231 research outputs found
Integrating gender into index-based agricultural insurance: a focus on South Africa
Index insurance is an agricultural risk management tool that can provide a safety net for smallholder farmers experiencing climate risk. While uptake and scale-out of index insurance may be slow among smallholders, we can learn from experiences that demonstrate where crop insurance can protect smallholdersâ livelihoods from climate risk. Integrating gender into climate risk management is necessary to ensure that the benefits of index insurance are experienced by both men and women. A dedicated intention to integrate gender may be required. Taking South Africa as a case study, the potential for gender-sensitive index insurance scale-out among smallholders is investigated
Should National Human Rights Institutions Institutionalize Dispute Resolution?
The UN has promoted the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) by national human rights institutions (NHRIs). This article critically examines this proposition by analysing the three assumptions that underlie it. First, that ADR is an appropriate means by which to resolve human rights disputes; second, that ADR should be provided in institutional form; third that an NHRI should play a role in the delivery of ADR. We argue that voluntary engagement with ADR is permissible subject to procedural and substantive standards of justice but identify the risk that the offer of ADR by an institution may turn into a de facto mandatory process if not set within a context in which the courts are also accessible. Rather than an outright rejection of a role for ADR in such circumstances, we examine the potential contributions an institution could make to redressing the deficiencies in access to justice landscape and identify the key factors states and other policymakers should take into account when determining which institution(s) assume a dispute resolution role
Role of Fas/FasL, inflammatory mediators and LPS-activated macrophages in human neutrophil apoptosis
The neutrophil is the first haemopoetic cell to arrive at the site of infection. In acute
respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), dense neutrophilic infiltrates are found in the
lung in response to bacterial infection as well as generalised inflammatory stimuli,
such as pancreatitis. At sites of infection, phagocytosis of bacteria by neutrophils
enhances their subsequent apoptosis and clearance by macrophages however at
inflammatory sites, the lifespan of the neutrophil is influenced by both pro- and antiapoptotic
factors in the inflammatory milieu. Furthermore subsequent macrophage
phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils induces the macrophage to switch to an antiinflammatory
phenotype thereby hastening resolution of inflammation.
The Fas death receptor pathway is important in T lymphocyte apoptosis but its role
in neutrophil apoptosis is controversial. We have shown that neutrophils express the
Fas receptor (CD95) on their surface but there is no evidence of expression of its
natural ligand (FasL). An agonistic anti-Fas monoclonal antibody (CH-11)
accelerated neutrophil apoptosis under certain culture conditions.
Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) originating from Gram-negative bacteria is often found at
sites of inflammation. We have shown that LPS attenuated CH-11 - induced
neutrophil apoptosis unless the Fas/FasL death receptor pathway was activated prior
to the LPS signalling pathway. This LPS-mediated attenuation did not involve the
p42/44 ERK, protein kinase C or phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signalling pathway
however the p38 MAPK and NF-ÎșB pathway appeared to be partially involved. We
have shown that neutrophils express the protein cFLIPs and that CH-11 and
inflammatory mediators altered its expression.
Although macrophages are principally phagocytes, they are also important in
determining the composition of the milieu at an inflammatory site. Macrophages
have been shown to express FasL which can be shed and may contribute to the pools
of sFasL found in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in ARDS patients. We
have shown that the conditioned supernatants from LPS-activated macrophages
induced neutrophil apoptosis at early time points. The pro-apoptotic activity was
mediated by TNF-α and was found in the fraction containing proteins with molecular weights greater than 50kD. Macrophage phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils
suppressed TNF-α production by LPS-activated macrophages and this was associated
with loss of the pro-apoptotic activity.
