Biochemical variation during ovarian vitellogenic growth in a hill stream teleost Garra mullya (Sykes) due to cadmium toxicity

Some biochemical variations during ovarian vitellogenic growth in hill-stream teleost Garra mullya due to sublethal concentration of cadmium has been discussed. Total protein, cholesterol and glycogen in ovary and liver along with gonadosomatic index (GSI) and hepatosomatic index (HSI) in Cd-treated fish exhibited significant decrease while liver glycogen remained unaltered

Key myths about corruption (Briefing Paper)

Corruption has been one of the major international concerns of the past decade. It is an issue that affects all countries, rich and poor, in different ways and to differing degrees. Exactly how corruption affects particular societies has, however, been the subject of some discussion in the literature. The major international institutions promoting governance reforms have, for example, persistently argued that corruption has a direct negative impact upon overall economic growth levels and can depress the climate for attracting international investment; although these are far from universally-held assumptions, even in the mainstream economics literature. Amidst heightened international concern for tackling the abject poverty which continues to affect such large sections of humanity (expressed most clearly in the evolution of the millennium development goals or MDGs), perhaps the most important concern that has been expressed about corruption is that it disproportionately affects the poor and marginalized, through excluding them from access to services or reducing the funds available for direct use in social programmes. Donor-country fears over corruption in the handling of development aid monies may also act to erode the political will necessary to ensure adequate international funding of the actions needed to meet MDG targets, whilst within Southern countries perceptions of widespread corruption within political life can act decisively to depress popular support for state reforms and/or open democratic political systems. Clearly, then, corruption – its extent, nature, dynamics, causation and how it might be tackled – is an issue of fundamental importance to those working in the field of international development. One of the things noticeable on a first exploration of the literature on corruption and development is the singular lack of attention that was devoted to the issue for most of the period since the second world war and, in turn, the sudden rediscovery of the issue towards the end of the 1980s and the explosion of international legislative initiatives, institutional formation and academic work that has occurred since then. Clearly, the end of the bipolar geopolitical world of the cold war and the onslaught of contemporary globalization appear to have presented considerable opportunities for international collaboration in placing the issue at the centre of the international stage. Nevertheless, those very same global processes also present Preliminary version – not for citation without the permission of the authors important challenges to the international community in dealing with the issue because of the difficulties involved in tracing international flows of capital, the increasing complexity of international criminal networks and non-criminal tax evasion networks and the complex and hazy lines between the private and public sectors. Since the early 1990s large amounts of public money have been spent on the development of new legislation at national and international levels, the creation of national anti-corruption programmes and the evolution of anticorruption departments within just about every major international development institution. The impact of such measures, however, has been, at best, partial. As such, whilst the international community should continue to do what it can to raise the international profile of corruption and how it might be better combatted, we argue that it is even more important that a more detailed independent assessment of the effectiveness of existing interventions is carried out. Our position is that the first steps towards such a review of international anticorruption initiatives must involve subjecting the ways in which the issue has been constructed in the mainstream development arenas to closer scrutiny. This workshop is intended to be a first step in this direction. As such, this paper is intended to generate debate about the meaning of corruption, its complexity, how it relates to particular areas of development policy intervention and the means whereby it might be combated (if indeed this is considered feasible or even desirable). Given this, what follows is (i) deliberately provocative, (ii) deliberately broad and (iii) deliberately polemical. We thought long and hard about how best to organize this session and in the end decided to organize it around the presentation of a series of key myths which we have identified as important amongst those involved in anticorruption activities and research. Some of these myths relate to the academic community, some to a kind of general common sense amongst development practitioners and some to those involved in the implementation of anti-corruption initiatives. Here, they are organized into four broad sections dealing with (a) basic definitions, (b) states and markets, (c) actors and anticorruption initiatives and (d) economic factors

A new simplified protocol for copper(I) alkyne–azide cycloaddition reactions using low substoichiometric amounts of copper(II) precatalysts in methanol

