Activated γδ T cells inhibit osteoclast differentiation and resorptive activity in vitro

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Isolationism or Deference? The Alien Tort Claims Act and the Separation of Powers

This Note examines the rationales behind Filartiga and other cases which have had the opportunity to pass upon its holding, notably the holdings in Tel-Oren v. Libyan Arab Republic and Forti v. Suarez- Mason. It then focuses on the validity of these rationales with respect to the constitutional separation of powers scheme. In so doing, it analyzes Filartiga\u27s conclusions in light of the act of state and political question doctrines, two closely interrelated doctrines which have been at the forefront of the separation of powers criticisms of Filartiga. This Note concludes by suggesting that a clear case exists for the claim that human rights adjudications under the Alien Tort Claims Act do not violate the constitutional mandates of separation of powers

Phenolic composition of hydrophilic extract of manna from sicilian Fraxinus angustifolia vahl and its reducing, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in vitro

Manna, a very singular vegetable product derived from the spontaneous solidification of the sap of some Fraxinus species, has long been known for its mild laxative and emollient properties. In this work, a hydro-alcoholic extract of manna (HME) from Sicilian Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl was investigated using HPLC-DAD to find phenol components and using chemical and biological in vitro assays to determine its reducing, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacity. We identified elenolic acid, tyrosol, hydroxytyrosol, catechin, fraxetin, verbascoside, gallic acid, procyanidin-B1, and luteolin 3,7 glucoside, in order of abundance. Measurements of total antioxidant activity by Folin-Ciocalteu reaction and ferric reducing ability (FRAP), as well as of scavenger activity towards ABTS•+, DPPH•, and perferryl-myoglobin radicals, showed that the phytocomplex effectively reduced oxidants with different standard potentials. When compared with vitamin E, HME also behaved as an efficient chain-breaking antioxidant against lipoperoxyl radicals from methyl linoleate. In cellular models for oxidative stress, HME counteracted membrane lipid oxidation of human erythrocytes stimulated by tert-butyl hydroperoxide and prevented the generation of reactive oxygen species, as well as the GSH decay in IL-1β–activated intestinal normal-like cells. Moreover, in this in vitro intestinal bowel disease model, HME reduced the release of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-8. These findings may suggest that manna acts as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory natural product in humans, beyond its well-known effects against constipation

We All Need Somebody to Lean On: Using the Law to Nurture Our Children, Beginning with Third-Party Visitation

Perhaps one of the single most important aspects of a healthy childhood is emotional support from healthy caregivers. As it stands, New York’s visitation law prohibits third-party caregivers from stepping in and providing children with this important psychological and emotional need by automatically denying them standing to seek visitation in court. In New York, third-party standing for visitation is denied solely on a procedural basis, irrespective of the child’s personal familial situation, namely whether their parents are completely unavailable. Specifically, when a child’s parents become unavailable due to death, incarceration or otherwise, and such child becomes a ward of the foster care system, the child’s aunt, uncle, or other third-party caregiver cannot petition for visitation of that child under current New York law. As a result, the child is effectively deprived of necessary emotional connections unless the third-party caregiver decides to formally adopt him or her. New York’s Domestic Relations Law does not explicitly prohibit third-party visitation, but rather this current, nonsensical application of New York visitation law has developed through the judiciary, which is supposed to serve as these children’s last line of defense. Thus, this piece respectfully calls for the court of this progressive State to join other neighboring states in fostering relationships between children and healthy caregivers by awarding standing for visitation to third-parties when both of the child’s parents are completely unavailable to take care of them

Characterization of two new alleles at the goat CSN1S2 locus.

Two novel alleles at the goat CSN1S2 locus have been identified: CSN1S2(F) and CSN1S2(D). Sequence analyses revealed that the CSN1S2(F) allele is characterized by a G --> A transition at the 13th nucleotide in exon 3 changing the seventh amino acid of the mature protein from Val to Ile. The CSN1S2(D) allele, apparently associated with a decreased synthesis of alpha s2-casein, is characterized by a 106-bp deletion, involving the last 11 bp of the exon 11 and the first 95 bp of the following intron. Methods (PCR-RFLP and PCR) for identification of carriers of these alleles have been developed

Modeling Adversarial Behavior Against Mobility Data Privacy

Privacy risk assessment is a crucial issue in any privacy-aware analysis process. Traditional frameworks for privacy risk assessment systematically generate the assumed knowledge for a potential adversary, evaluating the risk without realistically modelling the collection of the background knowledge used by the adversary when performing the attack. In this work, we propose Simulated Privacy Annealing (SPA), a new adversarial behavior model for privacy risk assessment in mobility data. We model the behavior of an adversary as a mobility trajectory and introduce an optimization approach to find the most effective adversary trajectory in terms of privacy risk produced for the individuals represented in a mobility data set. We use simulated annealing to optimize the movement of the adversary and simulate a possible attack on mobility data. We finally test the effectiveness of our approach on real human mobility data, showing that it can simulate the knowledge gathering process for an adversary in a more realistic way

