Characterization of a methionine-rich protein from the seeds of Cereus jamacaru Mill. (Cactaceae) <A NAME="Home"></A>

We describe here the isolation and characterization of a major albumin from the seeds of Cereus jamacaru (Cactaceae), to which we gave the trivial name of cactin. This protein has a molecular mass of 11.3 kDa and is formed by a light chain (3.67 kDa) and a heavy chain (7.63 kDa). This protein was isolated using a combination of gel filtration chromatography and reverse-phase HPLC. The amino acid composition of cactin was determined and found to resemble that of the 2S seed reserve protein from the Brazil nut, a protein remarkable for its high methionine content. The usefulness of cactin as a molecular marker in the taxonomy of the Cactaceae is discussed

The Future of the ILO: A Renewed Purpose in Promoting a Global Living Wage

It is close to 100 years since the Treaty of Versailles, 1919, was enacted creating the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and enshrining the principle of a living wage in international law. A century later, we lack the means to guarantee a living wage to a large proportion of the worlds population, leaving an estimated 327 million people to live in extreme poverty and 967 more in moderate and near poverty. In India alone, around 360 million people currently live in poverty, though this figure varies greatly depending on the measure used to account for poverty. Most adults living in poverty are workers in nonstandard arrangements in the sense that they do not work in an employment relationship and they are informal, in the sense that their work is not regulated by labour laws. Many work in supply chains. This paper examines why the ILO has been unable to deliver this most important of labour rightsa living wageand how the ILO could reform both its strategy and its institutional structure so as to be more effective in this important domain. The chapter proposes a renewed role for the ILO as a body that would promote and assist in the enforcement of living wages