Copper(II) carboxylates are reduced efficiently by methanol in the presence of alkynes and form yellow alkynylcopper(I) polymeric precatalysts that are involved with azides, in the absence of added ligands, in the catalytic cycles that result in the formation of 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles

Synthesizing diverse evidence: the use of primary qualitative data analysis methods and logic models in public health reviews

Objectives: The nature of public health evidence presents challenges for conventional systematic review processes, with increasing recognition of the need to include a broader range of work including observational studies and qualitative research, yet with methods to combine diverse sources remaining underdeveloped. The objective of this paper is to report the application of a new approach for review of evidence in the public health sphere. The method enables a diverse range of evidence types to be synthesized in order to examine potential relationships between a public health environment and outcomes. Study design: The study drew on previous work by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on conceptual frameworks. It applied and further extended this work to the synthesis of evidence relating to one particular public health area: the enhancement of employee mental well-being in the workplace. Methods: The approach utilized thematic analysis techniques from primary research, together with conceptual modelling, to explore potential relationships between factors and outcomes. Results: The method enabled a logic framework to be built from a diverse document set that illustrates how elements and associations between elements may impact on the well-being of employees. Conclusions: Whilst recognizing potential criticisms of the approach, it is suggested that logic models can be a useful way of examining the complexity of relationships between factors and outcomes in public health, and of highlighting potential areas for interventions and further research. The use of techniques from primary qualitative research may also be helpful in synthesizing diverse document types. (C) 2010 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Temperature-dependent development of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and its larval parasitoid, Habrobracon hebetor (Say) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae): implications for species interactions

Habrobracon hebetor (Say) is a parasitoid of various Lepidoptera including Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), a key pest of different crops and vegetables. The development of both H. armigera and H. hebetor were simultaneously evaluated against a wide range of constant temperatures (10, 15, 17.5, 20, 25, 27.5, 30, 35, 37.5 and 40 °C). Helicoverpa armigera completed its development from egg to adult within a temperature range of 17.5–37.5 °C and H. hebetor completed its life cycle from egg to adult within a temperature range of 15–40 °C. Based on the Ikemoto and Takai model the developmental threshold (T o) and thermal constant (K) to complete the immature stages, of H. armigera were calculated as 11.6 °C and 513.6 DD, respectively, and 13 °C and 148 DD, respectively, for H. hebetor. Analytis/Briere-2 and Analytis/Briere-1 were adjudged the best non-linear models for prediction of phenology of H. armigera and H. hebetor, respectively and enabled estimation of the optimum (T opt) and maximum temperature (T max) for development with values of 34.8, 38.7, 36.3, and 43 °C for host and the parasitoid, respectively. Parasitisation by H. hebetor was maximal at 25 °C but occurred even at 40 °C. This study suggests although high temperature is limiting to insects, our estimates of the upper thermal limits for both species are higher than previously estimated. Some biological control of H. armigera by H. hebetor may persist in tropical areas, even with increasing temperatures due to climate change

M. tuberculosis Reprograms Hematopoietic Stem Cells to Limit Myelopoiesis and Impair Trained Immunity

A greater understanding of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) regulation is required for dissecting protective versus detrimental immunity to pathogens that cause chronic infections such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). We have shown that systemic administration of Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) or ß-glucan reprograms HSCs in the bone marrow (BM) via a type II interferon (IFN-II) or interleukin-1 (IL1) response, respectively, which confers protective trained immunity against Mtb. Here, we demonstrate that, unlike BCG or ß-glucan, Mtb reprograms HSCs via an IFN-I response that suppresses myelopoiesis and impairs development of protective trained immunity to Mtb. Mechanistically, IFN-I signaling dysregulates iron metabolism, depolarizes mitochondrial membrane potential, and induces cell death specifically in myeloid progenitors. Additionally, activation of the IFN-I/iron axis in HSCs impairs trained immunity to Mtb infection. These results identify an unanticipated immune evasion strategy of Mtb in the BM that controls the magnitude and intrinsic anti-microbial capacity of innate immunity to infection

