Learning through monitoring, evaluation and adaptations of the “Outcome Harvesting” tool

This paper analyses a monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) system developed within an agricultural research for development institution. The system applies aspects of the Outcome Harvesting tool and focuses on learning for adaptation and improvement of innovation processes. Developmental evaluation principles are applied to discuss its application. The MEL system provides insight into the processes and interactions with next users that generate outcomes. MEL systems that use customized Outcome Harvesting aspects appear promising for adaptive management and to improve how research interacts with next users to achieve developmental outcomes. (Résumé d'auteur

Mexico's Health System: More Comprehensive Reform Needed

Jason Lakin discusses and critiques a Policy Forum that reviews 25 years of reform to the Mexican health system and argues that more comprehensive reform is needed

'Form and Orbital Tonality in the Finale of Bruckner's Seventh Symphony'

This article investigates questions of form in the Finale of Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, paying special attention to the reversed recapitulation as a problematic category in contemporary Formenlehre. Counterpointing Timothy Jackson's reading of the movement as a ‘tragic’ reversed sonata against James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy's critique of the concept of reversal, it seeks ways of accounting for the movement's novel form‐functional characteristics, which integrate concepts of thematic syntax with a model of chromatic tonality, drawing simultaneously on Schenkerian and neo‐Riemannian theories and the notion of the double‐tonic complex first proposed by Robert Bailey. The argument is contextualised in relation to critical debates about Bruckner's forms that originated during the composer's lifetime, especially claims of material discontinuity and harmonic illogicality, which were common in the symphonies’ pro‐Brahmsian reception and which linger in the discourse up to the present. The article's central claim is that a substantial understanding of both the Finale's form and its critical reception is attendant upon a theory of formal function, which takes seriously the difficulties of harmonic analysis that Bruckner's post‐Wagnerian idiom engenders

Detection and imaging of the free radical DNA in cells—Site-specific radical formation induced by Fenton chemistry and its repair in cellular DNA as seen by electron spin resonance, immuno-spin trapping and confocal microscopy

Oxidative stress-related damage to the DNA macromolecule produces lesions that are implicated in various diseases. To understand damage to DNA, it is important to study the free radical reactions causing the damage. Measurement of DNA damage has been a matter of debate as most of the available methods measure the end product of a sequence of events and provide limited information on the initial free radical formation. We report a measurement of free radical damage in DNA induced by a Cu(II)-H2O2 oxidizing system using immuno-spin trapping supplemented with electron paramagnetic resonance. In this investigation, the short-lived radical generated is trapped by the spin trap 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO) immediately upon formation. The DMPO adduct formed is initially electron paramagnetic resonance active, but is subsequently oxidized to the stable nitrone adduct, which can be detected and visualized by immuno-spin trapping and has the potential to be further characterized by other analytical techniques. The radical was found to be located on the 2′-deoxyadenosine (dAdo) moiety of DNA. The nitrone adduct was repaired on a time scale consistent with DNA repair. In vivo experiments for the purpose of detecting DMPO–DNA nitrone adducts should be conducted over a range of time in order to avoid missing adducts due to the repair processes

Abraham Model Correlations for Triethylene Glycol Solvent Derived from Infinite Dilution Activity Coefficient, Partition Coefficient and Solubility Data Measured at 298.15 K

© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. A gas chromatographic headspace analysis method was used to experimentally determine gas-to-liquid partition coefficients and infinite dilution activity coefficients for 29 liquid organic solutes dissolved in triethylene glycol at 298.15 K. Solubilities were also determined at 298.15 K for 23 crystalline nonelectrolyte organic compounds in triethylene glycol based on spectroscopic absorbance measurements. The experimental results of the headspace chromatographic and spectroscopic solubility measurements were converted to gas-to-triethylene glycol and water-to-triethylene glycol partition coefficients, and molar solubility ratios using standard thermodynamic relationships. Expressions were derived for solute transfer into triethylene glycol by combining our measured experimental values with published literature data. Mathematical correlations based on the Abraham model describe the observed partition coefficient and solubility data to within 0.16 log 10 units (or less)

Srebf1a is a key regulator of transcriptional control for adipogenesis

Adipogenesis is regulated by a complex cascade of transcriptional factors, but little is known about the early events that regulate the adipogenic program. Here, we report the role of the srebf1a gene in the differentiation of fibroblastic 3T3-F442A cells. We found that expression of srebf1a depended on GSK3β activity and that GSK3β activity was necessary for C/EBPβ phosphorylation at Thr188. Knockdown of srebf1a inhibited the adipogenic program because it blocked the expression of genes encoding PPARγ2, C/EBPα, SREBP1c and even FABP4, demonstrating that SREBP1a activation is upstream of these three essential adipogenic transcription factors. Kinetic analysis during differentiation illustrated that the order of expression of adipogenic genes was the following: cebpb, srebf1a, pparg2, cebpa, srebp1c and fabp4. Our data suggest that srebf1a acts as an essential link between the GSK3β-C/EBPβ signaling axis and the beginning of the adipogenic transcriptional cascade

Advancing Drug Innovation for Neglected Diseases—Criteria for Lead Progression

The current drug R&D pipeline for most neglected diseases remains weak, and unlikely to support registration of novel drug classes that meet desired target product profiles in the short term. This calls for sustained investment as well as greater emphasis in the risky upstream drug discovery. Access to technologies, resources, and strong management as well as clear compound progression criteria are factors in the successful implementation of any collaborative drug discovery effort. We discuss how some of these factors have impacted drug discovery for tropical diseases within the past four decades, and highlight new opportunities and challenges through the virtual North–South drug discovery network as well as the rationale for greater participation of institutions in developing countries in product innovation. A set of criteria designed to facilitate compound progression from screening hits to drug candidate selection is presented to guide ongoing efforts

Abraham Model Correlations for Triethylene Glycol Solvent Derived from Infinite Dilution Activity Coefficient, Partition Coefficient and Solubility Data Measured at 298.15 K

This article describes the use of a gas chromatographic headspace analysis method to experimentally determine gas-to-liquid partition coefficients and infinite dilution activity coefficients for 29 liquid organic solutes dissolved in triethylene glycol at 298.15 K

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13