Expression of DNA transposable elements during nervous system development: A discussion about its possible functions

Transposable elements (retrotransposons and DNA transposons) comprise a large proportion of animal genomes, for example 20% in D. melanogaster, 36% in X. tropicalis and 45% in humans. After invading a new genome, the transposable element increases its copy number and subsequently accumulates mutations. These may eventually result in inactive copies. Until recent days transposons have been considered “junk” DNA and no clear function have been assigned for this important amount of information on genomes

Motivation and incentives of rural maternal and neonatal health care providers: a comparison of qualitative findings from Burkina Faso, Ghana and Tanzania.

In Burkina Faso, Ghana and Tanzania strong efforts are being made to improve the quality of maternal and neonatal health (MNH) care. However, progress is impeded by challenges, especially in the area of human resources. All three countries are striving not only to scale up the number of available health staff, but also to improve performance by raising skill levels and enhancing provider motivation. In-depth interviews were used to explore MNH provider views about motivation and incentives at primary care level in rural Burkina Faso, Ghana and Tanzania. Interviews were held with 25 MNH providers, 8 facility and district managers, and 2 policy-makers in each country. Across the three countries some differences were found in the reasons why people became health workers. Commitment to remaining a health worker was generally high. The readiness to remain at a rural facility was far less, although in all settings there were some providers that were willing to stay. In Burkina Faso it appeared to be particularly difficult to recruit female MNH providers to rural areas. There were indications that MNH providers in all the settings sometimes failed to treat their patients well. This was shown to be interlinked with differences in how the term 'motivation' was understood, and in the views held about remuneration and the status of rural health work. Job satisfaction was shown to be quite high, and was particularly linked to community appreciation. With some important exceptions, there was a strong level of agreement regarding the financial and non-financial incentives that were suggested by these providers, but there were clear country preferences as to whether incentives should be for individuals or teams. Understandings of the terms and concepts pertaining to motivation differed between the three countries. The findings from Burkina Faso underline the importance of gender-sensitive health workforce planning. The training that all levels of MNH providers receive in professional ethics, and the way this is reinforced in practice require closer attention. The differences in the findings across the three settings underscore the importance of in-depth country-level research to tailor the development of incentives schemes

Conclusion: Reflecting on Studying Evidence Use from a Public Policy Perspective

This final chapter reflects on the insights provided by the case studies that constitute this volume, focussing on the key questions which informed the broader research programme from which the cases arise: what does it mean to use evidence effectively to inform health policymaking?; and how do political and institutional factors shape the specific forms of evidence use that arise in different contexts? It discusses the circumstances in which instrumental or strategic uses of evidence were seen; as well as synthesising insights about the ways in which political contestation, the framing and construction of policy problems and their solutions, and different institutional arrangements for policy delivery shape evidence use in different policy contexts. The chapter concludes by considering future areas of research in this field to provide further insights into the use of evidence for health policymaking from a public policy perspective

An Image Statistics–Based Model for Fixation Prediction

The problem of predicting where people look at, or equivalently salient region detection, has been related to the statistics of several types of low-level image features. Among these features, contrast and edge information seem to have the highest correlation with the fixation locations. The contrast distribution of natural images can be adequately characterized using a two-parameter Weibull distribution. This distribution catches the structure of local contrast and edge frequency in a highly meaningful way. We exploit these observations and investigate whether the parameters of the Weibull distribution constitute a simple model for predicting where people fixate when viewing natural images. Using a set of images with associated eye movements, we assess the joint distribution of the Weibull parameters at fixated and non-fixated regions. Then, we build a simple classifier based on the log-likelihood ratio between these two joint distributions. Our results show that as few as two values per image region are already enough to achieve a performance comparable with the state-of-the-art in bottom-up saliency prediction

Interaction of RNA polymerase II and the small RNA machinery affects heterochromatic silencing in Drosophila

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Heterochromatin is the tightly packaged dynamic region of the eukaryotic chromosome that plays a vital role in cellular processes such as mitosis and meiotic recombination. Recent experiments in <it>Schizosaccharomyces pombe </it>have revealed the structure of centromeric heterochromatin is affected in RNAi pathway mutants. It has also been shown in fission yeast that the heterochromatin barrier is traversed by RNA Pol II and that the passage of RNA Pol II through heterochromatin is important for heterochromatin structure. Thus, an intricate interaction between the RNAi machinery and RNA Pol II affects heterochromatin structure. However, the role of the RNAi machinery and RNA Pol II on the metazoan heterochromatin landscape is not known. This study analyses the interaction of the small RNA machinery and RNA Pol II on <it>Drosophila </it>heterochromatin structure.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results in this paper show genetic and biochemical interaction between RNA Pol II (largest and second largest subunit) and small RNA silencing machinery components (<it>dcr-2, ago1, ago2, piwi, Lip [D], aub </it>and <it>hls</it>). Immunofluorescence analysis of polytene chromosomes from trans-heterozygotes of RNA Pol II and different mutations of the small RNA pathways show decreased H3K9me2 and mislocalization of Heterochromatin protein-1. A genetic analysis performed on these mutants showed a strong suppression of <it>white-mottled4h </it>position effect variegation. This was further corroborated by a western blot analysis and chromatin immunoprecipitation, which showed decreased H3K9me2 in trans-heterozygote mutants compared to wild type or single heterozygotes. Co-immunoprecipitation performed using <it>Drosophila </it>embryo extracts showed the RNA Pol II largest subunit interacting with Dcr-2 and dAGO1. Co-localization performed on polytene chromosomes showed RNA Pol II and dAGO1 overlapping at some sites.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our experiments show a genetic and biochemical interaction between RNA Pol II (largest and second largest subunits) and the small RNA silencing machinery in <it>Drosophila</it>. The interaction has functional aspects in terms of determining H3K9me2 and HP-1 deposition at the chromocentric heterochromatin. Thus, RNA Pol II has an important role in establishing heterochromatin structure in <it>Drosophila</it>.</p

