The Economic and Electoral Consequences of Austerity Policies in Britain

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between electoral support and the economy over the period 2004 to 2014, paying particular attention to the impact of the economic strategy pursued by the Coalition government in Britain since the general election in May 2010. This involves modelling the relationship between voting intentions, perceptions of economic performance, and a variety of other variables using survey data collected each month from 2004. The evidence shows that when Labour was in office, support for the party was strongly influenced by the state of the economy, as was support for the opposition parties. However, since the Coalition came to power, the relationship between the economy and political support has changed, with neither the Conservatives nor the Liberal Democrats gaining from a fairly rapid growth in economic optimism which has taken place since early 2013. The paper explains this change in terms of a growing perception among the public that none of the major parties can effectively manage Britain?s economic problems. It is also the case that optimism about the national economy has not significantly percolated down to the level of the individual voter. So individuals may be more optimistic about the future of the national economy but they are still being badly affected by the recession

Social Entrepreneurship—Building Sustainability Through Business Models and Measurement of Social Impact

Social entrepreneurshipSocial entrepreneurship is gaining unprecedented momentum in the recent years and it is overwhelming to learn how social entrepreneurs are able to create both social and economic value overcoming all odds and sustain and grow their ventures. Social enterprise can be a for-profit or a not-for- profit venture in their constitution. This research study presents a comparative case analysis of four social ventures two of them are not-for-profit organisations and depend mainly on philanthropic partners for funding. The other two are for-profit social venturesNot-for-profit Social venture and create products and services which are commercially viable. Three of the founders are Ashoka fellows and one is a national award winning social entrepreneur, all based in India. Irrespective of the nature of enterprise, developing a viable business modelBusiness model is crucial for the sustainabilitySustainability of the venture. Analysis of these organisations’ business models reveals different patterns. The findings suggest that successful social entrepreneurial organisations proactively create their own ways to partner with multiple stakeholders who share their social visionVision ; deploy resources effectively as an integral part of the business model; and integrate the target group into the social value network

A general method for the resummation of event-shape distributions in e⁺ e− annihilation

We present a novel method for resummation of event shapes to next-to-next-to-leading-logarithmic (NNLL) accuracy. We discuss the technique and describe its implementation in a numerical program in the case of e + e − collisions where the resummed prediction is matched to NNLO. We reproduce all the existing predictions and present new results for oblateness and thrust major

Borrelia recurrentis employs a novel multifunctional surface protein with anti-complement, anti-opsonic and invasive potential to escape innate immunity

Borrelia recurrentis, the etiologic agent of louse-borne relapsing fever in humans, has evolved strategies, including antigenic variation, to evade immune defence, thereby causing severe diseases with high mortality rates. Here we identify for the first time a multifunctional surface lipoprotein of B. recurrentis, termed HcpA, and demonstrate that it binds human complement regulators, Factor H, CFHR-1, and simultaneously, the host protease plasminogen. Cell surface bound factor H was found to retain its activity and to confer resistance to complement attack. Moreover, ectopic expression of HcpA in a B. burgdorferi B313 strain, deficient in Factor H binding proteins, protected the transformed spirochetes from complement-mediated killing. Furthermore, HcpA-bound plasminogen/plasmin endows B. recurrentis with the potential to resist opsonization and to degrade extracellular matrix components. Together, the present study underscores the high virulence potential of B. recurrentis. The elucidation of the molecular basis underlying the versatile strategies of B. recurrentis to escape innate immunity and to persist in human tissues, including the brain, may help to understand the pathological processes underlying louse-borne relapsing fever

Digital PCR methods improve detection sensitivity and measurement precision of low abundance mtDNA deletions

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations are a common cause of primary mitochondrial disorders, and have also been implicated in a broad collection of conditions, including aging, neurodegeneration, and cancer. Prevalent among these pathogenic variants are mtDNA deletions, which show a strong bias for the loss of sequence in the major arc between, but not including, the heavy and light strand origins of replication. Because individual mtDNA deletions can accumulate focally, occur with multiple mixed breakpoints, and in the presence of normal mtDNA sequences, methods that detect broad-spectrum mutations with enhanced sensitivity and limited costs have both research and clinical applications. In this study, we evaluated semi-quantitative and digital PCR-based methods of mtDNA deletion detection using double-stranded reference templates or biological samples. Our aim was to describe key experimental assay parameters that will enable the analysis of low levels or small differences in mtDNA deletion load during disease progression, with limited false-positive detection. We determined that the digital PCR method significantly improved mtDNA deletion detection sensitivity through absolute quantitation, improved precision and reduced assay standard error

Solução glicosada hipertônica no mesentério e no peritônio de ratos: estudo macroscópico e microscópico

