Science-Policy Interactions in a Corporatist System: Knowledge Brokerage in Austrian Climate Policy

Climate change policy is a prime example for the growing importance of expert ad-vice to inform decision‐making. Consequently, a plethora of advisory bodies and pro-cesses have emerged around the world. However, there are marked differences in the way the interactions between science and politics are organized and practiced depending on a country’s political system and culture. The degree of political compe-tition, the role of state vis-à-vis non-state actors and the dominant modes of interest mediation provide specific conditions for the ways expertise is consulted and used in decision-making. Against this background, the paper presents the landscape of scientific advice in Austrian climate policy and asks in how far the traditionally strong culture of corporat-ism in Austrian politics manifests itself in practices of climate policy advice. Concep-tually, the paper draws on analytical dimensions derived from the concepts of “na-tional styles of policy-making” and “civic epistemology”. Methodically it bases on an interview series and a workshop with representatives from science, politics, and in-termediary organizations. Our analysis provides a differentiated picture: the neo-corporatist culture still leaves its imprint in Austrian climate policy advice. But at the same time, the emergence of a new policy field, such as climate policy, undoubtedly opens up possibilities for new actors and forms of policy advice

Impulse zum Wandel von Interessen und AkteurInnennetzwerken in der österreichischen Waldpolitik: das Beispiel des Österreichischen Walddialoges

'Waldpolitik ist in Österreich durch eine lange bestehende, enge Verflechtung der zentralen staatlichen AkteurInnen und WaldeigentümerInnenverbände charakterisiert. Dieser Beitrag untersucht am Beispiel der österreichischen Waldpolitik, wie ein vergleichsweise geschlossenes Politikfeldnetzwerk auf externe Öffnungsimpulse reagiert: auf Vorgaben der internationalen Politik, Anreize durch EU-Rechtsakte und auf Konflikte im nationalen Politikfeld. Ihre Wirkung manifestiert sich im 'Österreichischen Walddialog', einem breit angelegten, partizipativen Dialogprozess, der uns als Fallstudie dient. Im Ergebnis stellen wir eine partielle Öffnung des Politikfeldnetzwerkes fest, sowohl in inhaltlicher Hinsicht als auch mit Blick auf die Beteiligung von AkteurInnen. Als Barrieren gegen eine weitere Öffnung zeigten sich zum einen institutionelle Faktoren, wie die föderale Kompetenzverteilung, und zum anderen die Handlungslogiken der AkteurInnen. Reaktive Handlungslogiken zwecks Domänensicherung und ein teils geringes Engagement von AkteurInnen haben die thematische Offenheit des Prozesses und die Reichweite des sektorübergreifenden Ansatzes beschränkt. Der politische Willen seitens des federführenden Ressorts, im Walddialog zu breit akkordierten Ergebnissen zu gelangen, sowie die vermittelnde Rolle einer Gruppe von ProponentInnen der Öffnung haben dennoch einen breiten, partizipativen Prozess ermöglicht und es erlaubt, konkrete und implementationsorientierte Ergebnisse zu erzielen.' (Autorenreferat)'The Austrian forest policy domain is characterised by a well-established, tightly related network of public actors, on the one hand, and forest owner interest groups on the other hand. In their contribution the authors examine how this policy domain's actors react upon external impulses to open the network to new actors and issues; i.e. how they react to demands resulting from international forest policy forums as well as to incentives resulting from EU regulations. Effects of these impulses became manifest in the 'Austrian Forest Dialogue'. This participative dialogue process serves as our case study. According to our findings, the Forest Dialogue lead to a partial opening of the forest policy domain network, both in terms of issues which have been dealt with as well as regards the number of actors that have become involved. Barriers for a broader opening of the domain are seen in institutional factors, e.g. in the distribution of jurisdictional responsibilities within the federal system, but primarily in the different rationalities which the actors followed in the course the process. Reactive strategies oriented towards defending interest domains as well as a low degree of engagement of some actors have set constraints to the ambitious cross-sectoral approach. However, the political will of the Ministry in charge of the process, which aimed to achieve broadly accepted outputs, and the mediatorial role of some central proponents finally facilitated and enabled a broad and participative dialogue process which resulted in quite concrete outputs.' (author's abstract)

