Government Oversight, Union Democracy, and Labor Racketeering: Lessons from the Teamsters Experience

[Excerpt] In this paper we examine the federal courts\u27 effort to clean up the Teamsters using legislation originally enacted to fight organized crime. Specifically, we look at the role of electoral democracy in this initiative and trace the experience through the 1991, 1996, and 1998 elections for Teamsters president. Once the story is told, we analyze the experience in the context of union democracy and also consider the relationship between democracy and labor movement transformation

Gut microbiota facilitates dietary heme-induced epithelial hyperproliferation by opening the mucus barrier in colon

Colorectal cancer risk is associated with diets high in red meat. Heme, the pigment of red meat, induces cytotoxicity of colonic contents and elicits epithelial damage and compensatory hyperproliferation, leading to hyperplasia. Here we explore the possible causal role of the gut microbiota in heme-induced hyperproliferation. To this end, mice were fed a purified control or heme diet (0.5 μmol/g heme) with or without broad-spectrum antibiotics for 14 d. Heme-induced hyperproliferation was shown to depend on the presence of the gut microbiota, because hyperproliferation was completely eliminated by antibiotics, although heme-induced luminal cytotoxicity was sustained in these mice. Colon mucosa transcriptomics revealed that antibiotics block heme-induced differential expression of oncogenes, tumor suppressors, and cell turnover genes, implying that antibiotic treatment prevented the heme-dependent cytotoxic micelles to reach the epithelium. Our results indicate that this occurs because antibiotics reinforce the mucus barrier by eliminating sulfide-producing bacteria and mucin-degrading bacteria (e.g., Akkermansia). Sulfide potently reduces disulfide bonds and can drive mucin denaturation and microbial access to the mucus layer. This reduction results in formation of trisulfides that can be detected in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, trisulfides can serve as a novel marker of colonic mucolysis and thus as a proxy for mucus barrier reduction. In feces, antibiotics drastically decreased trisulfides but increased mucin polymers that can be lysed by sulfide. We conclude that the gut microbiota is required for heme-induced epithelial hyperproliferation and hyperplasia because of the capacity to reduce mucus barrier function

Plasma sTNFR1 and IL8 for prognostic enrichment in sepsis trials: a prospective cohort study.

BackgroundEnrichment strategies improve therapeutic targeting and trial efficiency, but enrichment factors for sepsis trials are lacking. We determined whether concentrations of soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor-1 (sTNFR1), interleukin-8 (IL8), and angiopoietin-2 (Ang2) could identify sepsis patients at higher mortality risk and serve as prognostic enrichment factors.MethodsIn a multicenter prospective cohort study of 400 critically ill septic patients, we derived and validated thresholds for each marker and expressed prognostic enrichment using risk differences (RD) of 30-day mortality as predictive values. We then used decision curve analysis to simulate the prognostic enrichment of each marker and compare different prognostic enrichment strategies.Measurements and main resultsAn admission sTNFR1 concentration > 8861 pg/ml identified patients with increased mortality in both the derivation (RD 21.6%) and validation (RD 17.8%) populations. Among immunocompetent patients, an IL8 concentration > 94 pg/ml identified patients with increased mortality in both the derivation (RD 17.7%) and validation (RD 27.0%) populations. An Ang2 level > 9761 pg/ml identified patients at 21.3% and 12.3% increased risk of mortality in the derivation and validation populations, respectively. Using sTNFR1 or IL8 to select high-risk patients improved clinical trial power and efficiency compared to selecting patients with septic shock. Ang2 did not outperform septic shock as an enrichment factor.ConclusionsThresholds for sTNFR1 and IL8 consistently identified sepsis patients with higher mortality risk and may have utility for prognostic enrichment in sepsis trials

Literatur-Rundschau

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The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans survives subfreezing temperatures in an isochoric system

This study is the first experimental evidence showing that a living multicellular organism, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, can survive subfreezing temperatures in an isochoric (constant volume) thermodynamic system, while immersed in a simple isotonic solution, without the addition of cryoprotectants. Some of the test conditions were more extreme than those found at the ice/water interface of the Antarctic subglacial Vostok lake. On earth, life takes place in an isobaric (constant pressure) environment. In isobaric systems, subfreezing temperature survival of organisms in nature and subfreezing temperature preservation of living material for biotechnology and medicine, is made possible by use of cryoprotective chemicals additives. Our theoretical thermodynamic studies suggested that in an isochoric system, living biological material could survive subfreezing temperatures, without any cryoprotective chemicals. By confirming the theoretical predictions, this paper suggests a new technology for subfreezing preservation of cells, organs and organisms of possible value for biotechnology and medicine as well as new possible mechanisms of living organism survival in nature

Industrial Relations Experiments in China: Balancing Equity and Efficiency the Chinese Way

China should build socialism by "crossing the river by feeling for stones" (Deng Xiaoping). Chinese industrial relations are changing accordingly. Local union experiments have implemented local-level changes experimenting with institutional reforms that address efficiency and equity imbalances. Local union leaders have exercised autonomy to develop multi-employer “community unions” in Changchun’s Chaoyang District to represent peasant migrant workers employed by small firms by targeting small geographic zones and hiring union presidents as organizers, aggregating union members into amalgamated units. While the union’s role still includes social harmonization, unions have undertaken an additional representative role. Similar efforts elsewhere have given the union representation experience. Unions have organized multi-employer federations across industries. Unions also have collaborated with local governments on innovative structures to ensure that companies in some industries, such as construction, post a “bond” to guarantee end-of-year compensation. Finally, this paper discusses the role of the new Labor Contract Law in institutionalizing these changes. The LCL defines more precisely employment relationships and workers’ legal rights and seems to increase unions’ legal authority to ensure that employers respect individual workers’ rights, supports the extension of collective contracts to more enterprises, and appears to give unions greater authority to represent workers within the employment relationship and before legal authorities. These changes may provide a material basis for balancing efficiency with equity. We think these experiments have political foundations, whether it is “harmonious society” or simply to extend the union’s organizing maintain political status. Further research will determine whether these experiments are successful