Bishops who live like princes: Bishop Tebartz-van Elst and the challenge of defining corruption

This article contributes to the debate on defining corruption. Rather than attempting to provide a definitive definition, it uses the case of Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, a German bishop from the diocese of Limburg who stepped down in 2014, to illustrate that the disciplines of law, political science, economics, and anthropology all make important contributions to understanding what corruption is and how it should be conceptualized. Seen through these different lenses, the article argues, the case of “Bishop Bling” can be understood in strikingly different ways. This has ramifications not just for the case itself but also for how analysts understand corruption more broadly. Adopting an overtly interdisciplinary approach does not represent a way to “solve” the definitional dilemma, but it can help analysts understand more about corruption’s multiplicity

Effects of dietary carotenoids on mouse lung genomic profiles and their modulatory effects on short-term cigarette smoke exposures

Male C57BL/6 mice were fed diets supplemented with either β-carotene (BC) or lycopene (LY) that were formulated for human consumption. Four weeks of dietary supplementations results in plasma and lung carotenoid (CAR) concentrations that approximated the levels detected in humans. Bioactivity of the CARs was determined by assaying their effects on the activity of the lung transcriptome (~8,500 mRNAs). Both CARs activated the cytochrome P450 1A1 gene but only BC induced the retinol dehydrogenase gene. The contrasting effects of the two CARs on the lung transcriptome were further uncovered in mice exposed to cigarette smoke (CS) for 3 days; only LY activated ~50 genes detected in the lungs of CS-exposed mice. These genes encoded inflammatory-immune proteins. Our data suggest that mice offer a viable in vivo model for studying bioactivities of dietary CARs and their modulatory effects on lung genomic expression in both health and after exposure to CS toxicants

CAPS1 and CAPS2 regulate stability and recruitment of insulin granules in mouse pancreatic beta cells.

CAPS1 and CAPS2 regulate dense-core vesicle release of transmitters and hormones in neuroendocrine cells, but their precise roles in the secretory process remain enigmatic. Here we show that CAPS2(-/-) and CAPS1(+/-);CAPS2(-/-) mice, despite having increased insulin sensitivity, are glucose intolerant and that this effect is attributable to a marked reduction of glucose-induced insulin secretion. This correlates with diminished Ca(2+)-dependent exocytosis, a reduction in the size of the morphologically docked pool, a decrease in the readily releasable pool of secretory vesicles, slowed granule priming, and suppression of second-phase (but not first-phase) insulin secretion. In beta cells of CAPS1(+/-);CAPS2(-/-) mice, the lowered insulin content and granule numbers were associated with an increase in lysosome numbers and lysosomal enzyme activity. We conclude that although CAPS proteins are not required for Ca(2+)-dependent exocytosis to proceed, they exert a modulatory effect on insulin granule priming, exocytosis, and stability