PURPOSE: The objective of the experimental study is to detect the macroscopic and microscopic alterations of the mesenterium and parietal peritoneum when hypertonic glucose aqueous solution 10%-25% is administrated into the peritoneal cavity of the rat. METHODS: 90 Wistar females young rats adults were used weighin between 180-250 g, numbered 1 to 90, establishing unique group and divided in three groups (A, B, C) of 30 animals chosen aleatory manner. 0,9% saline solution was used called control group, or group A, 10% glucose solution named group B, and in the others 30 was used 25% glucose solution named group C, differing in the observation period, (06h, 24h and 48h), but with the same procedure. A midline abdominal wall laparotomy was made and in the animals of the control group was injected 2 ml of a 0,9% saline solution into the peritoneal cavity. After, we made a suture in mass without to include the peritoneum. For the others groups (B, C) the rats received 10% glucose solution and 25% glucose solution injected into the peritoneal cavity respectively. All groups were kept under observation and the results were submitted to statistical analysis by a longitudinal and transversal comparative study. RESULTS: A new surgery was done in 6h, 24h and 48h, and we observed in macroscopic evaluation, the presence of fluid, serous uniforme and rosy all over the cavity. Vascular congestion was present. We dried out 90 fragments of mesenterium and 90 fragments of parietal peritonium bilateral. In the microscopic study, necrosis was not present. For the mesenterium histological study we observed 16 cases (17,8%) unspecific chronic inflammation, 30 cases (33,4%) hiperplasic linfonod, 10 cases (11,1%) high vascular congestion, 6 cases (6,6%) reaction fibrosis and 28 cases (31,1%) no alteration. For the parietal peritonium histological study we observed 6 cases (3,3%) reaction fibrosis and 174 cases (96,7%) no alteration. Giant cell was not present. In the statistical analisys statistic there is no significance between the groups (p>0,05). CONCLUSION: Hypertonic glucose solution and NaCl 0,9% on the mesenterium and parietal peritonium do not produce tissue necrosis in a rat and the inflammation process has the same intensity.OBJETIVO: Investigar as alterações macroscópicas e microscópicas do mesentério e do peritônio parietal quando se administra a solução aquosa de glicose hipertônica a 10% e a 25% na cavidade peritoneal de rato. MÉTODOS: 90 ratos fêmeas (n=90), adultos, Wistar, jovens, com peso variando de 180 a 250 gramas foram divididos em 3 sub-grupos (A, B e C) contendo cada um 30 animais com procedimentos idênticos, diferindo apenas no período de observação. Os números de 1 a 30 constituem o grupo A ou grupo-controle (NaCl 0,9%), os números de 31 a 60 constituem o grupo B ou grupo-glicose a 10% e os números de 61 a 90 constituem o grupo C ou grupo- glicose a 25%. Realizando-se posteriormente laparotomia com incisão mediana longitudinal de pele a 2 cm abaixo do processo Xiphoideus sterni, estendendo-se por 3 cm caudalmente na linha média ventral. A escolha do procedimento a ser realizado para introdução na cavidade peritoneal de 2 ml de uma solução de cloreto de sódio 0,9% (controle), de glicose hipertônica a 10% e de glicose hipertônica a 25%. Em períodos correspondentes às 6h, 24h e 48h de pós-operatório, os animais de cada grupo foram reoperados, sendo realizada avaliação macroscópica e microscópica além dos registros das alterações histológicas do mesentério e peritônio parietal. RESULTADOS: Na microscopia do mesentério observou-se que 30 animais (33,4%) apresentaram linfonodos hiperplásicos; 6 animais (6,6%) com fibrose reacional; 10 animais (11,1%) com intensa congestão vascular; 16 animais (17,8%) com inflamação crônica inespecífica; 28 casos (31,1%) sem alteração. A microscopia do peritônio revelou 6 casos com fibrose reacional (3,3%) 174 casos (96,7%) sem alteração histológica. CONCLUSÃO: As soluções de glicose a 10% e a 25% não causam necrose tecidual quando introduzidas na cavidade peritoneal. O processo reacional inflamatório é de igual intensidade tecidual comparando-se ao uso da solução de NaCl a 0,9%.UNCISAL DepartmentUFAL Morphology Department and Human AnatomyUNIFESP-EPM Surgery DepartmentUNIFESP, EPM, Surgery DepartmentSciEL

Cell lineage-specific mitochondrial resilience during mammalian organogenesis

Mitochondrial activity differs markedly between organs, but it is not known how and when this arises. Here we show that cell lineage-specific expression profiles involving essential mitochondrial genes emerge at an early stage in mouse development, including tissue-specific isoforms present before organ formation. However, the nuclear transcriptional signatures were not independent of organelle function. Genetically disrupting intra-mitochondrial protein synthesis with two different mtDNA mutations induced cell lineage-specific compensatory responses, including molecular pathways not previously implicated in organellar maintenance. We saw downregulation of genes whose expression is known to exacerbate the effects of exogenous mitochondrial toxins, indicating a transcriptional adaptation to mitochondrial dysfunction during embryonic development. The compensatory pathways were both tissue and mutation specific and under the control of transcription factors which promote organelle resilience. These are likely to contribute to the tissue specificity which characterizes human mitochondrial diseases and are potential targets for organ-directed treatments