THE CIO AS A POLITICAL PLAYER – WORK IN PROGRESS

A review of the literature on the Chief Information Officer (CIO) emphasizes the importance of the role of politics in the activities of the CIO). Building on the approach established in Political Strategies Framework (Romm and Rippa, 2010) an empirical research program is described that will validate assumptions about this political role. The research will validate specific actions or attitudes which constitute political activity and relate these activities to stages in the systems development lifecycle. How this Political Strategies Framework can be the basis for further research on the political dimensions of the CIO role is explained in the final section

Dose-dependent impact of larval Ascaris suum on host body weight in the mouse model

Ascaris lumbricoides and Ascaris suum are important helminth parasites of humans and pigs, respectively. Although it is now well established that the presence of mature adult worms in the host intestine contributes to significant nutritional morbidity, the impact of larval migratory ascariasis is far less well understood. The development of a mouse model to explore susceptibility and resistance to larval ascariasis in the lungs provided an opportunity to observe the impact of larval migration on host growth during the course of infection. Changes in body weight were monitored in two strains of inbred mice, the susceptible C57BL/6j and the resistant CBA/Ca. Groups of mice received one of four doses: 100, 500, 1000 and 3000 fully embryonated A. suum ova. Infected mice underwent post-mortem on days 6, 7 and 8 post-infection. Control mice received a placebo dose of intubation medium and underwent post-mortem on day 7 post-infection. Mice were weighed pre-infection (day 0) and post-infection on the day of post-mortem. At post-mortem, the lungs of each mouse were removed for enumeration of Ascaris larval burdens by means of the modified Baermann method. Control mice of each strain showed an increase in weight from preinfection to post-infection day. Within the C57BL/6j strain, mice infected with higher doses of Ascaris eggs experienced a reduction in body weight; for those given 3000 eggs this was on all three post-mortem days, and for those given 1000, on days 7 and 8. For CBA/Ca mice, only mice receiving the 3000 dose demonstrated a reduction in body weight. These findings suggest that larval migratory ascariasis has a significant negative impact upon host growth and that this is related to infective dose and larval burden

Building a library for the future: Munduruku craft practices and indigenous knowledge

The 82-page, illustrated project report, ‘Building a Library for the Future: Munduruku Craft Practices and Indigenous Knowledge’ (2023), describes an international collaboration between researchers at the Royal College of Art, University of Brasília, and members of the Bragança village, along the lower Tapajós River in Pará - a tributary of the Tapajós River, Amazon. Funded by the British Council’s Crafting Futures Digital Collaboration scheme (2021-2022), the project responds to the scheme’s call to ‘foster important international connections and devise alternative ways of working virtually’, in the context of ‘restrictions on global travel due to Covid-19’. The Munduruku community crucially led in identifying how the project might be developed. The main project question asks: In what ways might co-identified and cooperative communication practices and digital inclusion methods foster new ways of shared learning that would build upon and ‘rediscover’ Munduruku local craft traditions and Indigenous knowledge? The report presents an overview of the project, describing research processes, modes of critical analysis, findings, and reflections on challenges and successes. The project centres around the use of technology as a tool for fostering shared learning processes and aims to disseminate Indigenous knowledge emerging out of Munduruku’s cultural practices through visual, auditory, and oral modes. This included the effective use of mobile telecommunication devices, WhatsApp, and digital-based approaches. Collectively, the project team recognized the importance of ensuring a longer-term sustainable process while navigating digital and physical ways in which Indigenous traditional craft knowledge might be collected, documented, and disseminated. As an ethical and applied communication project, researchers developed and delivered with the community [Bragança, Brazil] a virtual library of Munduruku Indigenous craft knowledge and practices. The project thus fulfils the words of [Chief] Cacique Domingos Munduruku, who reasoned ‘…education, culture and health will only be possible for us Munduruku through a well-structured communication project’

Two-year follow-up of macaques developing intermittent control of the human immunodeficiency virus homolog simian immunodeficiency virus SIVmac251 in the chronic phase of infection

