Imagining Modernity in the Uganda Prisons Service, 1945-1979

This dissertation is a social history of the Uganda Prisons Service in the late colonial and early post-colonial periods. Focusing particularly on prison officers, it advances four key arguments. Firstly, it argues that global visions of the prison were crucial in shaping the Service’s development, its institutional culture, and the professional identities of its personnel. From the late colonial period onwards, this vision was anchored on notions of penal welfarism, which positioned the prison as a centre of rehabilitation, staffed by professionals who possessed technical expertise. Secondly, the penal welfare model was combined with an emphasis on the prison’s role as a driver of economic development and a source of public revenue – features that were seen as compatible with penal modernity. Thirdly, this vision of the prison gave the Service a particular imaginative capital, which prison officers used as an important resource. It provided them with a common set of principles and norms through which to define their professional role. Senior officers adopted it with alacrity, pursuing further professionalization through engagement with transnational penal reform networks. Others summoned it as a source of claim-making, using it to call on the state to provide them with greater benefits and treat them as respectable public servants. Finally, visions of penal modernity and professionalism were contested throughout the periods under study, leading officers to engage in boundary work. Officers were regularly defining their role in relation to other spaces of incarceration, such as local government prisons and informal detention sites. With the take-over of Idi Amin in 1971 and the militarization of the state, prison officers’ professional identities were profoundly challenged, but also became particularly important, providing them with a conceptual boundary that at least partially demarcated them from Amin’s regime. Ultimately, the case of the Uganda Prisons Service reminds us of the importance of studying prisons beyond their coercive capacities, paying attention to how such institutions became the focal point of debates over modernity, authority, and professionalism. More broadly, this study challenges the narrative of failure that has dominated popular and scholarly portrayals of state institutions on the African continent, rejecting generic depictions of the postcolony as a site of chaos and disorder.Gates Cambridge Trust, Trinity External Research Studentship (Honorary), Smuts Memorial Fun

Bioinformatics-Based Identification of Expanded Repeats: A Non-reference Intronic Pentamer Expansion in RFC1 Causes CANVAS

Genomic technologies such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) are revolutionizing molecular diagnostics and clinical medicine. However, these approaches have proven inefficient at identifying pathogenic repeat expansions. Here, we apply a collection of bioinformatics tools that can be utilized to identify either known or novel expanded repeat sequences in NGS data. We performed genetic studies of a cohort of 35 individuals from 22 families with a clinical diagnosis of cerebellar ataxia with neuropathy and bilateral vestibular areflexia syndrome (CANVAS). Analysis of whole-genome sequence (WGS) data with five independent algorithms identified a recessively inherited intronic repeat expansion [(AAGGG)exp] in the gene encoding Replication Factor C1 (RFC1). This motif, not reported in the reference sequence, localized to an Alu element and replaced the reference (AAAAG)11 short tandem repeat. Genetic analyses confirmed the pathogenic expansion in 18 of 22 CANVAS-affected families and identified a core ancestral haplotype, estimated to have arisen in Europe more than twenty-five thousand years ago. WGS of the four RFC1-negative CANVAS-affected families identified plausible variants in three, with genomic re-diagnosis of SCA3, spastic ataxia of the Charlevoix-Saguenay type, and SCA45. This study identified the genetic basis of CANVAS and demonstrated that these improved bioinformatics tools increase the diagnostic utility of WGS to determine the genetic basis of a heterogeneous group of clinically overlapping neurogenetic disorders

hMMS2 serves a redundant role in human PCNA polyubiquitination

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In yeast, DNA damage leads to the mono and polyubiquitination of the sliding clamp PCNA. Monoubiquitination of PCNA is controlled by RAD18 (E3 ligase) and RAD6 (E2 conjugating enzyme), while the extension of the monoubiquitinated PCNA into a polyubiquitinated substrate is governed by RAD5, and the heterodimer of UBC13/MMS2. Each modification directs a different branch of the DNA damage tolerance pathway (DDT). While PCNA monoubiquitination leads to error-prone bypass via TLS, biochemical studies have identified MMS2 along with its heteromeric partner UBC13 to govern the error-free repair of DNA lesions by catalyzing the formation of lysine 63-linked polyubiquitin chains (K63-polyUb). Recently, it was shown that PCNA polyubiquitination is conserved in human cells and that this modification is dependent on RAD18, UBC13 and SHPRH. However, the role of hMMS2 in this process was not specifically addressed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this report we show that mammalian cells in which MMS2 was reduced by siRNA-mediated knockdown maintains PCNA polyubiquitination while a knockdown of RAD18 or UBC13 abrogates PCNA ubiquitination. Moreover, the additional knockdown of a UEV1A (MMS2 homolog) does not deplete PCNA polyubiquitination. Finally, mouse embryonic stem cells null for MMS2 with or without the additional depletion of mUEV1A continue to polyubiquitinated PCNA with normal kinetics.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results point to a high level of redundancy in the DDT pathway and suggest the existence of another hMMS2 variant (hMMSv) or complex that can compensate for its loss.</p

Genetic effects on gene expression across human tissues

Characterization of the molecular function of the human genome and its variation across individuals is essential for identifying the cellular mechanisms that underlie human genetic traits and diseases. The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project aims to characterize variation in gene expression levels across individuals and diverse tissues of the human body, many of which are not easily accessible. Here we describe genetic effects on gene expression levels across 44 human tissues. We find that local genetic variation affects gene expression levels for the majority of genes, and we further identify inter-chromosomal genetic effects for 93 genes and 112 loci. On the basis of the identified genetic effects, we characterize patterns of tissue specificity, compare local and distal effects, and evaluate the functional properties of the genetic effects. We also demonstrate that multi-tissue, multi-individual data can be used to identify genes and pathways affected by human disease-associated variation, enabling a mechanistic interpretation of gene regulation and the genetic basis of diseas

