Globalization and Public Health in Rural Zones: Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa

Distant rural regions of Sub-Sahara Africa are often coveted by foreign investing companies for their natural resources. However, the rural populations do not always take advantage of the economic benefits resulting from those investing activities. These increasing activities do not leave without harming the health of rural communities as they rely on community-based traditional and ancestral practices such as fishing and hunting, traditional medicine, spiritual ceremonies, among others, to survive. We aimed to analyze selected indicators of public health in rural zones highly impacted by globalization factors using existing database and literature research. Given the complexity of the situation, efforts and strategies to mitigate the negative effect of globalization on the health of rural communities must include not only urgent and binding commitment of all stakeholders but also a multi-sectorial long-term approach to increase the health of rural Sub-Saharan African populations while taking advantages of local know-how

Genome-Based Targeted Sequencing as a Reproducible Microbial Community Profiling Assay.

Current sequencing-based methods for profiling microbial communities rely on marker gene (e.g., 16S rRNA) or metagenome shotgun sequencing (mWGS) analysis. We present an approach based on a single-primer extension reaction using a highly multiplexed oligonucleotide probe pool. This approach, termed MA-GenTA (microbial abundances from genome tagged analysis), enables quantitative, straightforward, cost-effective microbiome profiling that combines desirable features of both 16S rRNA and mWGS strategies. The use of multiple probes per target genome and rigorous probe design criteria enabled robust determination of relative abundance. To test the utility of the MA-GenTA assay, probes were designed for 830 genome sequences representing bacteria present in mouse stool specimens. Comparison of the MA-GenTA data with mWGS data demonstrated excellent correlation down to 0.01% relative abundance and a similar number of organisms detected per sample. Despite the incompleteness of the reference database, nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) clustering based on the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity metric of sample groups was consistent between MA-GenTA, mWGS, and 16S rRNA data sets. MA-GenTA represents a potentially useful new method for microbiome community profiling based on reference genomes

Landau-Pekar equations and quantum fluctuations for the dynamics of a strongly coupled polaron

We consider the Fr\"ohlich Hamiltonian with large coupling constant $\alpha$. For initial data of Pekar product form with coherent phonon field and with the electron minimizing the corresponding energy, we provide a norm approximation of the evolution, valid up to times of order $\alpha^2$. The approximation is given in terms of a Pekar product state, evolved through the Landau-Pekar equations, corrected by a Bogoliubov dynamics taking quantum fluctuations into account. This allows us to show that the Landau-Pekar equations approximately describe the evolution of the electron- and one-phonon reduced density matrices under the Fr\"ohlich dynamics up to times of order $\alpha^2$.Comment: 24 page

Genome-Based Targeted Sequencing as a Reproducible Microbial Community Profiling Assay.

Current sequencing-based methods for profiling microbial communities rely on marker gene (e.g., 16S rRNA) or metagenome shotgun sequencing (mWGS) analysis. We present an approach based on a single-primer extension reaction using a highly multiplexed oligonucleotide probe pool. This approach, termed MA-GenTA (microbial abundances from genome tagged analysis), enables quantitative, straightforward, cost-effective microbiome profiling that combines desirable features of both 16S rRNA and mWGS strategies. The use of multiple probes per target genome and rigorous probe design criteria enabled robust determination of relative abundance. To test the utility of the MA-GenTA assay, probes were designed for 830 genome sequences representing bacteria present in mouse stool specimens. Comparison of the MA-GenTA data with mWGS data demonstrated excellent correlation down to 0.01% relative abundance and a similar number of organisms detected per sample. Despite the incompleteness of the reference database, nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) clustering based on the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity metric of sample groups was consistent between MA-GenTA, mWGS, and 16S rRNA data sets. MA-GenTA represents a potentially useful new method for microbiome community profiling based on reference genomes

‹School – Not School – Not Not School›: Dissolving Potentials of Aesthetic Practices in Schools and Classes

