Political Economy Analysis and the Aid Industry: The Road to Nowhere?

Political-economy analysis has been a favourite instrument among donors of development aid since roughly the turn of the century. The usefulness of such forms of analysis has been emphasised because donors realised that their focus on formal aspects of the social and political organisation of countries caused them to overlook important elements of the ‘political economy’ of these countries. As a result of this, political and governance reform programmes, which had become part and parcel of the agenda of development under the Post-Washington Consensus, turned out to be much less effective than anticipated. The call for donor agencies to ‘look behind the façade’ of formal institutions in developing countries has thus come as part of the aid effectiveness agenda. It was argued that the effectiveness of development assistance policies would be enhanced if the realities of social and political power structures in developing countries were mapped and fed into the design of governance reforms targeting those countries. A more or less tacit assumption in this approach was that political-economy analysis would enable donors to identify potential pockets of resistance against the reforms that donors were advocating – hence improving the chances of getting reforms accepted

A-type lamins are essential for TGF-beta1 induced PP2A to dephosphorylate transcription factors.

Diseases caused by mutations in lamins A and C (laminopathies) suggest a crucial role for A-type lamins in different cellular processes. Laminopathies mostly affect tissues of mesenchymal origin. As transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) signalling impinges on the retinoblastoma protein (pRB) and SMADs, we tested the hypothesis that lamins modulate cellular responses to TGF-beta1 signalling, via the regulation of these transcription factors in mesenchymal cells. Here, we report that A-type lamins are essential for the inhibition of fibroblast proliferation by TGF-beta1. TGF-beta1 dephosphorylated pRB through PP2A, both of which, we show, are associated with lamin A/C. In addition, lamin A/C modulates the effect of TGF-beta1 on collagen production, a marker of mesenchymal differentiation. Our findings implicate lamin A/C in control of gene activity downstream of TGF-beta1, via nuclear phosphatases such as PP2A. This biological function provides a novel explanation for the observed mesenchymal dysfunction in laminopathie

A review of the fossil record of turtles of the clade Pan-Carettochelys

Turtles of the total clade Pan-Carettochelys have a relatively poor fossil record that extends from the Early Cretaceous. The clade is only found in Asia during the Cretaceous, but spreads to Europe and North America during the Eocene. Neogene finds are restricted to Europe, Africa and Australia, whereas the only surviving species, Carettochelys insculpta, lives in New Guinea and the Northern Territories of Australia. The ecology of fossil pan-carettochelyids appears similar to that of the extant C. insculpta, although more primitive representatives were likely less adapted to brackish water. Current phylogenies only recognize three internested clades: Pan- Carettochelys, Carettochelyidae and Carettochelyinae. A taxonomic review of the group concludes that of 25 named taxa, 13 are nomina valida, 7 are nomina invalida, 3 are nomina dubia, and 2 are nomina nuda

A Review of the fossil record of turtles of the clade Baenidae

The fossil record of the turtle clade Baenidae ranges from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian—Albian) to the Eocene. The group is present throughout North America during the Early Cretaceous, but is restricted to the western portions of the continents in the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene. No credible remains of the clade have been reported outside of North America to date. Baenids were warmadapted freshwater aquatic turtles that supported high levels of diversity at times through niche partitioning, particularly by adapting to a broad range of dietary preferences ranging from omnivorous to molluscivorous. Current phylogenies place Baenidae near the split of crown-group Testudines. Within Baenidae three more inclusive, named clades are recognized: Baenodda, Palatobaeninae and Eubaeninae. A taxonomic review of the group concludes that of 49 named taxa, 30 are nomina valida, 12 are nomina invalida and 7 are nomina dubia

Allaeochelys libyca, a new carettochelyine turtle from the middle miocene (Langhian) of Libya

Fossil carettochelyine turtles are well known from the Paleogene of Europe (Allaeochelys), North America and Asia (Anosteira); however, the previously known Neogene fossil record is highly fragmentary and was therefore unsuitable for taxonomic analysis. In this work, we present a new carettochelyine taxon, Allaeochelys libyca, from the Middle Miocene (Langhian) of Gebel Zelten (Libya) based on an incomplete skull and disarticulated postcranial elements. The new taxon is diagnosed relative to the extant Carettochelys insculpta based on the placement of the foramen posterius canalis carotici interni close to the fenestra postotica, the horizontal orientation of the tubercula basioccipitalis, the substantial contribution of the opisthotic to the base of the tubercula basioccipitalis, the presence of a triangular pterygoid fossa, the arrangement of the mandibular condyles along a plane and the presence of an extremely well-developed fossa at the base of the processus mandibularis. A phylogenetic analysis of pancarettochelyids confirms the monophyly of Carettochelyidae and Carettochelyinae but resulted in a paraphyletic taxon, Allaeochelys. For the sake of nomenclatural stability, we provisionally retain the genus Allaeochelys as paraphyletic relative to the extant Carettochelys insculpta