Off-therapy control of viremia by HIV-infected individuals has been associated with two likely players: a restricted viral reservoir and an efficient cell-mediated immune response. We previously showed that a combination of highly suppressive antiretroviral therapy and two experimental drugs, i.e., auranofin and buthionine sulfoximine, was able to reduce the viral reservoir, elicit efficient cell-mediated antiviral responses, and induce intermittent posttherapy viral load control in chronically SIVmac251-infected macaques. We here show that the macaques that had received this drug combination and then stopped antiretroviral therapy were also able to maintain low numbers of activated CD4(+) T cells at viral rebound. Moreover, these macaques consistently displayed low-level simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) diversity, which was in line with the strong and broadly reactive cell-mediated immune responses against conserved Gag antigens. Extended follow-up showed that the two macaques that had received the complete drug combination remained healthy and did not develop AIDS in 2 years of follow-up after therapy suspension. This disease-free survival is longer than twice the average time of progression to AIDS in SIVmac251-infected rhesus macaques. These results suggest that limited numbers of activated T cells at viral rebound and subsequent development of broadly reactive cell-mediated responses may be interrelated in reducing the viral reservoir

Court applications for withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration from patients in a permanent vegetative state : Family experiences

Withdrawal of artificially delivered nutrition and hydration (ANH) from patients in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) requires judicial approval in England and Wales, even when families and healthcare professionals agree that withdrawal is in the patient's best interests. Part of the rationale underpinning the original recommendation for such court approval was the reassurance of patients' families, but there has been no research as to whether or not family members are reassured by the requirement for court proceedings or how they experience the process. The research reported here draws on in-depth narrative interviews with 10 family members (from five different families) of PVS patients who have been the subject of court proceedings for ANH-withdrawal. We analyse the empirical evidence to understand how family members perceive and experience the process of applying to the courts for ANH-withdrawal and consider the ethical and practice implications of our findings. Our analysis of family experience supports arguments grounded in economic and legal analysis that court approval should no longer be required. We conclude with some suggestions for how we might develop other more efficient, just and humane mechanisms for reviewing best interests decisions about ANH-withdrawal from these patients

Enantioselective nickel-catalyzed arylative intramolecular 1,4allylations

The enantioselective nickel-catalyzed desymmetrization of allenyl cyclohexa-2,5-dienones by reaction with arylboronic acids is described. Nickel-catalyzed arylation of the allene gives allylnickel species, which undergo cyclization by 1,4allylation to produce hexahydroindol-5-ones and hexahydrofuran-5-ones with three contiguous stereocenters in high diastereo- and enantioselectivities

APOE4 genotype exerts greater benefit in lowering plasma cholesterol and apolipoprotein B than wild type (E3/E3), after replacement of dietary saturated fats with low glycaemic index carbohydrates

We examined the impact of APOE genotype on plasma lipids and glucose in a secondary analysis of data from a five-arm, randomised controlled, parallel dietary intervention trial ('RISCK' study), to investigate the impact of replacing saturated fatty acids (SFA) with either monounsaturated fat (MUFA) or carbohydrate of high or low glycaemic index (GI) on CVD risk factors and insulin sensitivity. We tested the impact of APOE genotype (carriage of E2 and E4 alleles versus E3/E3), determined retrospectively, on plasma lipids, lipoproteins and glucose homeostasis at baseline (n = 469), and on the change in these variables after 24 weeks of dietary intervention (n = 389). At baseline, carriers of E2 (n = 70), E4 (n = 125) and E3/E3 (n = 274) expressed marked differences in total plasma cholesterol (TC, p = 0.001), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, p E3/E3 > E2. Following intervention, there was evidence of a significant diet x genotype interaction with significantly greater decreases in TC (p = 0.02) and apo B (p = 0.006) among carriers of E4 when SFA was replaced with low GI carbohydrate on a lower fat diet (TC -0.28 mmol/L p = 0.03; apo B -0.1 g/L p = 0.02), and a relative increase in TC (in comparison to E3/E3) when SFA was replaced with MUFA and high GI carbohydrates (TC 0.3 mmol/L, p = 0.03). Among carriers of E2 (compared with E3/E3) there was an increase in triacylglycerol (TAG) when SFA was replaced with MUFA and low GI carbohydrates 0.46 mmol/L p = 0.001). There were no significant interactions between APOE genotype and diet for changes in indices of glucose homeostasis. In conclusion, variations in APOE genotype led to differential effects on the lipid response to the replacement of SFA with MUFA and low GI carbohydrates