Getting a grip on negotiation processes: Addressing trade-offs in mountain biking in Austria, Germany and Switzerland

Space for recreation is an important service provided by forests close to urban and rural areas alike. Mountain biking, as one recreational activity, is increasingly becoming widespread, which can lead to challenging trade-off situations, as some benefits from forests come at the cost of another forest benefit and vice versa. For instance, illegally constructed mountain bike trails lead to trade-offs between environmental protection and other forest utilizations such as wood production. We thus study how such trade-off situations can be negotiated to find an outcome, such as a legal mountain bike trail, which is accepted by stakeholders. In doing so, we select case studies where we expect to find similar trade-off situations that lead to the negotiation process about mountain bike trails. Specifically, we analyse the cases' negotiation processes (action situations) by applying Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development Framework. Our findings show the importance of collective actors, a clear delineation of responsibilities and of compensation and funding measures as well as structured workshops and collective site inspections for addressing trade-offs and for arriving at acceptable outcomes in our cases

Досвід створення та функціонування Державної системи правової інформації Республіки Білорусь

Щодо досвіду створення та особливостей функціонування білоруської моделі державної системи правової інформації.Относительно опыта создания и особенностей функционирования белорусской модели государственной системы правовой информации.In relation to the experience of foundation and Рeculiarities of the Belorussia model state system of the legal information functioning

Diabetic cardiomyopathy is associated with defective myocellular copper regulation and both defects are rectified by divalent copper chelation

BACKGROUND: Heart disease is the leading cause of death in diabetic patients, and defective copper metabolism may play important roles in the pathogenesis of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). The present study sought to determine how myocardial copper status and key copper-proteins might become impaired by diabetes, and how they respond to treatment with the Cu (II)-selective chelator triethylenetetramine (TETA) in DCM. METHODS: Experiments were performed in Wistar rats with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes with or without TETA treatment. Cardiac function was analyzed in isolated-perfused working hearts, and myocardial total copper content measured by particle-induced x-ray emission spectroscopy (PIXE) coupled with Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). Quantitative expression (mRNA and protein) and/or activity of key proteins that mediate LV-tissue-copper binding and transport, were analyzed by combined RT-qPCR, western blotting, immunofluorescence microscopy, and enzyme activity assays. Statistical analysis was performed using Student’s t-tests or ANOVA and p-values of < 0.05 have been considered significant. RESULTS: Left-ventricular (LV) copper levels and function were severely depressed in rats following 16-weeks’ diabetes, but both were unexpectedly normalized 8-weeks after treatment with TETA was instituted. Localized myocardial copper deficiency was accompanied by decreased expression and increased polymerization of the copper-responsive transition-metal-binding metallothionein proteins (MT1/MT2), consistent with impaired anti-oxidant defences and elevated susceptibility to pro-oxidant stress. Levels of the high-affinity copper transporter-1 (CTR1) were depressed in diabetes, consistent with impaired membrane copper uptake, and were not modified by TETA which, contrastingly, renormalized myocardial copper and increased levels and cell-membrane localization of the low-affinity copper transporter-2 (CTR2). Diabetes also lowered indexes of intracellular (IC) copper delivery via the copper chaperone for superoxide dismutase (CCS) to its target cuproenzyme, superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD1): this pathway was rectified by TETA treatment, which normalized SOD1 activity with consequent bolstering of anti-oxidant defenses. Furthermore, diabetes depressed levels of additional intracellular copper-transporting proteins, including antioxidant-protein-1 (ATOX1) and copper-transporting-ATPase-2 (ATP7B), whereas TETA elevated copper-transporting-ATPase-1 (ATP7A). CONCLUSIONS: Myocardial copper deficiency and defective cellular copper transport/trafficking are revealed as key molecular defects underlying LV impairment in diabetes, and TETA-mediated restoration of copper regulation provides a potential new class of therapeutic molecules for DCM

Data-Driven Phenotyping of Central Disorders of Hypersomnolence With Unsupervised Clustering

