Incorporating translation into sociolinguistic research: translation policy in an international non-governmental organisation

This article explores aspects of translation, multilingualism and language policy in the field of transnational civil society. By focusing on translation policies at Amnesty International, an international non-governmental organisation that performs a key role in global governance, this article seeks to contribute to a globalisation-sensitive sociolinguistics. It argues that combining a sociolinguistic approach, more precisely linguistic ethnography, with translation studies leads to an increased understanding of the language practices under study. Furthermore, the article calls for more interdisciplinary research, stating that there is a space for sociolinguistics and translation studies to contribute to research in international relations and development studies by highlighting the role of multilingualism and challenging the traditionally powerful position of English in transnational civil society

Declaração e objetivos de desenvolvimento do milênio : oportunidades para os direitos humanos

Publicado em português, espanhol e inglês.Título em espanhol: Declaración y objetivos de desarrollo del milenio: oportunidades para los derechos humanos. -- Título em inglês: Millennium declaration and development goals: opportunities for human rights."Aborda o relacionamento intrínseco dos Objetivos do Milênio com os direitos humanos. Analisa como a adoção do discurso dos direitos humanos pelos países – em particular por aqueles onde a fome e a pobreza estão em rápido progresso – cria condições para reivindicar o monitoramento e a implementação desses Objetivos até 2015. Mostra que, apesar de sua suposta fraqueza, os Objetivos do Milênio podem ser muito proveitosos para o avanço da agenda dos direitos humanos. E sugere que os cidadãos se mobilizem para cobrar de seus governos, e das instituições internacionais, a consecução desses Objetivos, com o propósito de erradicar a fome e intensificar o desenvolvimento.

The Millennium Campaign: Getting governments to keep their promises

Salil Shetty argues that the greatest insecurities continue to be faced by excluded groups and individuals where there is a daily threat to their very existence. He argues that the Millennium Development Goals offer the best means for a breakthrough on poverty and looks at the important role that civil society can play to make governments keep their promise to tackle poverty through the Goals. Development (2005) 48, 25–29. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100106

The potential of PIVKA-II as a treatment response biomarker in hepatocellular carcinoma: a prospective United Kingdom cohort study.

Prothrombin induced by vitamin K absence II (PIVKA-II) has recently been validated internationally as a diagnostic biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), as part of the GALAD model. However, its role as a treatment response biomarker has been less well explored. We, therefore, undertook a prospective study at a tertiary centre in the UK to evaluate the role of PIVKA-II as a treatment response biomarker in patients with early, intermediate and advanced stage HCC. In a cohort of 141 patients, we found that PIVKA-II levels tracked concordantly with treatment response in the majority of patients, across a range of different treatment modalities. We also found that rises in PIVKA-II levels almost always predated radiological progression. Among AFP non-secretors, PIVKA-II was found to be informative in 60% of cases. In a small cohort of patients undergoing liver transplantation, pre-transplant PIVKA-II levels predicted for microvascular invasion and poorer differentiation. Our results demonstrate the potential utility of PIVKA-II as a treatment response biomarker and in predicting microvascular invasion, in a Western population. PIVKA-II demonstrated improved performance over AFP but, as a single biomarker, its performance was still limited. Further larger prospective studies are recommended to evaluate PIVKA-II as a treatment response biomarker, within the GALAD model

Discoursive Alibis: Human rights, millennium development goals and poverty reduction strategy papers

Susan Mathews examines the complex and largely unsettled relationship between the millennium development goals (MDGs), poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs) and human rights discourse, partly through analysing the proposal that PRSPs be aligned to MDGs. A major risk is that the MDGs and PRSPs aligned create an amalgam of policy formulae that bring together the goal stringency of the former and the macroeconomic and structural reform orthodoxy of the latter, which could seriously hamper poverty reduction and disempower low-income countries and its poor peoples. Development (2007) 50, 76–82. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100362