T-cell antigens are a feature of many T-cell malignancies. METHODS: We sought to assess the frequency of such abnormal antigen expression by flow cytometry in peripheral blood (PB) samples from patients with mycosis fungoides (MF) and Sézary syndrome (SS). We correlated presence of morphologically identifiable tumor cells on PB smear with the frequency of abnormalities in the level of expression of CD3, CD4, CD7, CD8 and CD26. We also examined the degree of stability of these abnormal findings in tumor cells over the course of disease. The flow cytometric findings in 100 PB samples from 44 patients, including 38 who had multiple sequential PB samples (2–8 samples each), were assessed. RESULTS: Abnormalities were seen in the expression level of one or more T-cell markers in 41 cases (93%) including CD3 in 34% of patients, CD4 in 54%, CD26 in 86% and CD 45 in 40% (10 cases tested). In all but 2 cases, the abnormal T-cell immunophenotype remained similar over the course of treatment and correlated with the relative numbers of tumor cells counted on PB smear. CONCLUSIONS: Using a standard T-cell panel, stable phenotypically aberrant T-cell populations representing the tumor are detected in the vast majority of involved PB samples in MF/SS and can be used to monitor response to therapy

Whose knowledge, whose voices? Power, agency and resistance in disability studies for the global south

Meekosha (2011) maintains that research and theories about disability derive mainly from the global North. Disability Studies rarely include non-metropolitan thinkers. Even when they do, these studies tend to be seen as context specific, and the social theories which emanate from these studies are rarely refered to in research theorizing disability in the North. This chapter sets out to investigate how this one way transfer of knowledge affects the way Disability Studies is conceptualised - whose experiences are incorporated within these studies; and whose are left out. Multilateral debate and dialogue between Disability Studies academics and activists in different locations around the world would help add on to the knowledge already available in the field, while keeping others informed about what is taking place in 'similar' situations elsewhere.peer-reviewe

Untangling creativity and art for policy purposes : ethnographic insights on Manchester International Festival and Manchester Day Parade

This paper draws on anthropological fieldwork of a civic parade in Manchester from 2010 to 2012 to argue for engaging with creativity as a process rather than an attribute of a particular sector or individual. It shows how the focus on funding and supporting ‘creative industries’ defined as ‘cinema, television, music, literature, performing arts, heritage and related areas’ actually excludes and diminishes the potential for others to engage with ideas and creative processes. Two major events in Manchester’s cultural calendar – Procession by artist Jeremy Deller, produced by Manchester International Festival and Manchester Day Parade, a council-led civic celebration – both combined community groups with artist input to put large-scale structures and people on the city’s streets. In this ethnographic analysis, I argue that the ‘creativity’ sought from these artists is their adaptive and productive approach to making ideas tangible. By focusing on creativity as a process rather than a character trait, there is even greater potential for stimulating a ‘creative’ city