Ästhetischen Praktiken wird vielfach nicht nur ein besonderes Bildungspotenzial zugeschrieben, sie gelten auch – zumindest, wenn sie konventionalisierte kulturelle Formen nicht lediglich affirmativ reproduzieren, sondern diese iterativ-tentativ transformieren – als kulturelle Artikulations- und Handlungsweisen, die den schulisch-unterrichtlichen Alltag potenziell variieren können und tradierte Grenzen von Schule und Unterricht – im metaphorischen wie topografischen Sinne – hinterfrag- und verhandelbar werden lassen. Vor diesem Hintergrund nimmt der vorliegende Beitrag Schule zunächst aus einer dezidiert praxeologisch-kulturtheoretischen Perspektive sowie als einen zentralen Ort der Präsentation und Repräsentation von Kultur in den Blick (Mollenhauer 2003). Ausgehend von empirischen Indizien gehen die Autor:innen anschliessend der Frage nach, inwiefern ästhetische Praktiken aufgrund der potenziell transgressiv-explorativen Grundstruktur ästhetischer Artikulationsweisen (Jörissen 2015) dazu beitragen können, «Third Spaces» (Bhabha 2000) – im Sinne eines liminalen Zwischenraums von Schule, Nicht-Schule und Nicht-Nicht-Schule (Schechner 1990) – zu eröffnen, in denen aufgrund der Herstellung von Unbestimmtheit (Marotzki 1988) sowie vor dem Hintergrund neu- und andersartiger Relationierungsangebote bspw. Subjektpositionen jenseits tradierter kultureller Normen hervorgebracht und eingenommen werden können.Aesthetic practices are often not only considered to have a special educational potential, but also – at least when they do not merely affirmatively reproduce conventionalized cultural forms, but rather transform them iteratively and tentatively – to be cultural modes of articulation and action that can potentially vary everyday school and classroom life and make the traditional boundaries of school and teaching – in both a metaphorical and a topographical sense – questionable and negotiable. Starting from an understanding of school that considers it as a central site of presentations and representations of culture (Mollenhauer 2003), this praxeologically-cultural-theoretically oriented contribution, based on empirical indications, explores the question to what extent aesthetic practices, due to the potentially transgressive-explorative basic structure of aesthetic modes of articulation (Jörissen 2015), can contribute to opening «Third Spaces» (Bhabha 2000) – in the sense of a liminal in-between space of school, not school and not not-school (Schechner 1990) – in which, due to the creation of indeterminacy (Marotzki 1988) and against the background of new and different offers of relations, subject positions beyond traditional cultural norms can be produced and taken up

Exploring and contextualizing public opposition to renewable electricity in the United States

This article explores public opposition to renewable power technologies in the United States. It begins by discussing the genesis of environmental ethics, or how some Americans have come to place importance on the protection of the environment and preservation of species, ecosystems, and the biosphere. As result, renewable power systems have become challenged on ethical and environmental grounds and are occasionally opposed by local communities and environmentalists. The article finds that, however, such concern may be misplaced. Renewable electricity resources have many environmental benefits compared to power stations fueled by coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium. Opposition towards renewable resources can at times obscure the true costs and risks associated with electricity use and entrench potential racial and class-based inequalities within the current energy system

Defining consensus norms for palliative care of people with intellectual disabilities in Europe using Delphi methods: A White Paper from the European Association of Palliative care

This White Paper presents the first guidance for clinical practice, policy and research related to palliative care for people with intellectual disabilities based on evidence and European consensus, setting a benchmark for changes in policy and practice

Pyrimidoquinazolinophenanthroline Opens Next Chapter in Design of Bridging Ligands for Artificial Photosynthesis **

The synthesis and detailed characterization of a new Ru polypyridine complex containing a heteroditopic bridging ligand with previously unexplored metal‐metal distances is presented. Due to the twisted geometry of the novel ligand, the resultant division of the ligand in two distinct subunits leads to steady state as well as excited state properties of the corresponding mononuclear Ru(II) polypyridine complex resembling those of prototype [Ru(bpy) 3 ] 2+ (bpy=2,2'‐bipyridine). The localization of the initially optically excited and the nature of the long‐lived excited states on the Ru‐facing ligand spheres is evaluated by resonance Raman and fs‐TA spectroscopy, respectively, and supported by DFT and TDDFT calculations. Coordination of a second metal (Zn or Rh) to the available bis‐pyrimidyl‐like coordination sphere strongly influences the frontier orbitals, apparent by, for example, luminescence quenching. Thus, the new bridging ligand motif offers electronic properties, which can be adjusted by the nature of the second metal center. Using the heterodinuclear Ru−Rh complex, visible light‐driven reduction of NAD + to NADH was achieved, highlighting the potential of this system for photocatalytic applications