Emotions and ethics: A Foucauldian framework for becoming an ethical educator

This paper provides examples of how a teacher and a principal construct their ‘ethical selves’. In doing so we demonstrate how Foucault's four-part ethical framework can be a scaffold with which to actively connect emotions to a personal ethical position. We argue that ethical work is and should be an ongoing and dynamic life long process rather than a more rigid adherence to a ‘code of ethics’ that may not meaningfully engage its adherents. We use Foucault's four-part framework of ethical practice as a framework through which an ‘ethical self’ can be purposely constructed. This is important work, as those who have authority over others must know how to monitor themselves against the misuse of the power of their positions

Making Sense of Blockchain Applications:A Typology for HCI

Blockchain is an emerging infrastructural technology that is proposed to fundamentally transform the ways in which people transact, trust, collaborate, organize and identify themselves. In this paper, we construct a typology of emerging blockchain applications, consider the domains in which they are applied, and identify distinguishing features of this new technology. We argue that there is a unique role for the HCI community in linking the design and application of blockchain technology towards lived experience and the articulation of human values. In particular, we note how the accounting of transactions, a trust in immutable code and algorithms, and the leveraging of distributed crowds and publics around vast interoperable databases all relate to longstanding issues of importance for the field. We conclude by highlighting core conceptual and methodological challenges for HCI researchers beginning to work with blockchain and distributed ledger technologies

Assessing and Strengthening African Universities' Capacity for Doctoral Programmes

Imelda Bates and colleagues developed and validated an evidence-based tool for evaluating doctoral programmes in African universities

Results of external quality assessment for proviral DNA testing of HIV tropism in the Maraviroc switch collaborative study

The Maraviroc Switch collaborative study (MARCH) is a study in aviremic patients on stable antiretroviral therapy and utilizes population-based sequencing of proviral DNA to determine HIV tropism and susceptibility to maraviroc. An external quality assessment (EQA) program was implemented to ensure competency in assessing the tropism of clinical samples conducted by MARCH laboratories (n = 14). The MARCH EQA has three prestudy phases assessing V3 loop sequencing and tropism determination using the bioinformatic algorithm geno2pheno, which generates a false-positive rate (FPR). DNA sequences with low FPRs are more likely to be from CXCR4-using (X4) viruses. Phase 1 of the EQA involved chromatogram interpretation. Phases 2, 2/3, and 3 involved patient and clonal samples. Clinical samples used in these phases were from treatment-experienced HIVinfected volunteers; 18/20 had viral loads o

Cinnamoyl-Oxaborole Amides: Synthesis and Their in Vitro Biological Activity.

Due to the increased interest in their application in the treatment of infectious diseases, boron-containing compounds have received a significant coverage in the literature. Herein, a small set of novel cinnamoly-oxaborole amides were synthesized and screened against nagana Trypanosoma brucei brucei for antitrypanosomal activity. Compound 5g emerged as a new hit with an in vitro IC50 value of 0.086 μM against T. b. brucei without obvious inhibitory activity against HeLa cell lines. The same series was also screened against other human pathogens, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), for which moderate to weak activity (10 to >125 μM) was observed. Similarly, these compounds exhibited moderate activity against the human protozoal pathogen Trichomonas vaginalis with no observed effect on common microbiome bacterial species. The cross-species inhibitory activity presents the possibility of these compounds serving as broad-spectrum antibiotics for these prevalent three human pathogens

Treatable childhood neuronopathy caused by mutations in riboflavin transporter RFVT2.

Childhood onset motor neuron diseases or neuronopathies are a clinically heterogeneous group of disorders. A particularly severe subgroup first described in 1894, and subsequently called Brown-Vialetto-Van Laere syndrome, is characterized by progressive pontobulbar palsy, sensorineural hearing loss and respiratory insufficiency. There has been no treatment for this progressive neurodegenerative disorder, which leads to respiratory failure and usually death during childhood. We recently reported the identification of SLC52A2, encoding riboflavin transporter RFVT2, as a new causative gene for Brown-Vialetto-Van Laere syndrome. We used both exome and Sanger sequencing to identify SLC52A2 mutations in patients presenting with cranial neuropathies and sensorimotor neuropathy with or without respiratory insufficiency. We undertook clinical, neurophysiological and biochemical characterization of patients with mutations in SLC52A2, functionally analysed the most prevalent mutations and initiated a regimen of high-dose oral riboflavin. We identified 18 patients from 13 families with compound heterozygous or homozygous mutations in SLC52A2. Affected individuals share a core phenotype of rapidly progressive axonal sensorimotor neuropathy (manifesting with sensory ataxia, severe weakness of the upper limbs and axial muscles with distinctly preserved strength of the lower limbs), hearing loss, optic atrophy and respiratory insufficiency. We demonstrate that SLC52A2 mutations cause reduced riboflavin uptake and reduced riboflavin transporter protein expression, and we report the response to high-dose oral riboflavin therapy in patients with SLC52A2 mutations, including significant and sustained clinical and biochemical improvements in two patients and preliminary clinical response data in 13 patients with associated biochemical improvements in 10 patients. The clinical and biochemical responses of this SLC52A2-specific cohort suggest that riboflavin supplementation can ameliorate the progression of this neurodegenerative condition, particularly when initiated soon after the onset of symptoms

Understanding complexity in the HIF signaling pathway using systems biology and mathematical modeling

Hypoxia is a common micro-environmental stress which is experienced by cells during a range of physiologic and pathophysiologic processes. The identification of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) as the master regulator of the transcriptional response to hypoxia transformed our understanding of the mechanism underpinning the hypoxic response at the molecular level and identified HIF as a potentially important new therapeutic target. It has recently become clear that multiple levels of regulatory control exert influence on the HIF pathway giving the response a complex and dynamic activity profile. These include positive and negative feedback loops within the HIF pathway as well as multiple levels of crosstalk with other signaling pathways. The emerging model reflects a multi-level regulatory network that affects multiple aspects of the physiologic response to hypoxia including proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. Understanding the interplay between the molecular mechanisms involved in the dynamic regulation of the HIF pathway at a systems level is critically important in defining new appropriate therapeutic targets for human diseases including ischemia, cancer, and chronic inflammation. Here, we review our current knowledge of the regulatory circuits which exert influence over the HIF response and give examples of in silico model-based predictions of the dynamic behaviour of this system

Oxidative discolouration in whole-head and cut lettuce: biochemical and environmental influences on a complex phenotype and potential breeding strategies to improve shelf-life

Lettuce discolouration is a key post-harvest trait. The major enzyme controlling oxidative discolouration has long been considered to be polyphenol oxidase (PPO) however, levels of PPO and subsequent development of discolouration symptoms have not always correlated. The predominance of a latent state of the enzyme in plant tissues combined with substrate activation and contemporaneous suicide inactivation mechanisms are considered as potential explanations for this phenomenon. Leaf tissue physical properties have been associated with subsequent discolouration and these may be influenced by variation in nutrient availability, especially excess nitrogen and head maturity at harvest. Mild calcium and irrigation stress has also been associated with a reduction in subsequent discolouration, although excess irrigation has been linked to increased discolouration potentially through leaf physical properties. These environmental factors, including high temperature and UV light intensities, often have impacts on levels of phenolic compounds linking the environmental responses to the biochemistry of the PPO pathway. Breeding strategies targeting the PALand PPOpathway biochemistry and environmental response genes are discussed as a more cost-effective method of mitigating oxidative discolouration then either modified atmosphere packaging or post-harvest treatments, although current understanding of the biochemistry means that such programs are likely to be limited in nature and it is likely that they will need to be deployed alongside other methods for the foreseeable future