Thalidomide: History, withdrawal, renaissance and safety concerns

Peer reviewedPostprin

International Animal Law, with a Concentration on Latin America, Asia, and Africa

The status of domestic animal protection laws in Asia, Africa, and Latin America varies, as one might imagine, from country to country. Countries with high per capita incomes are more likely to have a large number of animal protection organizations, whose existence normally leads to the passage of protective legislation.1 The sociopolitical, cultural, and religious backgrounds of each country, as well as previous colonization, also influence whether it has animal protection legislation and whether these laws are enforced. Previous colonization is the case in many former British colonies, which often have very good laws but neither the means nor the interest to enforce them. With some exception, countries within each region of the world follow similar patterns of law and enforcement. (Logically, it would follow that countries with the highest number of animal protection groups per land area or per population would be the most likely to have an animal protection law, yet these concepts do not necessarily correlate, though it may reflect increased interest in animal protection as a concept [Table 1]). International animal protection can be best understood by placing countries in one of four descending levels of animal protection. Countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America can be found in the bottom three categories (Irwin 2003)

The complex gas kinematics in the nucleus of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1386: rotation, outflows and inflows

We present optical integral field spectroscopy of the circum-nuclear gas of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1386. The data cover the central 7$^{\prime\prime} \times 9^{\prime\prime}$ (530 $\times$ 680 pc) at a spatial resolution of 0.9" (68 pc), and the spectral range 5700-7000 \AA\ at a resolution of 66 km s$^{-1}$. The line emission is dominated by a bright central component, with two lobes extending $\approx$ 3$^{\prime\prime}$ north and south of the nucleus. We identify three main kinematic components. The first has low velocity dispersion ($\bar \sigma \approx$ 90 km s$^{-1}$), extends over the whole field-of-view, and has a velocity field consistent with gas rotating in the galaxy disk. We interpret the lobes as resulting from photoionization of disk gas in regions where the AGN radiation cones intercept the disk. The second has higher velocity dispersion ($\bar \sigma \approx$ 200 km s$^{-1}$) and is observed in the inner 150 pc around the continuum peak. This component is double peaked, with redshifted and blueshifted components separated by $\approx$ 500 km s$^{-1}$. Together with previous HST imaging, these features suggest the presence of a bipolar outflow for which we estimate a mass outflow rate of $\mathrm{\dot M} \gtrsim$ 0.1 M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$. The third component is revealed by velocity residuals associated with enhanced velocity dispersion and suggests that outflow and/or rotation is occurring approximately in the equatorial plane of the torus. A second system of velocity residuals may indicate the presence of streaming motions along dusty spirals in the disk.Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures, 3 tables, interesting results, accepted for publication in Ap

The State of Meat Production in Developing Countries: 2002

Two organizations—one dedicated to the elimination of animal suffering and the other to encouraging sustainable agriculture and rural development— have joined forces to address animal welfare issues in the global livestock industry. The mission of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and its international arm, Humane Society International (HSI), is to create a humane and sustainable world for all animals, including people, through education, advocacy, and the promotion of respect and compassion. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has as a specific priority to increase food production and food security while conserving and managing natural resources. The aim is to meet the needs of both present and future generations by promoting development that does not degrade the environment and is technically appropriate, economically viable, and socially acceptable

Toward the development of a new multidimensional trust scale

This thesis comprises three main sections: a literature review, research report, and a critical appraisal of the research process. The literature reviewed is the existing research relating to trust as a construct. An attempt is made to clarify the conceptual confusion that exists in the area, by suggesting a comprehensive definition of what is meant by the term trust for the purposes of both the current study and future research. The importance of trust in relation to mental health and therapeutic relationships is discussed. Current measures of the construct are critically examined, and the ‘scientist’ versus ‘humanist’ divide is explored. It is concluded that a new multidimensional trust measure is required to further research efforts in the area. The aim of the research project was to develop a trust measure to form a part of a larger endeavour to operationalise the concept of mental health via key set of basic human emotions and responses. The research reported in Section 2 consists of a Pilot Test, Main Study, and follow up validation study of a new multidimensional measure of trust. Three bases of trust were hypothesised and tested. These were: self trust, interpersonal trust, and environmental trust (that is, trust in wider social, cultural, or political context). A new measure was constructed and validity tested using an inductive approach, and the relationship between trust and trait anxiety was also examined. The results supported the hypothesis that trust is a multidimensional construct, and demonstrated a strong relationship between trust and trait anxiety. It is hoped that this work will rekindle research interest in this important area. The final section is the researcher’s critical appraisal of the research process based on her personal research diary. It is a reflective piece that examines the impact of the research on the researcher (and vice versa) and the critical events in the research process.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Toward the development of a new multidimensional trust scale

