Externe Unterstützung für gewaltfreie Revolutionen - eine Analyse

Der skandinavische Friedensforscher Jörgen Johansen befasst sich in diesem Aufsatz mit dem Thema, welche Rolle externe Unterstützung bei gewaltfreien Revolutionen spielt. Er skizziert neun verschiedenen Formen der Unterstützung (von moralischer Unterstützung bis zu Trainings, Medien und natürlich finanzieller Förderung). Dabei weist er die pauschale, oft zu hörende These zurück, dass externe Geldgeber*innen durch ihre Förderung auch bestimmten, was in einem Land geschieht. Das Papier wurde ursprünglich 2010 auf Englisch veröffentlicht und für die deutsche Übersetzung vom Autor durch eine Aktualisierung ergänzt

Kriege verhindern oder stoppen - der Beitrag von Friedensbewegungen

Dieses Papier diskutiert auf der Basis von Beispielen von sieben Friedensbewegungen der letzten 110 Jahre, welchen Einfluss Bewegungen auf die Verhinderung oder die Beendigung von Kriegen gehabt haben, in die ihre eigene Regierung verwickelt war. Diese Beispiele sind: Norwegen - Schweden 1905; die Anti-Vietnamkrieg-Bewegung in den 1960er und frühen 1970er Jahren; die Bewegung gegen die Unterstützung der Contras in Nicaragua in den 1980er Jahren; die Friedensbewegung gegen atomare Aufrüstung der 1980er Jahre; der Fall der Frauen in Weiß in Liberia 2002-2003; die Bewegung gegen den Irakkrieg 1991; die Bewegung gegen den Irakkrieg 2003. Das Hauptergebnis des Vergleichs ist, dass einen Krieg zu verhindern oder zu stoppen wahrscheinlich die schwierigste Aufgabe ist, die sich eine soziale Bewegung setzen kann. Mit der Ausnahme des frühen skandinavischen Falls, der ein Fall einer erfolgreichen Verhinderung von Krieg ist, beeinflussten einige der Bewegungen sowohl den Verlauf wie das eventuelle Ende des Konfliktes, aber keiner von ihnen kann zugeschrieben werden, dass sie die allein Ausschlaggebenden waren. Abgesehen davon konnte eine langfristige Wirkung der Bewegungen auf die öffentliche Meinung und auf verstärktes Bewusstsein der breiten Öffentlichkeit im Hinblick auf Fragen von Krieg und Frieden und "humanitäre Interventionen" festgestellt werden, was das Verhalten von Regierungen in späteren Krisen beeinflusste.This paper discusses on the basis of seven examples of peace movements of the last 110 years which impact movements may have had on the prevention or the ending of wars their own governments were engaging in. These examples are: Norway - Sweden 1905; the movement against the Vietnam war in the 1960s and early 1970s; the movement against the support of the Contras in Nicaragua in the 1980s; the peace movement of the 1980s against nuclear weapons; the case of the Women in White in Liberia 2002-2003; the movement against the Iraq war in 1991; the movement against the Iraq war in 2003. The main finding of the comparison is that to prevent or stop wars is probably the most difficult objective a social movement may set itself. With the exception of the early Scandinavian case which was a case of successful war prevention, some of the movements against wars impacted both the conduct of the conflict and its eventual end but none of them could be attributed with stopping it alone. However, there was also clear evidence that the respective movements had a long-term influence on public opinion and helped to raise public awareness on issues of wars and so-called 'humanitarian interventions' which had an influence on later crises and how governments dealt with them in regard to engaging or not engaging in war

JASPer controls interphase histone H3S10 phosphorylation by chromosomal kinase JIL-1 in Drosophila

In flies, the chromosomal kinase JIL-1 is responsible for most interphase histone H3S10 phosphorylation and has been proposed to protect active chromatin from acquiring heterochromatic marks, such as dimethylated histone H3K9 (H3K9me2) and HP1. Here, we show that JIL-1's targeting to chromatin depends on a PWWP domain-containing protein JASPer (JIL-1 Anchoring and Stabilizing Protein). JASPer-JIL-1 (JJ)-complex is the major form of kinase in vivo and is targeted to active genes and telomeric transposons via binding of the PWWP domain of JASPer to H3K36me3 nucleosomes, to modulate transcriptional output. JIL-1 and JJ-complex depletion in cycling cells lead to small changes in H3K9me2 distribution at active genes and telomeric transposons. Finally, we identify interactors of the endogenous JJ-complex and propose that JIL-1 not only prevents heterochromatin formation but also coordinates chromatin-based regulation in the transcribed part of the genome

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Comparative pharmacodynamic modeling using bispectral and narcotrend-index with and without a pharmacodynamic plateau during sevoflurane anesthesia.

