Kenya zwischen Kontinuität und Erneuerung: Bilanz des ersten Jahres der Regierung Mwai Kibaki

One year after the impressive victory of Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki and his National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), the new administrative coalition still struggles to find an enduring balance of power. The overwhelming issues of economic revitalization, poverty, AIDS, and infrastructure, in addition to the critical fight against corruption at all levels of public service, requires substantial reforms by the administration. Unfortunately, the desire for reform does not translate into a coherent policy, and the individual measures that have been taken have limited effects and run the danger of frustrating hopes and efforts. NARC's internal power struggles endanger the cohesion and reform strides of the administration, are based on longstanding ethnic-political patterns, and are currently focused on particular lines of conflict. Independent of different outcomes, it is clear that there is no hope of establishing a firm party landscape, and the optimism of the 2002/2003 election has meanwhile largely dissipated. Renewal and continuity with respect to the old Moi regime simultaneously characterize the first year of the Kibaki administration. The path in both directions remains open.Im ostafrikanischen Kenya hat die neue Regierungskoalition der National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) von Präsident Mwai Kibaki ein Jahr nach ihrem glanzvollen Sieg noch kein inneres Machtgleichgewicht gefunden. Die daraus resultierenden internen Machtkämpfe im NARC-Bündnis verlaufen entlang der alten ethnisch-politischen Muster. Sie gefährden den Zusammenhalt der Regierung und damit auch die durchaus nicht geringen Reformfortschritte des ersten Regierungsjahres. Im folgenden werden die wesentlichen Reformschritte der neuen Regierung und ihre Implikationen skizziert. Daran schließt sich eine Analyse und Einschätzung der aktuellen internen Machtkämpfe an

Kenia vor gewaltsamen Wahlen?

Kenia wählt am 4. März 2013 einen neuen Präsidenten, ein neues nationales Parlament und erstmals Gouverneure und Bezirksversammlungen in 47 Regionalbezirken. Es ist die erste Wahl unter der neuen Verfassung mit einem neuen Wahlsystem. Dies ist auch der erste Urnengang seit den Wahlen 2007, die das Land in die schwerste Krise seit der Unabhängigkeit stürzten. Wie 2007 stehen sich zwei große Bündnisse gegenüber, jeweils geführt von einem Luo, Raila Odinga, und einem Kikuyu, Uhuru Kenyatta, als Präsidentschaftskandidaten. Analyse Einerseits eröffnen die Wahlen 2013 für Kenia die Möglichkeit, den mit der neuen Verfassung eingeleiteten Wandel zu mehr Demokratie und Rechtsstaatlichkeit zu konsolidieren. Andererseits gefährdet ein komplexes Problembündel nicht nur die bisherigen Reformfortschritte, sondern birgt die Gefahr neuer gewaltsamer Auseinandersetzungen. Nur ein Sieg bei den Präsidentschaftswahlen garantiert Uhuru Kenyatta und dem mitangeklagten William Ruto wirksamen Schutz vor Strafverfolgung durch den Internationalen Gerichtshof. Entsprechend hoch ist der Anreiz, die Manipulation der Wahlergebnisse und die Gewaltexzesse von 2007/2008 zu wiederholen. Die Wahlkommission war bei dem Versuch gescheitert, die Ausrüstung zur biometrischen Wählerregistrierung zu beschaffen, und hat in der Folge ihre Unabhängigkeit gegenüber der Exekutive eingebüßt. Deshalb bestehen Zweifel, ob sie bei einem knappen Wahlergebnis ein rechtmäßiges Verfahren gewährleisten kann. Der Sicherheitsapparat ist nach wie vor von Kikuyu, der ethnischen Gruppe des amtierenden Präsidenten, dominiert. Bei einem knappen Wahlausgang und dem Ausbruch von Gewalt droht die einseitige Parteinahme der Sicherheitsorgane zugunsten Kenyattas. Das derzeitige Wahlbündnis der Ethnien Kikuyu und Kalenjin lässt eine Wiederholung der gewaltsamen Auseinandersetzungen entlang der gleichen ethnisch-politischen Linien wie 2007 nicht erwarten. Gewaltaktionen etwa gegen lokale ethnische Minderheiten sind aber nicht ausgeschlossen. Die Reform der Justiz gilt als bisher größter Erfolg des Verfassungsprozesses. Die Wahlen werden voraussichtlich zu zahlreichen Wahlanfechtungen vor dem Obersten Gerichtshof führen und sind damit ein Test für die Nachhaltigkeit des Reformweges

Wahlen und Wahlbeobachtung in Nigeria, Marz-Mai 2003

Analyzes Mar.-May 2003 elections in Nigeria; focus on electoral register, organization, political campaign, vote manipulation, and results