Bedbugs evolved before their bat hosts and did not co-speciate with ancient humans

All 100+ bedbug species (Cimicidae) are obligate blood-sucking parasites [1, 2]. In general, blood sucking (hematophagy) is thought to have evolved in generalist feeders adventitiously taking blood meals [3, 4], but those cimicid taxa currently considered ancestral are putative host specialists [1, 5]. Bats are believed to be the ancestral hosts of cimicids [1], but a cimicid fossil [6] predates the oldest known bat fossil [7] by >30 million years (Ma). The bedbugs that parasitize humans [1, 8] are host generalists, so their evolution from specialist ancestors is incompatible with the "resource efficiency" hypothesis and only partially consistent with the "oscillation" hypothesis [9-16]. Because quantifying host shift frequencies of hematophagous specialists and generalists may help to predict host associations when vertebrate ranges expand by climate change [17], livestock, and pet trade in general and because of the previously proposed role of human pre-history in parasite speciation [18-20], we constructed a fossil-dated, molecular phylogeny of the Cimicidae. This phylogeny places ancestral Cimicidae to 115 mya as hematophagous specialists with lineages that later frequently populated bat and bird lineages. We also found that the clades, including the two major current urban pests, Cimex lectularius and C. hemipterus, separated 47 mya, rejecting the notion that the evolutionary trajectories of Homo caused their divergence [18-21]

Evidence of Final-State Suppression of High-p_T Hadrons in Au + Au Collisions Using d + Au Measurements at RHIC

Transverse momentum spectra of charged hadrons with ${p_{T} <}$ 6 GeV/c have been measured near mid-rapidity (0.2 $< \eta <$ 1.4) by the PHOBOS experiment at RHIC in Au + Au and d + Au collisions at ${\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} = \rm {200 GeV}}$. The spectra for different collision centralities are compared to ${p + \bar{p}}$ collisions at the same energy. The resulting nuclear modification factor for central Au + Au collisions shows evidence of strong suppression of charged hadrons in the high-$p_{T}$ region (${>2}$ GeV/c). In contrast, the d + Au nuclear modification factor exhibits no suppression of the high-$p_{T}$ yields. These measurements suggest a large energy loss of the high-$p_{T}$ particles in the highly interacting medium created in the central Au + Au collisions. The lack of suppression in d + Au collisions suggests that it is unlikely that initial state effects can explain the suppression in the central Au + Au collisions.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics EPS (July 17th-23rd 2003) in Aachen, German

Identified particles in Au+Au collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 200 GeV

The yields of identified particles have been measured at RHIC for Au+Au collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 200 GeV using the PHOBOS spectrometer. The ratios of antiparticle to particle yields near mid-rapidity are presented. The first measurements of the invariant yields of charged pions, kaons and protons at very low transverse momenta are also shown.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Contribution to Quark Matter 2002, Nantes, France, July 200

Universal Behavior of Charged Particle Production in Heavy Ion Collisions

The PHOBOS experiment at RHIC has measured the multiplicity of primary charged particles as a function of centrality and pseudorapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 19.6, 130 and 200 GeV. Two kinds of universal behavior are observed in charged particle production in heavy ion collisions. The first is that forward particle production, over a range of energies, follows a universal limiting curve with a non-trivial centrality dependence. The second arises from comparisons with pp/pbar-p and e+e- data. N_tot/(N_part/2) in nuclear collisions at high energy scales with sqrt(s) in a similar way as N_tot in e+e- collisions and has a very weak centrality dependence. This feature may be related to a reduction in the leading particle effect due to the multiple collisions suffered per participant in heavy ion collisions.Comment: 4 Pages, 5 Figures, contributed to the Proceedings of Quark Matter 2002, Nantes, France, 18-24 July 200