Who punishes the leader? Leader culpability and coups during civil war

Who punishes leaders via coups during civil war? By distinguishing between different types of internal audiences within the government and their attempts to remove a leader forcefully, I illuminate the mechanisms that explain variation in who punishes the leader during wartime. I claim that whether leaders are culpable for the initiation of the war has an important implication for whether they are punished by members of the ruling coalition (i.e., those with access to decision-making and political power), or by those outside the ruling coalition. Empirical evidence supports my hypotheses: (i) culpable leaders are more likely to experience coup attempts led by those outside the leaders' ruling coalition, should the war go poorly; and (ii) nonculpable leaders are more likely to experience coups executed by members of their ruling coalition. The findings have important implications for how leaders respond to audience pressures as they consider whether to fight or settle

Reduced Efficacy of Anti-A\u3cem\u3eβ\u3c/em\u3e Immunotherapy in a Mouse Model of Amyloid Deposition and Vascular Cognitive Impairment Comorbidity

Vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID) is the second most common form of dementia behind Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD). It is estimated that 40% of AD patients also have some form of VCID. One promising therapeutic for AD is anti-Aβ immunotherapy, which uses antibodies against Aβ to clear it from the brain. While successful in clearing Aβ and improving cognition in mice, anti-Aβ immunotherapy failed to reach primary cognitive outcomes in several different clinical trials. We hypothesized that one potential reason the anti-Aβ immunotherapy clinical trials were unsuccessful was due to this high percentage of VCID comorbidity in the AD population. We used our unique model of VCID-amyloid comorbidity to test this hypothesis. We placed 9-month-old wild-type and APP/PS1 mice on either a control diet or a diet that induces hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy). After being placed on the diet for 3 months, the mice then received intraperotineal injections of either IgG2a control or 3D6 for another 3 months. While we found that treatment of our comorbidity model with 3D6 resulted in decreased total Aβ levels, there was no cognitive benefit of the anti-Aβ immunotherapy in our AD/VCID mice. Further, microhemorrhages were increased by 3D6 in the APP/PS1/control but further increased in an additive fashion when 3D6 was administered to the APP/PS1/HHcy mice. This suggests that the use of anti-Aβ immunotherapy in patients with both AD and VCID would be ineffective on cognitive outcomes

Restoring Rivers One Reach at a Time: Results from a Survey of U.S. River Restoration Practitioners

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72915/1/j.1526-100X.2007.00244.x.pd

Fifteen Years of Sm-p80-Based Vaccine Trials in Nonhuman Primates: Antibodies From Vaccinated Baboons Confer Protection in vivo and in vitro From Schistosoma mansoni and Identification of Putative Correlative Markers of Protection.

Recent advances in systems biology have shifted vaccine development from a largely trial-and-error approach to an approach that promote rational design through the search for immune signatures and predictive correlates of protection. These advances will doubtlessly accelerate the development of a vaccine for schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease that currently affects over 250 million people. For over 15 years and with contributions of over 120 people, we have endeavored to test and optimize Sm-p80-based vaccines in the non-human primate model of schistosomiasis. Using RNA-sequencing on eight different Sm-p80-based vaccine strategies, we sought to elucidate immune signatures correlated with experimental protective efficacy. Furthermore, we aimed to explore the role of antibodies through in vivo passive transfer of IgG obtained from immunized baboons and in vitro killing of schistosomula using Sm-p80-specific antibodies. We report that passive transfer of IgG from Sm-p80-immunized baboons led to significant worm burden reduction, egg reduction in liver, and reduced egg hatching percentages from tissues in mice compared to controls. In addition, we observed that sera from Sm-p80-immunized baboons were able to kill a significant percent of schistosomula and that this effect was complement-dependent. While we did not find a universal signature of immunity, the large datasets generated by this study will serve as a substantial resource for further efforts to develop vaccine or therapeutics for schistosomiasis

Nutrition for the ageing brain: towards evidence for an optimal diet

As people age they become increasingly susceptible to chronic and extremely debilitating brain diseases. The precise cause of the neuronal degeneration underlying these disorders, and indeed normal brain ageing remains however elusive. Considering the limits of existing preventive methods, there is a desire to develop effective and safe strategies. Growing preclinical and clinical research in healthy individuals or at the early stage of cognitive decline has demonstrated the beneficial impact of nutrition on cognitive functions. The present review is the most recent in a series produced by the Nutrition and Mental Performance Task Force under the auspice of the International Life Sciences Institute Europe (ILSI Europe). The latest scientific advances specific to how dietary nutrients and non-nutrient may affect cognitive ageing are presented. Furthermore, several key points related to mechanisms contributing to brain ageing, pathological conditions affecting brain function, and brain biomarkers are also discussed. Overall, findings are inconsistent and fragmented and more research is warranted to determine the underlying mechanisms and to establish dose-response relationships for optimal brain maintenance in different population subgroups. Such approaches are likely to provide the necessary evidence to develop research portfolios that will inform about new dietary recommendations on how to prevent cognitive decline

Placing Stream Restoration in Georgia in a National Perspective

Proceedings of the 2003 Georgia Water Resources Conference, held April 23-24, 2003, at the University of Georgia.We are assessing the nature of the science underlying ecological restoration activities using stream ecosystems as model restoration systems and considering river restoration in Georgia, the Southeast, and the United States. We are assembling a data set that spans multiple ecoregions and many different types of restoration activities performed by diverse groups with various stakeholder interests. Data gathering is focused on several nodes, one of which is in Georgia. Specifically, the data set addresses: what kinds of restoration activities, at what scale, and by what means have taken place; how goals were set and success measured in these restoration efforts; the extent to which scientific criteria were used; the extent to which adaptive management was an explicit component of the restoration activity; and the extent to which scientists formed partnerships with restoration practitioners in order to use restoration projects as opportunities for scientific experimentation. The goal of the project is to facilitate the linkage between the practice of ecological restoration and the science of restoration ecology; we will attempt to establish standards for data gathering to scientifically assess restoration methods and success. We seek information on restoration projects in Georgia

Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy–Principal Components Regression Analyses of Soil Properties

A fast and convenient soil analytical technique is needed for soil quality assessment and precision soil management. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to predict diverse soil properties. Near-infrared reflectance spectra, obtained from a Perstrop NIR Systems 6500 scanning monochromator (Foss NIRSystems, Silver Spring, MD), and 33 chemical, physical, and biochemical properties were studied for 802 soil samples collected from four Major Land Resource Areas (MLRAs). Calibrations were based on principal component regression (PCR) using the first derivatives of optical density [log(1/R)] for the 1300- to 2500-nm spectral range. Total C, total N, moisture, cation-exchange capacity (CEC), 1.5 MPa water, basal respiration rate, sand, silt, and Mehlich III extractable Ca were successfully predicted by NIRS (r 2 > 0.80). Some Mehlich III extractable metals (Fe, K, Mg, Mn) and exchangeable cations (Ca, Mg, and K), sum of exchangeable bases, exchangeable acidity, clay, potentially mineralizable N, total respiration rate, biomass C, and pH were also estimated by NIRS but with less accuracy (r 2 = 0.80∼0.50). The predicted results for aggregation (wt% > 2, 1, 0.5, 0.25 mm, and macroaggregation) were not reliable (r 2 = 0.46∼0.60). Mehlich III extractable Cu, P, and Zn, and exchangeable Na could not be predicted using the NIRS–PCR technique (r 2 This article is from Soil Science Society of America Journal 65 (2001): 480–490, doi:10.2136/sssaj2001.652480x.</p