Minería de oro: promesas, conflictos y desilusión en Cerro de San Pedro, México

This article analyses how conflicts over land and water resources arose in Cerro de San Pedro, Mexico, when a Canadian mining company started an open pit mine in this municipality. We examine different positions in the conflict between the gold mine developer and local inhabitants, and how ambivalent national regulations and governmental bodies allowed a foreign company to operatewithout the required permits. For scrutinizing the conflict we use the Echelon of Rights Analysis (ERA) framework: four layers of dispute are being distinguished, involving conflicts over: resources; contents of rules and regulations; decision-making power; and discourses. We discuss how the foreign company‘s self-representation discourse as a socially responsible corporation contrasts with the environmental, political and social injustices it inflicts upon the local inhabitants, exacerbated by national policies and international trade agreements. Finally we argue that multi-actor, multi-scale alliances may offer opportunities to foster environmental and social justice solutions.<br/

Ex vivo modulation of intact tumor fragments with anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 influences the expansion and specificity of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes

Checkpoint inhibition (CPI) therapy and adoptive cell therapy with autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL-based ACT) are the two most effective immunotherapies for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. While CPI has been the dominating therapy in the past decade, TIL-based ACT is beneficial for individuals even after progression on previous immunotherapies. Given that notable differences in response have been made when used as a subsequent treatment, we investigated how the qualities of TILs changed when the ex vivo microenvironment of intact tumor fragments were modulated with checkpoint inhibitors targeting programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4). Initially, we show that unmodified TILs from CPI-resistant individuals can be produced, are overwhelmingly terminally differentiated, and are capable of responding to tumor. We then investigate these properties in ex vivo checkpoint modulated TILs finding that that they retain these qualities. Lastly, we confirmed the specificity of the TILs to the highest responding tumor antigens, and identified this reactivity resides largely in CD39+CD69+ terminally differentiated populations. Overall, we found that anti-PD-1 will alter the proliferative capacity while anti-CTLA4 will influence breadth of antigen specificity

Collective irrigation reloaded. Re-collection and re-moralization of water management after privatization in Spain

[EN] In recent decades, water has been subjected to different commodification and de-collectivization processes. Increasingly, this is also affecting collective irrigation Water management. Critical analysis of this privatization and de-collectivization wave in the irrigation sector has mainly focused on neoliberal institutional policies and market-oriented legislation. However, subtly and silently but equally determinant, the adoption of water-saving technologies is fostering the penetration of private enterprise and market-based governance into these hydro social settings. This paper discusses this phenomenon through a case study of the community of Senyera in Valencia, Spain, tracking the privatization and subsequent contestation and re-takeover of water management by irrigation system users. The article shows how privatization removes users' autonomy in the name of common well-being, and increases irrigation costs in a context of little transparency. But the case also highlights users' capacity to re-value and re-signify, their past collective action, remembering and 're-membering to' the collective. Senyera water users critically and reflexively analyse privatization, reconstruct societal relationships around and embedded inside the new technology, and re-collectivize and re-moralize irrigation management in a new hydro social scenario.Support for this research has been partially provided by the project INIA RTA2014-00050-00-00 from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, partially financed with ERDF funds.Sanchis Ibor, C.; Boelens, R.; García Molla, M. (2017). Collective irrigation reloaded. Re-collection and re-moralization of water management after privatization in Spain. Geoforum. 87:38-47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.10.002S38478