Matters of consent: the Withdrawal Agreement does not violate the Good Friday Agreement

John McGarry and Brendan O’Leary write that, contrary to the DUP’s claims, the draft Withdrawal Agreement does not violate the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement when it comes to consent. Instead, the proposals regarding Northern Ireland are reasonable and balanced

Much more than meh: the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly elections

The Northern Ireland Assembly election of May 2022 was transformational, despite small shifts in the magnitudes of seats won by the two dominant blocs. John Garry, Brendan O’Leary and James Pow discuss the results

Why Northern Ireland’s Institutions Need Stability

© The Author(s). Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press 2014. Northern Ireland's consociational institutions were reviewed by a committee of its Assembly in 2012-13. The arguments of both critics and exponents of the arrangements are of general interest to scholars of comparative politics, power-sharing and constitutional design. The authors of this article review the debates and evidence on the d'Hondt rule of executive formation, political designation, the likely impact of changing district magnitudes for assembly elections, and existing patterns of opposition and accountability. They evaluate the scholarly, political and legal literature before commending the merits of maintaining the existing system, including the rules under which the system might be modified in future.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Glucose and lipopolysaccharide regulate proatherogenic cytokine release from mononuclear cells in polycystic ovary syndrome

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have chronic low-grade inflammation, which can increase the risk of atherogenesis. We examined the effect of glucose ingestion and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on markers of proatherogenic inflammation in the mononuclear cells (MNC) and plasma of women with PCOS. Sixteen women with PCOS (8 lean, 8 obese) and 15 weight-matched controls (8 lean, 7 obese) underwent a 3-h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) release from MNC cultured in the presence of LPS and plasma IL-6, C-reactive protein (CRP), and soluble vascular adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) were measured from blood samples drawn while fasting and 2 h after glucose ingestion. Truncal fat was measured by dual-energy absorptiometry (DEXA). Lean women with PCOS and obese controls failed to suppress LPS-stimulated IL-6 and IL-1β release from MNC after glucose ingestion. In contrast, obese women with PCOS suppressed these MNC-derived cytokines under the same conditions. In response to glucose ingestion, plasma IL-6 and sVCAM-1 increased and CRP suppression was attenuated in both PCOS groups and obese controls compared with lean controls. Fasting plasma IL-6 and CRP correlated positively with percentage of truncal fat. The absolute change in plasma IL-6 correlated positively with testosterone. We conclude that glucose ingestion promotes proatherogenic inflammation in PCOS with a systemic response that is independent of obesity. Based on the suppressed MNC-derived cytokine responses suggestive of LPS tolerance, chronic low-grade inflammation may be more profound in obese women with PCOS. Excess abdominal adiposity and hyperandrogenism may contribute to atherogenesis in PCOS