Effects of Early Life Stress on Bone Homeostasis in Mice and Humans

Bone pathology is frequent in stressed individuals. A comprehensive examination of mechanisms linking life stress, depression and disturbed bone homeostasis is missing. In this translational study, mice exposed to early life stress (MSUS) were examined for bone microarchitecture (μCT), metabolism (qPCR/ELISA), and neuronal stress mediator expression (qPCR) and compared with a sample of depressive patients with or without early life stress by analyzing bone mineral density (BMD) (DXA) and metabolic changes in serum (osteocalcin, PINP, CTX-I). MSUS mice showed a significant decrease in NGF, NPYR1, VIPR1 and TACR1 expression, higher innervation density in bone, and increased serum levels of CTX-I, suggesting a milieu in favor of catabolic bone turnover. MSUS mice had a significantly lower body weight compared to control mice, and this caused minor effects on bone microarchitecture. Depressive patients with experiences of childhood neglect also showed a catabolic pattern. A significant reduction in BMD was observed in depressive patients with childhood abuse and stressful life events during childhood. Therefore, future studies on prevention and treatment strategies for both mental and bone disease should consider early life stress as a risk factor for bone pathologies

Association of FEV1 in asthmatic children with personal and microenvironmental exposure to airborne particulate matter.

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) air pollution has been shown to exacerbate children's asthma, but the exposure sources and temporal characteristics are still under study. Children's exposure to PM is likely to involve both combustion-related ambient PM and PM related to a child's activity in various indoor and outdoor microenvironments. Among 19 children with asthma, 9-17 years of age, we examined the relationship of temporal changes in percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) to personal continuous PM exposure and to 24-hr average gravimetric PM mass measured at home and central sites. Subjects were followed for 2 weeks during either the fall of 1999 or the spring of 2000, in a southern California region affected by transported air pollution. FEV(subscript)1(/subscript) was measured by subjects in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Exposure measurements included continuous PM using a passive nephelometer carried by subjects; indoor, outdoor home, and central-site 24-hr gravimetric PM2.5 (PM of aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 microm) and PM10; and central-site hourly PM10, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone. Data were analyzed with linear mixed models controlling for within-subject autocorrelation, FEV1 maneuver time, and exposure period. We found inverse associations of FEV1 with increasing PM exposure during the 24 hr before the FEV1 maneuver and with increasing multiday PM averages. Deficits in percent predicted FEV1 (95% confidence interval) for given PM interquartile ranges measured during the preceding 24-hr were as follows: 128 microg/m3 1-hr maximum personal PM, -6.0% (-10.5 to -1.4); 30 microg/m3 24-hr average personal PM, -5.9% (-10.8 to -1.0); 6.7 microg/m3 indoor home PM2.5, -1.6% (-2.8 to -0.4); 16 microg/m3 indoor home PM10, -2.1% (-3.7 to -0.4); 7.1 microg/m3 outdoor home PM2.5, -1.1% (-2.4 to 0.1); and 7.5 microg/m3 central-site PM2.5, -0.7% (-1.9 to 0.4). Stronger associations were found for multiday moving averages of PM for both personal and stationary-site PM. Stronger associations with personal PM were found in boys allergic to indoor allergens. FEV1 was weakly associated with NO2 but not with O3. Results suggest mixed respiratory effects of PM in asthmatic children from both ambient background exposures and personal exposures in various microenvironments

Gene content evolution in the arthropods

Arthropods comprise the largest and most diverse phylum on Earth and play vital roles in nearly every ecosystem. Their diversity stems in part from variations on a conserved body plan, resulting from and recorded in adaptive changes in the genome. Dissection of the genomic record of sequence change enables broad questions regarding genome evolution to be addressed, even across hyper-diverse taxa within arthropods. Using 76 whole genome sequences representing 21 orders spanning more than 500 million years of arthropod evolution, we document changes in gene and protein domain content and provide temporal and phylogenetic context for interpreting these innovations. We identify many novel gene families that arose early in the evolution of arthropods and during the diversification of insects into modern orders. We reveal unexpected variation in patterns of DNA methylation across arthropods and examples of gene family and protein domain evolution coincident with the appearance of notable phenotypic and physiological adaptations such as flight, metamorphosis, sociality, and chemoperception. These analyses demonstrate how large-scale comparative genomics can provide broad new insights into the genotype to phenotype map and generate testable hypotheses about the evolution of animal diversity

Amicus Brief, Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital

Illinois Public Act 82-280, § 2-1706.5, as amended by P.A. 94-677, § 330 (eff. Aug. 25, 2005), and as codified as 735 ILCS 5/2-1706.5(a), imposes a $500,000 “cap” on the noneconomic damages that may be awarded in a medical malpractice suit against a physician or other health care professional, and a$1 million “cap” on the noneconomic damages that may be awarded against a hospital, its affiliates, or their employees. This brief will address two of the questions presented for review by the parties: 1. Does the cap violate the Illinois Constitution’s prohibition on “special legislation,” Art. IV, § 3, because it unnecessarily, arbitrarily, and irrationally grants exceptional benefits and privileges exclusively to certain classes of tort defendants. 2. Does the cap violate the Illinois Constitution’s guarantee of “equal protection,” Art. I, § 2, because it unnecessarily, arbitrarily, and irrationally imposes extraordinary burdens uniquely upon certain classes and sub-classes of tort plaintiffs