Compromiso de Merck and Co. en la lucha contra el Sida en los países en vías de desarrollo

El documento es un extracto de la conferencia pronunciada por Raymond V. Gilmartin en el Foro de Conferencias de Hardvard sobre Innovación, Ética y Valores Esenciales en 1998, donde define la postura de Merck and Co. ante el problema del Sida en los países del sur.CataluñaES

Wind-borne insects mediate directional pollen transfer between desert fig trees 160 kilometers apart

The question of how far pollen can move between plants has implications for topics as diverse as habitat fragmentation, conservation management, and the containment of genetically modified crops. The monoecious African fig tree Ficus sycomorus L. relies on the small, short-lived, night-flying, host-specific fig wasp Ceratosolen arabicus Mayr for pollination. We used microsatellite markers to characterize a geographically isolated riparian population of F. sycomorus growing along the Ugab River in the Namib Desert, Namibia, together with paternity analysis of seedlings from known mothers, to map pollen movement within this population. In this way we tracked insect movements between individually recognizable trees by means of their pollen cargo and documented the movement of C. arabicus between known trees separated by more than 160 km, with a mean distance for confirmed successful pollination events of 88.6 km. The predominant observed movement of pollinators was in a westerly direction, toward the sea, reflecting seasonal nighttime wind direction and the wind-borne dispersal of fig wasps. Our results suggest the existence of an extensive panmictic population of trees that are well suited to overcome the effects of geographical isolation

Rapid Renal Regulation of Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor γ Coactivator-1α by Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase 1/2 in Physiological and Pathological Conditions

Previous studies have shown that extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) directly inhibits mitochondrial function during cellular injury. We evaluated the role of ERK1/2 on the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1 alpha (PGC-1 alpha) gene, a master regulator of mitochondrial function. The potent and specific MEK1/2 inhibitor trametinib rapidly blocked ERK1/2 phosphorylation, decreased cytosolic and nuclear FOXO3a/1 phosphorylation, and increased PGC-1 alpha gene expression and its downstream mitochondrial biogenesis (MB) targets under physiological conditions in the kidney cortex and in primary renal cell cultures. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor erlotinib blocked ERK1/2 phosphorylation and increased PGC-1 alpha gene expression similar to treatment with trametinib, linking EGFR activation and FOXO3a/1 inactivation to the down-regulation of PGC-1 alpha and MB through ERK1/2. Pretreatment with trametinib blocked early ERK1/2 phosphorylation following ischemia/reperfusion kidney injury and attenuated the downregulation of PGC-1 alpha and downstream target genes. These results demonstrate that ERK1/2 rapidly regulates mitochondrial function through a novel pathway, EGFR/ERK1/2/FOXO3a/1/PGC-1 alpha, under physiological and pathological conditions. As such, ERK1/2 down-regulates mitochondrial function directly by phosphorylation of upstream regulators of PGC-1 alpha and subsequently decreasing MB.National Institutes of Health National Center for Research Resources [C06-RR015455]12 month embargo; Published, JBC Papers in Press, November 14, 2016,This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

‘I have not witnessed it personally myself, but…’: epistemics in managing talk on racism against immigrants in Ireland

Social psychologists who study racism or prejudice argue that various versions of these are constructed in ways to suppress or minimise their relevance. However, researchers have not particularly examined how knowledge‐claims about racism can also be variously made or negotiated in attending to the relevance of racism. We offer such an examination through a discursive psychological analysis of interview talk with Irish nationals on immigration, since in these settings issues of immigration and racism are not readily relevant. Findings show that participants treated how knowledge of racism can be accessed and who has the rights to make knowledge‐claims about racism, as relevant. Epistemic access and rights were negotiated in ways that showed sensitivity to possibilities for suppressing alternative claims about racism. These findings are discussed in relation to current social psychological and discursive approaches to racism