This thesis comprises three main sections: a literature review, research report, and a critical appraisal of the research process. The literature reviewed is the existing research relating to trust as a construct. An attempt is made to clarify the conceptual confusion that exists in the area, by suggesting a comprehensive definition of what is meant by the term trust for the purposes of both the current study and future research. The importance of trust in relation to mental health and therapeutic relationships is discussed. Current measures of the construct are critically examined, and the ‘scientist’ versus ‘humanist’ divide is explored. It is concluded that a new multidimensional trust measure is required to further research efforts in the area. The aim of the research project was to develop a trust measure to form a part of a larger endeavour to operationalise the concept of mental health via key set of basic human emotions and responses. The research reported in Section 2 consists of a Pilot Test, Main Study, and follow up validation study of a new multidimensional measure of trust. Three bases of trust were hypothesised and tested. These were: self trust, interpersonal trust, and environmental trust (that is, trust in wider social, cultural, or political context). A new measure was constructed and validity tested using an inductive approach, and the relationship between trust and trait anxiety was also examined. The results supported the hypothesis that trust is a multidimensional construct, and demonstrated a strong relationship between trust and trait anxiety. It is hoped that this work will rekindle research interest in this important area. The final section is the researcher’s critical appraisal of the research process based on her personal research diary. It is a reflective piece that examines the impact of the research on the researcher (and vice versa) and the critical events in the research process.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

The effect of a dominant kinase-dead Csf1r mutation associated with adult-onset leukoencephalopathy on brain development and neuropathology

Amino acid substitutions in the kinase domain of the human CSF1R protein are associated with autosomal dominant adult-onset leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia (ALSP). To model the human disease, we created a disease-associated mutation (Glu631Lys; E631K) in the mouse Csf1r locus. Previous analysis demonstrated that heterozygous mutation (Csf1rE631K/+) had a dominant inhibitory effect on CSF1R signaling in vitro and in vivo but did not recapitulate the pathology of the human disease. We speculated that leukoencephalopathy in humans requires an environmental trigger and/or epistatic interaction with common neurodegenerative disease-associated alleles. Here we examine the impact of heterozygous Csf1r mutation on microglial phenotype, normal postnatal brain development, age-related changes in gene expression and on two distinct pathologies in which microgliosis is a prominent feature, prion disease and experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE). The heterozygous Csf1rE631K/+ mutation reduced microglial abundance and the expression of microglial-associated transcripts relative to wild-type controls at 12 weeks and 43 weeks of age but had no selective effect on homeostatic markers such as P2ry12. An epistatic interaction was demonstrated between Csf1rE631K/+ and Cxc3r1EGFP/+ genotypes leading to dysregulated microglial and neuronal gene expression in both hippocampus and striatum. Heterozygous Csf1rE631K mutation reduced the microgliosis associated with both diseases. There was no significant impact on disease severity or progression in prion disease. In EAE, induced expression of inflammation-associated transcripts in the hippocampus and striatum was suppressed in parallel with microglia-specific transcripts, but spinal cord demyelination was exacerbated. The results support a dominant-negative model of CSF1R-associated leukoencephalopathy and likely contributions of an environmental trigger and/or genetic background to neuropathology

Gene content evolution in the arthropods

Arthropods comprise the largest and most diverse phylum on Earth and play vital roles in nearly every ecosystem. Their diversity stems in part from variations on a conserved body plan, resulting from and recorded in adaptive changes in the genome. Dissection of the genomic record of sequence change enables broad questions regarding genome evolution to be addressed, even across hyper-diverse taxa within arthropods. Using 76 whole genome sequences representing 21 orders spanning more than 500 million years of arthropod evolution, we document changes in gene and protein domain content and provide temporal and phylogenetic context for interpreting these innovations. We identify many novel gene families that arose early in the evolution of arthropods and during the diversification of insects into modern orders. We reveal unexpected variation in patterns of DNA methylation across arthropods and examples of gene family and protein domain evolution coincident with the appearance of notable phenotypic and physiological adaptations such as flight, metamorphosis, sociality, and chemoperception. These analyses demonstrate how large-scale comparative genomics can provide broad new insights into the genotype to phenotype map and generate testable hypotheses about the evolution of animal diversity

Re:Chicago

https://via.library.depaul.edu/museum-publications/1012/thumbnail.jp