Idrocarburi e aree ad alta diversit\ue0 culturale e biologica: un\u2019analisi geografica in Amazzonia

Le operazioni di esplorazione ed estrazione di idrocarburi in diversi contesti geografici sono ampiamente documentate tra le attivit\ue0 antropiche di maggiore impatto sui sistemi socio-ecologici e sul cambiamento climatico, cosi come \ue8 riconosciuta la necessit\ue0 di politiche pi\uf9 efficaci e l'uso di tecnologie pi\uf9 pulite. Lo studio presentato in questo contributo mira a: 1) analizzare e mappare le interazioni tra le attivit\ue0 legate agli idrocarburi e le aree che presentano un'elevata diversit\ue0 e sensibilit\ue0 culturale e biologica; 2) Discutere proposte di criteri geografici per individuare aree unburnable, ovvero dove lasciare gli idrocarburi sottoterra. La metodologia si basa sulla costruzione di un geodatabase open source dell'area di studio, che corrisponde all'Amazzonia dell'Ecuador e alla Region amazzonica di Loreto in Per\uf9, area riconosciuta per la sua elevata diversit\ue0 ecologica e culturale. \uc8 stata condotta un\u2019analisi in ambiente QGIS delle sovrapposizioni tra gli aspetti socio-ecologici (aree protette, territori indigeni) e le attivit\ue0 di esplorazione e produzione di idrocarburi (riserve, blocchi, pozzi, oleodotti), oltre alla revisione di documenti scientifici e non su questi aspetti. Alcuni risultati dell'analisi GIS mostrano che quasi l'intera area di studio fa parte della provincia geologica del Putumayo-Oriente-Mara\uf1on, con una stima di 7290 milioni barili di petrolio equivalente sottoterra, dove le concessioni di idrocarburi coprono il 33% della superficie e si trovano circa 1780 pozzi. Le aree protette ricadenti nelle concessioni risultano essere il 18% e importanti sono anche le sovrapposizioni con i territori indigeni, evidenziando cos\uec l'urgenza di politiche pi\uf9 efficaci per garantire la sostenibilit\ue0 ambientale e sociale e la definizione di criteri geografici per individuare aree unburnable

Biogeographical boundaries, functional group structure and diversity of rocky shore communities along the Argentinean coast

We investigate the extent to which functional structure and spatial variability of intertidal communities coincide with major biogeographical boundaries, areas where extensive compositional changes in the biota are observed over a limited geographic extension. We then investigate whether spatial variation in the biomass of functional groups, over geographic (10′s km) and local (10′s m) scales, could be associated to species diversity within and among these groups. Functional community structure expressed as abundance (density, cover and biomass) and composition of major functional groups was quantified through field surveys at 20 rocky intertidal shores spanning six degrees of latitude along the southwest Atlantic coast of Argentina and extending across the boundaries between the Argentinean and Magellanic Provinces. Patterns of abundance of individual functional groups were not uniformly matched with biogeographical regions. Only ephemeral algae showed an abrupt geographical discontinuity coincident with changes in biogeographic boundaries, and this was limited to the mid intertidal zone. We identified 3–4 main ‘groups’ of sites in terms of the total and relative abundance of the major functional groups, but these did not coincide with biogeographical boundaries, nor did they follow latitudinal arrangement. Thus, processes that determine the functional structure of these intertidal communities are insensitive to biogeographical boundaries. Over both geographical and local spatial scales, and for most functional groups and tidal levels, increases in species richness within the functional group was significantly associated to increased total biomass and reduced spatial variability of the group. These results suggest that species belonging to the same functional group are sufficiently uncorrelated over space (i.e. metres and site-to-site ) to stabilize patterns of biomass variability and, in this manner, provide a buffer, or “insurance”, against spatial variability in environmental conditions

Necrobiosis Lipoidica Affecting the Leg: What Is the Best Treatment in a Patient with Very High Aesthetic Demand?

Summary: Necrobiosis Lipoidica (NL) is a rare necrotising disorder of the skin characterized by collagen degeneration, thickening of blood vessels, and granulomatous inflammatory process. Its main clinical features are brownish-red papules and yellowish plaques with atrophic central areas. NL affects 0.3% -1.2% of the diabetic population, mostly women (female/male ratio is 3:1). Management of NL is challenging, especially for large lesions refractory to medical therapy, thus requiring surgical excision as an alternative option. Due to the rare occurrence of this condition no treatment guidelines exist and individualized treatment mostly depends on the severity of the lesion, location and patient's expectations. A case of a 30-year-old diabetic woman with very high aesthetic expectations was succesfully treated with staged resections of a giant NL to the leg and reconstruction with dermal template and full thickness skin grafts. Grafts were taken from the groin region bilaterally and from the lower abdomen after a cosmetic mini-abdominoplasty procedure. This approach allowed for a stable and very satisfactory aesthetic result with no donor site exposed scars