Land Law, Property Ideologies and the British-Irish relationship

English and Irish land law are deeply influenced by the historical context of the British-Irish relationship, yet property scholarship comparing the two jurisdictions is surprisingly rare. The current Brexit negotiations provide a timely reminder of the strategic importance of property and trade relations between the two countries; and of their related-but-different legal cultures. In this article we examine how the property cultures of England and Ireland were shaped by the politics and practices of land tenure, by competing economic and property ideologies, and by the influence of both on national identity and statehood in both jurisdictions. The article reveals the role of local contexts and events in shaping land reform, and demonstrates the fertile potential of the comparative frame to contextualise each jurisdiction’s doctrines and practices. As domestic land law systems are drawn together in the context of emerging EU jurisdiction over areas like mortgage credit, each jurisdiction’s underpinning ideological commitments have important implications for the ease – or not – of attempts to harmonize member state practices. We explain the alignments and divergences between domestic underpinnings of Irish and English law, and reflect on the implications of our findings for contemporary property problems in the context of evolving economic and political relationships between the UK and Ireland

Using structural motif descriptors for sequence-based binding site prediction

All authors are with the Biotechnological Center, TU Dresden, Tatzberg 47-51, 01307 Dresden, Germany and -- Wan Kyu Kim is with the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USABackground: Many protein sequences are still poorly annotated. Functional characterization of a protein is often improved by the identification of its interaction partners. Here, we aim to predict protein-protein interactions (PPI) and protein-ligand interactions (PLI) on sequence level using 3D information. To this end, we use machine learning to compile sequential segments that constitute structural features of an interaction site into one profile Hidden Markov Model descriptor. The resulting collection of descriptors can be used to screen sequence databases in order to predict functional sites. -- Results: We generate descriptors for 740 classified types of protein-protein binding sites and for more than 3,000 protein-ligand binding sites. Cross validation reveals that two thirds of the PPI descriptors are sufficiently conserved and significant enough to be used for binding site recognition. We further validate 230 PPIs that were extracted from the literature, where we additionally identify the interface residues. Finally we test ligand-binding descriptors for the case of ATP. From sequences with Swiss-Prot annotation "ATP-binding", we achieve a recall of 25% with a precision of 89%, whereas Prosite's P-loop motif recognizes an equal amount of hits at the expense of a much higher number of false positives (precision: 57%). Our method yields 771 hits with a precision of 96% that were not previously picked up by any Prosite-pattern. -- Conclusion: The automatically generated descriptors are a useful complement to known Prosite/InterPro motifs. They serve to predict protein-protein as well as protein-ligand interactions along with their binding site residues for proteins where merely sequence information is available.Institute for Cellular and Molecular [email protected]

Rationale, design and methods for a randomised and controlled trial to investigate whether home access to electronic games decreases children's physical activity

Background. Many children are reported to have insufficient physical activity (PA) placing them at greater risk of poor health outcomes. Participating in sedentary activities such as playing electronic games is widely believed to contribute to less PA. However there is no experimental evidence that playing electronic games reduces PA. There is also no evidence regarding the effect of different types of electronic games (traditional sedentary electronic games versus new active input electronic games) on PA. Further, there is a poor understanding about how characteristics of children may moderate the impact of electronic game access on PA and about what leisure activities are displaced when children play electronic games. Given that many children play electronic games, a better understanding of the effect of electronic game use on PA is critical to inform child health policy and intervention. Methods. This randomised and controlled trial will examine whether PA is decreased by access to electronic games and whether any effect is dependent on the type of game input or the child's characteristics. Children aged 1012 years (N = 72, 36 females) will be recruited and randomised to a balanced ordering of 'no electronic games', 'traditional' electronic games and 'active' electronic games. Each child will participate in each condition for 8 weeks, and be assessed prior to participation and at the end of each condition. The primary outcome is PA, assessed by Actical accelerometers worn for 7 days on the wrist and hip. Energy expenditure will be assessed by the doubly labelled water technique and motor coordination, adiposity, self-confidence, attitudes to technology and PA and leisure activities will also be assessed. A sample of 72 will provide a power of > 0.9 for detecting a 15 mins difference in PA (sd = 30 mins). Discussion. This is the first such trial and will provide critical information to understand whether access to electronic games affects children's PA. Given the vital importance of adequate PA to a healthy start to life and establishing patterns which may track into adulthood, this project can inform interventions which could have a profound impact on the long term health of children. Trial registration. This trial is registered in the Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN 12609000279224)

Leishmaniasis sand fly vector density reduction is less marked in destitute housing after insecticide thermal fogging

BackgroundInsecticide thermal fogging (ITF) is a tool to control vector borne diseases. Insecticide application success for vector control has been associated with housing materials and architecture. Vector abundance is correlated with weather changes. Nevertheless, housing quality and weather impacts on vector abundance have been unaccounted for in most New World insecticide control trials for leishmaniasis vectors.MethodsWe conducted a 15 month insecticide control trial that included two deltamethrin [6 mg a.i.m-2] based ITF interventions in 12 of 24 monitored houses at Trinidad de Las Minas, a hyperendemic cutaneous leishmaniasis transmission village in western Panamá. During the study we followed sand fly (SF) abundance, keeping track of rainfall and quantified housing quality using an index based on architecture and construction materials.ResultsWe found a 50 to 80% reduction in SF density in the fogged houses when compared with control houses, while controlling for seasonal changes in SF abundance associated with rainfall. We found heterogeneities in the reductions, as abundance changed according to SF species: Lutzomyia gomezi, Lu. panamensis, Lu. dysponeta and Lu. triramula reduced in density between 40% and 90% after ITF. In contrast, Lu. trapidoi density increased 5% after ITF. Differences in the impact of ITF were associated with housing quality, the most destitute houses, i.e., those with features that ease insect entrance, had a disproportionally larger SF abundance, in some cases with increased domiciliary SF density following the ITF.ConclusionOur results suggest the potential of insecticide application to control SF density and leishmaniasis transmission could depend on housing quality beyond insecticide efficiency