Water in Azraq (Jordan): a fluid link between state and society

Azraq, a rural village in north-eastern Jordan, was once famous for its luxurious marshes and wetlands but today is starved of water. This paper looks at the role of water as a crucial medium in the definition and consolidation of contemporary relations between the Jordanian government and Azraq’s inhabitants. Essentially, this article approaches water as a relational medium through which power manifests itself in the processes of access, distribution and utilisation. The article argues that putting this relationship and the power that flows through it in an historical context allows for a better understanding of people’s contemporary interactions with water in the intimacy of the domestic sphere.Azraq est un village rural du nord-est de la Jordanie, autrefois célèbre pour ses zones humides et ses marais luxuriants et aujourd’hui désespérément en manque d’eau. Cet article examine le rôle de l’eau comme intermédiaire essentiel dans la définition et le renforcement des relations contemporaines entre le gouvernement jordanien et les habitants d’Azraq. Cet article aborde essentiellement l’eau comme une médiation à travers laquelle le pouvoir se manifeste, notamment dans les processus d’accès, de distribution et d’utilisation. L’article s’efforce de montrer qu’on peut mieux appréhender les interactions et pratiques actuelles de la population vis-à-vis de l’eau dans l’espace intime de la sphère domestique en historicisant cette médiation et les formes de pouvoir qui lui sont liées

A Conserved Mito-Cytosolic Translational Balance Links Two Longevity Pathways.

Slowing down translation in either the cytosol or the mitochondria is a conserved longevity mechanism. Here, we found a non-interventional natural correlation of mitochondrial and cytosolic ribosomal proteins (RPs) in mouse population genetics, suggesting a translational balance. Inhibiting mitochondrial translation in C. elegans through mrps-5 RNAi repressed cytosolic translation. Transcriptomics integrated with proteomics revealed that this inhibition specifically reduced translational efficiency of mRNAs required in growth pathways while increasing stress response mRNAs. The repression of cytosolic translation and extension of lifespan from mrps-5 RNAi were dependent on atf-5/ATF4 and independent from metabolic phenotypes. We found the translational balance to be conserved in mammalian cells upon inhibiting mitochondrial translation pharmacologically with doxycycline. Lastly, extending this in vivo, doxycycline repressed cytosolic translation in the livers of germ-free mice. These data demonstrate that inhibiting mitochondrial translation initiates an atf-5/ATF4-dependent cascade leading to coordinated repression of cytosolic translation, which could be targeted to promote longevity

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms