A Cry for Justice: Reimagining the Women, Peace and Security Agenda Through the 2004 Kangla Fort Protest in Manipur

This paper aims to critically examine the naked protest that was performed by twelve imas (mothers) in the State of Manipur in 2004 outside the army headquarters in Assam, India. The protest was against the rape and murder of a women named Manorama by the armed forces and the draconian emergency law, Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA), that allowed these armed forced, to act with impunity. I will analyse the disruptiveness of this protest to indicate the parallel lines that exist between policy frameworks in place and the reality on the ground. I will indicate that on a large scale, this protest served as an important space for reflection on the women, peace and security agenda (WPS) under the international law framework and its heavy focus on the criminal justice system for addressing such incidents of violence against women. This essay will indicate how the lack of accountability and monitoring mechanisms for the implementation of this agenda by member states has frustrated the process of seeking justice and redressal especially in cases of violence at the hands of perpetrators who are an extension of the colonising nation state. On a regional level, this protest, through its disruptive resistance, paved the way for a new form of civil disobedience and public participation. These mothers used the intimate and personal language of their ageing bodies rather than the clinical discourse of the judiciary and the law to collectively voice their grief. In doing so, they compelled ‘both the complacent Indian army, accustomed to complete impunity for its actions and a jaded citizenry numbed by regular army excesses’ to look at the Indian state’s systemic dehumanisation and objectification of its citizens

An ultrafast chargeable polymer electrode based on the combination of nitroxide radical and aqueous electrolyte

A film of poly(2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyloxy-4-yl vinylether) coated on a current collector displayed a rapid and reversible electrochemical response in aqueous electrolytes, and allowed an ultrafast full charging of 3 mC cm À2 in as short as 3 seconds by virtue of the combination of the hydrophilic radical polymer and the aqueous electrolyte possessing a high electrical conductivity. Some nitroxide radical molecules, such as 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO), are robust and known to show a reversible redox ability in organic and aqueous solutions, 1 and they have often been studied as a redox mediator in sensors and catalysts. 4,8 Rapid charging is one of the most important performances of secondary batteries; a short charging time would lead to significant advantages in our use of portable electric devices equipped with a secondary battery. Conventional Li-ion batteries cannot be rapidly charged because the charging process involves the slow de-intercalation of lithium ions from the metal oxide cathode, often taking more than 30 minutes for full charging. On the other hand, our previously reported radical polymer battery, which was composed of a lipophilic radical polymer as the cathode active material and an organic electrolyte containing a lithium salt, such as ethylene carbonate containing LiPF 6 , performed a rapid full charging in ca. 1 minute. In this paper, we report, for the first time, an aqueous electrolyte-based radical polymer battery that has very fast charging characteristics. We have designed poly(2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyloxy-4-yl vinylether) (PTVE) as an electrodeactive and hydrophilic polyvinylether-backboned polymer bearing a TEMPO pendant group (Scheme 1), which shows a reversible one-electron oxidation capability even in aqueous electrolytes. This functionality and compact molecular designing of PTVE allowed a high formula-weight-based charging-discharging capacity per weight of 135 mAh g À1 , which has improved from those of conventional redox polymers, such as polyvinylferrocene À1 ) by our group. PTVE with a molecular weight of M n = 78 000 (M w /M n = 1.2) and unpaired electron content of 0.97 per monomer unit (a maximum effective charging-discharging capacity per weight of 131 mAh g À1 ) was prepared by the cationic polymerization of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyloxy vinylether 17 using trifluoroborane-diethylether as the initiator. The polymer was soluble in acetonitrile, but swollen and not soluble in water.w The acetonitrile solutions of PTVE (10-50 g/L) were spin-coated on a current collector such as a glassy carbon substrate, followed by drying at 80 1C for 24 h under vacuum, to yield the PTVE film with a thickness of 35 nm-1 mm, respectively. The cyclic voltammogram of the PTVE film repeatedly displayed a chemically reversible redox wave at 0.73 V vs. Ag/AgCl (Inset of Scheme 1 Redox couple of PTVE

Exploiting Intermolecular Interactions between Alkyl-Functionalized Redox-Active Molecule Pairs to Enhance Interfacial Electron Transfer

The strategies to enhance electron transfer rates between redox-active, light-harvesting molecules attached to semiconductor surfaces and redox mediators in solution by modifying molecular structure are not fully investigated yet. Therefore, the design of molecules with controlled electron transfer rates remains a challenge. The aims of this work are to quantify the effect of long alkyl chain substitution on the electron transfer from cobalt(II/III) tris(2,2′-bipyridine) to organic molecules containing carbazole and thiophene and to demonstrate that alkyl chains can be used to enhance electron transfer between donor-acceptor pairs. To this end, we study the effect of using a combination of donor and acceptor molecules with and without alkyl chains on electron transfer kinetics. Using transient absorption spectroscopy, we show that when only the molecules or the mediators have long alkyl chains, electron transfer is slightly blocked as expected. Counterintuitively, electron transfer is up to 13 times faster when long alkyl chains are attached to both the redox-active molecules and the redox mediators. The faster electron transfer is explained by an alkyl-alkyl chain interaction between the donor/acceptor, leading to the proximity (trapping) of the redox mediators close to the π-conjugated backbone of the molecules. These results suggest that intermolecular interactions can be used to enhance the electron transfer rates significantly even with well-established insulating alkyl chains attached to molecules without changing the electrochemical driving force