Background and ObjectivesRecent studies fueled doubts as to whether all currently defined central disorders of hypersomnolence are stable entities, especially narcolepsy type 2 and idiopathic hypersomnia. New reliable biomarkers are needed, and the question arises of whether current diagnostic criteria of hypersomnolence disorders should be reassessed. The main aim of this data-driven observational study was to see whether data-driven algorithms would segregate narcolepsy type 1 and identify more reliable subgrouping of individuals without cataplexy with new clinical biomarkers.MethodsWe used agglomerative hierarchical clustering, an unsupervised machine learning algorithm, to identify distinct hypersomnolence clusters in the large-scale European Narcolepsy Network database. We included 97 variables, covering all aspects of central hypersomnolence disorders such as symptoms, demographics, objective and subjective sleep measures, and laboratory biomarkers. We specifically focused on subgrouping of patients without cataplexy. The number of clusters was chosen to be the minimal number for which patients without cataplexy were put in distinct groups.ResultsWe included 1,078 unmedicated adolescents and adults. Seven clusters were identified, of which 4 clusters included predominantly individuals with cataplexy. The 2 most distinct clusters consisted of 158 and 157 patients, were dominated by those without cataplexy, and among other variables, significantly differed in presence of sleep drunkenness, subjective difficulty awakening, and weekend-week sleep length difference. Patients formally diagnosed as having narcolepsy type 2 and idiopathic hypersomnia were evenly mixed in these 2 clusters.DiscussionUsing a data-driven approach in the largest study on central disorders of hypersomnolence to date, our study identified distinct patient subgroups within the central disorders of hypersomnolence population. Our results contest inclusion of sleep-onset REM periods in diagnostic criteria for people without cataplexy and provide promising new variables for reliable diagnostic categories that better resemble different patient phenotypes. Cluster-guided classification will result in a more solid hypersomnolence classification system that is less vulnerable to instability of single features

Increased TIMP-3 expression alters the cellular secretome through dual inhibition of the metalloprotease ADAM10 and ligand-binding of the LRP-1 receptor

The tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-3 (TIMP-3) is a major regulator of extracellular matrix turnover and protein shedding by inhibiting different classes of metalloproteinases, including disintegrin metalloproteinases (ADAMs). Tissue bioavailability of TIMP-3 is regulated by the endocytic receptor low-density-lipoprotein receptor-related protein-1 (LRP-1). TIMP-3 plays protective roles in disease. Thus, different approaches have been developed aiming to increase TIMP-3 bioavailability, yet overall effects of increased TIMP-3 in vivo have not been investigated. Herein, by using unbiased mass-spectrometry we demonstrate that TIMP-3-overexpression in HEK293 cells has a dual effect on shedding of transmembrane proteins and turnover of soluble proteins. Several membrane proteins showing reduced shedding are known as ADAM10 substrates, suggesting that exogenous TIMP-3 preferentially inhibits ADAM10 in HEK293 cells. Additionally identified shed membrane proteins may be novel ADAM10 substrate candidates. TIMP-3-overexpression also increased extracellular levels of several soluble proteins, including TIMP-1, MIF and SPARC. Levels of these proteins similarly increased upon LRP-1 inactivation, suggesting that TIMP-3 increases soluble protein levels by competing for their binding to LRP-1 and their subsequent internalization. In conclusion, our study reveals that increased levels of TIMP-3 induce substantial modifications in the cellular secretome and that TIMP-3-based therapies may potentially provoke undesired, dysregulated functions of ADAM10 and LRP-1

Robotic injection of zebrafish embryos for high-throughput screening in disease models

The increasing use of zebrafish larvae for biomedical research applications is resulting in versatile models for a variety of human diseases. These models exploit the optical transparency of zebrafish larvae and the availability of a large genetic tool box. Here we present detailed protocols for the robotic injection of zebrafish embryos at very high accuracy with a speed of up to 2000 embryos per hour. These protocols are benchmarked for several applications: (1) the injection of DNA for obtaining transgenic animals, (2) the injection of antisense morpholinos that can be used for gene knock-down, (3) the injection of microbes for studying infectious disease, and (4) the injection of human cancer cells as a model for tumor progression. We show examples of how the injected embryos can be screened at high-throughput level using fluorescence analysis. Our methods open up new avenues for the use of zebrafish larvae for large compound screens in the search for new medicines