106 research outputs found
Explaining Myanmar's Regime Transition: The Periphery is Central
In 2010, Myanmar (Burma) held its first elections after 22 years of direct military rule. Few compelling explanations for this regime transition have emerged. This article critiques popular accounts and potential explanations generated by theories of authoritarian âregime breakdownâ and âregime maintenanceâ. It returns instead to the classical literature on military intervention and withdrawal. Military regimes, when not terminated by internal factionalism or external unrest, typically liberalise once they feel they have sufficiently addressed the crises that prompted their seizure of power. This was the case in Myanmar. The military intervened for fear that political unrest and ethnic-minority separatist insurgencies would destroy Myanmarâs always-fragile territorial integrity and sovereignty. Far from suddenly liberalising in 2010, the regime sought to create a âdisciplined democracyâ to safeguard its preferred social and political order twice before, but was thwarted by societal opposition. Its success in 2010 stemmed from a strategy of coercive state-building and economic incorporation via âceasefire capitalismâ, which weakened and co-opted much of the opposition. Having altered the balance of forces in its favour, the regime felt sufficiently confident to impose its preferred settlement. However, the transition neither reflected total âvictoryâ for the military nor secured a genuine or lasting peace
Absence of maternal methylation in biparental hydatidiform moles from women with NLRP7 maternal-effect mutations reveals widespread placenta-specific imprinting
Familial recurrent hydatidiform mole (RHM) is a maternal-effect autosomal recessive disorder usually associated with mutations of the NLRP7 gene. It is characterized by HM with excessive trophoblastic proliferation, which mimics the appearance of androgenetic molar conceptuses despite their diploid biparental constitution. It has been proposed that the phenotypes of both types of mole are associated with aberrant genomic imprinting. However no systematic analyses for imprinting defects have been reported. Here, we present the genome-wide methylation profiles of both spontaneous androgenetic and biparental NLRP7 defective molar tissues. We observe total paternalization of all ubiquitous and placenta-specific differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in four androgenetic moles; namely gain of methylation at paternally methylated loci and absence of methylation at maternally methylated regions. The methylation defects observed in five RHM biopsies from NLRP7 defective patients are restricted to lack-of-methylation at maternal DMRs. Surprisingly RHMs from two sisters with the same missense mutations, as well as consecutive RHMs from one affected female show subtle allelic methylation differences, suggesting inter-RHM variation. These epigenotypes are consistent with NLRP7 being a maternal-effect gene and involved in imprint acquisition in the oocyte. In addition, bioinformatic screening of the resulting methylation datasets identified over sixty loci with methylation profiles consistent with imprinting in the placenta, of which we confirm 22 as novel maternally methylated loci. These observations strongly suggest that the molar phenotypes are due to defective placenta-specific imprinting and over-expression of paternally expressed transcripts, highlighting that maternal-effect mutations of NLRP7 are associated with the most severe form of multi-locus imprinting defects in humans
New Detection Systems of Bacteria Using Highly Selective Media Designed by SMART: Selective Medium-Design Algorithm Restricted by Two Constraints
Culturing is an indispensable technique in microbiological research, and culturing with selective media has played a crucial role in the detection of pathogenic microorganisms and the isolation of commercially useful microorganisms from environmental samples. Although numerous selective media have been developed in empirical studies, unintended microorganisms often grow on such media probably due to the enormous numbers of microorganisms in the environment. Here, we present a novel strategy for designing highly selective media based on two selective agents, a carbon source and antimicrobials. We named our strategy SMART for highly Selective Medium-design Algorithm Restricted by Two constraints. To test whether the SMART method is applicable to a wide range of microorganisms, we developed selective media for Burkholderia glumae, Acidovorax avenae, Pectobacterium carotovorum, Ralstonia solanacearum, and Xanthomonas campestris. The series of media developed by SMART specifically allowed growth of the targeted bacteria. Because these selective media exhibited high specificity for growth of the target bacteria compared to established selective media, we applied three notable detection technologies: paper-based, flow cytometry-based, and color change-based detection systems for target bacteria species. SMART facilitates not only the development of novel techniques for detecting specific bacteria, but also our understanding of the ecology and epidemiology of the targeted bacteria