Comparison of Clinical and Radiologic Results of Mini-Open Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion and Extreme Lateral Interbody Fusion Indirect Decompression for Degenerative Lumbar Spondylolisthesis

Study DesignRetrospective study.PurposeIn this study, we compared the postoperative outcomes of extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF) indirect decompression with that of mini-open transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) in patients with lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis.Overview of LiteratureThere are very few reports examining postoperative results of XLIF and minimally invasive TLIF for degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis, and no reports comparing XLIF and mini-open TLIF.MethodsForty patients who underwent 1-level spinal fusion, either by XLIF indirect decompression (X group, 20 patients) or by mini-open TLIF (T group, 20 patients), for treatment of lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis were included in this study. Invasiveness of surgery was evaluated on the basis of surgery time, blood loss, hospitalization period, and perioperative complications. The Japanese Orthopedic Association Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire (JOABPEQ), disc angle (DA), disc height (DH), and slipping length (SL) were evaluated before surgery, immediately after surgery, and at 12 months after surgery. Cross-sectional spinal canal area (CSA) was also measured before surgery and at 1 month after surgery.ResultsThere was no significant difference between the groups in terms of surgery time or hospitalization period; however, X group showed a significant decrease in blood loss (p<0.001). Serious complications were not observed in either group. In clinical assessment, no significant differences were observed between the groups with regard to the JOABPEQ results. The change in DH at 12 months after surgery increased significantly in the X group (p<0.05), and the changes in DA and SL were not significantly different between the two groups. The change in CSA was significantly greater in the T group (p<0.001).ConclusionsPostoperative clinical results were equally favorable for both procedures; however, in comparison with mini-open TLIF, less blood loss and greater correction of DH were observed in XLIF

Tofacitinib, an oral janus kinase inhibitor: pooled efficacy and safety analyses in an Australian rheumatoid arthritis population

In Australia, there is an unmet need for improved treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Tofacitinib is an oral Janus kinase inhibitor for the treatment of RA. To provide an overview of key study outcomes for tofacitinib in Australian patients, we analyzed the efficacy and safety of tofacitinib in the Australian subpopulation of global RA phase III and long-term extension (LTE) studies. Data were pooled from the Australian subpopulation of four phase III studies and one LTE study (database not locked at cut-off date: January 2016). Patients in the phase III studies received tofacitinib 5 or 10 mg twice daily (BID), placebo (advancing to tofacitinib at months 3 or 6), or adalimumab, with background methotrexate or conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. Patients in the LTE study received tofacitinib 5 or 10 mg BID. Efficacy endpoints were American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 20/50/70 response rates, and change from baseline in the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints, erythrocyte sedimentation rate [DAS28-4(ESR)] and Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI) scores. Safety endpoints included incidence of adverse events (AEs), serious AEs, and discontinuations due to AEs. AEs of special interest and laboratory parameters were analyzed in the LTE study. Across phase III studies (N = 100), ACR response rates and improvements in DAS28-4(ESR) and HAQ-DI scores were numerically greater with tofacitinib vs. placebo at month 3, and increased until month 12. The results were sustained in the LTE study (N = 99) after 60 months' observation. In general, the efficacy and safety profiles of tofacitinib were similar to those of the global RA population. In Australian patients with RA, tofacitinib therapy demonstrated sustained efficacy and consistent safety over ae 60 months' treatment. Pfizer Inc. NCT00960440; NCT00847613; NCT00856544; NCT00853385; NCT00413699

Risk factors for major adverse cardiovascular events in phase III and long‐term extension studies of tofacitinib in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Objective: Tofacitinib is an oral JAK inhibitor for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study was undertaken to evaluate the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with RA receiving tofacitinib. Methods: Data were pooled from patients with moderately to severely active RA receiving ≥1 tofacitinib dose in 6 phase III and 2 long‐term extension studies over 7 years. MACE (myocardial infarction, stroke, cardiovascular death) were independently adjudicated. Cox regression models were used to evaluate associations between baseline variables and time to first MACE. Following 24 weeks of tofacitinib, changes in variables and time to future MACE were evaluated after adjusment for age, baseline values, and time‐varying tofacitinib dose. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results: Fifty‐two MACE occurred in 4,076 patients over 12,873 patient‐years of exposure (incidence rate 0.4 patients with events per 100 patient‐years). In univariable analyses of baseline variables, traditional cardiovascular risk factors and glucocorticoid and statin use were associated with MACE risk; disease activity and inflammation measures were not. In subsequent multivariable analyses, baseline age, hypertension, and the total cholesterol to high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio remained significantly associated with risk of MACE. After 24 weeks of treatment, an increase in HDL cholesterol and a decrease in the total to HDL cholesterol were associated with decreased MACE risk; changes in total cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and disease activity measures were not. Increased erythrocyte sedimentation rates trended with increased future MACE risk. Conclusion: In this post hoc analysis, after 24 weeks of tofacitinib treatment, increased HDL cholesterol, but not increased LDL cholesterol or total cholesterol, appeared to be associated with lower future MACE risk. Further data are needed to test the cardiovascular safety of tofacitinib