79 research outputs found

    India: slouching toward superpowerdom?

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    Responding to a recent LSE IDEAS report, “India: The Next Superpower?”, Michael Kugelman argues that India has the resources to be powerful, but lacks the ability to manage and deploy them

    India-Pakistan relations: from optimism to anxiety?

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    Michael Kugelman argues that warming bilateral relations between India and Pakistan could take a hit – before bouncing back – following this week’s troop deaths along the Line of Control

    "We have no voice for that" : Land Rights, Power, and Gender in Rural Sierra Leone

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    Acknowledgements I wish to thank the participants in the Gender and Land Governance Conference at Utrecht University in January 2013 for helpful comments and suggestions. Funding I would like to thank the Faculty of Management at Radboud University Nijmegen for funding the six months of fieldwork on which this article is based.Peer reviewedPostprin

    Ebola virus epidemiology, transmission, and evolution during seven months in Sierra Leone

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    The 2013-2015 Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic is caused by the Makona variant of Ebola virus (EBOV). Early in the epidemic, genome sequencing provided insights into virus evolution and transmission and offered important information for outbreak response. Here, we analyze sequences from 232 patients sampled over 7 months in Sierra Leone, along with 86 previously released genomes from earlier in the epidemic. We confirm sustained human-to-human transmission within Sierra Leone and find no evidence for import or export of EBOV across national borders after its initial introduction. Using high-depth replicate sequencing, we observe both host-to-host transmission and recurrent emergence of intrahost genetic variants. We trace the increasing impact of purifying selection in suppressing the accumulation of nonsynonymous mutations over time. Finally, we note changes in the mucin-like domain of EBOV glycoprotein that merit further investigation. These findings clarify the movement of EBOV within the region and describe viral evolution during prolonged human-to-human transmission

    Reduced evolutionary rate in reemerged Ebola virus transmission chains

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    On 29 June 2015, Liberia’s respite from Ebola virus disease (EVD) was interrupted for the second time by a renewed outbreak (“flare-up”) of seven confirmed cases. We demonstrate that, similar to the March 2015 flare-up associated with sexual transmission, this new flare-up was a reemergence of a Liberian transmission chain originating from a persistently infected source rather than a reintroduction from a reservoir or a neighboring country with active transmission. Although distinct, Ebola virus (EBOV) genomes from both flare-ups exhibit significantly low genetic divergence, indicating a reduced rate of EBOV evolution during persistent infection. Using this rate of change as a signature, we identified two additional EVD clusters that possibly arose from persistently infected sources. These findings highlight the risk of EVD flare-ups even after an outbreak is declared over

    Virus genomes reveal factors that spread and sustained the Ebola epidemic.

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    The 2013-2016 West African epidemic caused by the Ebola virus was of unprecedented magnitude, duration and impact. Here we reconstruct the dispersal, proliferation and decline of Ebola virus throughout the region by analysing 1,610 Ebola virus genomes, which represent over 5% of the known cases. We test the association of geography, climate and demography with viral movement among administrative regions, inferring a classic 'gravity' model, with intense dispersal between larger and closer populations. Despite attenuation of international dispersal after border closures, cross-border transmission had already sown the seeds for an international epidemic, rendering these measures ineffective at curbing the epidemic. We address why the epidemic did not spread into neighbouring countries, showing that these countries were susceptible to substantial outbreaks but at lower risk of introductions. Finally, we reveal that this large epidemic was a heterogeneous and spatially dissociated collection of transmission clusters of varying size, duration and connectivity. These insights will help to inform interventions in future epidemics

    The Ladakh Crisis and the Opportunity for US-India Relations—with a Catch

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    The recent India-China border crisis in Ladakh underscores the threat posed by Beijing to the United States (US) and Indian interests in the Indo-Pacific region. Accordingly, the spat presents opportunities to strengthen the US-India partnership. However, the crisis also risks exposing the partnership's limits. This paper argues that to fully capitalise on the opportunities that the crisis generates for US-India relations, Washington and New Delhi should make some definitional and operational calibrations to their relationship. Additionally, America should expand its geographic conception of “Indo Pacific” beyond sea-based theatres and into land-based spaces, including the Line of Actual Control (LAC). This wider purview would strengthen US-India relations and serve US interests more broadly by expanding the scope for cooperation with Indo-Pacific states within the ambit of America's Asia policy
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