In summary, our data suggest that Fas/FasL fratricide does not appear to be involved
in spontaneous neutrophil apoptosis. However LPS attenuates Fas-induced apoptosis
unless the Fas/FasL death receptor pathway is activated prior to LPS signalling
pathways. The signalling pathways involved in this attenuation are not clear but may
involve cellular FLIP. Furthermore, activated macrophages secrete inflammatory
mediators and at early time points, TNF-α appears to be the most important in
inducing neutrophil apoptosis
Gas-phase domino cyclisation of phosphonium ylides leading to the total synthesis of Eustifoline D
The authors thank EPSRC (UK) for a DTA studentship (Grant No. EP/P501768/1).Six stabilised phosphonium ylides bearing ortho-benzylaminophenyl and cinnamoyl (or a heterocyclic analogue) groups have been prepared and upon flash vacuum pyrolysis at 800 °C were found to undergo cascade cyclization processes to give mainly 3-styrylquinolines but also in some cases ring-fused carbazoles and other fused-ring heterocyclic products. By starting with an appropriate ring-methylated precursor the natural product Eustifoline D was obtained in 19% yield in the pyrolysis in addition to the 3-(2-furylethenyl)quinoline (46%).PostprintPeer reviewe
Oxidative Metabolism Genes Are Not Responsive to Oxidative Stress in Rodent Beta Cell Lines
Altered expression of oxidative metabolism genes has been described in the skeletal muscle of individuals with type 2 diabetes. Pancreatic beta cells contain low levels of antioxidant enzymes and are particularly susceptible to oxidative stress. In this study, we explored the effect of hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress on a panel of oxidative metabolism genes in a rodent beta cell line. We exposed INS-1 rodent beta cells to low (5.6âmmol/L), ambient (11âmmol/L), and high (28âmmol/L) glucose conditions for 48 hours. Increases in oxidative stress were measured using the fluorescent probe dihydrorhodamine 123. We then measured the expression levels of a panel of 90 oxidative metabolism genes by real-time PCR. Elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was evident in INS-1 cells after 48 hours (P < 0.05). TLDA analysis revealed a significant (P < 0.05) upregulation of 16 of the 90 genes under hyperglycemic conditions, although these expression differences did not reflect differences in ROS. We conclude that although altered glycemia may influence the expression of some oxidative metabolism genes, this effect is probably not mediated by increased ROS production. The alterations to the expression of oxidative metabolism genes previously observed in human diabetic skeletal muscle do not appear to be mirrored in rodent pancreatic beta cells
Hospital and emergency department use in the last year of life: a baseline for future modifications to end-of -life care
Objectives: To describe hospital and emergency department use in the last year of life by people for whom death from cancer or one of another nine conditions was an expected outcome. Design, participants and setting: Retrospective cross-sectional study based on death registrations and morbidity data for 1071 Western Australians who died between 1 August 2005 and 30 June 2006. Decedents had an informal primary carer, did not live in residential aged care and died of a condition amenable to palliative care. Main outcome measures: Total number of hospital admissions; emergency presentations (with and without hospital admission); days spent in hospital by age group at death, sex, metropolitan or rural place of residence and cancer versus non-cancer diagnosis; proportion in hospital on any day in the last 365 days of life; time points of change in the last 365 days of life at which there was an increasing proportion of hospital admissions for those with cancer and non-cancer conditions. Results: All but 4% of the decedents spent time in hospital with a marked increase in hospitalisations in the last 108 days of life for people who died of cancer and the last 83 days of life for people who died of non-cancer conditions. Those with cancer spent less time in hospital than those with other diagnoses. Seventy per cent of the cohort had at least one emergency presentation. On the last day of life, 61.5% of people were in hospital and 4.0% had been seen in emergency departments. Conclusions: Western Australian hospitals currently provide extensive and progressively greater care at the end of life. Identifying patterns of emergency and inpatient use for various disease trajectories will assist in the planning of appropriate services for people where death is an expected outcome
Seasonality and heterogeneity of live fish movements in Scottish fish farms