Appeals to evidence for the resolution of wicked problems: the origins and mechanisms of evidentiary bias

Wicked policy problems are often said to be characterized by their ‘intractability’, whereby appeals to evidence are unable to provide policy resolution. Advocates for ‘Evidence Based Policy’ (EBP) often lament these situations as representing the misuse of evidence for strategic ends, while critical policy studies authors counter that policy decisions are fundamentally about competing values, with the (blind) embrace of technical evidence depoliticizing political decisions. This paper aims to help resolve these conflicts and, in doing so, consider how to address this particular feature of problem wickedness. Specifically the paper delineates two forms of evidentiary bias that drive intractability, each of which is reflected by contrasting positions in the EBP debates: ‘technical bias’ - referring to invalid uses of evidence; and ‘issue bias’ - referring to how pieces of evidence direct policy agendas to particular concerns. Drawing on the fields of policy studies and cognitive psychology, the paper explores the ways in which competing interests and values manifest in these forms of bias, and shape evidence utilization through different mechanisms. The paper presents a conceptual framework reflecting on how the nature of policy problems in terms of their complexity, contestation, and polarization can help identify the potential origins and mechanisms of evidentiary bias leading to intractability in some wicked policy debates. The discussion reflects on whether being better informed about such mechanisms permit future work that may lead to strategies to mitigate or overcome such intractability in the future

Impact of targeted interventions on heterosexual transmission of HIV in India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Targeted interventions (TIs) have been a major strategy for HIV prevention in India. We evaluated the impact of TIs on HIV prevalence in high HIV prevalence southern states (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A quasi-experimental approach was used to retrospectively compare changes in HIV prevalence according to the intensity of targeted intervention implementation. Condom gap (number of condoms required minus condoms supplied by TIs) was used as an indicator of TI intensity. Annual average number of commercial sex acts per female sex worker (FSW) reported in Behavioral Surveillance Survey was multiplied by the estimated number of FSWs in each district to calculate annual requirement of condoms in the district. Data of condoms supplied by TIs from 1995 to 2008 was obtained from program records. Districts in each state were ranked into quartiles based on the TI intensity. Primary data of HIV Sentinel Surveillance was analyzed to calculate HIV prevalence reductions in each successive year taking 2001 as reference year according to the quartiles of TI intensity districts using generalized linear model with logit link and binomial distribution after adjusting for age, education, and place of residence (urban or rural).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the high HIV prevalence southern states, the number of TI projects for FSWs increased from 5 to 310 between 1995 and 2008. In high TI intensity quartile districts (n = 30), 186 condoms per FSW/year were distributed through TIs as compared to 45 condoms/FSW/year in the low TI intensity districts (n = 29). Behavioral surveillance indicated significant rise in condom use from 2001 to 2009. Among FSWs consistent condom use with last paying clients increased from 58.6% to 83.7% (p < 0.001), and among men of reproductive age, the condom use during sex with non-regular partner increased from 51.7% to 68.6% (p < 0.001). A significant decline in HIV and syphilis prevalence has occurred in high prevalence southern states among FSWs and young antenatal women. Among young (15-24 years) antenatal clinic attendees significant decline was observed in HIV prevalence from 2001 to 2008 (OR = 0.42, 95% CI 0.28-0.62) in high TI intensity districts whereas in low TI intensity districts the change was not significant (OR = 1.01, 95% CI 0.67-1.5).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Targeted interventions are associated with HIV prevalence decline.</p

Ministries of Health and the Stewardship of Health Evidence

This chapter describes how Ministries of Health have been mandated to act as stewards of populations’ health according to the World Health Organization. We argue that this mandate extends to them having (at least partial) responsibility for ensuring relevant evidence informs policy decisions. Yet this requires consideration of the evidence advisory systems serving Ministry needs, particularly whether or how such systems work to provide relevant information in a timely manner to key decision points in the policy process. Insights from our six cases are presented to illustrate the structural and practical differences which exist between evidence advisory systems and how, at certain times, key health decisions may in fact lie outside ministerial authority. These divergent experiences highlight a range of analytical challenges when considering the provision of evidence to inform health decisions from an institutional perspective