Imprisonment and internment: Comparing penal facilities North and South

Recent references to the ‘warehouse prison’ in the United States and the prisión-depósito in Latin America seem to indicate that penal confinement in the western hemisphere has converged on a similar model. However, this article suggests otherwise. It contrasts penal facilities in North America and Latin America in terms of six interrelated aspects: regimentation; surveillance; isolation; supervision; accountability; and formalization. Quantitatively, control in North American penal facilities is assiduous (unceasing, persistent and intrusive), while in Latin America it is perfunctory (sporadic, indifferent and cursory). Qualitatively, North American penal facilities produce imprisonment (which enacts penal intervention through confinement), while in Latin America they produce internment (which enacts penal intervention through release). Closely entwined with this qualitative difference are distinct practices of judicial involvement in sentencing and penal supervision. Those practices, and the cultural and political factors that underpin them, represent an interesting starting point for the explanation of the contrasting nature of imprisonment and internment

Immunosuppressive effects of radiation on human dendritic cells: reduced IL-12 production on activation and impairment of naïve T-cell priming

Dendritic cells (DC) are professional antigen-presenting cells (APC) of the immune system, uniquely able to prime naïve T-cell responses. They are the focus of a range of novel strategies for the immunotherapy of cancer, a proportion of which include treating DC with ionising radiation to high dose. The effects of radiation on DC have not, however, been fully characterised. We therefore cultured human myeloid DC from CD14+ precursors, and studied the effects of ionising radiation on their phenotype and function. Dendritic cells were remarkably resistant against radiation-induced apoptosis, showed limited changes in surface phenotype, and mostly maintained their endocytic, phagocytic and migratory capacity. However, irradiated DC were less effective in a mixed lymphocyte reaction, and on maturation produced significantly less IL-12 than unirradiated controls, while IL-10 secretion was maintained. Furthermore, peptide-pulsed irradiated mature DC were less effective at naïve T-cell priming, stimulating fewer effector cells with lower cytotoxicity against antigen-specific targets. Hence irradiation of DC in vitro, and potentially in vivo, has a significant impact on their function, and may shift the balance between T-cell activation and tolerisation in DC-mediated immune responses

Evasion by Stealth: Inefficient Immune Activation Underlies Poor T Cell Response and Severe Disease in SARS-CoV-Infected Mice

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome caused substantial morbidity and mortality during the 2002–2003 epidemic. Many of the features of the human disease are duplicated in BALB/c mice infected with a mouse-adapted version of the virus (MA15), which develop respiratory disease with high morbidity and mortality. Here, we show that severe disease is correlated with slow kinetics of virus clearance and delayed activation and transit of respiratory dendritic cells (rDC) to the draining lymph nodes (DLN) with a consequent deficient virus-specific T cell response. All of these defects are corrected when mice are treated with liposomes containing clodronate, which deplete alveolar macrophages (AM). Inhibitory AMs are believed to prevent the development of immune responses to environmental antigens and allergic responses by interacting with lung dendritic cells and T cells. The inhibitory effects of AM can also be nullified if mice or AMs are pretreated with poly I:C, which directly activate AMs and rDCs through toll-like receptors 3 (TLR3). Further, adoptive transfer of activated but not resting bone marrow–derived dendritic cells (BMDC) protect mice from lethal MA15 infection. These results may be relevant for SARS in humans, which is also characterized by prolonged virus persistence and delayed development of a SARS-CoV-specific immune response in individuals with severe disease

Mechanisms and therapeutic applications of electromagnetic therapy in Parkinson's disease

© 2015 Vadalà et al. Electromagnetic therapy is a non-invasive and safe approach for the management of several pathological conditions including neurodegenerative diseases. Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative pathology caused by abnormal degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra pars compacta in the midbrain resulting in damage to the basal ganglia. Electromagnetic therapy has been extensively used in the clinical setting in the form of transcranial magnetic stimulation, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, high-frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy which can also be used in the domestic setting. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms and therapeutic applications of electromagnetic therapy to alleviate motor and non-motor deficits that characterize Parkinson's disease

Update on Canine and Feline Blood Donor Screening for Blood‐Borne Pathogens

An update on the 2005 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Consensus Statement on blood donor infectious disease screening was presented at the 2015 ACVIM Forum in Indianapolis, Indiana, followed by panel and audience discussion. The updated consensus statement is presented below. The consensus statement aims to provide guidance on appropriate blood-borne pathogen testing for canine and feline blood donors in North America

Influence of Referral to a Combined Diabetology and Nephrology Clinic on Renal Functional Trends and Metabolic Parameters in Adults With Diabetic Kidney Disease

Objective: To examine the impact of a diabetes renal clinic (DRC) on renal functional and metabolic indices in adults who have diabetes mellitus (DM) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Patients and Methods: All patients evaluated at a DRC in a single tertiary referral center from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2012, were identified. Serial renal and metabolic indices from January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2014, were recorded, and trends over time were analyzed by linear mixed-effects models. Results: A total of 200 patients who had DM and CKD were identified and subdivided into 3 categories based on presumptive CKD etiology: 43 (21.5%) with type 1 DM (T1D) only, 127 (63.5%) with type 2 DM (T2D) only, and 30 (15.0%) with DM and an additional CKD etiology. Average annual absolute (mL/min per body surface area per year) and percentage (%/year) changes, respectively, in Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration estimated glomerular filtration rate before vs after first DRC attendance were: −1.59 vs −3.10 (P=.31) and −1.22 vs −9.39 (P=.06) for T1D; −5.64 vs −3.07 (P=.004) and −10.88 vs −9.94 (P=.70) for T2D; and −6.50 vs +0.91 (P<.001) and −13.28 vs −2.29 (P=.001) for DM with an additional CKD etiology. Glycemic control worsened in those who had T2D, whereas trends in total cholesterol levels improved in those who had T1D. Conclusion: After first DRC attendance, the absolute rate of estimated glomerular filtration rate decline remained similar for those who had T1D, but it slowed for those who had T2D or DM with additional CKD etiology. Thus, benefits of combined diabetology and nephrology consultation may vary for different diabetic subpopulations

Welsh medium provision funding allocations

English/Welsh text on inverted pagesAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:4307.3797(97/69) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo