The Popular Appeal of the Millennium Development Goals in Wealthy Countries: the Australian case

The Millennium Development Goals were announced to the world in the year 2000. Handed down by the United Nations, the Millennium Development Goals promised a new way forward for addressing global poverty on an international scale.A key ingredient for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals was an across-the-board increase of modest scale in the level of development aid contributed by wealthy countries. Yet, while having signed up for as much, there has been a strong tendency among the rich countries towards non-compliance, accompanied by a generalised failure to offer accounts for as much (i.e. provide reassurances). It is my concern here to look at an important factor that might help in going some way towards explaining the apparent ‘bad faith' of rich countries: the state of public sentiment around global poverty. A key line of inquiry I wish to explore here is the condition of ambivalence among the citizens and residents of wealthy countries to social problems beyond national border.It is my contention that the active indifference of the rich nation-state towards global poverty occurs under conditions where there exists a complementary blasé attitudinal structure amongst its peoples. Using data from a 2005 national sample survey, this study provides information from Australia about the state of public dispositions around the Millennium Development Goals and global social problems.

The meiosis-specific Cdc20 family-member Ama1 promotes binding of the Ssp2 activator to the Smk1 MAP kinase.

Smk1 is a meiosis-specific MAP kinase (MAPK) in budding yeast that is required for spore formation. It is localized to prospore membranes (PSMs), the structures that engulf haploid cells during meiosis II (MII). Similar to canonically activated MAPKs, Smk1 is controlled by phosphorylation of its activation-loop threonine (T) and tyrosine (Y). However, activation loop phosphorylation occurs via a noncanonical two-step mechanism in which 1) the cyclin-dependent kinase activating kinase Cak1 phosphorylaytes T207 during MI, and 2) Smk1 autophosphorylates Y209 as MII draws to a close. Autophosphorylation of Y209 and catalytic activity for substrates require Ssp2, a meiosis-specific protein that is translationally repressed until anaphase of MII. Ama1 is a meiosis-specific targeting subunit of the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome that regulates multiple steps in meiotic development, including exit from MII. Here, we show that Ama1 activates autophosphorylation of Smk1 on Y209 by promoting formation of the Ssp2/Smk1 complex at PSMs. These findings link meiotic exit to Smk1 activation and spore wall assembly

Accommodative-Convergence Mechanism failure in HIV-Positive Non Presbyopic Patient on Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy: A case report

Purpose: Accommodative-convergence mechanism failure could occur in non presbyopic HIV- sero positive patients on Highly Active Anti-Retroviral  Therapy (HAART). This could be due to either direct neuronal infection by HIV, pathologic changes of the lens or the ciliary body or adverse effects of some individual drugs constituting the HAART regimen on the cranial nerves which play vital roles in the mechanism of accommodation and convergence. Case report: This is a case report of an accommodative- convergence mechanism failure in HIV positive non presbyopic 32-year-old male patient  that was on HAART for more than five years. He presented with distance visual acuity (VA) of OD: 6/9 +2, OS: 6/9, and near visual acuity (NVA) of N24 both eyes, 3Δ esophoria at distance and 4Δ esophoria at near. Amplitude of accommodation (AA) was 3.50D and accommodative  convergence/accommodation (AC/A) ratio was 6/1. Following comprehensive evaluation, his refractive correction was OD: Plano/-0.50DC X 180 6/5 and OS: Plano/-0.50DC X 90 6/5 at distance with near addition (Add) 2.50D N5. This was prescribed for regular wear in form of D-Top bifocal lens. Conclusion: These findings showed that HIV sero-positive adults on HAART could develop accommodativeconvergence mechanism failure, which may be characterized by low amplitude of accommodation, receded near point of convergence and high non presbyopic reading addition. These conditions may be under-recognized and need for reading addition of a non presbyopic age is often overlooked. Key Words: Accommodative-Convergence, HIV, Lateral Phoria, Refractive error

The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: latest science cases and simulations

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) first light instrument IRIS (Infrared Imaging Spectrograph) will complete its preliminary design phase in 2016. The IRIS instrument design includes a near-infrared (0.85 - 2.4 micron) integral field spectrograph (IFS) and imager that are able to conduct simultaneous diffraction-limited observations behind the advanced adaptive optics system NFIRAOS. The IRIS science cases have continued to be developed and new science studies have been investigated to aid in technical performance and design requirements. In this development phase, the IRIS science team has paid particular attention to the selection of filters, gratings, sensitivities of the entire system, and science cases that will benefit from the parallel mode of the IFS and imaging camera. We present new science cases for IRIS using the latest end-to-end data simulator on the following topics: Solar System bodies, the Galactic center, active galactic nuclei (AGN), and distant gravitationally-lensed galaxies. We then briefly discuss the necessity of an advanced data management system and data reduction pipeline.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, SPIE (2016) 9909-0

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis associated with pulmonary vein thrombosis: a case report

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary vein thrombosis represents a potentially fatal disease. This syndrome may clinically mimic pulmonary embolism but has a different investigation strategy and prognosis. Pulmonary vein thrombosis is difficult to diagnose clinically and usually requires a combination of conventionally used diagnostic modalities. CASE PRESENTATION: The authors report a case of a 78-year-old previously healthy female presenting with collapse and shortness of breath. Serum biochemistry revealed acute kidney injury, positive D-dimmer's and increased C reactive protein. Chest radiography demonstrated volume loss in the right lung. The patient was started on antibiotics and also therapeutic doses of low molecular weight heparin. The working diagnosis included community acquired pneumonia & pulmonary embolism. A computed tomography pulmonary angiogram was performed to confirm the clinical suspicions of pulmonary embolism. This demonstrated a thrombus in the pulmonary vein, with associated fibrosis and volume loss of the right lower lobe. A subsequent thrombophilia screen revealed a positive lupus anticoagulant antibody and rheumatoid factor and also decreased anti thrombin III and protein C levels. The urine protein/creatinine ratio was found to be 553 mg/mmol. CONCLUSION: The diagnosis of this patient was therefore of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis associated with pulmonary vein thrombosis. Whether or not the pulmonary vein thrombosis was a primary cause of the fibrosis or a consequence of it was unclear. There are few data on the management of pulmonary vein thrombosis, but anticoagulation, antibiotics, and, in cases of large pulmonary vein thrombosis, thrombectomy or pulmonary resection have been used

Studying (Small) businesses with the Michigan Employment Security Commission longitudinal data base

This paper addresses the usefulness of a longitudinal data file constructed from records on employers from the Michigan Employment Security Commission. We describe the main features of the data file, which includes quarterly (and in some cases, monthly) data from the third quarter of 1978 through the first quarter of 1983, plus the fourth quarters of 1983–87. We then illustrate the uses of the data with two examples: (1) studying changes in the Michigan economy, in particular the early growth and survival of new units of different sizes; and (2) studying the behavior of wages and employment following changes in ownership.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43665/1/11187_2004_Article_BF00401623.pd

Glucose Depletion in the Airway Surface Liquid Is Essential for Sterility of the Airways

Diabetes mellitus predisposes the host to bacterial infections. Moreover, hyperglycemia has been shown to be an independent risk factor for respiratory infections. The luminal surface of airway epithelia is covered by a thin layer of airway surface liquid (ASL) and is normally sterile despite constant exposure to bacteria. The balance between bacterial growth and killing in the airway determines the outcome of exposure to inhaled or aspirated bacteria: infection or sterility. We hypothesized that restriction of carbon sources –including glucose– in the ASL is required for sterility of the lungs. We found that airway epithelia deplete glucose from the ASL via a novel mechanism involving polarized expression of GLUT-1 and GLUT-10, intracellular glucose phosphorylation, and low relative paracellular glucose permeability in well-differentiated cultures of human airway epithelia and in segments of airway epithelia excised from human tracheas. Moreover, we found that increased glucose concentration in the ASL augments growth of P. aeruginosa in vitro and in the lungs of hyperglycemic ob/ob and db/db mice in vivo. In contrast, hyperglycemia had no effect on intrapulmonary bacterial growth of a P. aeruginosa mutant that is unable to utilize glucose as a carbon source. Our data suggest that depletion of glucose in the airway epithelial surface is a novel mechanism for innate immunity. This mechanism is important for sterility of the airways and has implications in hyperglycemia and conditions that result in disruption of the epithelial barrier in the lung

Calculating total health service utilisation and costs from routinely collected electronic health records using the example of patients with irritable bowel syndrome before and after their first gastroenterology appointment

INTRODUCTION: Health economic models are increasingly important in funding decisions but most are based on data, which may therefore not represent the general population. We sought to establish the potential of real-world data available within the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and linked Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) to determine comprehensive healthcare utilisation and costs as input variables for economic modelling. METHODS: A cohort of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) who first saw a gastroenterologist in 2008 or 2009, and with 3 years of data before and after their appointment, was created in the CPRD. Primary care, outpatient, inpatient, prescription and colonoscopy data were extracted from the linked CPRD and HES. The appropriate cost to the NHS was attached to each event. Total and stratified annual healthcare utilisation rates and costs were calculated before and after the gastroenterology appointment with distribution parameters. Absolute differences were calculated with 95 % confidence intervals. RESULTS: Total annual healthcare costs over 3 years increase by £935 (95 % CI £928–941) following a gastroenterology appointment for IBS. We derived utilisation and cost data with parameter distributions stratified by demographics and time. Women, older patients, smokers and patients with greater comorbidity utilised more healthcare resources, which generated higher costs. CONCLUSIONS: These linked datasets provide comprehensive primary and secondary care data for large numbers of patients, which allows stratification of outcomes. It is possible to derive input parameters appropriate for economic models and their distributions directly from the population of interest

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016