Loss of C-5 Sterol Desaturase Activity Results in Increased Resistance to Azole and Echinocandin Antifungals in a Clinical Isolate of Candida parapsilosis

Among emerging non-albicans Candida species, Candida parapsilosis is of particular concern as a cause of nosocomial bloodstream infections in neonatal and intensive care unit patients. While fluconazole and echinocandins are considered effective treatments for such infections, recent reports of fluconazole and echinocandin resistance in C. parapsilosis indicate a growing problem. The present study describes a novel mechanism of antifungal resistance in this organism affecting susceptibility to azole and echinocandin antifungals in a clinical isolate obtained from a patient with prosthetic valve endocarditis. Transcriptome analysis indicated differential expression of several genes in the resistant isolate, including upregulation of ergosterol biosynthesis pathway genes ERG2, ERG5, ERG6, ERG11, ERG24, ERG25, and UPC2. Whole-genome sequencing revealed that the resistant isolate possessed an ERG3 mutation resulting in a G111R amino acid substitution. Sterol profiles indicated a reduction in sterol desaturase activity as a result of this mutation. Replacement of both mutant alleles in the resistant isolate with the susceptible isolate's allele restored wild-type susceptibility to all azoles and echinocandins tested. Disruption of ERG3 in the susceptible and resistant isolates resulted in a loss of sterol desaturase activity, high-level azole resistance, and an echinocandin-intermediate to -resistant phenotype. While disruption of ERG3 in C. albicans resulted in azole resistance, echinocandin MICs, while elevated, remained within the susceptible range. This work demonstrates that the G111R substitution in Erg3 is wholly responsible for the altered azole and echinocandin susceptibilities observed in this C. parapsilosis isolate and is the first report of an ERG3 mutation influencing susceptibility to the echinocandins

Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Conference of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) 2015: advancing efficient methodologies through community partnerships and team science

It is well documented that the majority of adults, children and families in need of evidence-based behavioral health interventionsi do not receive them [1, 2] and that few robust empirically supported methods for implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) exist. The Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) represents a burgeoning effort to advance the innovation and rigor of implementation research and is uniquely focused on bringing together researchers and stakeholders committed to evaluating the implementation of complex evidence-based behavioral health interventions. Through its diverse activities and membership, SIRC aims to foster the promise of implementation research to better serve the behavioral health needs of the population by identifying rigorous, relevant, and efficient strategies that successfully transfer scientific evidence to clinical knowledge for use in real world settings [3]. SIRC began as a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded conference series in 2010 (previously titled the “Seattle Implementation Research Conference”; $150,000 USD for 3 conferences in 2011, 2013, and 2015) with the recognition that there were multiple researchers and stakeholdersi working in parallel on innovative implementation science projects in behavioral health, but that formal channels for communicating and collaborating with one another were relatively unavailable. There was a significant need for a forum within which implementation researchers and stakeholders could learn from one another, refine approaches to science and practice, and develop an implementation research agenda using common measures, methods, and research principles to improve both the frequency and quality with which behavioral health treatment implementation is evaluated. SIRC’s membership growth is a testament to this identified need with more than 1000 members from 2011 to the present.ii SIRC’s primary objectives are to: (1) foster communication and collaboration across diverse groups, including implementation researchers, intermediariesi, as well as community stakeholders (SIRC uses the term “EBP champions” for these groups) – and to do so across multiple career levels (e.g., students, early career faculty, established investigators); and (2) enhance and disseminate rigorous measures and methodologies for implementing EBPs and evaluating EBP implementation efforts. These objectives are well aligned with Glasgow and colleagues’ [4] five core tenets deemed critical for advancing implementation science: collaboration, efficiency and speed, rigor and relevance, improved capacity, and cumulative knowledge. SIRC advances these objectives and tenets through in-person conferences, which bring together multidisciplinary implementation researchers and those implementing evidence-based behavioral health interventions in the community to share their work and create professional connections and collaborations

Genetic effects on gene expression across human tissues

Characterization of the molecular function of the human genome and its variation across individuals is essential for identifying the cellular mechanisms that underlie human genetic traits and diseases. The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project aims to characterize variation in gene expression levels across individuals and diverse tissues of the human body, many of which are not easily accessible. Here we describe genetic effects on gene expression levels across 44 human tissues. We find that local genetic variation affects gene expression levels for the majority of genes, and we further identify inter-chromosomal genetic effects for 93 genes and 112 loci. On the basis of the identified genetic effects, we characterize patterns of tissue specificity, compare local and distal effects, and evaluate the functional properties of the genetic effects. We also demonstrate that multi-tissue, multi-individual data can be used to identify genes and pathways affected by human disease-associated variation, enabling a mechanistic interpretation of gene regulation and the genetic basis of disease

The relationship between Islamism and women in civil society: a look at Turkey and Egypt

In the lead up to the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the U.S. Government emphasized how the military intervention would liberate Afghani women from the Taliban, echoing an old colonial discourse that Muslim women need saving. This study reviews the effects of Islamism, especially when it influences political decisions, on women. In particular, the study focuses on whether there is a correlation between rising Islamism and women in civil society in Turkey and Egypt through the variables of political, educational, and employment opportunities.http://archive.org/details/therelationshipb1094545220Captain, United States Air ForceApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited