Søren Dosenrode, (ed.), Christianity and Resistance in the Twentieth Century. From Kaj Munk and Diedrich Bonhoeffer to Desmond Tutu

Part of Brill’s impressive series in International Studies in Religion and Society, Christianity and Resistance in the Twentieth Century is a collection of ten essays and a short introduction and an even shorter conclusion that profiles several notable Christian leaders who took stands of resistance or protest to various forms of human rights abuse and state sponsored persecution. Of the eight persons profiled, six were resisters to the evils of Nazi Germany, the others being Oscar Romero and..

Toward an ethnohistory of Haitian pilgrimage

Toward an ethnohistory of Haitian pilgrimage. Combining historiography and ethnography, this article illustrates the various ethno-religious streams that have fertilized Haiti’s thriving pilgrimage traditions. With particular focus on the cults and feasts of St. James the Greater/Ogou Feray in La-Plaine-du-Nord and of St. Philomena/Lasyrenn in Bord-de-Mer-de-Limonade, and with a careful consideration of Kongolese religious culture (both Catholic and traditional), a convincing case is made here that pilgrimage in Haiti owes much more to Central African traditions than is generally acknowledged by scholars of Vodou, who over-emphasize the religion’s West African roots.Pour une ethnohistoire des pèlerinages haïtiens. En s’appuyant conjointement sur l’histoire et l’ethnographie, cet article explore les différents courants ethno-religieux qui ont irrigué la vigoureuse tradition des pèlerinages en Haïti. À partir notamment de l’exemple des cultes et des festivités en l’honneur de Saint Jacques le Majeur/Ogou Feray à la Plaine-du-Nord et de Sainte Philomène/Lasyrenn à Bord-de-Mer-de-Limonade et en accordant une attention spéciale à la culture religieuse congolaise (à la fois traditionnelle et catholique), il argumente le fait que les pèlerinages haïtiens doivent beaucoup plus aux traditions d’Afrique centrale que ne le reconnaissent en général les spécialistes du vaudou, lesquels insistent trop souvent sur les racines ouest-africaines de la religion.Hacia una etnohistoria de la peregrinación en Haití. Con base en la historia y la etnografía, este artículo ilustra las diferentes fuentes etnoreligiosas que han nutrido la vigorosa tradición de la peregrinación en Haití. Centrándose en los cultos y las fiestas de Santiago el Mayor/Ogou Feray en la Plaine-du-Nord y de Santa Filómena/Lasyrenn en Bord-de-Mer-de-Limonade y con atención especial en la cultura religiosa congoleña (a la vez tradicional y católica), argumenta sobre el hecho de que las peregrinaciones en Haití deben mucho más a las tradiciones de África central que lo que admiten generalmente los especialistas del vodû, quienes hacen demasiado hincapié en sus raíces de África del Oeste

Reciprocal regulation between the molecular clock and kidney injury

Molecular clock; Kidney injuryRellotge molecular; Lesió renalReloj molecular; Lesión renalTubulointerstitial fibrosis is the common pathological substrate for many etiologies leading to chronic kidney disease. Although perturbations in the circadian rhythm have been associated with renal disease, the role of the molecular clock in the pathogenesis of fibrosis remains incompletely understood. We investigated the relationship between the molecular clock and renal damage in experimental models of injury and fibrosis (unilateral ureteral obstruction, folic acid, and adenine nephrotoxicity), using genetically modified mice with selective deficiencies of the clock components Bmal1, Clock, and Cry. We found that the molecular clock pathway was enriched in damaged tubular epithelial cells with marked metabolic alterations. In human tubular epithelial cells, TGFβ significantly altered the expression of clock components. Although Clock played a role in the macrophage-mediated inflammatory response, the combined absence of Cry1 and Cry2 was critical for the recruitment of neutrophils, correlating with a worsening of fibrosis and with a major shift in the expression of metabolism-related genes. These results support that renal damage disrupts the kidney peripheral molecular clock, which in turn promotes metabolic derangement linked to inflammatory and fibrotic responses.This work was supported by grants from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PID2019-104233RB-100/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (S Lamas), Instituto de Salud Carlos III REDinREN RD12/0021/0009 and RD16/0009/0016 (S Lamas), Comunidad de Madrid “NOVELREN” B2017/BMD-3751 and INNOREN P2022/BMD-7221 (S Lamas and C Barbas), and Fundación Renal “Iñigo Alvarez de Toledo” (S Lamas), all from Spain. C Rey-Serra has been the recipient of an FPI research training contract from the Spanish Research State Agency (BES-2016-076735). The CBMSO receives institutional support from Fundación “Ramón Areces.” We acknowledge the laboratories of Fernando Rodríguez Pascual (CBMSO) for helping with plasmid constructions and of Marta Ruiz‐Ortega at the Fundación Jiménez Díaz for helping with immunohistochemistry. We also acknowledge the help of the following facilities of the CBMSO: animal housing, flow cytometry, and confocal and electron microscopy

Reciprocal regulation between the molecular clock and kidney injury

Tubulointerstitial fibrosis is the common pathological substrate for many etiologies leading to chronic kidney disease. Although perturbations in the circadian rhythm have been associated with renal disease, the role of the molecular clock in the pathogenesis of fibrosis remains incompletely understood. We investigated the relationship between the molecular clock and renal damage in experimental models of injury and fibrosis (unilateral ureteral obstruction, folic acid, and adenine nephrotoxicity), using genetically modified mice with selective deficiencies of the clock components Bmal1, Clock, and Cry. We found that the molecular clock pathway was enriched in damaged tubular epithelial cells with marked metabolic alterations. In human tubular epithelial cells, TGFβ significantly altered the expression of clock components. Although Clock played a role in the macrophage-mediated inflammatory response, the combined absence of Cry1 and Cry2 was critical for the recruitment of neutrophils, correlating with a worsening of fibrosis and with a major shift in the expression of metabolism-related genes. These results support that renal damage disrupts the kidney peripheral molecular clock, which in turn promotes metabolic derangement linked to inflammatory and fibrotic responses.This work was supported by grants from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PID2019-104233RB-100/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (S Lamas), Instituto de Salud Carlos III REDinREN RD12/0021/0009 and RD16/0009/0016 (S Lamas), Comunidad de Madrid “NOVELREN” B2017/BMD-3751 and INNOREN P2022/BMD-7221 (S Lamas and C Barbas), and Fundación Renal “Iñigo Alvarez de Toledo” (S Lamas), all from Spain. C Rey-Serra has been the recipient of an FPI research training contract from the Spanish Research State Agency (BES-2016-076735). The CBMSO receives institutional support from Fundación “Ramón Areces.

Regional age structure, human capital and innovation - is demographic ageing increasing regional disparities?

Demographic change is expected to affect labour markets in very different ways on a regional scale. The objective of this paper is to explore the spatio-temporal patterns of recent distributional changes in the workers age structure, innovation output and skill composition for German regions by conducting an Exploratory Space-Time Data Analysis (ESTDA). Beside commonly used tools, we apply newly developed approaches which allow investigating the space-time dynamics of the spatial distributions. We include an analysis of the joint distributional dynamics of the patenting variable with the remaining interest variables. Overall, we find strong clustering tendencies for the demographic variables and innovation that constitute a great divide across German regions. The detected clusters partly evolve over time and suggest a demographic polarization trend among regions that may further reinforce the observed innovation divide in the future

Less-tight versus tight control of hypertension in pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: The effects of less-tight versus tight control of hypertension on pregnancy complications are unclear. METHODS: We performed an open, international, multicenter trial involving women at 14 weeks 0 days to 33 weeks 6 days of gestation who had nonproteinuric preexisting or gestational hypertension, office diastolic blood pressure of 90 to 105 mm Hg (or 85 to 105 mm Hg if the woman was taking antihypertensive medications), and a live fetus. Women were randomly assigned to less-tight control (target diastolic blood pressure, 100 mm Hg) or tight control (target diastolic blood pressure, 85 mm Hg). The composite primary outcome was pregnancy loss or high-level neonatal care for more than 48 hours during the first 28 postnatal days. The secondary outcome was serious maternal complications occurring up to 6 weeks post partum or until hospital discharge, whichever was later. RESULTS: Included in the analysis were 987 women; 74.6% had preexisting hypertension. The primary-outcome rates were similar among 493 women assigned to less-tight control and 488 women assigned to tight control (31.4% and 30.7%, respectively; adjusted odds ratio, 1.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.77 to 1.35), as were the rates of serious maternal complications (3.7% and 2.0%, respectively; adjusted odds ratio, 1.74; 95% CI, 0.79 to 3.84), despite a mean diastolic blood pressure that was higher in the less-tight-control group by 4.6 mm Hg (95% CI, 3.7 to 5.4). Severe hypertension (≥160/110 mm Hg) developed in 40.6% of the women in the less-tight-control group and 27.5% of the women in the tight-control group (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We found no significant between-group differences in the risk of pregnancy loss, high-level neonatal care, or overall maternal complications, although less-tight control was associated with a significantly higher frequency of severe maternal hypertension. (Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research; CHIPS Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN71416914; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01192412.)

Detección del derrame de petróleo mediante teledetección y fotogrametría en zonas costeras de Lima y Callao: Detection of the oil spill through remote sensing and photogrammetry in coastal areas of Lima and Callao

La detección precisa es importante para una respuesta rápida a los Accidentes por Derrame de Petróleo (ADP). La investigación tiene como objetivo determinar el nivel de riesgo originado por derrame de petróleo en zonas costeras de Lima y Callao. Se consideraron nueve indicadores espaciales para el proceso de mapeo: Corriente marina; dirección del viento; concentración de derrame de petróleo; lugar de ocurrencia; unidad de conservación; uso actual del suelo; microzonificación ecológica económica; tipo de suelo; geomorfología. Se identificó utilizando un enfoque integrado de Tecnologías de Información Geográfica (TIG), Proceso Analítico Jerárquico (AHP) basado en la toma de decisiones multicriterio. Los resultados revelaron la Zonificación del Riesgo (ZR) originado por ADP: Muy Alto (ADPMA) con 0.244 ≤ ZR ≤ 0.488; Alto (ADPA) con 0.153 ≤ ZR ≤ 0.244; Medio (ADPM) con 0.073 ≤ ZR ≤ 0.153 y Bajo (ADPB) con 0.043 ≤ R ≤ 0.073. La cartografía de riesgo ayudará a las instituciones a formular políticas y a los planificadores a implementar medidas de mitigación efectivas para evitar futuros derrames

Rational engineering of recombinant picornavirus capsids to produce safe, protective vaccine antigen

Foot-and-mouth disease remains a major plague of livestock and outbreaks are often economically catastrophic. Current inactivated virus vaccines require expensive high containment facilities for their production and maintenance of a cold-chain for their activity. We have addressed both of these major drawbacks. Firstly we have developed methods to efficiently express recombinant empty capsids. Expression constructs aimed at lowering the levels and activity of the viral protease required for the cleavage of the capsid protein precursor were used; this enabled the synthesis of empty A-serotype capsids in eukaryotic cells at levels potentially attractive to industry using both vaccinia virus and baculovirus driven expression. Secondly we have enhanced capsid stability by incorporating a rationally designed mutation, and shown by X-ray crystallography that stabilised and wild-type empty capsids have essentially the same structure as intact virus. Cattle vaccinated with recombinant capsids showed sustained virus neutralisation titres and protection from challenge 34 weeks after immunization. This approach to vaccine antigen production has several potential advantages over current technologies by reducing production costs, eliminating the risk of infectivity and enhancing the temperature stability of the product. Similar strategies that will optimize host cell viability during expression of a foreign toxic gene and/or improve capsid stability could allow the production of safe vaccines for other pathogenic picornaviruses of humans and animals

Women's views and postpartum follow-up in the CHIPS Trial (Control of Hypertension in Pregnancy Study).

OBJECTIVE: To compare women's views about blood pressure (BP) control in CHIPS (Control of Hypertension In Pregnancy Study) (NCT01192412). DESIGN: Quantitative and qualitative analysis of questionnaire responses. SETTING: International randomised trial (94 sites, 15 countries). POPULATION/SAMPLE: 911 (92.9%) women randomised to 'tight' (target diastolic blood pressure, 85mmHg) or 'less tight' (target diastolic blood pressure, 100mmHg) who completed questionnaires. METHODS: A questionnaire was administered at ∼6-12 weeks postpartum regarding post-discharge morbidity and views about trial participation. Questionnaires were administered by the site co-ordinator, and contact was made by phone, home or clinic visit; rarely, data was collected from medical records. Quantitative analyses were Chi-square or Fisher's exact test for categorical variables, mixed effects multinomial logistic regression to adjust for confounders, and p<0.001 for statistical significance. NVivo software was used for thematic analysis of women's views. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Satisfaction, measured as willingness to have the same treatment in another pregnancy or recommend that treatment to a friend. RESULTS: Among the 533 women in 'tight' (N=265) vs. 'less tight' (N=268) control who provided comments for qualitative analysis, women in 'tight' (vs. 'less tight') control made fewer positive comments about the amount of medication taken (5 vs. 28 women, respectively) and intensity of BP monitoring (7 vs. 17, respectively). However, this did not translate into less willingness to either have the same treatment in another pregnancy (434, 95.8% vs. 423, 92.4%, respectively; p=0.14) or recommend that treatment to a friend (435, 96.0% and 428, 93.4%, respectively; p=0.17). Importantly, although satisfaction remained high among women with an adverse outcome, those in 'tight' control who suffered an adverse outcome (vs. those who did not) were not consistently less satisfied, whereas this was not the case among women in 'less tight' control among whom satisfaction was consistently lower for the CHIPS primary outcome (p<0.001), severe hypertension (p≤0.01), and pre-eclampsia (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Women in 'tight' (vs. 'less tight') control were equally satisfied with their care, and more so in the face of adverse perinatal or maternal outcomes