Movement of live animals is a key contributor to disease spread. Farmed Atlantic salmon Salmo salar, rainbow trout Onchorynchus mykiss and brown/sea trout Salmo trutta are initially raised in freshwater (FW) farms; all the salmon and some of the trout are subsequently moved to seawater (SW) farms. Frequently, fish are moved between farms during their FW stage and sometimes during their SW stage. Seasonality and differences in contact patterns across production phases have been shown to influence the course of an epidemic in livestock; however, these parameters have not been included in previous network models studying disease transmission in salmonids. In Scotland, farmers are required to register fish movements onto and off their farms; these records were used in the present study to investigate seasonality and heterogeneity of movements for each production phase separately for farmed salmon, rainbow trout and brown/sea trout. Salmon FW-FW and FW-SW movements showed a higher degree of heterogeneity in number of contacts and different seasonal patterns compared with SW-SW movements. FW-FW movements peaked from May to July and FW-SW movements peaked from March to April and from October to November. Salmon SW-SW movements occurred more consistently over the year and showed fewer connections and number of repeated connections between farms. Therefore, the salmon SW-SW network might be treated as homogeneous regarding the number of connections between farms and without seasonality. However, seasonality and production phase should be included in simulation models concerning FW-FW and FW-SW movements specifically. The number of rainbow trout FW-FW and brown/sea trout FW- FW movements were different from random. However, movements from other production phases were too low to discern a seasonal pattern or differences in contact pattern
International human rights law as a framework for algorithmic accountability
Existing approaches to âalgorithmic accountabilityâ, such as transparency, provide an important baseline, but are insufficient to address the (potential) harm to human rights caused by the use of algorithms in decision-making. In order to effectively address the impact on human rights, we argue that a framework that sets out a shared understanding and means of assessing harm; is capable of dealing with multiple actors and different forms of responsibility; and applies across the full algorithmic lifecycle, from conception to deployment, is needed. While generally overlooked in debates on algorithmic accountability, in this article, we suggest that international human rights law already provides this framework. We apply this framework to illustrate the effect it has on the choices to employ algorithms in decision-making in the first place and the safeguards required. While our analysis indicates that in some circumstances, the use of algorithms may be restricted, we argue that these findings are not âanti-innovationâ but rather appropriate checks and balances to ensure that algorithms contribute to society, while safeguarding against risks
Same but different â pseudo-pectin in the charophytic alga Chlorokybus atmophyticus
All landâplant cell walls possess hemicelluloses, cellulose and anionic pectin. The walls of their cousins, the charophytic algae, exhibit some similarities to land plantsâ but also major differences. Charophyte âpectinsâ are extractable by conventional landâplant methods, although they differ significantly in composition. Here, we explore âpectinsâ of an earlyâdiverging charophyte, Chlorokybus atmophyticus, characterising the anionic polysaccharides that may be comparable to âpectinsâ in other streptophytes. Chlorokybus âpectinâ was anionic and upon acid hydrolysis gave GlcA, GalA and sulphate, plus neutral sugars (AraâGlc>Gal>Xyl); Rha was undetectable. Most Gal was the lâenantiomer. A relatively acidâresistant disaccharide was characterised as ÎČâdâGlcAâ(1â4)âlâGal. Two Chlorokybus âpectinâ fractions, separable by anionâexchange chromatography, had similar sugar compositions but different sulphateâester contents. No sugars were released from Chlorokybus âpectinâ by several endoâhydrolases [(1,5)âαâlâarabinanase, (1,4)âÎČâdâgalactanase, (1,4)âÎČâdâxylanase, endoâpolygalacturonase] and exoâhydrolases [αâ and ÎČâdâgalactosidases, αâ(1,6)âdâxylosidase]. âDriselaseâ, which hydrolyses most landâplant cell wall polysaccharides to monoâ and disaccharides, released no sugars except traces of starchâderived Glc. Thus, the Ara, Gal, Xyl and GalA of Chlorokybus âpectinâ were not nonâreducing termini with configurations familiar from landâplant polysaccharides (αâlâAraf, αâ and ÎČâdâGalp, αâ and ÎČâdâXylp and αâdâGalpA), nor midâchain residues of αâ(1â5)âlâarabinan, ÎČâ(1â4)âdâgalactan, ÎČâ(1â4)âdâxylan or αâ(1â4)âdâgalacturonan. In conclusion, Chlorokybus possesses anionic âpecticâ polysaccharides, possibly fulfilling pectic roles but differing fundamentally from landâplant pectin. Thus, the evolution of landâplant pectin since the last common ancestor of Chlorokybus and land plants is a long and meandering path involving loss of sulphate, most lâGal and most dâGlcA; reâconfiguration of Ara, Xyl and GalA; and gain of Rha
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