Contains fulltext : 70879.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)BACKGROUND: We compared two pharmacodynamic models, one with and one without a plateau effect. Bispectral indices (BIS, Aspect Medical Systems, Natick, MA, version XP) and Narcotrend (NCT, MonitorTechnik, Bad Bramstedt, Germany, version 4.0) were used as an electroencephalographic measure of sevoflurane drug effect. In addition, we tried to analyze the origin of the plateau. METHODS: We investigated 26 adult patients scheduled for radical prostatectomy. At least 45 min after induction of general anesthesia, end-tidal sevoflurane concentrations were varied between 1 vol% and 4 vol%. To evaluate the relationship between concentrations and electroencephalographic indices, two different pharmacodynamic models were applied: a conventional model based on a single sigmoidal curve, and a novel model based on two sigmoidal curves for BIS and NCT values with and without burst suppression. The parameters of the models were estimated by NONMEM V (GloboMax, Hanover) by minimizing log likelihood. Statistical significance between the two models was calculated by the likelihood ratio test. RESULTS: The end-tidal sevoflurane concentration ranged from 1.04 +/- 0.17 vol% to 4.43 +/- 0.43 vol%. The difference between the log likelihood values of the new pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model with two connected sigmoidal curves and the classical E(max) model with one sigmoidal curve is 396 (P < 0.001) for the BIS monitor and 1121 (P < 0.001) for the NCT. The plateau is positioned at the change between the maximum delta power and the increase of burst suppression ratio. CONCLUSION: A pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model consisting of two sigmoid curves with an intervening plateau describes the effect of sevoflurane on BIS and NCT indices better than a model with a single sigmoid curve

Direct Observation of Protein Unfolded State Compaction in the Presence of Macromolecular Crowding

Proteins fold and function in cellular environments that are crowded with other macromolecules. As a consequence of excluded volume effects, compact folded states of proteins should be indirectly stabilized due to destabilization of extended unfolded conformations. Here, we assess the role of excluded volume in terms of protein stability, structural dimensions and folding dynamics using a sugar-based crowding agent, dextran 20, and the small ribosomal protein S16 as a model system. To specifically address dimensions, we labeled the protein with BODIPY at two positions and measured Trp-BODIPY distances under different conditions. As expected, we found that dextran 20 (200 mg/ml) stabilized the variants against urea-induced unfolding. At conditions where the protein is unfolded, Förster resonance energy transfer measurements reveal that in the presence of dextran, the unfolded ensemble is more compact and there is residual structure left as probed by far-ultraviolet circular dichroism. In the presence of a crowding agent, folding rates are faster in the two-state regime, and at low denaturant concentrations, a kinetic intermediate is favored. Our study provides direct evidence for protein unfolded-state compaction in the presence of macromolecular crowding along with its energetic and kinetic consequences

Comparative pharmacodynamic modeling of desflurane, sevoflurane and isoflurane.

Contains fulltext : 81731.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)BACKGROUND: We compared dose-response curves of the hypnotic effects of desflurane, sevoflurane and isoflurane. In addition, we analyzed the k(e0) values of the different anesthetics. The EEG parameters Bispectral index (BIS, Aspect Medical Systems, Natick, MA, version XP) and Narcotrend index (MonitorTechnik, Bad Bramstedt, Germany, version 4.0) were used as measures of the pharmacodynamic effect. METHODS: With IRB approval and informed consent we analyzed the data of three studies including 61 adult patients scheduled for radical prostatectomies. At least 45 min after induction of general anesthesia, end-tidal concentrations of desflurane, sevoflurane or isoflurane were varied between 0.5 and 2 MAC. We transferred the end-tidal concentrations into age-related MAC values. The relationship between MAC effect compartment concentrations and EEG was modeled with a variation of the classical fractional sigmoid E(max) model with two linked sigmoidal curves. All parameters were calculated as a population fit by NONMEM V (GloboMax, Hanover, USA) by minimizing log likelihood. RESULTS: The k(e0) values of the population fit derived from BIS data were 0.54 min(-1) for desflurane, 0.24 min(-1) for sevoflurane and 0.16 min(-1) for isoflurane, from the Narcotrend index 0.43 min(-1) for desflurane, 0.26 min(-1) for sevoflurane and 0.18 min(-1) for isoflurane. The change between the first and the second sigmoidal curve was positioned at nearly the same Narcotrend- and BIS index values between 41 and 44. CONCLUSIONS: The first order rate constant (k(e0) value) determining the equilibration between age-related MAC values and MAC effect site concentration is substantially higher for desflurane than for sevoflurane or isoflurane