Regulation of skeletal muscle oxidative capacity and insulin signaling by the Mitochondrial Rhomboid Protease PARL
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and aging are characterized by insulin resistance and impaired mitochondrial energetics. In lower organisms, remodeling by the protease pcp1 (PARL ortholog) maintains the function and lifecycle of mitochondria. We examined whether variation in PARL protein content is associated with mitochondrial abnormalities and insulin resistance. PARL mRNA and mitochondrial mass were both reduced in elderly subjects and in subjects with T2DM. Muscle knockdown of PARL in mice resulted in malformed mitochondrial cristae, lower mitochondrial content, decreased PGC1α protein levels, and impaired insulin signaling. Suppression of PARL protein in healthy myotubes lowered mitochondrial mass and insulin-stimulated glycogen synthesis and increased reactive oxygen species production. We propose that lower PARL expression may contribute to the mitochondrial abnormalities seen in aging and T2DM.<br /
Fortifying or fragmenting the state? The political economy of the drug trade in Shan State, Myanmar, 1988-2012
Over the past twenty-five years, the government of Myanmar (Burma) has consolidated control over large parts of Shan State, neutralizing much of the threat posed by armed groups and strengthening its hold over revenue extraction. During this period Myanmar has retained its position as the world's second largest producer of illicit opium, much of which is converted into heroin within the country's borders. This article explores the relationship between state-building processes and the illicit opium/heroin economy in Shan State since 1988. The author has four aims. First, to reassess the theoretical assumptions that equate illicit economies with state fragility and demonstrate instead why illicit drug economies can become embedded in processes of conflict reduction and state consolidation. Second, to explain why establishing control over Shan State has become so important to the Myanmar government's state-building ambitions. Third, to analyze how the state's engagement with the drug trade has become a vital part of its attempts to consolidate control, in terms of financing military expansion and brokering deals with strongmen who are able to govern local populations. Finally, to assess how these strategies embody a form of ânegotiated statehoodâ in which the state's growing control has been defined by attempts to manage, rather than monopolize, the means of coercion and extraction
Bioavailability of Macro and Micronutrients Across Global Topsoils: Main Drivers and Global Change Impacts
Understanding the chemical composition of our planet\u27s crust was one of the biggest questions of the 20th century. More than 100 years later, we are still far from understanding the global patterns in the bioavailability and spatial coupling of elements in topsoils worldwide, despite their importance for the productivity and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we measured the bioavailability and coupling of thirteen macro- and micronutrients and phytotoxic elements in topsoils (3â8 cm) from a range of terrestrial ecosystems across all continents (âŒ10,000 observations) and in response to global change manipulations (âŒ5,000 observations). For this, we incubated between 1 and 4 pairs of anionic and cationic exchange membranes per site for a mean period of 53 days. The most bioavailable elements (Ca, Mg, and K) were also amongst the most abundant in the crust. Patterns of bioavailability were biome-dependent and controlled by soil properties such as pH, organic matter content and texture, plant cover, and climate. However, global change simulations resulted in important alterations in the bioavailability of elements. Elements were highly coupled, and coupling was predictable by the atomic properties of elements, particularly mass, mass to charge ratio, and second ionization energy. Deviations from the predictable coupling-atomic mass relationship were attributed to global change and agriculture. Our work illustrates the tight links between the bioavailability and coupling of topsoil elements and environmental context, human activities, and atomic properties of elements, thus deeply enhancing our integrated understanding of the biogeochemical connections that underlie the productivity and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems in a changing world
Procalcitonin Is Not a Reliable Biomarker of Bacterial Coinfection in People With Coronavirus Disease 2019 Undergoing Microbiological Investigation at the Time of Hospital Admission
Abstract Admission procalcitonin measurements and microbiology results were available for 1040 hospitalized adults with coronavirus disease 2019 (from 48 902 included in the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infections Consortium World Health Organization Clinical Characterisation Protocol UK study). Although procalcitonin was higher in bacterial coinfection, this was neither clinically significant (median [IQR], 0.33 [0.11â1.70] ng/mL vs 0.24 [0.10â0.90] ng/mL) nor diagnostically useful (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.56 [95% confidence interval, .51â.60]).</jats:p
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