Public-public partnerships (PUPs) in water

A comprehensive global analysis of the use of public-public partnerships in water in over 60 countries

Controlling the agenda at WWF - the multinationals' network

This paper by CEO, PSIRU and PSI details the continuing influence of water multinationals on the World Water Forum and its agenda

Updates on Nutraceutical Sleep Therapeutics and Investigational Research

Approximately 50% of the population will suffer from a sleep disorder over the course of their lifetime. There is increasing interest in nutraceuticals for these conditions. The quality of the evidence for the safety and effectiveness of using these supplements to treat sleep disorders varies substantially. In this review, we discuss the data about the effectiveness and safety of six commonly used plant-based sleep therapeutics: caffeine, chamomile, cherries, kava kava, L-tryptophan, marijuana, and valerian. We explore both historical uses of each substance and the current state of the literature

Identification of quantifiers related to circadian rhythm variations

International audienceThe aim of this study is to propose quantifiers allowing to characterize the adaptation speed of the circadian rhythm of a living being based on temperature measurements. While the most commonly used model to represent circadian rhythm is the COSINOR model, it is not adapted to analyze changes. An extended COSINOR model is then proposed here in order to take into account temperature disturbances related to the activity of the studied living being. The quantifiers are obtained in a two step process. First, the extended COSINOR parameters are determined with a modified recursive least square algorithm, which is modified in order to compensate for the lack of persistent excitation. The estimates of these parameters are further filtered in order to provide several quantifiers which provide useful information on the adaptation speed of the studied living being. The proposed methodology is evaluated on rats temperature measurements obtained from a laboratory experiment

Protocol for Auditory Brainstem Response-Based Audiological Assessment (ABRA)

This protocol document includes a tabular synopsis of all key protocol elements, followed by expanded sections that may include additional details, rationale, challenges,and solutions for each topic area,plus appendices with selected references and further technical or procedural specifications.There are numerous changes from the 2016 Infant Hearing Program Audiologic Assessment document; the most important areas of change or emphasis are indicated by shading of the topic section number.The following synopsis can stand alone as a summary of the current ABRA protocol including all changes from previous versions.Areas within the 2008 IHP Assessment Protocol that relate to the protocol for Visual Reinforcement Audiometry (VRA) and Conditioned Play Audiometry(CPA) are included in the Protocol for Audiometric Assessment for Children Aged 6 to 60 months

Diarrhea and fever as risk factors for anemia among children under age five living in urban slum areas of Indonesia

SummaryObjectivesTo characterize diarrhea and fever as risk factors for anemia among children in developing countries.MethodsWe characterized risk factors for anemia in a sample of 32873 children, aged 6–59 months, from poor families in urban slum areas of Indonesia from 2000 to 2003.ResultsThe prevalence of anemia was 58.7%. In separate multivariate models, after adjusting for age, sex, stunting, maternal age and education, and weekly per capita household expenditure, current diarrhea (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.07–1.35, p=0.002), current fever (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.18–1.75, p<0.0001), and a history of diarrhea in the previous seven days (OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.03–1.23, p=0.024) were associated with an increased risk of anemia.ConclusionsDiarrhea and fever are important risk factors for anemia among young children living in urban slum communities in Indonesia

Proteolytic Processing of Interleukin-1 Family Cytokines: Variations on a Common Theme

Members of the extended interleukin-1 (IL-1) cytokine family, such as IL-1, IL-18, IL-33, and IL-36, play a pivotal role in the initiation and amplification of immune responses. However, deregulated production and/or activation of these cytokines can lead to the development of multiple inflammatory disorders. IL-1 family members share a broadly similar domain organization and receptor signaling pathways. Another striking similarity between IL-1 family members is the requirement for proteolytic processing in order to unlock their full biological potential. Although much emphasis has been put on the role of caspase-1, another emerging theme is the involvement of neutrophil- and mast cell-derived proteases in IL-1 family cytokine processing. Elucidating the regulation of IL-1 family members by proteolytic processing is of great interest for understanding inflammation and immunity. Here, we review the identity of the proteases involved in the proteolytic processing of IL-1 family cytokines and the therapeutic implications in inflammatory disease

The SURFEXv7.2 land and ocean surface platform for coupled or offline simulation of Earth surface variables and fluxes

CC Attribution 3.0 License.Final revised paper also available at http://www.geosci-model-dev.net/6/929/2013/gmd-6-929-2013.pdfInternational audienceSURFEX is a new externalized land and ocean surface platform that describes the surface fluxes and the evolution of four types of surface: nature, town, inland water and ocean. It can be run either coupled or in offline mode. It is mostly based on pre-existing, well validated scientific models. It can be used in offline mode (from point scale to global runs) or fully coupled with an atmospheric model. SURFEX is able to simulate fluxes of carbon dioxide, chemical species, continental aerosols, sea salt and snow particles. It also includes a data assimilation module. The main principles of the organization of the surface are described first. Then, a survey is made of the scientific module (including the coupling strategy). Finally the main applications of the code are summarized. The current applications are extremely diverse, ranging from surface monitoring and hydrology to numerical weather prediction and global climate simulations. The validation work undertaken shows that replacing the pre-existing surface models by SURFEX in these applications is usually associated with improved skill, as the numerous scientific developments contained in this community code are used to good advantage

Composition dependence of lithium diffusion in lithium silicide: a density functional theory study

The lithiation process of silicon was investigated by using ab initio molecular dynamics. Diffusion coefficients of Li in Li–Si alloys were calculated to be in the range between 2.08×10−9 and 3.53×10−7 cm2 s−1 at room temperature. The results showed that the Li mobility is strongly dependent on the composition of the LixSi alloys. The Li diffusivity in a LixSi alloy can be enhanced by two orders of magnitude when x is increased from 1.0 to 3.75, which can be explained by the instability of the Si network, owing to charge transfer from Li to Si

Miiuy Croaker Hepcidin Gene and Comparative Analyses Reveal Evidence for Positive Selection

Hepcidin antimicrobial peptide (HAMP) is a small cysteine-rich peptide and a key molecule of the innate immune system against bacterial infections. Molecular cloning and genomic characterization of HAMP gene in the miiuy croaker (Miichthys miiuy) were reported in this study. The miiuy croaker HAMP was predicted to encode a prepropeptide of 99 amino acids, a tentative RX(K/R)R cleavage motif and eight characteristic cysteine residues were also identified. The gene organization is also similar to corresponding genes in mammals and fish consisting of three exons and two introns. Sequence polymorphism analysis showed that only two different sequences were identified and encoded two proteins in six individuals. As reported for most other species, the expression level was highest in liver and an up-regulation of transcription was seen in spleen, intestine and kidney examined at 24 h after injection of pathogenic bacteria, Vibrio anguillarum, the expression pattern implied that miiuy croaker HAMP is an important component of the first line defense against invading pathogens. In addition, we report on the underlying mechanism that maintains sequences diversity among fish and mammalian species, respectively. A series of site-model tests implemented in the CODEML program revealed that moderate positive Darwinian selection is likely to cause the molecular evolution in the fish HAMP2 genes and it also showed that the fish HAMP1 genes and HAMP2 genes under different selection pressures