Intracellular Penetration and Accumulation of Radiographic Contrast Media in the Rat Kidney

Radiographic iodine-containing contrast media (meglumine calcium metrizoate, iohexol and meglumine sodium ioxaglate) were injected intravenously in rats. At various intervals after exposure, in situ cryofixation of kidneys was performed. Thin, freeze-dried cryosections were examined by electron microscopy and X-ray microanalysis. In endothelial cells, erythrocytes and tubular cells high dry weight concentrations of iodine were found. Twenty-four hours after iohexol was injected, no trace of iodine was found in the plasma, microvilli or the nuclei of the tubular cells. Small organelle-like compartments in the cytoplasm of the proximal tubular cells contained high concentrations of iodine, whereas no iodine was found in the surrounding cytoplasm. Since no metabolism of contrast medium has been demonstrated, the iodine signals must be emitted from contrast medium molecules. Other elements were also measured, with the concentrations being always within the ranges found in tubular cells of control animals. The detection of intracellular contrast thus does not seem to be an artifact due to cell injury, but rather represents a physiological event in healthy cells in the rat kidney. Our results are in contradiction to the prevailing opinion that contrast media do not enter healthy cells. However, previous conclusions have been based on the use of conventional preparation methods, and the highly water soluble contrast molecules may have been lost during the different steps of fixation and processing

Transnational social capital: the socio‐spatialities of civil society

Civil society remains a contested concept, but one that is widely embedded in global development processes. Transnationalism within civil society scholarship is often described dichotomously, either through hierarchical dependency relations or as a more amorphous networked global civil society. These two contrasting spatial imaginaries produce very particular ideas about how transnational relations contribute to civil society. Drawing on empirical material from research with civil society organizations in Barbados and Grenada, in this article I contend that civil society groups use forms of transnational social capital in their work. This does not, however, resonate with the horizontal relations associated with grassroots globalization or vertical chains of dependence. These social relations are imbued with power and agency and are entangled in situated historical, geographical and personal contexts. I conclude that the diverse transnational social relations that are part of civil society activity offer hope and possibilities for continued civil society action in these unexpected spatial arrangements

River histories : A thematic review

Peer reviewe

Looking Good: Mediatisation and International NGOs

Many international NGOs value those parts of their work that are suited to media representation: campaigning, advocacy, projects that produce the right sort of images. In this article I make three points about this change. First, those parts of the NGO most reliant on media – such as the campaign desk – may be becoming more powerful. This can change the internal dynamics of NGOs. Second, the increasing use of media means that NGOs, like other organisations, hold themselves accountable in new ways. Third, NGOs may appear to look more and more like media organisations. These changes have received relatively little attention in the literature on NGOs, though they reflect a broader set of debates about the role of media in society. Using a case analysis of an international NGO, I suggest that the concept of mediatisation might be a useful way to understand some of the changes observed in the NGO sector

MEMS Technologies for Energy Harvesting

The objective of this chapter is to introduce the technology of Microelectromechanical Systems, MEMS, and their application to emerging energy harvesting devices. The chapter begins with a general introduction to the most common MEMS fabrication processes. This is followed with a survey of design mechanisms implemented in MEMS energy harvesters to provide nonlinear mechanical actuations. Mechanisms to produce bistable potential will be studied, such as introducing fixed magnets, buckling of beams or using slightly slanted clamped-clamped beams. Other nonlinear mechanisms are studied such as impact energy transfer, or the design of nonlinear springs. Finally, due to their importance in the field of MEMS and their application to energy harvesters, an introduction to actuation using piezoelectric materials is given. Examples of energy harvesters found in the literature using this actuation principle are also presented

Civil society leadership in the struggle for AIDS treatment in South Africa and Uganda

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.This thesis is an attempt to theorise and operationalise empirically the notion of ‘civil society leadership’ in Sub-Saharan Africa. ‘AIDS leadership,’ which is associated with the intergovernmental institutions charged with coordinating the global response to HIV/AIDS, is both under-theorised and highly context-specific. In this study I therefore opt for an inclusive framework that draws on a range of approaches, including the literature on ‘leadership’, institutions, social movements and the ‘network’ perspective on civil society mobilisation. This framework is employed in rich and detailed empirical descriptions (‘thick description’) of civil society mobilisation around AIDS, including contentious AIDS activism, in the key case studies of South Africa and Uganda. South Africa and Uganda are widely considered key examples of poor and good leadership (from national political leaders) respectively, while the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) are both seen as highly effective civil society movements. These descriptions emphasise ‘transnational networks of influence’ in which civil society leaders participated (and at times actively constructed) in order to mobilise both symbolic and material resources aimed at exerting influence at the transnational, national and local levels

Systematic evaluation of immune regulation and modulation

Cancer immunotherapies are showing promising clinical results in a variety of malignancies. Monitoring the immune as well as the tumor response following these therapies has led to significant advancements in the field. Moreover, the identification and assessment of both predictive and prognostic biomarkers has become a key component to advancing these therapies. Thus, it is critical to develop systematic approaches to monitor the immune response and to interpret the data obtained from these assays. In order to address these issues and make recommendations to the field, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer reconvened the Immune Biomarkers Task Force. As a part of this Task Force, Working Group 3 (WG3) consisting of multidisciplinary experts from industry, academia, and government focused on the systematic assessment of immune regulation and modulation. In this review, the tumor microenvironment, microbiome, bone marrow, and adoptively transferred T cells will be used as examples to discuss the type and timing of sample collection. In addition, potential types of measurements, assays, and analyses will be discussed for each sample. Specifically, these recommendations will focus on the unique collection and assay requirements for the analysis of various samples as well as the high-throughput assays to evaluate potential biomarkers